5th Grade Pool Party

Today was the 5th Grade Pool Party at the Community Rec Center.  Wendy and I were in charge of putting the event together, with the help of some wonderful parent volunteers.  Approx. 150 5th graders arrived by bus at 9:30am for a day of swimming, games and lunch.

Although the sun wasn't out yet, all of the kids were in the water within minutes...going down the slide, jumping off of the diving board 

or just diving off of the side.

Mr. Dayos was the DJ for the entire event and put together a great playlist and took requests from the students!

 One of our talented volunteers painted this luau backdrop and decorated a phone "photo booth" for the kids.  Brynn, Faith, Allison and Lorien even added some props!

Paige, Kaylee, Maddie, Emily and Maddy

 Cooper and the girls shivered in line for the diving board! 

Allison, Emma and Olivia

Brynn and Allison posing while they waited for the slide.

At 11:00, the students all had to exit the pool deck for "Adult Lap Swim" until 12:30.  The sun had finally come out and we spent the first 45 minutes entertaining them with game stations.  Amanda did an amazing job brainstorming fun games and organizing them in groups by lei colors.

 The kids spent 5 minutes at each station.  There was the Sponge Relay,

 the Limbo,

 a beach towel musical chairs-type game with the DJ,

 Over/Under Sponge Relay, a hula hoop challenge and 

a relay using spaghetti noodles and plastic rings.

Then it was time for lunch! I think we served 150 kids in less than 10 minutes flat...44 large pizzas, bags of goldfish, fruit snacks, water bottles and ice cream sandwiches for dessert.  It couldn't have been much smoother!

 Wendy, Teri, Heather and I can't believe our 5th graders will soon be off to middle school, but we are trying to enjoy our last week with all of their festivities.  I can't believe we all met back when our kids were in Kindergarten!

 The teachers enjoyed a well-deserved break from the classroom and were a big help in making today a huge success for our promoting class of kids!!

Memorial Day Beach Fun

 It was the perfect day at Oceanside Harbor for all of the these friends to spend time together.  The sun was already out at 9:15am when we arrived and the water was warm too!  The older girls played beach volleyball, tanned and boogie boarded while the younger ones played in the water most of the day.  Matt and I had a great time lounging and catching up with Katy and Dan and Stacy and Tim.
 I love that all of these families work hard to stay connected even though these girls are on three different teams now.

Allison and I looked like jailbirds in our suits!  I'm hoping Memorial Day is the just the start of many more beach days!

Newport Mesa Cup Champions!!

 We were back for another tournament weekend...this time in Costa Mesa for the Newport Mesa Cup.

 Taylor had a great weekend as left midfielder, with several shots on goal, some fantastic crosses and some nice feeds to her forwards.  Her team has a very strong defense, but has a tough time scoring so all of the games were nail biters to the end.  They tied their first game against Claremont Stars 0-0.

 After a few hours to picnic and hang out at the field, they were back in the afternoon to face a team from Flagstaff, AZ.

 The girls finally found the net and had a successful 2-0 victory! This morning, they faced the Fullerton Rangers for another 0-0 tie.  I can't take all of these close games, but we had enough points to advance to the championship this afternoon.

 At 2:30, the final game got underway against OC Premier.  We faced this team last weekend and tied 0-0, but were confident we could pull out the victory. Check out their keeper...a low ball in the corner of the net would be impossible for her to reach!

 The girls huddled for their team prayer and cheer and took the field eager to take home the title.  The game was back and forth for quite a while, but Miranda took advantage of Linze's punt, broke through two defenders and placed a pretty ball low and in the corner.  We held them the rest of the game and finished with a 1-0 win and tournament title!!

 Coach Amanda was so proud of the girls and presented each of them with a champion medal.

 This group has only played 7 games together, but remain undefeated and have only had 1 goal scored against them.  They will continue to grow during the summer tournaments and Taylor is really enjoying the experience.

She received a lot of praise this weekend and is proving to be a great addition to this team!!

So Long Trail Dazzlers!

After months of early morning rehearsals, today was the final chorus show for our fifth grader.  The show was called BROADWAY BEAT...a compilation of hit songs from Broadway plays.

 Brynn, Faith, Allison and Lorien were all part of the first dance "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray.

 They sure rocked it out up there!

These four girls introduced the songs while waiting for a taxi cab to take them to Broadway.  They were finally picked up by the taxi driver, Cooper, and actually entered the Cash Cab...answering trivia questions based on Broadway trivia.  It was so cute!

 There were performances about Yankee Doodle Dandy,

 Annie,

 The Lion King,

 Peter Pan

 and a very sweet song from Wicked with pics of our chorus kids displayed on the screen while the girls sang.

Then there was a final tribute to our fifth graders from Grease.  Most of these kids have been in chorus for 3 years and have made many memories in the process.  Mrs. McBride has been a wonderful teacher and her creativity and passion for performing arts have been such a blessing to our school.  

With only two weeks left, I'm starting to get a little emotional with all of the "lasts" in elementary school. Matt took Allison to the final performance tonight and he got choked up too.  I can't believe there won't be any more early mornings for rehearsal or any more performances to mark on the calendar, but these kids certainly ended on a high note!!

Legends FC Classic

    We spent the weekend in Chino Hills for Taylor's first tournament with Legends FC. They won their first game 1-0 against Santa Monica.  The afternoon battle was a much tougher one, but we finished with a 1-1 tie against Sherman Oaks.  Unfortunately, that left us in 2nd place for our bracket and a set spot in Sunday's consolation game.  Legends faced OC Premier on Sunday afternoon and although we dominated much of the game, the girls couldn't put a ball in the net and we ended in a 0-0 tie.
    It was fun to finally see this team compete after months of training.  They have lots of kinks to work out, but they have a lot of passion and a great coach to guide them.  Taylor was strong at left and right midfield and I think she will be a good addition to this team.  They are back on the pitch again next weekend and have several tournament opportunities to improve before league begins in August...

Final Open House

Tonight is Allison's final Open House at TTES. Unfortunately, both girls have practice and Matt is working so I can't make it.  Mrs. McBride allowed me to come in after school and get a sneak peak at all they have been working on.

Allison's tear art self-portrait

 Plant and Animal Cell diagrams

 "Dream House" math assignment using area

 Our family poem project

 Apparently Allison sees herself as a cop in Hawaii keeping island citizens safe!

 Another creative math assignment

 Another self portrait in her Hawks uniform describing who she is...

 Iowa's state bird and state flower, along with Allison's creative version of what Iowa's stamp might look like.

 This class is counting down the last fews weeks of elementary school and working hard

as they prepare for the start of middle school.  It has been another successful year and I was impressed with all this class has been doing to finish the year off strong!