Jacob's First Car

Victoria BC - August

For a little family vacation this year we went to Victoria BC for a couple of days. It was the kids' first time going to Canada and Dan's first time in Victoria. We had a wonderful time doing all things Victoria! We went to Miniature World, the museum, went whale watching, ate delicious food and strolled the shops. The weather was absolutely perfect at a sunny 75 degrees with a light breeze coming off the harbor. Everyone agreed the food was the best part of the trip. We ate everything from fresh fish and chips on the docks to brunch on homemade biscuits to high tea foods like crustless sandwiches and mini macrons. It was a fun fast three days of Fisk Family Fun!

 

July

So, I have lost my habit of writing in the blog during the month and created one of writing all of the past month's adventures in one swoop. Instead of always feeling bad about this I decided to embrace what is working for me right now and write an end of the month summary of what we have been doing. This will fit my timeframe and help with Gramma's letters. So here is the summary for July and August, since I missed both of those months, since they are always super busy.

Amelia was busy hanging out with friends the month of July. She regularly had a gal pal over for the day or was over at someone's house. I am glad she is able to have so many nice friends. Really, she is constantly on the phone with one of them now. Usually over Facetime, which is a very cool invention for the preteen girl! She did volunteer at two different Vacation Bible Schools. The first one was a weekend sleepover for Hillspring Church. She was excited to be in a leadership role for the weekend, and especially since she was going alone to do it. She came home exhausted with many stories to tell about the good and sassy kids. The other VBS she volunteered at was at the Presbyterian Church. It was the same theme, so she knew all the games and Bible stories being told. That VBS was in the evenings during the week. Much to her surprise the one sassy girl from the Hillspring VBS was at the Presbyterian's VBS AND in her group! She learned a great lesson in patience those couple of days. 

For July Jack was super busy with Scouts and tennis. The boys went to Boy Scout camp in Idaho this summer. Jack had a great time at camp. He was part of the best/funniest camp skit. It had to do with birds and eggs, not really sure the details but Jack wore his pigeon mask and another boy had on a blowup chicken costume. I am assured, even by the adults, that the whole camp was rolling with laughter. Jack also participated in tennis for two weeks in July. His group this year in tennis not only included a lot of tennis but 30 minutes of athletic training. He did well and took the opportunity to improve his court movement and serving skills. He too helped at the Vacation Bible School at the Presbyterian church. He had fun because several of the Scouts helped so he had friends to hang out with at the same time as volunteering.

Jacob started July off with a fly-fishing trip to Montana with Uppa. Uppa's friend has a house and boat that his friend invited him to. Jacob was lucky enough to be invited too. Jacob caught the most fish but Uppa caught the biggest. Jacob said he really enjoyed himself and of course now needs a fly-fishing pole. Scout camp this year was not Jacob's favorite. He still had an ok time, but it just wasn't as fun as last year's, he said. I told him at least he didn't get pinkeye like last year. Jacob helped with the VBS at the Presbyterian church also. Really, he is the reason they all volunteered in the first place because Jacob needed 6 hours of service hours to rank up to First Class in Scout. He got his hours and is now First Class. He has to be First Class for four months before he can rank up again, which he will do as soon as the four months are up. When Jacob first started Scouts he wasn't really interested in ranking up or Eagle Scout. Now he is two ranks and three years away from finishing Scouts, so he says he might as well get Eagle since it is so doable. It is doable but the casual way he says this is ironic to me because ranking up to Eagle takes a lot of time, hard work and dedication. Jacob just naturally has all of those characteristics; he just doesn't see those as being anything unusual or something someone may have to create a habit around. 

One major milestone for Jacob this last month, which is directly related to Jacob's characteristics of hard work and dedication, was the purchase of his first car! Jacob set his sights on buying a car two years ago at the age of 13. He has spent the last two years umpiring, doing odd jobs and saving like crazy for his first car. He diligently looked on Facebook marketplace and Truck and Auto Auction for different cars he could purchase. He ended up deciding to bid on a 2008 Honda Accord from the Auto Auction. He bought it at the very top of his bidding limit, but he got it. The night he purchased the car he was in the throes of buyer's remorse, wondering if it was the right decision. :) And of course, it was a good decision! It is a very nice car for his first car. Now to clarify, we had said we would match the amount of money Jacob put up, so it was a 50-50 purchase. We could not be prouder of how hard Jacob worked and his financial savvy it takes to save up for this kind of purchase. 

Amelia

Amelia participated in the summer band camp through the school this summer. That means she went to band camp each morning for two weeks and ended the whole camp by performing in the Grand Old 4th of July parade in Pasco. The school district bused, fed the kids breakfast and lunch, and provided instruments the entire time. Amelia really enjoyed herself and even asked if she could move her Camp Ghormley time to July so she could go to band camp the entire time. (We couldn't change it but she only missed 4 days.) 

Now the parade took her by surprise. She came home the first day saying, "Did you know the parade is 2 miles long?" I told her I did, but I didn't want that to discourage her from trying. :) 

Because Amelia plays percussion we weren't sure what instrument she was going to be given. She started with cymbals but since she was gone four days and she was worried about carrying the cymbals for 2 miles she switched to maracas. She did a great job in the parade, but it was long, hot and exhausting. It ended up being 2.7 miles. Not sure if she will be in a parade again but it was a good experience for her. 

Amelia

Amelia went to Camp Ghormley again this year.  This year her friend Miran went too. She had a great time doing all the usual fun camp activities. I think I would have more to share about her camp experience, but Dad picked her up this year so she told him all about it on the way home. By the time she got home she was tired of talking about it. lol 

Tri Tech

This summer the boys both did Tri Tech, the local trade focused high school. Jacob did auto systems and Jack participated in the culinary program. Jacob did a good job in his. The auto systems class was a basic introductory course to fixing cars. Jacob has a little experience in that, so he didn't have as much learning as he did in welding last year. But he did a good job taking in new information. His instructor highly encouraged him to come back his junior year to take the auto systems class during the school year, which offers more learning than the two-week course. And for Jacob to consider the diesel engines course, which is offered by invitation only after the auto systems class.

Jack did a great job in the culinary program. He was the youngest person in the class, being 13 at the beginning but he did an awesome job. He brought him a lot of what he cooked to share with us. Towards the end of the course the head chef asked Jack to run a culinary station as a student-instructor since one of the student-instructors had to leave early. I was so proud to hear that Jack was excelling so well in the course that the head chef asked him to do that. He also obtained his state food handlers permit. Jack wants to use the food handlers permit to volunteer at the church's drink cart on Sundays and Wednesdays, which we think is a great idea! 

Jack

 Another day to recognize Jack this month is his birthday! He turned a big 14! We took him and some friends for pizza and video games at Shakey's. He had  great time spending way too much money on video games. We are so proud of Jack. He is really coming into his own responsible, kind, respectful young man. He loves to play video games, camp with the Scouts, his dog Rocky, food and going to Youth Group. I am so excited to see what his life will become as he enters high school and beyond!