September 2018

Labor Day weekend
The first full weekend of the month went according to tradition, for the most part: We spent it on a lot of pool time and grilling, an afternoon and dinner with the Carneys, a morning of doing nothing but watching a million episodes of Ninjago on the couch, and a movie night featuring The Iron Giant. Relaxing and restorative, with very little labor done by anyone.  

Science Camp
The fifth grade at our school goes to science camp for a few days every year, and so this year it was our turn. Annika wasn’t as enthused about it as some of the kids (and it was the first time she’d been away from home for more than a night, not counting family vacations), but she was excited to go, and despite some pretty bad homesickness on the first night, she rallied and had a great time. Lukas really, really missed her; we did a lot to make it up to him (e.g. Fiona and I took the boys to Golfland one afternoon, just to keep them occupied), but it was really weird having her gone for that long, and we were all so glad to see her get home. 

Potpourri of Fun and Whatnot
—It’s Recorder Time: Fifth grade is also the year they learn recorder in their music class, so naturally Annika brought one home. She picked it up pretty quickly, and with practice, she was soon outpacing her classmates with her skills. Yay!
—Lawson and Emmy’s bday party: “The Twins” (heh!), who have summer birthdays (when basically no one’s around, so there’s no point having a party), had their celebration together. The party was at Fiona’s parents’ place, and there was a bouncy house and crazy cakes and a slime station, etc. — a fun afternoon.
—Skateboarding starts again: Lukas decided at almost literally the last minute that he wanted to do skateboarding again, so I let him, with the warning that he needed to actually skate, and learn from the instructors — not fart around with Lawson the whole time. And he … mostly kept his end of the bargain. Mostly. [sigh] He is getting better, and learning more, and I think he’s finally getting over his fears of standing on the skateboard, so IMO it’s worth pursuing.
—Almaden Art and Wine Fest: This year, my friend Ami was out of state helping her parents with a sudden health crisis, so Ritesh brought the kids by himself and walked over to it with our family. It was a great day — not too hot, kids had a good time, we adults had a better time … (there was beer, after all. heh.)