Jack turns 6!

Our little Snoopy turned 6! Hard to believe.

Hard to believe that Peanuts is officially vintage and not the animated lingua franca of childhood any longer. For my generation, the Schultz cartoon was part of print culture, the Sunday morning ritual of pouring over the LA Times' Calendar and "funnies" section. A ritual entirely foreign to Michael and Jack.

Even the merchandising was hard to come by.

Carolyn made the dog house while Michael - loving performance - dressed in his Snoopy costume without embarrassment, reminding me of last summer when he refused to change out of lederhosen in downtown Lausanne. What costume will he be refusing to change out of 10 years from now?

The cake! SoCal heat - even for spring and fall outdoor birthdays - always tests my frosting.

Several games: Egg and Spoon Race, Linus & Lucy Freeze tag,

Flour Snowball Fight and, the favorite, the water shooters!

Carolyn's parties are elaborate and simple; loads of work but the games are socially interactive.

Big Lots had 60th Anniversary Peanuts mugs for sale!

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On the actual day, we had a smaller gathering

Michael is quite generous and has a hole in his pocket, I'm afraid. Loves to give away.The Kwongs hit the target with a Peanuts lunch pail

and Yahtzee -his game, since Joanne B. taught him two years ago.

Odds and Ends

Pepperdine is winding down and I've been visiting Beacon more, initiating an origami paper crane folding fundraiser for Japan. The Bezos Foundation is giving $2 per crane up to $200,000 (no mistaken comma!), so we got busy,
producing 100 out of Japanese print. They were shipped to Students Rebuild in Seattle, who are making an art installation which will go up in the city of Sendai (what's left of it, anyway). Architecture for Humanity is in charge of the rebuilding project. This was an international effort, linking Camarillo with 19 other countries and 48 other US states (Mississippi excluded).

Chris and Hilary and several adults gave it a try.

Carolyn and Aiden.

Cranes are almost sacred in Japan and, like the tortoise and dragon, evoke longevity and good fortune:
Before the origami, Beacon had its all school egg hunt followed by Devin's resurrection message and...

hot cross buns!

Stoneground Bakery made them special order out of, basically, their prized challah recipe. They were beautiful.

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Fawns and California poppies on campus!

Pepperdine's International Programs sponsored an orientation for next year's students. The family met all 82 students for the first time; it was a grand success. We will basically pick up where we left off when we see them next in Lausanne. We made a Jeopardy game out of Swiss factoids, such as:

Richest man in Switzerland founded this company.
Most tools found in a Swiss Army Knife.
Name of a this very popularly used invention.
They consume more of this food per capital.
What product mimicking the property of a plant.
Only one of two of these in the world that's square.

Answers:

IKEA
82
world wide web
velcro
chocolate
Swiss flag

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Lastly, a lame picture of Michael's choir concert. Mozart's canon as a prelude to the Requiem, both performed with orchestra. Michael could recognized the liturgical structure of the piece, saying, "This is a church service." It was a gorgeous Latin text and powerful singing. Electrifying performance.

AWANA Grand Prix

Michael AND Jack entered cars for this year's AWANA Grand Prix:

The derby race moved indoors to avoid rain and the reduced budget meant a scaled-down food menu. Michael signed up for popcorn duty,offering generous amounts, to the chagrin of the lady in charge.

Jack's Snoopy won 3rd for design:while Michael's Yellow Submarine took 1st in design, 3rd in speed:

Inspired by In-n-Out Burger, I placed a Bible verse underneath,

adding a devotional to an otherwise secular vehicle.

Reformed churches tend to define children covenantally, according to promises and precedents made to families - they are "grandfathered" in - where AWANA reworks a Boy Scouts model of inspiring effort, rewarding scripture memorization with jewels and badges. I admit being quite moved, seeing the children get excited, receiving teaching and activities designed just for them.