The Isaac Family Insider

Monday, June 23, 2014

Father's Day Camping Trip

While I was having fun with Sarah, Jason and the kids were having fun of their own. Our family friends went camping in Kings Canyon National Park and since we've basically deprived our kids of childhood camping, Jason decided to take the kids and join them. From what I have heard, it was an awesome trip- our kids loved being with their friends out in nature! One story worth remembering-Jeremy was playing legos by himself in their tent when everyone began the hike to go get ice cream at the General Store. It took a bit for Jason to realize that Jeremy wasn't with everyone- he was still back at camp! Jason rushed back to find Jeremy completely oblivious that there wasn't a single person around. He was totally consumed by his legos! This camping trip was during Father's Day weekend and I wasn't around... Jason gave up "his" day so that I could take my sisters' trip with Sarah. He definitely proved why I think he's an amazing dad. Our kids are so lucky to have such a wonderful, loving man for their dad!
Thank you to all of our friends who helped Jason out this weekend! And, since I wasn't there to take pictures, all of these memories were captured by them.

Sisters' Getaway Trip to L.A.

After my trip to Chicago with Jason, Sarah and I talked about how fun it'd be to have a sisters' trip. We thought about going to Toronto since it's a place I haven't been but Jason has been, but when we saw how much it'd cost, we decided to look elsewhere. In the end, we chose L.A. because it also gave the chance for Jason and the kids to join up with us for part of that time. We used airbnb.com to find a cute little add-on suite in L.A. The location was close to everything we wanted to be near! Here are some of our trip's highlights...

Day 1
Sarah and I took a walking tour through the Los Angeles Conservancy. We learned so much about some historic places in downtown L.A.

Later that night, we went to the Pantages Theater to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. To be honest, it's not a show that I would want to see again, but at least I can cross it off my list as something I've seen.

Day 2
We were very excited to go on a Cupcake Tour! We visited 6 different places and got to try some wonderful desserts.

Georgetown Cupcake

Tartine O Chocolat

Joan's on Third

Simplethings

Sweet E's

Magnolia Bakery

Day 3

We got to see Jimmy Kimmel Live today! The L.A. Kings just won the Stanley Cup on Sat., so two players came on the show with the cup. The mayor of L.A. was there as well to collect on a bet with New York's mayor. He had to sing a song about L.A. and even had hotdogs flown in for the audience. The main guest was Lena Horn, who is an actress on Game of Thrones. Neither of us watch that show, but it was cool nonetheless.

After the taping, Sarah and I checked out the Hollywood Walk of Fame before ending up at The Grove. We went to see The Fault in Our Stars... Whoa, talk about a tearjerker! Glad I was there with my sister- no one else needed to see my ugly cry face! Ha!

Day 4
This was a reeeeallly long day! We spent 8 hours from start to finish at the taping of the blind auditions for The Voice. What a thrill it was to see Adam Levine, Gwen Stefani, Pharrell Williams, and Blake Shelton. It was such a long process and there was a lot of waiting. Still, I'm so glad Sarah was ok going with me because there's no way Jason would've done that with me! They were very strict about cell phones and we went the entire time without phones, so I don't have any pictures to show of that time. After the taping though, we went to dinner at Wolfgang Puck's- my dinner was definitely memorable! We also returned to The Grove to get a cupcake from Sprinkles (they weren't a part of the cupcake tour and we definitely needed to include that!)

Day 5
On our last morning, we took a tour of the Warner Bros. Studios. FUN! I definitely want to return with Jason some time. We got to see some different movie and t.v. sets, including the retired Friends set. We also got to visit their museum which is featuring a Harry Potter exhibit and a Batman exhibit.

I am so grateful that Sarah and I got to take this trip together. She is truly one of my dearest friends and it is freeing to know that I can just "be" with her! I wonder where our next trip will take us?!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Life Changes

The end of this school year was really difficult because it meant the end of our life as we've known it. Jason and I made a life changing decision for the upcoming school year! I have decided to take a part-time position teaching gifted students- that means that I will no longer have a class or classroom of my own. Next year, I will be a traveling teacher, going to 7 different sites. It's exciting that I'll get to work with a population that I am passionate about- gifted students! I've done a lot over the past few years with gifted education and I feel like this is a good fit for me. The timing worked out perfectly.
Our goal with this change is for me to have less stress and more demands on my time... We hope it'll mean more time for our family. To be honest, this year has been draining and I welcome the change for a slower pace of life. People have asked whether it'd be possible for someone like me to work part-time. I look at it as this- the amount that I work this next year can't possibly come even close to what I've been doing for the past few years. So even if I do work more than what I need to, it'll still be less and manageable. I'm thankful for the opportunity and am looking forward to what is in store for us next year!

It was an emotional end to the year, to have to pack up my entire classroom and say goodbye to a community that I truly value being a part of. It was also the end of working with one of my closest teacher friends/grade level partners, Michelle Stilson. It took both Jason and I four carloads of boxes to move everything home. For now, everything is in our garden shed! I'm supposed to spend time this summer going through the boxes and getting rid of as much as I can! We'll see about that! :)

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Way to go, Grace!!!!

It's hard to believe that I'm now blogging about the end of our school year... Where did the time go?!

Grace's Year End Orchestra concert

Grace had a wonderful year and insists that she would like to continue playing the violin next year.

Grace's Year End Awards Ceremony

Grace set a goal to earn straight As this year. She did it! Each of the gold stickers in the corners of her certificate indicate that she earned High Honors for each quarter. We are so very proud of her accomplishments! She has worked incredibly hard to stay on top of her schooling and still be involved in music and sports! For those efforts, she also earned the Block M award. Yay!

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Jeremy's Year End Concert

Hard to believe that Jeremy's kindergarten year has come to an end. He was highly successful this year, and gave us many, many reasons to be proud. He was definitely one of the top readers in his class, finishing the year at Accelerated Reader Level 3.1 (that's 3rd grade), Fountas & Pinnell Level N (Kinders on grade level read at Level D). As well, our school uses a math program called ST Math and he finished all of the kindergarten and first grade levels, as well as most of the second grade level. He still says his favorite things about school are learning and his teacher!
At their year-end concert, the kinder classes sang a few songs and each student also got a chance to say into the microphone what they want to be when they grow up. Jeremy's response: "I want to be a builder." He later elaborated with us and said he wants to be a lego builder.

We have decided to have him move on to first grade at Harvest since he loves it and I'm still so connected there.

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Spring Cleanup at Shaver Lake

For the past few years, in the springtime, we've gone up as a family to the cabin at Shaver Lake to help cleanup. The weekend mostly consists of raking pine needles and piling logs, but it's a chance for the family to spend some time together.