June 2018
School’s out for summer!
It’s the most wonderful time of the kid year: The last day of school! The kids’ week included: Lukas getting his Otter ribbon at swim lessons; the distribution and signing of yearbooks; Annika’s class trip to Levi’s Stadium to see the home turf of the San Francisco 49ers; Lukas’s Kinder/TK picnic-in-the-park day (at which I got pretty badly sunburned on my sunscreen-free neck and calves, ugh), a gloriously academically-useless last half day, and our traditional trip to get ice cream in Willow Glen. Hard to believe the K and 4th grade years are over!
It’s the most wonderful time of the kid year: The last day of school! The kids’ week included: Lukas getting his Otter ribbon at swim lessons; the distribution and signing of yearbooks; Annika’s class trip to Levi’s Stadium to see the home turf of the San Francisco 49ers; Lukas’s Kinder/TK picnic-in-the-park day (at which I got pretty badly sunburned on my sunscreen-free neck and calves, ugh), a gloriously academically-useless last half day, and our traditional trip to get ice cream in Willow Glen. Hard to believe the K and 4th grade years are over!
Texas trip
Since I haven’t seen my brother + SIL and uncle and aunt in nearly three years, and R. could use some time alone in his own house, I decided to take the kids to Texas for a quick visit the week after school let out. We got stuck with a long delay on our outbound flight because of AA's incompetency (not enough people working check-in = we missed our flight and got rescheduled to one five hours later); there were rental car shenanigans (in which I had to rent a new car because the original company did not answer calls — resolution pending) — but we finally made it to the hotel and got room service for dinner before falling into bed. The next day, we slept in, got breakfast, and met up with Aunt Jill; we went to lunch at Cattlemen’s (the kids wanted to try steak, so of course we had to go down to the Stockyards for the real deal. We spent the afternoon at the pool with Uncle Jake & Aunt Jill, then all walked to dinner near our hotel. Thursday, we hit the awesome, if hot, Ft. Worth zoo in the morning/early afternoon; later, we met up for dinner at Mi Cocina w/Uncle Rusty & Aunt Emma. On our walk home, we ended up exploring the water gardens across from the hotel, which was really kind of magical; I had only the vaguest memories of that place from childhood, and it was so fun to experience it with the kids. Friday, it was back to the airport (this time, an uneventful flight … but they lost one of the booster seats and didn’t get it back to us until the following Monday). Immediately upon our return that afternoon, we went to Lukas’s classmate Brentley's Star Wars-themed birthday party, just a block away — whew. So tired …
Since I haven’t seen my brother + SIL and uncle and aunt in nearly three years, and R. could use some time alone in his own house, I decided to take the kids to Texas for a quick visit the week after school let out. We got stuck with a long delay on our outbound flight because of AA's incompetency (not enough people working check-in = we missed our flight and got rescheduled to one five hours later); there were rental car shenanigans (in which I had to rent a new car because the original company did not answer calls — resolution pending) — but we finally made it to the hotel and got room service for dinner before falling into bed. The next day, we slept in, got breakfast, and met up with Aunt Jill; we went to lunch at Cattlemen’s (the kids wanted to try steak, so of course we had to go down to the Stockyards for the real deal. We spent the afternoon at the pool with Uncle Jake & Aunt Jill, then all walked to dinner near our hotel. Thursday, we hit the awesome, if hot, Ft. Worth zoo in the morning/early afternoon; later, we met up for dinner at Mi Cocina w/Uncle Rusty & Aunt Emma. On our walk home, we ended up exploring the water gardens across from the hotel, which was really kind of magical; I had only the vaguest memories of that place from childhood, and it was so fun to experience it with the kids. Friday, it was back to the airport (this time, an uneventful flight … but they lost one of the booster seats and didn’t get it back to us until the following Monday). Immediately upon our return that afternoon, we went to Lukas’s classmate Brentley's Star Wars-themed birthday party, just a block away — whew. So tired …
Family Fun
—Alyna’s 8th-grade graduation: Cousin Alyna wrote a song as part of a class project this year, and her classmates voted to perform it at their graduation (including her own flute solo) — which was a big enough deal to bring Grandma & Grandpa out for a 10-day visit, with the ceremony a focal point (it was actually the same evening as Lukas & Annika’s last day of school). It was a beautiful ceremony, and we all went out to dinner afterward to celebrate the graduate.
—Bowling: The Summer Games passes are back, so we’ve already been out throw a few rocks. One afternoon, we went bowling with Manir’s family (him, Amira & Ami); that weekend, we went bowling with R. The kids are dealing much better with scoring rivalries so far this summer — here’s hoping it lasts!
—The Incredibles 2: Unquestionably the highlight of our moviegoing year, we all saw Incredibles 2 as a family the day after it came out. None of us can stop talking about it — we will definitely see it again as a family movie night feature, but we might have to go see it in the theater again before that!
—Father’s Day: The last couple of Father’s Days have been when we were either in Hawaii or just back from there, but this one we had at home, fair and square. Unfortunately for R., the day’s emergency house project was a hot, sweaty, muddy session of sprinkler repair ... but at least, before that, he got breakfast in bed, and that rarest and most glorious thing: a chance to sleep in.
—The Smiths Visit: So the reason we’re not in Hawaii this month is that our friends the Smeefers (Kent, Kylie, and Skyler, plus longtime friend Tim) had come out to California for a wedding (in SoCal) and then drove up to our area as part of the trip. They spent one night at our house, then continued on to San Francisco for a couple of days. That weekend was a grand Sauce Reunion at the Maalgaards’ — three days of peace, love, music, and too much booze, exactly the way we like it.
—Finally getting a hot one: The very last weekend of June was the first genuine pool weekend (temps in the high 90s; it’s been a cool, breezy, often-overcast spring and summer so far). We broke out the snorkeling gear, so we could test it, see if the kids’ fins still fit, and get comfortable with the masks (hoping Lukas will want to try again when we go to Hawaii … in five more days, lol!).
—Alyna’s 8th-grade graduation: Cousin Alyna wrote a song as part of a class project this year, and her classmates voted to perform it at their graduation (including her own flute solo) — which was a big enough deal to bring Grandma & Grandpa out for a 10-day visit, with the ceremony a focal point (it was actually the same evening as Lukas & Annika’s last day of school). It was a beautiful ceremony, and we all went out to dinner afterward to celebrate the graduate.
—Bowling: The Summer Games passes are back, so we’ve already been out throw a few rocks. One afternoon, we went bowling with Manir’s family (him, Amira & Ami); that weekend, we went bowling with R. The kids are dealing much better with scoring rivalries so far this summer — here’s hoping it lasts!
—The Incredibles 2: Unquestionably the highlight of our moviegoing year, we all saw Incredibles 2 as a family the day after it came out. None of us can stop talking about it — we will definitely see it again as a family movie night feature, but we might have to go see it in the theater again before that!
—Father’s Day: The last couple of Father’s Days have been when we were either in Hawaii or just back from there, but this one we had at home, fair and square. Unfortunately for R., the day’s emergency house project was a hot, sweaty, muddy session of sprinkler repair ... but at least, before that, he got breakfast in bed, and that rarest and most glorious thing: a chance to sleep in.
—The Smiths Visit: So the reason we’re not in Hawaii this month is that our friends the Smeefers (Kent, Kylie, and Skyler, plus longtime friend Tim) had come out to California for a wedding (in SoCal) and then drove up to our area as part of the trip. They spent one night at our house, then continued on to San Francisco for a couple of days. That weekend was a grand Sauce Reunion at the Maalgaards’ — three days of peace, love, music, and too much booze, exactly the way we like it.
—Finally getting a hot one: The very last weekend of June was the first genuine pool weekend (temps in the high 90s; it’s been a cool, breezy, often-overcast spring and summer so far). We broke out the snorkeling gear, so we could test it, see if the kids’ fins still fit, and get comfortable with the masks (hoping Lukas will want to try again when we go to Hawaii … in five more days, lol!).
Quotable
Omni Hotel, Fort Worth, morning, early: Annika and I go to wake Lukas up. He sleep-mumbles "I gotta show you guys my magic trick," sits up, and opens his hand: "Dang it, I thought I had the diamonds in my hand!", and flops back on the bed with his wild dyed-red hair wilder than usual while Annika and I laugh.
Omni Hotel, Fort Worth, morning, early: Annika and I go to wake Lukas up. He sleep-mumbles "I gotta show you guys my magic trick," sits up, and opens his hand: "Dang it, I thought I had the diamonds in my hand!", and flops back on the bed with his wild dyed-red hair wilder than usual while Annika and I laugh.
posted by One of the Grownups @ 11:56 AM
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