Out With a Bang

I really liked the notes the kids wrote to their teachers at the end of the year.  Here are the ones I could get my hands on before they were given away:

 

I also appreciated the thank you notes I received from Eliza's class, since I led PE several times over the course of the year.

A few days before school got out, Luke's teacher gave each child a CD with a slideshow of pictures from the year.  It was really cute and Luke was excited to watch it with Cat and me one afternoon.  Every time Luke popped up Cat would squeal, "IT'S YOU!" and tickle Luke.  Loved it.

Our kids' last day of school was actually the next-to-last day, because we left that afternoon to drive to the airport for our big summer trip.  They were worried that they'd miss out on all of the fun end-of-the-year festivities, but it didn't end up being too bad.  Jack was able to participate in the older grades' kickball tournament that week.  They were all at school for the pancake breakfast.  And Field Day + Water Day was their last day.  I would have liked to see some of the activities that day (especially the fire engines spraying water on the field and kids for the younger grades in the afternoon, while the older kids were at the nearby city pool) but I needed to keep working on getting us ready for the trip.  It had been very cool and overcast all week and I was afraid water day would end up being cancelled, but they had it anyway, and the kids loved it.

(I texted the PTO president and asked if she could just send me any pictures from Field Day/Water Day
and this is one she sent me - Human Hungry Hippos - and Luke is actually in the picture, in the
background with the parachute, wearing his dark orange shirt and navy pants.)

The one important thing that was missed by the kids not attending school on the last day was Cat's awards ceremony and yearbook day.   She was a little sad to miss that day but she understood about the trip and was a good sport.  She found out later that she was given the English award for her grade, and her good friend was kind enough to pick up her yearbook for her and ask her friends to sign it, so Cat got that once we got back from our trip.