Pulling the Last Link

Of the last countdown calendar...forgot to post this one on Friday:

Last Day of High School!

 

Swords Into Plowshares

The group that is melting down the Charlottesville confederate statues to make new art came as guest speakers to Abby's government class. They offered them t-shirts in exchange for a picture in them:

Vinyl Time

We've been trying to clear out some of our storage space and send under-used items on to better homes (there has been SO much freecycling). We had three milk cartons full of vinyl albums in a closet and the attic, and I wanted to check to see what condition they were in before deciding what to do with them. We borrowed a record player from a neighbor and hauled out the boxes. Benji did not realize we had all of this vinyl and had never heard rock music on a record before (previously having only heard Christmas songs played by Pop-pop). to say he was delighted would be an understatement. It became quickly clear that giving away or selling the albums was off the table, so now we need to find a spot to host a record player so we can actually listen to them:

Evans Orchestra Final Concert

Benji has had a great time in Evans this year. He is going to try out for the higher level - the Youth Symphony Orchestra - next year, but if he ends up back in Evans he will not be disappointed. They had a fun program and Benji (and the other 3 woodwinds) got a featured portion in the Mission Impossible theme and a special bow in recognition of it:

I didn't know the woodwinds were going to be ask to stand for special recognition, so I just barely caught a blurry picture of the end of it

Strawberry Picking 2022

The blog has been slow this month because we have been busy getting ready for graduation and other end-of-year fun. But we took some time out on Sunday to head to Critzers for strawberry picking. It was 90 degrees, which was not ideal, but there was a nice breeze and it was a beautiful blue sky day. The fields were bursting with ripe strawberries so it only took about 10 minutes to fill two buckets, and we ended out visit as we always do, with their homemade strawberry ice cream eaten in the shade by their little lake:

These super sweet strawberries have already been turned into strawberry rhubarb pie, strawberry shortcake, and strawberry sauce for pancakes next weekend

Mother's Day 2022

 A late Easter and an early Mother's Day made it seem like we had just had a big brunch and outdoor flower pictures, which are two of our usual Mother's Day activities. Add in a drizzly, grey, cold day and a late night at a movie the night before, and we were all pretty low-energy for the day, which suited it fine. We had a quiet snuggle morning with a decadent brunch of pastries from Marie Bette, followed by relaxing, a few "light" games, presents and eventually a fire. Gammy joined us for a lasagna dinner prepared by Kevin:

morning snuggles

Brunch spread

handmade card and chocolate from my boy

Beautiful card and a cool apron from my girl

Back at the Drive-In

Benji has never been a big fan of movie theaters, and since COVID hit, he has not been willing to go back. But we all wanted to see the newest Marvel movie, Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so we bought tickets to see it at the Goochland Drive-in. We all like the atmosphere of the drive-in, although it turned out to be a brutally cold and wet night which posed some extra challenges:

We ate dinner in our seats for neatness sakes, but soon after we call crawled into the back of the van to get cozy. We had brought a bunch of games and played some catchphrase and password before it was time to set up

It was tricky for all of us to fit inside and also see the screen. Benji and I opted to scrunch into the far corner where it was warmest and we could see the whole thing well

Abby opted to sit in the tailgate, but leaning forward because there was no clear view from her side. Kevin went with a lawn chair outside, but was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g by the end of the night.

Kentucky Derby Hats

Since we were home this weekend, we decided to have some fun and make hats for the derby. We did not actually watch (a recording of) the derby until Sunday, but we dutifully re-donned our head gear:

Senior Celebration Day

 Abby caught up with her classmate Justine, who is also going to Dartmouth:

Last Day of CBI Sunday School (Ever!)

 Their were teacher gifts, as well as gifts from Shelby:

Abby's Senior Prom

 We were invited over to Lucy's house beforehand to take pictures of the girls together:

A few pictures at home first

Solo shot in the field

The CHS girls - Lucy, Caroline, Elisabeth, Ella and Abby

With Iris, who transferred to Tandem (CHS did not allow guests this year)

The Mother-Daughter book club crew (and Abby's closest CHS friends)

They posed willingly with their moms!

Bisa Butler Art Exhibit

While we were at CHS for Benji's concert, we also got to see the art exhibit currently featuring Abby's painting of the Obama family. The exhibit was based on the work of Bisa Butler and the student art was exceptional: