I had no idea that field trips still existed in high school…at least the ones that require parent volunteers!  I happily signed up when Morgan’s AP Euro teacher was asking for help.  Listen, I’m no dummy, I realize that my time left with Morgan being a student living at home is going to come to an end sooner than I want.  I’m game for anything at this point.

I do have to say as the day approached, I started to get a little nervous that being in charge of high school students could be more than I bargained for.  What if they tried to smoke in the bathroom or say bad words in front of the docent!?  Surely they wouldn’t!?  I should have known they would be great.  They likely wouldn’t be enrolled in an advance placement history class if they were trouble makers!

Our first stop was the WWI museum which I had heard was amazing.  It didn’t disappoint.  I loved it!  I would go back and spend more time for sure.

Our leader was great but he did expect a lot of interaction with the students.  Guess who was the very first person to be picked on….Morgan, of course!  He was using her as an example of being the size of a soldier back in that time.  Apparently she’s 5’7″ and 135 lbs.  Not really, but he did get his point across and she is the cutest, who wouldn’t pick her out of crowd!

I could REALLY tell I am not up to speed on my WWI history, but this guy did a fabulous job engaging the kids and I’m always up for a history lesson.

Just being here reminds me of that super crazy Royals World Series parade/pep rally.  We were jammed on the lawn of this memorial and it was an unforgettable experience.  So many people jammed in one space and here we are on opening day for the Royals today.  Very ironic.  Here’s a flashback to 2015!

 

I found myself thinking about my grandpa’s (Papa’s) even though my timing was a little off.  They actually served in WWII.  I should try a little harder to do the math.  The war ended in 1918 and My Papa Delmez was born in 1919!  Duh! But I had visions of him in a military uniform anyway – just in a different time period!

And I love this part where there are 9,000 silk poppies below your feet.  I don’t really love walking on clear glass but this is pretty cool!  Not to go all artsy on you here, but I do love how I very unintentionally captured the reflection of the memorial tower in the glass when I really was just trying to get the poppies and our feet!

We ventured off to the Nelson Museum of Art and luckily got placed with a wonderful docent who showed us so much!  I saw so much more of the gallery with her than I did with the 3rd graders where I swear we only saw 2 rooms the entire field trip.

This was one of Morgan’s favorites…Monet’s Water Lilies.  Very impressive!On the way out we got to see the Italian Gates of Paradise in gilded bronze.  Pretty amazing!  I loved every minute of this rainy field trip day with this AMAZING sophomore.  So lucky I got to go!  Love you to pieces MoMo!!

As I sit here in my freshly cleaned office, I finally got through two giant stacks of papers, updated the baby books with current heights and weights (yes….I still do that…sounds crazy I know), and came to the realization that I haven’t even journaled about the holiday season.  I might just have to give up on that.  I probably don’t remember half of it anyway!

So for now, I’m sticking with what I’m still super excited about – the State Gymnastics Meet!  We’ve come to realize that if you are a competitive gymnast around here, you forgo a spring break trip to practice all week and compete.  It’s required.  And if you love it as much as Reece does, you are A-OK with it.

We did sneak in a short, last minute trip to Florida to pump up our Vitamin D and frankly, our overall well-being.  If we had to be in the cold one more day, we were all going to lose it!  We made it back just in time for Reece to get to the gym to practice.

Don’t worry, she was getting a ton of gymnastics practice in on the beach!This meet season has been a successful one for Reece!  She’s achieved some personal bests, her confidence has been great, and she’s been smiling and having fun (for Reece).  She’s very intense, folks, so getting a genuine smile or even an acknowledgement from her is tough.  She works so hard.  She is early to every practice, goes to extra open gyms as much as possible, does everything precisely as she is told, and notices when everybody else isn’t!  Her goal is always to be 1st place and up until now she’s gotten close many times.

There is no one more deserving than this little lady to receive a 1st place all-around medal.  She finally achieved what she’s been working so hard for and at the pinnacle of the season!  Go Reecie Go!

My stomach can barely handle watching the events and my nerves always get the best of me.  I leave it to Brian and Morgan to let me know if she did good or not.  These athletes are so courageous and awesome!

Although not her favorite event, she achieved a personal best score on the beam!She loves the bars!

All of us were waiting on pins and needles to find out if she had finally achieved what she was hoping for.  Morgan and Brian were doing all kinds of calculations while Drew was doing his best work at saving seats.  This fan club was so PROUD!

Even though she won’t speak to us before or after a meet, we still love her all the same!  That intensity she has for the sport is something remarkable.  And this right here is a very genuine smile!and a very happy St. Pat’s Day as well!!  Complete with our family tradition – green waffles and bacon!

We are so happy for you Reecie Cups!  Keep doing your thing!