September 2023

Family Fun
Another summer holiday weekend, another cool and overcast weather system — this was not a pool weekend, so we did other things, including going to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with the Patels; we sort of thought we might all be crazy for attempting it, but it really wasn’t too crowded and ended up being a great day. The next weekend, the four of us went to see The Goonies in the theater — I think this is a thing theaters are doing more now because of the writers’ and actors’ strikes, just to get audiences in, and I am here for it — it was so fun to see it on a really big screen for the first time since R. and I were kids! We had a packed Saturday the week after that, the kind we imagine all those soccer and swim people have all the time: Annika and I went to volunteer on a cleanup crew at Discovery Meadow for a couple of hours in the morning (kicking off her required volunteer hours, since she wants to not just do the minimum but also get a 100+ hour service award), then got back in time for Lukas’s first handball game — the team won, AND Lukas got the ball once, and scored! It was great, all the more so since Manir showed up between his own and Amira’s soccer games to support him. We went to lunch at the doomed Burger Pit (open since 1962, it’s closing next year since the owners have sold the building), and had dinner at the Carneys’. Handball, as it turns out, is a driver of quite a bit of family fun — in addition to the epic day, it also took us to San Francisco for our first (and only) real “away” game, playing the Sterne School (in a new building just down the street from where I used to work for law.com). We lost that one, but it was a good time anyway; afterward, we wandered around North Beach and had a fabulous lunch at a seafood place, then got treats to take home from Stella Pastry and Z. Cioccolatti. 

Lukas Life
Lukas is settling into middle school really well, it seems; he’s struggling a bit in the 6th Accelerated math class (taught by a very young and inexperienced teacher, among other problems) but is doing awesome in all of his other classes, making new friends and renewing old ones. He started handball practices, which he really enjoyed (and usually manages to talk me into taking him to KFC for a mini-meal and an A&W root beer after). He and R. went to Fremont for the season kickoff clinic, which R. said wasn’t very well organized but whaddya gonna do. He also had Owen’s D&D birthday party, and took his first solo bike ride (over to Sam’s to hang out on a non-blade-team Sunday). It’s funny to us that this was his first one, since R. and I were free range on our bikes from like first grade — but, well, different times (more cautious parents/culture) plus covid isolation plus whatever else, so I guess that’s just how it is.

Annika About Town

Annika has a busy schedule these days as well; in addition to her heavy class load and more social stuff (e.g. a sleepover at friend and badminton partner CJ’s apartment for CJ’s birthday), she’s starting her main volunteering for the Sophomore Project. In her case, that’s working with Town Cats, an organization that rescues, fosters, and adopts out cats in this area. She and I went down to Morgan Hill for orientation at their main shelter — cats everywhere, cats in laps and on surfaces and hiding under chairs, she was in heaven! She’s going to be doing most of her hours much nearer to us (in a pet food store right next to our Whole Foods), but will occasionally go to the main location. Several of her friends are also working with Town Cats, which makes it a little easier to get in the groove — although honestly, she doesn’t even need that part, she’s so happy to be around all those cats!