April Seth

April was a big month for Seth! He was finally 15 and 9 months, which meant he was old enough to take the permit test! Maryland has a stupid hard permit test and loads of requirements that other states don't have, so I was super proud when he passed on the first try! 

The traditional Rookie Driver shot outside the MVA

Once we got home I had him drive through the neighborhood with his new Rookie Driver sticker on the car:

He was slow and EXTREMELY cautious, but he did great! 

Definitely would rather have a cautious driver. 

The official permit arrived a week or so later:

(He regrets not getting the haircut BEFORE the permit photo)

So far he's only given me one good scare. We were driving to Jack's house and another car did a weird move and looked like they were going to hit him head on (they were just trying to park in front of a house, but on the wrong side of the road). He got flustered and totally blew through the stop sign. Thankfully no one was coming, but that was quite the adrenaline rush! Other than that he's been a great driver. 

Seth was invited by his 9th grade math teacher to join the Academic Team this year (I thought it was Academic Decathlon, but I guess it's not? They don't seem to have AcDec around here). His homeroom class was his team. I still don't understand most of what they did (felt kinda like trivia), but Seth also isn't one to put extra effort beyond what he needs to be successful. He has good friends on the team and seems happy, so I'm glad. 

In April they had their competition at the local college. It wasn't really open for attendees, so I just got the post-competition report. They came in 3rd out of 4, but Seth seemed pleased. Glad he'll get to do this again for the rest of high school.

The team after the competition

Other Seth things in April:

-He took the ACT! Apparently he caught a cold and spent the entire time coughing, much to the annoyance of the other test-takers. Hopefully he still does okay!

-We got to go on a youth temple trip together. Usually I send Jon, but it was my turn this time. I had the chance to be baptized for some of my mom's names and Seth got to do the baptizing. That was a really cool experience. I love that kid. 

Also, after the temple trip (while waiting for the last people to come out), the boys started doing sprint races across the tiny patch of grass on the temple grounds. It was hilarious and the perfect way for them to burn off all the energy stored up from all the sitting in the temple. I hope Seth knows how lucky he is to have this group of kids to grow up with.