Updates

Jacob had his 6th grade graduation/D.A.R.E graduation tonight. It was very exciting to learn that Jacob had earned the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence for his work this year. Basically it means that he worked really hard this year to overcome some challenges and excelled in doing so academically. We are very proud of him for all of his hard work. It was signed by President Obama and the Secretary of Education.

Earlier today the 6th graders went on a 15 mile bike ride out to Antelope Island. It was about 91 degrees today so the distance wasn't the only thing that made it challenging. I would like to say that I biked it with them but I didn't. I drove in the car and acted as a checkpoint so the kids knew where to go. Jacob did awesome! He was in the first group to arrive and on the way back was about 2 miles ahead of everyone. I think he has found his sport. He wasn't even worn out! Lance Armstrong look out! I was just tired driving around in the car all day.
The kids rode their bikes to the beach area on Antelope Island which is in the Great Salt Lake. I must say it is not a great place to recreate. It smells pretty bad like a giant gas bomb went off. The bugs are out of control too. The gnats were so bad they were crawling in our hair and biting everyone everywhere. There were clouds of them everywhere. There really was no way to escape. I had to wash my hair twice just to be sure they were all out. Then there were the sea gulls. About 50 of them kept circling around our group. Lots of them were dead on the beach and then others were dive bombing for everyone's lunch. Jacob and I ate in the car with the air conditioning on. We couldn't wait to get on the road and head back. I of course have no pictures of any of this because as usual, I forgot to take the camera.
He did have a fun time riding the bike though. It was nice to hang out with him too.

This past Tuesday at mutual the kids got to go to a C.O.P.E. course. It is a high ropes adventure course the Boy Scout Office has on site. One of the dads in our ward works at the scout office and runs the course. He invited the youth up for free for a mini version of his seminar. It was so awesome. The kids basically had to climb these rope challenges and they did great. Jacob did a giant ladder climb and the sky walk. He had to scale a telephone pole and then negotiate free hanging ropes with loops in the bottom of them to put your feet into. You had to try to swing from rope to rope, placing your feet in the loops. There was a rock climbing wall too. I tried that. It was pretty fun for a YM/YW activity. He has had a very full week. Me too!