Summer is Over, alas

Probably for most of you this has been clear for a while. But here, you know, I thought, whoa, it's over. And there's a variety of lost and/or fascinating photos that have fallen through the cracks. Some from busy times, some from other people, all vivid:

These, below, are I think from a secret birthday party that I did not attend.  There were cupcakes, I heard.  Well, Ida is enjoying kindergarten.  Very mysterious what she does here, as all she says is, "It's great.  It's all really great  I don't want to talk about it."

Elsie's going to have gigantic teeth!

If I had been invited to this party, I'd have told these girls not to put their hands in there.  That looks dumb.  Ruins the illusion.

Ida took this photo of Miki outside of the Preschool House on one of the last days those girls all went there.

This Jonah is one of Ida's favorite people:

He allegedly likes her, too.

He may not know that she got the dreaded "double time-out" at kindergarten recess for playing a chase game.

Oh yeah, one day I took the girls to the zoo and we ate a bunch of things Ella probably wouldn't have let us eat!

I think I promised to share these with you, once upon a time.

Ida still likes goats, but maybe not quite as much.  She is interested in things like sound waves now, and can spell "I am."

Oh yeah, Holladay Rock cousins at The Farm!

That's my brother Jim and Margo and also Lillian, who you may recall is exactly the same as me.  You might also recognize that hot silhouette in the background...

Cousins!  Cousines!

I don't know what's up with Matthew's head in this picture.  Something.

Deviltron DNA!

Miki is working on a lot of things, these days.  She would like to explain many issues to you.

"Why is Lost Lake lost?"

Cavalcade

As you're probably aware, Arthur was nominated for an EMMY and so he and this beautiful wife (wish we could see her shoes) went to Los Angeles to accept his trophy. Red carpet, baby:

What did this mean for us? More daughters. Like Elsie, at her soccer game (Ida has quit soccer because she hates it! More later on that.)

Also, much exotic behavior:  (picture deleted at Ella's insistence)>

We've been afraid of this weekend for quite some time, but now that it's here and almost over (all the girls are in bed for night 2), it's been fairly successful. I mean, pretty non-stop, and some hard no-nap teasing accusations and lack of adequate bicycles almost stopped us, but Ella now thinks we should have another child. Very impressed with how Elsie asks if she may be excused from the dinner table. In contradistinction to Ida, who tends to leap up and the slightest chance and do something else for a while. Today I asked, "Ida, where are you going?" "Oh, outside to run up and down the driveway for a while." Soon she had everyone fully involved: More about the zoo trip, etc, real soon.

Return to Ape Cave

One of Ella's big goals this summer was to descend into Ape Cave, a long lava tube on the flanks of Mount St. Helen's where a Sasquatch lives.

There's no lamps down there, for miles and miles.

Kaito is supposedly afraid of the dark, but he persevered.  Even Arthur cried a little.

Ida had a tendency to run ahead and stick her hand into any small, jagged hole she could find, in search of "booshy bats."

In similarly scary news, I had another birthday.  Fortunately, my family is here to keep me together.

Thanks, everyone!  I like cheesecake.  Once a year!

Kindergarten

Ida's first day of kindergarten! We were almost late due to Miki being up all night throwing up and then a tantrum by the kindergartener, but we were off!

Once Duniway school was in sight, anticipations soared.  Go Dragons!

New kindergartener Elsie was there!  Looking a little pensive about her face-off with Mrs. Chaney.

And here's Ida hard at work at her new desk/table.  The blue table!  It's the best!

Even Ella got a little teary about this transition and a book Teacher Jan read to us.  But she (Ella) had been up all night sleeping in Miki's vomit, so it could have been that.

Aw, Tumbleweed Graduation

It was bound to happen! After about four years, Ida and Elsie (and Issa and Kaito) graduated from Tumbleweeds on Friday. Tears flowed like water! (From the adults, only.) Recognize anyone?

Even Arthur decided to come to town, and to wear a tie:

Before the ceremony, there was time to eat a lot of food and have some interactions.  For instance, Miki got to spend some quality time with her dear Bee:

Ida got hold of the camera to take a picture of Lucia:

Elsie sported her hijab fashion:

Which may be kind of painful:

Ida found some quiet time on the rope swing:

Maggie upbraided me, sternly, for commenting on her cleavage:

First, a little singing:

Ida was the last person to graduate, and decided it might be better to be in Amy's arms than standing alone on the porch/stage.  Who would argue?

Here's some of the speech.  If you can hear it, it will make you cry, too.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wRn3np2MdQ8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This hasn't been working due to youtube/blogger.  But you can follow this link if you're a crier.

http://youtu.be/wRn3np2MdQ8

Ida receives her diploma from Briana and Bee!  I told these ladies that Ida would never have better teachers; true to their nature, they said "Oh, man, I hope she does!"  But really she probably will never have teachers who care about and love her more.  Thanks, ladies.

Now, with those five-year-olds out of the way, various new childrens are going to step up and be the Big Kids of Tumbleweeds.  Watch out.