Ben's Graduation

Ben's school typically doesn't do a big to-do for 8th grade graduation. They have a quick assembly that parents can come to. No cap and gowns or anything like that. But, each kid does get called and they get their graduation certificate. That obviously didn't happen this year with Covid. But, they had a drive-thru parade and the kids got to say goodbye to the their teachers (from their care) and they got their certificates and shirt for high school.  They also took a photo of each and every kid and posted them on Facebook! 

Ben got his report card and had all 100%, and one 97%. Homeschool work was optional really, So, they could do the work and improve their grade from third quarter or they could do nothing and they'd end up with the same grade as third quarter when all this happened. Of course, Ben diligently did his work every day, and he went from straight A's to um, straight A's.

 

We're super proud of him, and all of our kiddos. This year didn't end how we wanted, but they rolled with it.. To celebrate, we went to Olive Garden! It was our first time eating in at a restaurant in months since everything has been take out only since March. It was so nice.

 

Now, Ben's on to high school, where we know he'll do great things!

Wolf Creek Falls in Prescott

We had another fun adventure a few weeks ago. We trying to do weekly outings to keep the kids from getting bored and incredibly depressed that everything they were looking forward to got cancelled.

So, we headed out early to a hike at Wolf Creek Falls. We had to head down a dirt road for far too long before we realized we went too far. Turned around and we finally found the trailhead. It was kind of behind us and unless you were looking backwards or traveling the other direction, you'd never see it.

In any case, we got out and got walking. It was a gorgeous day.

 In about a mile, we came to this small water area. Now, this is where most people stop. But, we knew from a Facebook post that more water and a waterfall was further down. So, we soaked up this pretty view for a few minutes and pressed on.

 The trail got super steep, like sit on your butt and shimmy down a little at a time. It was kind of scary, but that's all part of the adventure.

 We finally reached the falls. There wasn't enough water for swimming, but you could definitely get wet under the falls.

 

The kids were all screaming and laughing as the water was so cold. It was great.

 We didn't notice any rainbows while we were there, but then looking at pics, there were rainbows in some!

 

Here are the Moms!

The "littles" as we call them found a rock slide.

 More pics of us...

 Cool photo of the falls, sun and a jet.

The hike out wasn't as bad as the hike in and we all made it back in one piece.

It was such a pretty day, and I'm so glad we have friends to go explores places with.

Hiking Flume Trail to Watson Dam

Since everything has gotten cancelled and we are all going stir crazy, we are trying to get out and explore new places when we can.  A few weekends ago we did this awesome hike. We have so many beautiful spots in our backyard, but we often don't find the time to get out and explore. It's nice the kids are older and can handle more now too. We went hiking with several other families and had a great time. 

Here are the hot mamas!  HA! Hot as in it was really warm out.

It was so green in spots. You wouldn't think it was Arizona.

We made it to the dam/waterfall. It was really pretty.

The cactus were blooming.

Ryan found some rocks that made a nice lounger.

It was so cool and green back there.

Then, we found a spot where you could get to the other side of the falls. Some jumped, some took the log. I just stayed put.

We started hiking back and David and I were in front with the kids. We hiked for about 15 minutes and stopped to rest. It was getting warm.

Then, David found this cave and super cool air was coming out of it. I don't know how all that works, but it felt like air conditioning blowing on us. It was amazing. Then, someone in our group caught up to us and told us we were going the wrong way. Ooops!

We met back up with the group and hiked out. It was only like 80, but it felt scorching out. No shade here. This is a view of the dam.

 

We got back to town and got some lunch at this place called Colt BBQ. 

It's a new restaurant and was very yummy. 

Of course, we had to take it to go, so we had a picnic.

It was an awesome day!