September 2021

Family Fun

The last weekend of official summer, Labor Day weekend, used to involve at least two social engagements, but this year — pandemic ongoing — it was just us again, at least at home. But we did manage one last glorious bowling session with the Patels (the Summer Games pass ends on Labor Day), and a lot of swimming and grilling, so it was great nonetheless. We also met our new neighbors, who moved in across the street (the house went for $2.2m in a week). They are a younger family (than us, parents probably late 30s) — Dave, Marte, and 3-year-old Nora + 1-year-old Spencer. They seem really nice (and are at least as covid-cautious as we are!), and were so happy with our welcome basket (wine, TJ treats, little presents for the kids). It’s nice to see new faces in the neighborhood (especially ones whose politics are a little closer to ours, lol). And finally, this month saw Grandpa’s 86th birthday, which — unlike last year — we were able to celebrate in person, with the traditional ice cream cake (not Carvel, but as close as we could get it). HBD, Grandpa!

Lukas Life
The kid stayed active this month — three different skate camp sessions, for one thing, and the continuance of Blade Team on the weekends. As a matter of fact, Owen — following Ben’s July bday party — had his party as a Blade Team meetup at one of our usual BT parks, with the guest list the same as the BT roster. Lukas woke up one morning with a headache and like one degree of fever, so — per district rules — we had to keep him home from school until we could produce a negative covid test; this time, the whole family went and got tested together (drive-through at the Fairgrounds). All negative! yayyy! but in the meantime, Lukas was home from school, so he and I did things like watch the Sonic movie together, and he tried to teach me how to play Star Wars Minecraft on the Switch (I was … very very bad at it, lol!). He and his friends in class invented a thing they called Choccy Milk Empire, whose purpose was the uhhhhh promotion of chocolate milk superiority; there were files and rosters and spy instructions and original artwork, including a flyer that these turkeys made, had copied, and somehow got sent home in the class’s weekly white envelopes. Viva the Choccy Milk Empire!

Annika’s Scene
Annika got into the swing of things at school, as the newness wore off and she was able to settle in a little. She made new friends in art class, reconnected with elementary-school buddy Ezra in PE, “dated” Athena for a week, and joined two clubs: the school’s rather robust GSA (which she calls “gay club”, lol), and Alana’s Green Team.