February 2021

Super Bowl Sunday

We kicked February off with the Superb Owl, which for the first time in a long time, was only us four (although we did make up prop bets and share that with the Carneys, and the kids played Mario Kart with them online during the game). It was fun, if a little “skinnier” than the old days. 

Friends and fam
The kids and I spent some time out in parks with the Patels, and we went back to Uvas Canyon with them during the winter break week; of course we had to take separate vehicles (covid, ofc), but we had a great time hiking a long long trail (in much cooler, greener weather than last summer) and eating a picnic lunch afterward. Also during the break week, we had a sendoff for Lukas’s friend Brayden; his family moved to Tennessee, but everybody wanted one last mega playdate, so we got the TK Krew back together (us, Brayden, Emmett & his brothers, Manir) one last time. Our family movie nights took on a theme for awhile: We decided to watch all the Marvel movies (in story-chronological order), starting with Iron Man. There are a uhhhhh. lot of movies in the MCU, lol. Valentine’s Day, a Sunday, was pretty low-key; I decorated the kids’ places for breakfast and gave them each a nice little heart-shaped box of Ghirardelli truffles, then the kids and I went for our usual hike with the Grants and the Marshalls in the morning, and R. and I ordered Indian food for dinner. Lukas’s teacher had organized some stuff for the Friday before, including a Valentine’s exchange for the kids (she had us drop off our kid’s cards/candy/whatever the week before, then distributed them all into bags for each kid and had us pick them up on Thursday so they could all dig in on Friday during class). And finally: Grandma & Grandpa got their first covid vaccine shots, a huge relief to everyone and the light at the end of the tunnel for being able to see them again. 

Lukas the biker
This gets its own paragraph: I finally decided that I was gonna get Lukas a bike, by god, and he would have to come with me to pick it out even though he swore up and down that he did NOT want one, nor did he want to ride it. We went to Dick’s Sporting Goods, whereupon he spotted one he liked immediately; I bought it, we took it home, and that weekend we went with Dad to the school blacktop to get started. It went pretty well — after a lot of supported tries, he rode without help, briefly, but even that was enough for him to want to do it again. So the next day, we went again, and he was able to go for longer; a couple more trips to the school, and he was fully ready to ride on his own! He and I started riding around our neighborhood (one particular circuit was a favorite during his morning recess), and he LOVED IT!!! Couldn’t get enough of it! Wanted to go ride all the time! Wanted to meet up with friends to ride! (With moms along, ofc — what is this, the 70s?) I’m just so glad he was so into it; I guess this was just the right time for him. Next up: Annika needs wheels … 

Around the house
Lots going on with our various projects — we got the new garage door installed, finally, which meant we could finally unload the storage container that’d been sitting out front for months, and put a bunch of stuff up in the garage attic. And we started our pool renovation, which meant draining the pool under cover of night so people wouldn’t report us for water waste, and then a bunch of guys coming over to chip out the plaster and the deck. It looks like we got bombed by a hostile neighbor or something, but someday it’ll be awesome. 

Quotable
—“I like when we play with Lukas, because he always includes me when he’s playing with Manir. That’s being kind!” —Amira
—“Benedict Chumberbatch” —Lukas re: the actor who plays Dr. Strange