Happy 15th Birthday Talia!
Talia is growing up to be such a beautiful young lady, both inside and out. She is not only beautiful but smart and caring too. I know that she will do great things one day.
Talia’s 15th Birthday Party
Talia had her 15th birthday party today. Everyone met at our house for pizza and cake, then it was off the ice rink. Everyone had a great time!
Talia’s First Day of High School
Talia started high school today. She is going to the school just down the street from the school Jared, Riley, Aidan and Kayli go to. That makes it easy for me to drop her off on the way to taken the other kids to school. We had to do a transfer to get her into that school, since we live out of the boundaries for that school. Our home high school is in a totally different direction and it would have been very difficult to get her to school each morning. Plus, her best friends were all going to this school and she really wanted to go there instead of our home school.
When she picked up her schedule a few weeks ago, they had her down for Japanese and World Geography Honors. She did not want either of those class, having put down French and Theater as her electives. We talked to her counselor about it and she was very happy to see that her final schedule has French and Theater and not Japanese and World Geography Honors. She has a few friends in some of of her classes, but not many. I’m sure she will make new friends though. Her locker is by all of her best friends, so they are able to meet there at lunch. She already had homework today and did it without to much complaining.
Here’s some more of the pictures we took before she left for school this morning.
Talia’s 8th Grade Graduation
Talia’s 8th grade graduation mass was held this evening. It was such a lovely ceremony. It was somewhat bitter sweat as this will be the last time we will see some of these kids that Talia has gone to school with since kindergarten. We are happy that several of Talia’s good friends will be attending the same high school with her next year.
Talia’s 8th Grade Award’s Ceremony and Dance
Talia’s 8th grade award’s ceremony was held tonight. Here’s a list of the awards she received:
•Technology Award for her work on SBS TV.
•Gold Cord for making honor roll all three trimesters of 8th grade. It was presented to her by her father, who also received one when he graduated from St. Bonaventure.
•The Mayors Award for making honor roll every trimester for the past 5 years, presented to her by the Mayor of Huntington Beach.
One of Talia’s best friends since kindergarten also received a Mayors Award.
• 11 Academic Pins for: Religion, Altar Serving, Literature, Spanish, Social Studies, Computer, English, Science, Citizenship, Service and Perfect Attendance
After the ceremony, everyone went over to the hall for the first dance of the evening. The boys danced with their mother and the girls danced with their fathers.
After the first dance, the parents were kicked out and the kids had their dance.
We took a few pictures before the ceremony. Here’s Talia with her friend Kate.
and Talia, Kate and Anais.
Talia’s 8th Grade Graduation Portraits
Here’s a few of my favorite shots from the portrait session I did for Talia’s 8th grade graduation.
Talia’s 8th Grade Trip
Talia spent the last week back east on her 8th grade trip. She had so much fun! They were gone from May 22nd to May 30th. Here’s a list of where they went and what they saw.
In DC they went to:
FDR and Jefferson Memorials
Capital Hill tour
Supreme Court
Library of Congress
Union Station
Mount Vernon
Home of George Washington
Old Town Alexandria Ghost Tour
Wreath laying at WWII Memorial
Spy Museum
Mass at The Shrine
Smithsonian Museum
Smithsonian American History Museum
National Archives
Lincoln, Vietnam and Korean War Memorials
Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial
Arlington National Cemetery
National Cathedral Tour
Fords Theater tickets
Potomac River Cruise Dinner
Then they went to Pennsylvania:
Gettysburg visitors center
Dobbins House and Underground Railroad
Battlefield Tour
Amish Country Experience Tour
Independence Hall
Congress Hall
Liberty Bell
National Constitution Center
Franklin Court
Christ Church
Elfreth’s Alley
Then on to New York:
Empire State Building
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Times Square
Rockefeller Center
NBC Studio Tours
Broadway Show – Wicked
Ellis Island
Statue of Liberty
Wall Street
Ground Zero
China Town
Little Italy
Greenwich Village
Here’s a few of the hundreds of photos taken during the trip.
Talia and Kayli’s No On Prop 1A Video
I was telling Talia and Kayli about the Orwellian doublespeak being used by the California government to promote prop 1A. After talking with me about it, they did some research on their own and decided to make an of their “Eskimo Talk Shows” video about it. (They have done several other “Eskimo Talk Shows”.) Talia then wrote a script and directed the filming. During the filming Talia learned how hard it is to work with little kids while trying to get Falyn to do what she wanted. Talia and Kayli both worked on editing it and this is the video they created. The only help I gave them was to lend them my aiptek camera and tripod.
Talia’s 14 Birthday
We celebrated Talia’s birthday yesterday with a family dinner party. Dan’s parents were there and Aunt Samantha was able to make it too. Here’s a few more pictures.
Talia’s 14th Birthday Party
Talia had a slumber party with her best friends last night to celebrate her birthday. The girls were all very well behaved and they all had a great time.
