Summer!

As you can see from my lack of blog entries, the past months have been busy. The last few weeks of school seemed especially busy. In addition to the two classes I taught all year, I was the yearbook advisor. I never actually worked on a yearbook at my own high school, but I enjoy scrapbooking - that must count for something, right? There were also a few things related to the school board that had to be done (like preparing next year's schedule). It's nice to say, that summer is here and I don't have to work (much) on those things now. It's also nice to say that I'll be teaching one class next year, so my load at school next year should be a bit more manageable .

School Graduation Ceremony: handing out diplomas

Of course, the end of school meant moving from one busy to another busy! This summer has been one of the more eventful summers we've had in awhile.

Sean and I are the on-field coordinators for an Adventures in Missions (AIM) team. You can read all about it on our family blog: http://themccluefamily.blogspot.com/. They've been here more than two months now and it is exciting to imagine what God will do through them. I've already noticed many good things: several teen girls who struggle with faith being encouraged by conversations with the AIM girls, a lady in the congregation loving the opportunity to "mother" the AIMers when they are at her small group; my own kids excitement at seeing the AIMers' new apartments.

At this year's Tierra Firme youth camp, my mom and I were the "chief chefs". We cooked ten consecutive meals for 35 people. Now, for those of you who often are camp cooks, that might sound like a summer stroll. My mom and I, however, have not been camp cooks in the past. And - we might be able to win "the most rustic award" if our kitchen went up against yours :)



Seriously, though, we had a great time. We fixed good camp favorites like spaghetti and more Mexican camp meals like carne de puerco en salsa verde. The funniest thing is that the pancakes turned out horribly - they were more like biscuits - and both my mom and I have been making pancakes for many years! The teens loved them anyway. The camp went very well and I really enjoyed the extra time with my mom.

Tierra Firme Youth Camp

This summer our special visitors have included: Sean's mom; my parents along with 3 other adults from the Northwest church of Christ; a Let's Start Talking team from Kalispell, Montana; and a youth group from the North Atlanta church of Christ. It's been a good summer and we are thankful for all of the good things that have happened.

Sarah

In April, we began fixing up Sarah's "new" room. On the third floor of our house, we have a room that Sean used as an office for a couple of years. Last year, he moved his office to a nook on the second floor. We decided to fix it up for Sarah - giving her and Philip their own rooms.


Sarah said she wanted the roof blue like the sky and the walls pink. By adding some purple curtains, she ended up with a very girly room. We all had fun working together to fix it up.




Sarah has enjoyed having her own room. It's been good for both of the kids to have their own space and to continue developing their own personalities and interests.

As for interests, Sarah has decided she will be a veterinarian in China and save the pandas. Recently, she said she would like to start learning Chinese now, "while she's still young and it's easy to learn". Ah, yes, my cross-cultural soon-to-be 5th grader understands that the older you are, the harder it is to learn. She came home from school one day in the spring and informed us that beginning at age 20, brain cells begin to die. That's why it's harder to learn things when you're an adult and also why adults forget so many things.

On another note, Sarah ended the school year well. She made the honor roll 3 quarters and the high honor roll 1 quarter. She enjoyed her fourth grade year, but is also enjoying laying the books aside for summer vacation - except, of course, for some summer reading.

Philip

Philip is - well, a boy. He is prefers to be active; though he does have the ability to sit still when necessary. He has been known to say, "I need to go outside and get some exercise!" He enjoys skateboarding, riding his bike and riding his scooter.


Philip finished 2nd grade this year. He received the award for the highest GPA in his class. When Philip's name was announced, Sarah said "My brother is smart." We were all proud of him. He also, very appropriately, received the "Curious George Award". His fascination with monkeys, apes and such has not declined. I recently asked him what he plans to be when he grows up. He says he will "live with the monkeys and protect them so no one hurts them".

Philip loves to explain things and is very detailed when he does so. Here he is telling Sean all about the cool playground that he and Sarah played on while Sean played in a tennis tournament.

This summer, Philip has enjoyed the extra time to play, also a little reading and fun time with our summer visitors. He is also looking forward to the start of school, though probably not as anxiously as his sister.

Universum and El Rollo

Spring Break has been over for about three weeks, but I still have some fun things to share about our time off. So, "better late than never".

The kids and I went to a museum called "Universum". It's located on the UNAM campus, not far from where we live. It's a science museum with lots of fun hands-on learning and well-done demonstrations. We were at the museum for two and a half hours and didn't manage to see everything! We decided that next time we'll arrive early, eat lunch at the cafe and finish seeing everything before the museum closes.

Sarah and Philip by the model of the moon. There was also a real moon rock!

Philip learned that electricity can travel through a potato. However, neither he nor Sarah volunteered for the Van de Graaff (static) generator demonstration.

Sarah had fun showing how centrifugal force works. (And centripetal force, since "every action has an equal and opposite reaction".)

We were all amazed at the size of the whale skeletons.

During Spring Break, we also went to our favorite water park, El Rollo. We left an overcast Mexico City, but when we arrived at El Rollo (south of Cuernavaca) the sun was shining and the sky was clear. It was a great day to be at the waterpark; the weather was great and the park wasn't too crowded. We were joined by two of the teens from the church and everyone had a good time. Sarah and Philip are now both tall enough to go on most of the slides; so, they spent every bit of energy they had, but still weren't ready to go home at the end of the day. Sean took some great pictures of the park!

The end of the day..... And the end of spring break....