July 2019
The Glorious Fourth!
July 4, full of our own traditions, was a great way to kick off the month. We started with the discovery of those little flags planted in everyone’s lawns by a local realtor (I swear, it’s like the leavings of the Easter Bunny or something, in terms of surprise and delight). We went to the neighborhood parade, which was very short this year but made up in quality what it lacked in quantity; Annika had decided she was too old to take her own candy-gathering vessel, but grabbed up all the candy she could “for Lukas” (which she took a cut of later, lol). After lunch, we had the Patels over for a pool afternoon; as it got close to sundown, the cousins showed up and we all walked to the fireworks together. One awesome show later, we walked home in the dark — another Independence Day well spent.
July 4, full of our own traditions, was a great way to kick off the month. We started with the discovery of those little flags planted in everyone’s lawns by a local realtor (I swear, it’s like the leavings of the Easter Bunny or something, in terms of surprise and delight). We went to the neighborhood parade, which was very short this year but made up in quality what it lacked in quantity; Annika had decided she was too old to take her own candy-gathering vessel, but grabbed up all the candy she could “for Lukas” (which she took a cut of later, lol). After lunch, we had the Patels over for a pool afternoon; as it got close to sundown, the cousins showed up and we all walked to the fireworks together. One awesome show later, we walked home in the dark — another Independence Day well spent.
Goings On About Town
We were very social and busy this month. Lukas went to basketball camp at the community center with Manir, the first week (July 1-3, chosen because it was a short week and if he didn’t like it, the commitment was minimal); he loved it so much, though, that he immediately wanted to do another week. We had him take a week off, because his fingertips were absolutely shredded by the rubber basketballs, but let him go again the following week. Without Manir, he was the youngest and the smallest camper, but made up for it with sheer hustle (and learned how to do a “layout,” lol). Annika babysat Amira while their brothers were at camp one day; another day, she and I went to a new tea party restaurant in Los Gatos. It was really a great little place, just a block or so from La Fondue, and lacked the sickly-sweet Christian Ladies overlay that our old tea party restaurant had, so a win all around. Every Wednesday, we went to the new farmers’ market in the former OSH parking lot; the vendors there did a better job of getting the kids to try fruit and veg and unusual varieties of hummus than I’ve done in 11+ years of being a parent! Mid-month, R. and the kids participated in the last Splatoon2 SplatFest, which they’d been plotting about since we were in Hawaii. Grandma & Grandpa’s 59th wedding anniversary was at the end of the month, so on the Sunday before it, we took them to lunch at the Clubhouse at the Villages to celebrate. Another weekend day, fed up by feeling like an under appreciated maid/waitress, I made the kids cook dinner again— everything from coming up with the menu and making a grocery list to cleaning up afterward — and they did great! 12/10, definitely will do again. And finally, we were invited to a last-minute celebration of Lawson’s bday at Chuck E. Cheese, where the kids got to do their thing and we moms sat and talked and drank their bad, carefully-rationed wine.
We were very social and busy this month. Lukas went to basketball camp at the community center with Manir, the first week (July 1-3, chosen because it was a short week and if he didn’t like it, the commitment was minimal); he loved it so much, though, that he immediately wanted to do another week. We had him take a week off, because his fingertips were absolutely shredded by the rubber basketballs, but let him go again the following week. Without Manir, he was the youngest and the smallest camper, but made up for it with sheer hustle (and learned how to do a “layout,” lol). Annika babysat Amira while their brothers were at camp one day; another day, she and I went to a new tea party restaurant in Los Gatos. It was really a great little place, just a block or so from La Fondue, and lacked the sickly-sweet Christian Ladies overlay that our old tea party restaurant had, so a win all around. Every Wednesday, we went to the new farmers’ market in the former OSH parking lot; the vendors there did a better job of getting the kids to try fruit and veg and unusual varieties of hummus than I’ve done in 11+ years of being a parent! Mid-month, R. and the kids participated in the last Splatoon2 SplatFest, which they’d been plotting about since we were in Hawaii. Grandma & Grandpa’s 59th wedding anniversary was at the end of the month, so on the Sunday before it, we took them to lunch at the Clubhouse at the Villages to celebrate. Another weekend day, fed up by feeling like an under appreciated maid/waitress, I made the kids cook dinner again— everything from coming up with the menu and making a grocery list to cleaning up afterward — and they did great! 12/10, definitely will do again. And finally, we were invited to a last-minute celebration of Lawson’s bday at Chuck E. Cheese, where the kids got to do their thing and we moms sat and talked and drank their bad, carefully-rationed wine.
Pool Party Baby, It Was a Pool Party
WOW did we spend a lot of time at the pool this month! We had a pool afternoon with the Broadwells at the Oaktree Cabana Club (barely a block from school), had the Carneys over for grilling and swimming on a Sunday afternoon, invited the Grants over for another afternoon, and pretty much any day we didn’t have anything else planned, we were swimming. It’s all fun and games until the kids get into a fight over who gets the downstairs shower first …
WOW did we spend a lot of time at the pool this month! We had a pool afternoon with the Broadwells at the Oaktree Cabana Club (barely a block from school), had the Carneys over for grilling and swimming on a Sunday afternoon, invited the Grants over for another afternoon, and pretty much any day we didn’t have anything else planned, we were swimming. It’s all fun and games until the kids get into a fight over who gets the downstairs shower first …
Quotable
—“I'm a loner, I guess — that's a person who doesn't have a girlfriend. Or boyfriend.” Lukas, philosophically at bedtime
—“I'm a loner, I guess — that's a person who doesn't have a girlfriend. Or boyfriend.” Lukas, philosophically at bedtime
—“George W. Beard” Lukas, re: the 43rd President (a mashup with George Beard, one of the main characters of the Captain Underpants universe)
posted by One of the Grownups @ 11:21 PM
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