Molly has her brown belt in karate, and is working toward black. When she got her brown belt, it had 3 stripes on it, which she has to work off over 18 months in order to test for her black belt. After 6 months of work, she got the first stripe removed. Congratulations, Molly.
We bought our house with enough rooms that the girls could have their own rooms, but they chose to share a room with bunk beds. We thought that wouldn’t last very long, but we were wrong. They lasted 5 years together, but finally decided to split. With Molly headed to middle school (with a much earlier wake up time), Leah decided to move out into her own room.
While Leah was at baking camp, Molly attended Encore Music Camp here in Howard County. It’s a full-day music camp for middle schoolers (yes, Molly is entering middle school). They had a wide variety of levels and had a lot of fun together.
Molly was excited to have friends at the camp. She, Simon, and Jake have been friends since they were infants.
The string orchestra did great and had a lot of fun in their end-of-the-week performance. The last song (Rosin Eating Zombies, starting at 12:46 ) was our favorite.
Molly was also part of the choir.
At the end of the concert, the entire camp came together to play.
Molly took a class on conducting as one of her electives. Then she got to conduct this ensemble at the end of the week.
Molly also took guitar as an elective. She said it was hard.
It was late after the end-of-the-week concert, but we still stopped at The Snowball Stand for the first time for a treat.
Leah attended a baking camp in June and came home asking to practice. Since Jen is an expert baker, she and Leah made some cupcakes then sent them virtually to Aunt Caroline as a birthday gift.
Leah also baked some banana bread muffins, which are a staple in our house!
Leah brought home her creations from baking camp each day. After a few days, there were lots of uneaten leftovers, so I made myself a sampler platter.
Now that summer is coming soon to an end, I guess I should finally post what we’ve been up to this summer. So, take yourself back to the week school ended...
School ended on Tuesday, and Friday we headed to Hershey Park for some fun.
We rode a lot of roller coasters. Hershey Park is great for our kids because they have a bunch of coasters with lower height requirements than Six Flags or King’s Dominion. This meant Leah (who is quite short) could actually ride lots of rides. She and Molly rode Laff Track, Lightning Racer, sooperdooperLooper, Trailblazer, Wild Mouse, Wildcat, and Comet (which she actually rode three times). Jen rode on most of those too (possibly the most impressive thing about our visit). Molly and I also rode Fahrenheit (Leah’s not tall enough for that one yet).
In addition to coasters, we rode the Ferris Wheel, since the girls had never ridden one before.
For our treat, we had to try out Makin’ Whoopie Pies. We got 2 giant whoopie pies. Molly went for red velvet with traditional creme, while Leah went for sugar cookie with peanut butter filling. They were delicious - super sweet and rich. They were so sweet the girls and Jen couldn’t finish their portions, so I had to help them out.
Any trip to Hershey Park needs to have a stop into Chocolate World as well.
Hershey Park was a perfect start to the summer!
After what seemed like a very long school year (mostly due to snow days slowly chipping away at spring and summer break), the last day of school finally arrived on June 19. Molly and Leah were happy about this.
Oh wait, that’s not the right picture. Here you go.
Molly’s final picture with the sign out front of elementary school.
Back in June, we got a new nephew/cousin. Aunt EA gave birth to Max, and we got to see him that same day.
Molly was called on again to play in an ensemble at school. This time, it was to play Pomp and Circumstance (and some other songs) at the 5th Grade Promotion Ceremony.
Molly walked across the stage and shook hands with the principal, signifying the completion of her elementary school journey. She’s ready for middle school.
The 5th graders prepared all year for a major event - Simulated Congressional Hearing. They learned about government, and then invited community leaders to serve as congressional committees. The kids formed expert panels to testify in front of the congressional committees. Parents came to observe. I volunteered as a photographer (and Jen helped with the food). There were a lot of people there.
Molly and the rest of the 5th grade chorus sang Hats Off to America, including some custom made patriotic hats.
Here's the committee Molly testified in front of.
Molly's expert panel is ready to testify. They testified on the subject of why the American colonies went to war against the British.
After their initial testimony, the committees asked the kids questions to probe further into their subject.
The girls' school had a Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast to all the parents who helped out during the year. Molly was picked as part of a select ensemble to play for us.
