First Day of School

First day of school time! Nathan started 9th grade and high school! Elizabeth started 7th grade. 

Nathan's new school! 

Elizabeth is at the same school as last year. 

Nathan had to go to school the day before everyone else. They had a "freshman day" where only freshman went to school. He has to be on the bus at 6:55 AM and it drops them off at school around 7:30. School starts at 7:55.  It's quite the early day for us. For the vast majority of the year, he'll be waiting in the dark at the bus stop. Hopefully next year, he can drive most of the time. He gets out of school at 2:25. Right now, he has cross country practice from 3-5 so we have a group of moms carpooling to pick up the kids from our neighborhood that are running cross country. 

His classes are Earth Science, Health, Geography, Language Arts, Algebra, Woodworking and Spanish 2. He knows Spanish 2 will be his hardest class. 

Elizabeth will continue to ride her bike or scoot down the hill to school. It takes her about 5-7 minutes. Her school also starts at 7:55 and gets out at 2:25.  This fall, she is going to try out cross country. Her practice is from 2:30 to 4 and then she will scoot home. 

Her classes are Gen Math 2, Orchestra, Art, Washington State History, Life Science, and Language Arts. 

 

Summer Videos

 

Nathan's 15th birthday party

Here is Nathan on his 15th birthday on the 15th of August! 

We had a party a week later with the grandparents and Auntie Laura. 

Cupcakes! 

 

Nathan is 15

 Nathan is 15! He is 5'8" tall and weighs 137 pounds. He's quite a bit taller than me and wants to catch Jeremy but we will see about that!  

When he grows up, he wants to do something in construction or heavy equipment. 

His favorite books are Sylo and Ranger's Apprentice.

His favorite TV shows are The Mandalorian. 

His favorite movies are Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman and the Bourne Identity. 

His favorite subject at school is science and his least favorite is Spanish. 

He dislikes running in the heat. 

He likes to run, throw darts, watch rocket launches, and read. 

Nathan's allergies are all the same. The doctor did another blood test last month and nothing has changed. He is still allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, and kiwi. However, he has been taking allergy shots for 3 years and it has improved his oral allergy syndrome so his mouth doesn't itch as much when he eats certain fresh fruits and vegetables. He can now eat  melons, peppers, plums, peaches, apples, and baby carrots without making his mouth itch. We are so glad he's tried eating these foods and can now eat them comfortably! He's tolerating ragweed season very well right now whereas Elizabeth is having a rough time. His grass allergy seems to be quite a bit better as well. 

He starts 9th grade soon! Moving on to high school! His high school is quite large and there will be a lot of people he doesn't know. He's going to take Algebra, Spanish 2, Woodworking, Health, LA 9, Earth/Physical Science, and World Geography. 

He's been running all summer in preparation for cross country this fall. He runs in the evenings around 8 when the sun is setting and it's cooler outside. We both take our runs/walks then. It might still be 95 degrees but when the sun isn't beating down on you, it's not too bad.  His Cross Country practices begin the week before school starts. 

I'm going to look into getting him signed up for Driving School when his cross country season is over. He'll do driving school in Nov or Dec. There won't be time for him to go to driving classes 3 days a week when he also has cross country. Cross county is every day from 3-5 PM and then meets or practices every Saturday. 

Space X Trip

A family member of ours works at the Space X Starlink manufacturing facility in Redmond. We were invited for a private tour to see the process to make the satellites. Nathan loves all things SpaceX so we knew we had to go check it out before school started. 

On our way, we stopped at Snoqualmie Falls. It was a nice cool overcast day unlike what we were having at home! We found lots of blackberries to pick! 

We also found a doodle romp...so many doodles everywhere. 

Top of Snoqualmie Falls

We then hiked down to the bottom of Snoqualmie Falls. The hike down was great! The hike back up was quite a challenge. 

Bottom of the falls. 

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the SpaceX manufacturing facility but were allowed to take a photo in the lobby. They make 6 satellites a day here and we watched them going through the process from start to finish. It was neat to see the finished satellites ready to be put on a truck and shipped to Florida! Thanks for the tour R!