Goodbye Summer, Hello School

The Bankhead family had a rolling start to school this year, with kids at three different schools. Over the course of 6 weeks, we had multiple first days of school, but the process is now complete and everyone is back in the groove. 

Before heading back to school, we had to commemorate summer with this visual representation.

James began a program at the local community college for high schoolers. He said he wanted to take an easy class to ease into college life, so he registered for calculus. 

Sadie started high school!

Amos started his final year in elementary school, and he refuses to ever tie his shoes.

Miles wore his lucky shark shirt to start his year off right. 

 

Laurie and Alfonse's Wedding

Paul's sister Laurie got married in June. The event was magically perfect. Highlights:

• Laurie's new husband stunned us all by naming all 39 Bankhead siblings, spouses, and children in his remarks during dinner.
• James used the wedding as an opportunity to obtain his first formal suit.
• Miles discovered social dancing. After dancing in the center of a circle of people cheering his name, he told me, "I think I'm a little bit famous here."
• We managed to fit in some waterskiing before and after the wedding.

An hour before go time, Sadie became the "get children ready for the wedding" General.

The children clean up pretty well.

Here are just the nieces and nephews that 
Alfonse married into--and he can name them all!

Miles's uninhibited dancing was a hit.

The cousins needed a break after warding off the paparazzi.

 

Highlight of Amy's Summer 2022

The heartbreak of living in the Bay Area is all the friends who move away. This summer a gaggle of friends who have left the area flew to California to celebrate a milestone birthday, and thus began a multi-day adventure that filled Amy's emotional bucket for months to come.

Patio yoga that ended with tearful expressions of gratitude

Getting ready to kayak

Visiting the elementary school where we built our mom friendships day by day at drop-off and pick-up.

MLB All-Star Game for Aunt Sica's Birthday

Sica had a lousy birthday last year, so this year we agreed to redeem the day by attending the Major League Baseball All Star Game in Los Angeles with her. In addition to the all star game, we attended the futures game, celebrity softball, and the home run derby. We also spent time at Universal Studios and the beach. Our trip to Universal Studios revealed that the younger Bankheads had never seen any Jurassic Park movies, so we spent every night after that making our way through those. A memorable trip for half the Bankheads.

Gorgeous night at Dodger Stadium

Summer Sewing 2022

We used some of our summer time to do a few sewing projects. Sadie and a friend found some fun fabrics during a service project, so they made some pillows. Then Sadie made her first quilt, and Miles made some pajama pants to celebrate the Warriors win on his birthday.

Wilderness Marriage Therapy in Yosemite

While the children had a ball at the world's most exclusive summer camp (thanks, Mom!), Amy and Paul ventured into Yosemite's wilderness on a kidless backpacking trip. 

Things that made Paul especially excited: 

• Sleeping in the back of the truck the first night--what are trucks for, after all? 
• Enjoying a snow-chilled Diet Coke next to an alpine lake on the morning of Day 2. (Not worth having to carry the extra weight in Amy's opinion, but boy was Paul happy about it.)
• Identifying dozens of peaks with our map and compass.
• Appreciating that frequent yoga breaks made him feel awesome. (This was all Paul. Amy did not enforce this.)
• Resting his head on his new inflatable backpacking pillow.

Things that made Amy especially excited:

• The fact that we can just drop our kids at the airport curb and they fly away.
• Having no access to phone calls, texts, or emails.
• Taking the time while hiking to analyze with Paul the most recent insights from his therapist.
• Hiking in minimalist sandals to make river crossings extra easy.
• Loving the gnarly, gritty trees that cling to rocky slopes.

Ten miles into our hike, on Day 1, we discovered that our water filter was broken. That made the rest of our trip a little more complicated, so instead of taking a leisurely two more days to hike out, we blazed down the mountain at our fastest hiking speed on record. We arrived back in civilization in time to enjoy dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant and to congratulate ourselves on not getting giardia. 

Previous backpacking trips:

Kings Canyon in 2010

Yosemite in 2012

Mount Whitney in 2015

Sequoia National Park in 2017

Uintas 2019

Yosemite in 2020 (with kids!)

Extracurriculars

Amy spends a lot of brain power on making sure all the Bankhead children do all the things. Here's a sampling of what we are up to outside of school and what makes calendaring the Bankhead family a logistical feat.

Miles played his second season of baseball with Amy acting as assistant coach. There was a COVID-related shortage of uniforms, so the only team left to choose was the Astros. Also, the only available coaches shirts were XL, which is not Amy's size.

Amos played the role of Bruce Bogtrotter in the school musical, Matilda, with Amy running the stage lighting.

Sadie played the role of Yvette in Clue with our local youth theater. Amy baked cookies for the intermission refreshment table.

James convinced Sadie to join a robotics team. We hosted the team. Nothing like a huge robotics table taking over the living room for 4 months.

Amy was on the decorations committee for the elementary school's annual auction. She compensated for the fact that she has no decorating skills by borrowing stuff from all her church friends (for example, every item in this photo).

Miles Joins the STEM Expo 2022

Miles enthusiastically participated in the STEM Expo at school (an event formerly known as a science fair). He did all the research himself and created a professional-looking trifold. He received plenty of positive feedback, and many commenters mentioned how useful Miles's research would be in their future pasta-boiling efforts.