The Keene Family

 We can't believe JT is 12! We started with breakfast - cinnamon rolls were his choice. He also got gifts from his family and lots of hugs and smooches.  Later that day, we took some photos of the birthday boy with his favorite ladies.  And hosted a group of sixth grade boys for capture the flag, pizza, and cake.  On the weekend, he got to experience one of his gifts: go-kart racing with Jim! Then he came home to his family party. JT had requested chuck wagon wraps for dinner, and he got a unicycle among other fun gifts. We measured him as usual, and he is now five foot two inches. Crazy!

JT and his fifth grade school mates performed at the Veteran's Day Assembly, and this was the first assembly in his life that he has been moderately okay with being up front. (Read: didn't complain for weeks and instead appropriately internalized all anxiety. Ha!) Grandpa Cole came to watch and he was recognized as a veteran during the "stand if you..." portion of the assembly. It was very nice!

JT turned 11! We started with a party with friends, Friday night at Ocean 5, for laser tag and arcade games. We hosted a family brunch on Saturday with JT's choices: Jim's French toast, sausages, and fruit. He got some awesome gifts and noticed that this year he received "no toys, only tools." I guess he's hit that point! He is officially 85 pounds and 4' 11". I think he'll pass me by age 13. Yikes! He got some popsicles from Aunt Gena and Uncle Jeff (what a fun idea!) and shared with his sister later that day. The actual day, we were leaving for a camping trip, so we didn't do much except grab a photo on the deck on our way out. I lovvvve this photo of him!

The Keene family had two field trips on one day! Fortunately, Jim wasn't working that day and he went with JT while I went with Haley... and my Mom Tribe from school. :) Jim and JT enjoyed their day at Pioneer Farms by bus. The girls went to the Seattle Aquarium by bus and by ferry.

The kids had been waiting for weeks! Minefaire finally came to Seattle, and I got free tickets through my connections at work. We invited Jozie and Sawyer to join us for a day of fun! We left home at 8 AM and headed west on the ferry.  We were told to grab spots in line at VR right away, and I'm glad we did. We only waited about 30 minutes and the lines throughout the day get to 90 minutes long! The kids then got to explore all the exhibits and play lots of different games. They got to ask experts questions (who I know, through work!). They got to build with Legos... And do more VR without waiting in line at all, thanks to someone I know who let the kids into the booth without us waiting in line! At my work's booth, the kids drew pictures and learned how to build entities in Minecraft and even use a 3D printer. At the end of the day, we did an escape room experience too and that was super fun! We drove home about 5:3...