Having never been to Castle Rock myself, I decided to take the family up there for a quick trip. Margaret mostly complained the whole way up there about how far it was and that she didn’t really want to go. Once we got to the rocks, Sam, Margaret, and Elizabeth scampered all over the place. Margaret didn’t want to leave in the end.
We all went to Ann Arbor to see what Katy has been doing for the last couple of months. We were able to go to a frat party, wonder around campus a lot, go to the big house, and other things that make up Katy’s college life. The kids also got to see where Elizabeth grew up, her various schools etc. Margaret is ready to go to college now. And of course, we got to take Katy out shopping at the most expensive stores we could find in Ann Arbor.
Katy is all set in her dorm room at the University of Michigan. Football game this weekend, classes start after labor day.
On Katy’s last full here before she went to college, we decided to go to one of her favorite places, the aquarium. Fun was had by all. We even got Pinkberry.
Sam was off to middle school and Margaret to high school. If you click on the pictures above, you can see that Margaret is continuing the fine tradition of wearing really small shorts to school that Katy pioneered for the last 4 years. Katy is off to Michigan in a few days. Margaret has started cross country and seems to be enjoying it a lot at the high school. Sam seems pretty ambivalent about middle school.
We had a family outing to Marin. We tried to go to Muir Woods, but it was too hard, so we just wandered around Mill Valley and Sausolito for a little while, then went to Marin Headlands for some photo ops.
We tried a hike that we had never done before. The hike to Ellis Peak. I am glad we did it, but probably will not do it again. The best part of the hike was just after the initial climb. We came to the top of an open ridge covered in flowers and had big views out over desolation wilderness. The views from the top of Ellis Peak were better, but it was a lot further to get to.
When we got back later that day, Margaret went into the back yard and took some pictures of a few of the flowers behind our house.
We all went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I did not realize how much Katy liked to watch the fishes. I think we could have left her alone in front of the large tank all day long. I am trying to revive taking the kids somewhere on most weekends. We live in such a great place, we should take advantage of it. Sam doesn’t remember doing a lot of really cool things we have done over the years.
All done with graduations. We have a party in a couple days and then a trip to Ann Arbor. The younger kids spent the entire day outside saving seats. Tonight Katy and Elizabeth have grad night. I assume there will be a lot of sleeping tomorrow.
Elizabeth (with a little bit of help) created a really nice senior board for Katy. Katy won’t see this until grad night after graduation.