Fourth Grade

Addison started fourth grade. He was so excited to have gotten the teacher he really wanted... Mr. Doolittle. He's a real live Dr. Doolittle. His classroom is full of wiggly, crawly creatures and critters that the kids can take out to recess and bring home on the weekends (lucky us!). Addison loves him because he lets them chat, put their feet up on the desk, and be in charge of doling out the animals to the other kids at recess. I love him because he is exactly what a fourth grade boy should have for a teacher. Their "chats" are great group discussions. When Mr. Doo is teaching a concept and someone has something to add, his idea is not to get on with his lesson and overlook the kids' input, but to discuss it and find out what interests the kids, helping them apply what they're learning to their ever expanding lives. He empowers (thanks, Tom for helping me find the word) the kids by telling them to sit back and relax when it's appropriate, but reminds them that this isn't the usual rule for school, and he's trusting them because they can handle it. If someone else comes in the classroom, feet come off the desks, but while they're with Mr. Doo, he knows he can trust them enough to give them a little room to breath. He gives them responsibility for these creepy little animals and they really take it! They clean their cages, make sure they're fed, and keep watch as other classrooms handle the animals.

Addison is positive he is Mr. Doo's favorite kid, which he very well may be (I'll admit a little favoritism here), but I'm pretty sure every kid in class feels the same way...

Moon Lake

While we were in Utah, we had a family reunion with my brothers and sisters at Moon Lake. My mom grew up in Bonita which is near Moon Lake. She spent a lot of time there growing up and we used to go when we were little. It was fun to be back.

Heading off for a bath, after a run with Shellie, in the cold, cold lake.

A little hike up the mountain.

Braden and Tom.

Addison caught a fish!!

Me and Brit.

It was so fun to have all the little boys there. It's funny, because Eric and Addison used to be "the little boys," and now they're "the big kids." Jack, Braden, Charlie, and Liam are all about 6 months apart and so cute together!! Addison had a good time being ring leader for a while.

We rented these kayaks every day we were there. After a rocky start for Tom and I, we figured it out and had a lot of fun. One day, I took Addison and Emma out quite a ways to a spot where we could jump off a little cliff. Emma was a great little rower and she and Addison made up a chant to help us on our three-hour-tour: "Left, right, left, right; rudder to the right."

We played volleyball one night. Let's just say the Lundell's are serious athletes.

Hanging out at the fire.

We had such a great time - Brad on the guitar and all of us singing Cat Stevens songs around the fire, a revealing game of "I have never...", interesting new information about Jen as divulged by Brad, long runs, lots of bugs, fantastic food, and great company!

Summer In Utah

While we were in Utah...

**Addison went to a theater camp in Park City with his step-brother Quentin...

They wrote a play and performed it. It was pretty dang hilarious...

**Addison went to scout camp with Eric

**We swam at the Lindon Pool too many times to count

**I took Emma to get her first manicure. We had a girl's day in which she cut her hair, we went to lunch, got manicures and pedicures... and my car died.

**I read a lot of not so great books

**We went to Moon Lake (which gets its own post)

**Dean and I ran 10k at 10k... hardest race of my life, but I ran up that whole hill... very, very slowly.

**I ate at Zuppa's about 20 times

**Addison and Eric and all the cousins thought their Aunt Amy was a wizard herself when she came up with a most fantastic way to make wands with glue.

**I bought a new car

**This little boy hiked 14 miles to the top (the saddle) of Timp.

I have a "better" picture of Dean from our "second breakfast" break that I really wanted to post, but I've had enough toe twisting and knuckle crushing to last a lifetime.

Our friend the moose. I don't think I've ever hiked Timp and not seen this guy... and of course, I'm sure he's the same one I see every year.

The Ugly Duckling

Addison was in the play "The Ugly Duckling." He played a lovely pig and did a fantastic job! Grandma Marge was able to come out to see him, and he was so excited. He loves doing these little plays and had a lot of fun with this one.

Hair and makeup. Just kidding. He just got his hair cut right before the show.

The whole cast before one of the performances.

On stage. He is the the front pig in the pen.
After the show in the pig pen.

Piggy and Mom.

Piggy, Mom, and Grandma.

Memorial Day - Prairie Creek

We went to Humboldt County to a place called Prairie Creek for Memorial Day. It was a little cold and soggy, but so beautiful. There were lots of elk all over the place, including our campground

This is at the top of what I think was called a ceremonial rock. It was huge and a boy scout troup was repelling down it.

We started by going to a recreation of a Yurok village. These buildings are used still for Yurok traditional ceremonies. When we first saw them, we thought it must be a tribe of little people.

Addison in the little house.

King of the world!

I love the circle entry. Can you see it on the right of the building?

So, they actually aren't a tribe of little people. All of this houses are dug out inside.

Coming out of the circle door.

Having our own ceremony.

Addison's outfit is all his own... So is his hairstyle. I thought about making him put on something different, but then I remembered we were in Humboldt County, and thought he'd fit in better this way.

Seriously, elk everywhere.

This is a really bad picture because I took it with Tom's phone and I don't really know how to use it, but Addison and Tom started a frisbee game and were joined by several crazy campers.

Our 8 hour drive home took us about 12 because we stopped at every place you could possibly stop. One of the placed was called The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz County. We've talked about going there before, but never had so we decided to stop. It's one of those places where water runs up hill. They built this little house right on the area, and it was so crazy. I couldn't even walk through it without being so dizzy. I mostly had to stand outside it and not look in because I thought I might lose my lunch.

Tom and Addison are hanging from these bars and you can see that the gravity just pulls their body forward. The ground is totally flat though and they are not on a hill.

When you stand on the flat ground you are leaning.

I think I've been to this place before. Have I mom?

And then, of course, we had to drive our car through a redwood tree. I know we have a picture of us driving through a redwood tree in our blue van. Was it this one?

Introducing Theodore

Addison's class was taken over by famous people a couple weeks ago.  Mostly dead ones, but it was still exciting.  The third graders did biography reports and Addison chose Theodore Roosevelt.  He really enjoyed learning about him.  I've never seen him read a book with  the enthusiasm or sustained interested that he had reading the biography about Teddy.  (That's what Addison calls him.  They're pretty much best friends.)

After much work trying to figure out how to make a monocle, we ended up with this... which worked great, until we realized Theodore Roosevelt actually wore pince-nez.  

Teddy and Louis Braille.  

The parents interviewed each historical figure.  Many people were interested to learn from President Roosevelt that the Teddy Bear was given its name to honor him.  

There were 3 Sacajaweas, 2 girls and 1 boy.   

Teddy answering a very serious question.  

Otter Trot/Santa Cruz Camping

Addison and his friend Jaden ran the Otter Trot this year. It's the kid's race that is associated with the Big Sur Marathon. Addison ran it last year and had a lot of fun. Tom and I, and our friend Micah (Jaden's dad) ran along, too. We had lots of fun, even though it started out a little chilly!

Just before the race.

I love this picture. He looks so happy to be out running!

Look at those long-haired boys!

After the race, we drove up to the Santa Cruz mountains to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. It was the first national park in California, and has lots and lots of, you guessed it, redwoods. They still freak me out as much as they did when I was 15. They are so big. When I look up and get to the point where I think they should stop, that's where I start feeling a little dizzy and scared. Really weird, but seriously they make me nervous. It was really sunny in Santa Cruz, but because of how tall the trees are and how many of them there are, it never really gets super warm as it's always so shady! We set up our tent and had lunch and then headed out on a hike.

Santa Cruz is famous for having a lot of banana slugs. In fact, the banana slug is UC Santa Cruz's mascot. I had never seen one, and before we even got out of our camp, Addison spotted one. In my opinion, they are pretty disgusting. My friend's daughter went to a science camp where they learned that if you kiss a banana slug, your lips will go numb, and all the kids at the camp tried it. Addison, thought about it....

But, decided not to.

The following are a lot of pictures of us in trees...

Addison in a tree.

Addison and Mom in a tree.

Addison and Tom in a tree.