"When you hear that final bell, drop your books and run like ---"

Did you ever sing that song on the last day of school? At the elementary school I went to in Indiana, it was expected that the last day of school would bring a chorus of:

No more pencils, no more books
No more teachers' dirty looks
When you hear that final bell,
Drop your books and run like hell!

The most rebellious of us would actually say "hell," and then giggle hysterically. Their bravado was not matched by the rest of us, who would substitute a loud "BEEEEP," or sometimes just clap our hands over our mouths, making sideways eye contact to appreciate the disobedience of what we almost said.

Where am I going with this, you may ask? Well, Thursday was the Last Day of School for Clover and Neptune, and they are now officially on summer vacation! You can tell for sure, because it rained all of yesterday. Such is life in the PNW.

The last week of school brought all sorts of different activities, but most notable from my perspective were the class parties. Both Neptune's kindergarten morning tea and Clover's 3rd grade class party were on the same day but, thankfully, at different times. I went to both.

Neptune's morning tea was so darn cute. The kids performed colour songs, letter songs, BINGO, and-- my personal favourite-- the goonie bird song. I wish I could accurately convey the hilarity over a blog, but it's really impossible. They all had homemade bird hats, though, if that is any indication. The best moment of the programme, though, was during that song, "Skinnamarink-a-dinky-dink.Skinnamarink-a-doo I love you." It came with a whole prescribed set of gestures, but on the line "I love you," Neptune defected from the ranks entirely, and pointed at me. It was adorable.

And then we had rainbow cake. That was pretty great too.

After Neptune's morning tea, I grabbed lunch and then headed to Clover's party. I was moderately disappointed that the 3rd graders didn't sing, but managed to get over it. I poured soda over ice cream and handed out rootbeer floats, and watched the kids freak out from the sugar high. Hey, I was entertained, and that's what this is all about, right?

That afternoon, our unofficial playgroup, consisting of Lynn, Fleur, Penguin and another family and their nanny (a total of 8 nannies and 3 kids, including us), headed over to a park with a beach. We threw water balloons, splashed in the lake, and buried the children in the sand (which they requested, I promise!). It was definitely insane, but the kids had fun and so did the nannies. Happiness all around!

And thus begins summer vacation. More stories from Friday once I get my pictures off my camera!