Caitlyn's Award Ceremony

Last week was the end of the 2nd trimester for Caitlyn's school. This week, she had the award ceremony. She got Principal's Honor Roll again for getting top marks in all her subjects, Perfect Attendance and an award for Character, Cooperation and Teamwork (which is kind of their replacement for citizenship but it has become kind of a joke because it is one of those rotating awards...so you even if you keep demonstrating these characteristics, you probably won't get it next time and it will go to someone else).

Four kids total in the fifth grade got the Principal's Honor Roll. Three of them were in Caitlyn's class. Four other kids got honor roll in the fifth grade and that was it. It is getting pretty sad. I was a little worried about the results from the first trimester in her grade level as there were not very many high achieving kids in her class...no wonder the school is doing so dismally. But I heard from another mom about her son in the 6th grade and he was one of only two kids that got the Principal's Honor Roll this time. 

We are of course, super proud that Caitlyn has been able to maintain this level of performance after skipping a grade, but we are a little uncertain of how much her current teacher challenges her since all the kids are doing so poorly. In addition, they made her class kind of a 5th/6th combo class so now the teacher's time is split between them. On top of that, she was out during the summer and the beginning month of the school year because she just had a baby...so, I just don't see Caitlyn or the other two kids that are doing well as a priority for her. 

It's probably not a major problem, but it's not a good situation nonetheless.

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As a  side note, since Emily is now part of the Young Women's program, she had her first mutual the other night. As luck would have it, her first mutual night was going to be a trip to the temple. We found out about it, just shortly before. They gave us their schedule and said that they had to meet up early at the church so that they can do interviews with the kids and then they would leave at 5. They were supposed to be at the temple around 7 and they would take the kids out to eat on the way.

Because this is Emily's first trip to temple since being sealed, Christian wanted to go with her, so he decided to get off work early and meet them there. He did and got there in plenty of time...only to find out that they were already inside and basically halfway done. He was supposed to drive her home but came to find out that the reason that they were halfway done is that they did not stop to eat so she was hungry and still wanted to go out to eat with the rest of the youth. He turned around and came home by himself. It was pretty frustrating to say the least. Nothing turned out as it should have. 

Apparently, the appointment to the temple is never the same and the leader that gave me the schedule wasn't even going so apparently, she must have just gave me a run down of what "typically" happens but didn't advise me of it so we expected that was their schedule and were totally caught off guard when they didn't follow what they told us. We were none to pleased to say the least.

The Caldwells on 'Crack'

Last weekend was the Heat concert at UCR, so we ditched our initial plans to have a birthday party for Emily and fled to the desert. We decided to go to the Stirrup Tank area in Joshua Tree. We climbed at a rock formation called "Zippy Rock."

Our plan was to do some crack climbing practice on a route called "Gargoyle."

It was a 60' pitch going up a mostly hand sized crack. We practiced various hand jamming techniques. Christian led as usual and then the rest of us top roped the route the first time. Then we all went a second time and practiced lead climbing while still on the top rope. Actually, Christian's second time was just on the top rope as he went up to check on my placements.

Caitlyn did really good considering how she started climbing. She has come a long way. She still has her reservations but she grits through it and has probably even surprised herself in her accomplishments. I think that she is really enjoying climbing, although sometimes, she doesn't like to admit it.

Emily was back in good form when she went up the first time on top rope. We were quite relieved as she has had a lot of trouble on her climbs lately. She always wants to go climbing and can speak of nothing else sometimes, but lately, when she gets out there, she doesn't seem to have her heart and mind on the task and struggles a lot or fails. She struggled a bit more while lead climbing the route the second time, even though she was still on top rope but eventually made it up.

After we were done, Christian and I did a short 50' pitch called "Free As Can Be." That was a pretty fun climb in the end. The holds were pretty small and thin but they were definitely there and it made all the difference. We wanted the girls to try it as well, but they took off exploring and did not come back in time. I think that after the hard face climbs that Christian and I did the last time we were in Joshua Tree made all these routes seem a lot easier than we might think otherwise.

There was still a small amount of daylight left and Christian didn't want to waste it. Since the girls had not come back yet, he decided to try a harder route called "Die Young." He said that it wasn't too bad but I wasn't up to giving that one a try yet. The route is rated at 5.9 whereas the previous route is rated at only 5.7.

We had some dinner and had to decide what we were going to do about camping. We had planned to spend the night in Joshua Tree since we didn't want to sit in our house, listening to the dishes rattle in our cupboards until 1:am. It is too nerve wracking and it just makes us mad, so it is better to just go away.

We considered just staying out in this area and camping as it is kind off the beaten path but technically, it is illegal to leave our car parked in this area which is for day use only. The closest parking area is at least a good 40 minute walk away.

While the kids finished dinner, Christian and I took a walk to see if we could find another climb that was recommended in the crack climbing circuit. We could not find it. We did find another couple that decided to stay and camp there but in the end, we decided not to risk it. It would not be worth it to wake up in the morning to find a pricey ticket on our vehicle. 

We put our gear in our car and decided to take a moonlit walk up to the high point in the area. It was pretty nice out. Lots of stars that we don't normally get to see from home.

Afterwards, we drove out to the nearest campground and although it didn't seem too bad, it doesn't take but one group to make it a nightmare and of course, there was that one group out there that you can hear from nearly a mile away.

In the end, we bid our time a bit to look at some other climbs we were interested in and then left by a new route. We saw several things we wanted to come back and explore. The kids and I took a nap on the way home. The road took us nearly into AZ though before heading back home so we had quite a ways to go. When we got back, the concert was over, the kids were somewhat rested so we all had baths and showers and we settled down for a movie together before calling it a night...technically, it was morning.

Emily turns 12!

A sad day for mom and dad. Emily is now 12 and is graduating from Primary. She will be awarded her Faith In God Award next week. She grew 3 inches this past year! She is almost as tall as I am now. She probably will be just as tall as I am by summer. Her foot size is almost the same size as well.

It is a school day so we had a quiet evening at home. A friend joined us for dinner to help us celebrate her birthday. We had dinner, dessert and presents and then they spent the rest of the evening playing Wii.

For my part, I was exhausted and couldn't wait to call it a night. I don't know if it was all the cooking, baking and preparing for her birthday or just the thought that Emily is becoming a young woman now that makes me feel my age...maybe a little of both and the fact that I haven't been sleeping that well!

San Diego

This past weekend, we travelled to San Diego to visit with Christian's family. We were celebrating Christian's mom's birthday.

When we got there, she had a bunch of stuff for the kids to work on. You'd think that it was the girls' birthdays instead of hers. They each got a Kenex roller coaster kit.

They had a lot of fun putting it together and it kept them occupied all day. We had a late lunch with most of the family. We got Christian's mom a little Navajo tapestry from one of the Pow Wow's held here.

We just sat around and hung out most of the time. It rained on and off while we were there. We got a phone call later though asking us all to go to Christian's sister's house. Apparently, our oldest nephew got his Mission Call and they wanted everyone to be there when they opened it.

They were all pretty nervous and it was kind of an emotional event. He will report to the MTC in Argentina 5 days after school ends. He will be serving a Spanish speaking Mission in Uruguay!