January 2017

(this is gonna be a short one — January was long and busy and it’s May now, so …)

Goin’ places, doin’ stuff
New Year’s Eve: The grandparents were in town, but no good bands were, so we had another NYE at home (mostly) — Annika was invited for a sleepover at her friend Kaia’s house, so she made it farther into 2017 than most of the rest of us did, heh. Other than that, all quiet until the illegal fireworks started!
Girl Scout cookie rally: Oh boy, here we go again! Annika went to this one with her troop, and the big excitement was the new cookie variety (S’mores); she came home with the expected assortment of sales slips, brochures, and goal markers. First sale day is Feb. 1 …
Alana sleepover: The school break was long (well, not long, but it started late — 12/23 — and went an extra week in January) and the kids were restless. Alana invited Annika for a sleepover; cupcakes and pancakes were involved …
Moana: I took the kids to see Moana in the theater — they liked it, and I LOVED it. I had no expectations beyond “it’s Pixar, it’s gonna be good” — but WOW, did I enjoy that. Gonna make a good one for family movie night when it comes out on video!
My birthday: This wasn’t a big milestone number (43), and plus R. was still recovering from knee surgery and couldn’t do much, so it was relatively quiet; we had a good dinner and a cake, and I got some great presents, and the kids made me sweet cards … that was all I needed!
The Women's March: The Saturday after that awful nightmare of a presidential inauguration, I joined with Anne, Laura, Laura’s daughters, and millions of women worldwide in marching as part of the Resistance (our march was in downtown San Jose). I would have liked Annika to go with me, but R. and I both felt that although the possibility for violence or other trouble was low, it wasn’t zero, so we decided she would stay home — but she was with me in spirit, as I carried the sign she made (TRUMP IN THE DUMP, it said, with a helpful illustration of an orange creep in a garbage can), along with my own (RESIST on one side, and SHE GOT MORE VOTES on the other). 

Girls’ trip to San Francisco
Back in October, I won tickets to the San Francisco Ballet. I chose a performance at the end of January, and took Annika up to the city on the train with me to see it, tour the city, and stay overnight. She loved the hotel more than anything, of course — we stayed at the beautiful old Westin St. Francis, right on the cable car line. I got to take her on the cable car, show her the city R. and I used to live in, and have her meet the people who own the Hyde Street Seafood House (one of our favorite special restaurants in SF). Meanwhile, R. and Lukas had what Lukas called “two dudes weekend,” which mostly consisted of watching Star Wars and eating pretzels. Annika agreed with me that we should do this kind of thing more often.

Quotable Lukas: The All About Me Poster
(answers taken from his first responses to the poster, for his “special recognition day” at school)
Favorite animal: one that can bite you
What I want to be when I grow up: a wand, a dinosaur, a parent