Right away after we got back from our Missouri road trip, Maya started a six-week summer swim team, and Ian went to art camp. In fact, our entire June was full of swim team every weekday and either one or both kids in camp. Because Sean and I were working also, it wound up being very hectic getting everyone where they needed to go and with all the right stuff every day!

The second week, Maya had art camp and Ian went to bouldering camp (which he adores). Then the next week, they both went to Pokemon camp. And then Maya had a week where she only had daily swim team practice while Ian had basketball camp. Whatever vision of a lazy summer I might have entertained very quickly evaporated with all that running around.

Sean and I took a crack at implementing a few dietary changes this month, which has made meal planning a little more interesting. We’re starting small – trying to only have red meat once a week (and instead trying to eat more seafood). And we’re trying to seriously curtail added sugars in our food. This is a big one for Sean, who has a massive sweet tooth. It didn’t impact me as much, so instead I focused on avoiding school night beers (and their added calories). I’m very proud of my spouse – he’s managing pretty well reducing his sugar intake.

We have had some really great animal action in our yard this month. Mama fox (who we call Foxy Cleopatra) has visited a few more times, but so have her babies! We have seen at least a pair of them playing around back there. The little kits are actually more nervous about visiting the feeder than the big foxes, which I was a little surprised about.

We had a deer sleeping in our front shrub bed for a couple days. That was kind of startling because she was right by the door. The striped skunk visited at least one more time. There are countless birds and squirrels of course, drawn to the various feeders we put out. I hate the heat here, but I love our big-windowed house and its well-traveled backyard.

Mid-month, we went to a sandlot baseball game at The Long Time with the cub scouts. It was pretty hot, and I’m not sure the kids were all that interested in the game, but it was an interesting idea. It would be a neat little venue to watch a game, but it might be more fun once it got dark out.

Sean’s Father’s Day was pretty busy. He and the kids got up nice and early so they could go on a bike ride before it got too hot. Then we got to go watch Maya’s first ever swim meet, during which she did very well. And then finally, we went home, had homemade thin-crust pizza, and opened gifts.

The pizza we made was Brian Lagerstrom’s Tavern Style Chicago Thin Crust Pizza. Sean happened upon his YouTube channel in looking at something else, but quickly found his way to this recipe. We’ve made it several times since, and it’s been a hit every time, so it’s probably part of our regular rotation now.

The next weekend, Ian went bouldering with his friend Damian, and then they had a sleepover! With all the camp running around, it’s been hard to find time and energy to arrange social visits. It’s probably something to keep in mind when we think about structuring things next summer.

That same weekend, Maya participated in a fundraising car wash for her swim team’s end of season party. As a very tall kid, she wound up mostly be in charge of “washing high.” Weirdly, I think she liked the work well enough.

And we closed out the month by meeting friends at Cidercade. I love this place. I can’t remember if I’ve talked about it before, but you pay a flat fee and then everyone plays all the games they want, no quarters or tokens or cards required. You don’t earn points. There is no prize counter. You just go, play games, and if you so desire, drink hard cider and eat pizza. We pay for the kids to have bottomless soda, which delights them. I think on this particular day, we spent maybe 4 hours playing games and eating lunch and catching up. It was the low effort hang out that we needed after a month of camp and swim team craziness.

I thought May would be loaded up with crazy end-of-year stuff, especially with Maya finishing elementary school this year, but I wasn’t prepared for the bonkers nature of getting kids to all the right places while still doing my job that has happened so far in June. And that is how June is over, and I’m trying to reassemble in my brain what transpired in May!

Looking back at my photos, it apparently started with a skunk. We fill a couple feeders with bird seed mix, another with suet, and another with hummingbird nectar. We also have a little ground feeder that we fill with things the squirrels will enjoy (which does very little to alleviate how much time they spend at the bird feeders, in case anyone was curious).

The ground feeder attracts more than just squirrels though. We sometimes see raccoons, the occasional opossum, and sometimes little gray foxes. But for the first time I’m aware of, we had a skunk at the ground feeder. It was early in the morning, probably just before sunrise, so it was pretty dark, and we left the lights off in the kitchen, so we didn’t alarm it and potentially cause it to spray. It didn’t linger too long and as far as I know, hasn’t been back since. It was a beautiful creature, and since it didn’t stink up the back yard, I’m glad we got to see it.

The graduating 5th grader festivities started early in the month. Already on the 3rd, we were invited to attend a fine arts exhibition. Maya had made many lovely pieces of art throughout the year, but my favorite (other than her self portrait) was her octopus sculpture. An octopus mom and a couple of babies are rendered in clay, and while future marine biologist Maya knows this wouldn’t really happen in the great blue sea, it’s perfectly fine for her sweet heart and vivid imagination to produce an artistic rendering of a happy octopus family.

We spent time in May also making sure Ian had finished all his cub scout requirements so he could achieve his bear rank by the end of the year. One of his adventures involved him helping to prepare a meal. Ian likes being in the kitchen and inventing recipes, so he did one better and made his own ramen recipe. It was thankfully an uncomplicated recipe, using ramen noodles we already had, chicken bouillon, some grated garlic, and some freshly cut herbs from the back yard. Everyone who tried it loved it, so I think we can count that as a win for cub scout chef Ian.

In weird bug sightings (of which we have a few), I found a neat moth on a pile of fresh tree trimmings that I was breaking down to set out for pickup. Turns out, it was a Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus).

Ian brought home his own clay art from school as well. He took something dear to his heart and rendered it in clay – sushi rolls!

Because everything else was so bonkers, we tried to keep Mother’s Day low key. Maya had a piano recital, so that was nice, and afterward we stopped by Dairy Queen for ice cream. We ate dinner, opened presents, and generally celebrated quietly.

Mid-month, we bit the bullet and got Maya a smart phone. As she transitions to middle school, we’d like her to try to keep track of her friends. And she’s shown us that she’s trying to be more responsible with her things, so we’re diving in and hoping for the best. So far, she’s not super into the texting, treating it more like a mini-ipad, it seems. Time will tell whether this has been a good choice or a poor choice, but regardless, she is delighted.

Ian’s last cub scout meeting of the year was at Walnut Creek Park and featured a very nice map reading exercise. Ian ditched us with a quickness to hang with his friend Malcolm instead, so mostly it was Maya, Sean and me doing our own map reading. He did ultimately achieve his bear rank in cub scouts, was rewarded for his fundraising popcorn sales in the fall, and ate waaaay too much watermelon.

Thursday, the 23rd was the kids’ last day of school, and Maya’s last day of elementary school ever, something she’d been stewing over off and on for a few weeks. That morning, we attended a 5th grade awards ceremony and talent show. Maya won a ton of awards and performed brilliantly at the piano for her talent. She seemed annoyed at the attention but otherwise was holding it together pretty well, I think.

That afternoon, we went back to school to watch the fifth graders’ last walk. This was definitely tougher for Maya. She was legit finally leaving all the teachers she loved. Maya is very excited about middle school, but distraught over the fact that she won’t see her favorite teachers again and that some of her friends will be going to different schools than her. Happy sad is how we refer to the concept of “bittersweet,” using it in describing the ends of vacations, elementary to middle school transitions, and the music of The Cure. She was in tears by the end.

The very next day, Sean and I worked, and then hastily packed our bags and headed out the door to drive partway to Missouri! Our stop for the evening was McAlester, OK. Here was our plan: finish up work as early as possible and hit the road by 4p. Here’s what actually happened: while folding laundry, poor Sean half removed his right big toe nail in catching it on part of our bed. He wound up going to urgent care just to make sure everything was ok, and consequently he was late finishing work. We weren’t on the road till 6. Then, just north of the I-35 east / west split, some terrible accident completely stopped traffic for at least an hour and a half, maybe longer. With all the delays, we rolled into McAlester around 2 in the morning.

We slept in a little the next morning and wound up hitting the road by around 11. Except for a little hitch driving through the Oklahoma turnpike (heads up, it’s cash only), the drive was easy going.

The plan for this trip was the spend a couple days seeing St Louis with the kids before driving to Grammy and Grandpa’s house to visit for a few days. We arrived at our St Louis hotel around 6 that evening, and the kids wasted no time whatsoever getting into the hotel pool. It had been so hot in Texas already, that I didn’t even think about the fact that this outdoor pool in Missouri probably hadn’t had a chance to warm up yet. Ian tried his best, but I think it was too cold for him. He didn’t swim for too long before he was wrapped in a towel and stretched out on a chaise. Maya, of course, was unfazed. Sean and I had a lovely time sitting in the lightly breezy 80 degree weather and doing very little for a brief period.

We elected to stay in a hotel with character for this little vacation. The Cheshire did not disappoint. They have what they call an “authentic British-inspired aesthetic,” and I suppose I can get behind that. Tudor architecture, pretty stained glass, and intricately carved benches greet a person upon entry. Further in, a giant stuffed bear (who the kids noticed had been relieved of a few claws) beckoned you further. The hallways and rooms were well decorated and each of the rooms is named for a different British writer, playwright, or poet – we stayed in the John Buchan room.

We kept things simple that evening and just had dinner in the onsite Fox and Hounds pub. The bar staff were solid – I observed practiced hands, an economy of movement, and zero skimping on the details. Plus they were friendly. They didn’t bat an eye when we asked if they’d make mocktails for the kids. And the grown-ups’ well-fortified drinks were lovely as well. We enjoyed our food well enough, especially Sean, who had wisely ordered the shepherd’s pie.

We were staying within walking distance of the St Louis Zoo and thought we might walk over that first morning if the weather cooperated. It didn’t. We woke up to rain and thunder, so instead we took it slow. We lingered over the Cheshire’s excellent breakfast buffet, sipped our coffee, wandered around a bit and let Maya take some photos to send to a friend.

Once the rain died down, we wandered in the area a bit. We visited Vintage Vinyl, a favorite record store that we’d hit from time to time during our college years. Maya and Ian were, of course, bored. I showed Ian the artist how interesting some of the covers were for the metal and hard rock albums, figuring especially any Iron Maiden cover art would likely appeal to him. For Maya, we wandered around and talked about different genres of music and how much she did or didn’t know about them. She explained that she’d like to learn more about jazz, so we flipped through the albums in that part of the store. Ian left with a new Van Halen record and Maya decided to try out one by John Coltrane.

We wandered Delmar St a little while, took in the brass stars, saw Blueberry Hill, and lamented the fact that apparently our favorite arthouse movie theatre, the Tivoli, had become a church. At the kids’ request, we popped into a bookstore and looked around a little before finally shuffling off to lunch at Imo’s. The pizza and toasted ravs were every bit as good as they always are. We had thought to try a different place for once, but the other recommended toasted ravioli spots were closed. Next time.

That afternoon’s big deal activity was the City Museum. I won’t lie – getting the kids to this place was at least half of why I thought it would be fun to tack a couple of St Louis days onto our Grammy and Grandpa visit. This place defies explanation. It’s like a giant art installation that you can climb on and in and around. They purposely won’t make a map of this place, encouraging visitors to get lost. Housed in a former shoe warehouse, this place has tubes and caves and a castle and lizards and a 5-story slide and a 10-story slide and axolotls and a cantilevered bus and a giant metal praying mantis and a ferris wheel on the roof and and and AND. It was amazing and I think Ian would live there if you let him.

Sean and I didn’t even try to keep up. We attempted to make a point of laying eyes on the kids every so often, but it was all but hopeless. The kids are 9 and 11, and I’m not sure I’d have been okay with bringing them there at any younger age than they are. Their age is just about perfect though – they could get themselves into a little trouble, get themselves out of trouble, and explore their physical and mental limits. Sean and I tried to climb around in the rebar structures a little bit, but my back is just too damaged for me to be as mobile as I might like.

Were I to do it again (and believe you me, Ian very badly wants to), I’d equip both kids with wrist watches and have a designated place for us to meet about once an hour. Even as it was, I managed to not stress too badly right up until the tornado warning came through. The sky had turned a stormy blue-black, which isn’t all that out of the ordinary in the midwest. And then they started telling all of us to go to the lowest floor and shelter in the caves. I’m not kidding. It took us a while to find the kids and get them sheltered and by the time we did so, the danger had more or less passed. We didn’t spend too long in the caves before we were back to wandering. The only sad part about the unexpected afternoon rain is that there was one more outdoor area that we didn’t get to explore. Given that, Ian will probably see his wish to go back to the City Museum granted.

We saw sea creatures, reptiles, art, and mayhem. We were undersea, in caves, and in a school bus cantilevered off the edge of the building. The kids rode multi-story slides, climbed rebar tubes, and clearly tested their mettle. We left exhausted and still needing more time. It was an excellent visit.

We ended our evening at the Old Spaghetti Factory wearing funny hats, making origami for the waitstaff, and eating pasta doused in brown butter and mizithra cheese – a pleasant and nostalgic end to a busy day.

After breakfast at the hotel, we started our next day at the Gateway Arch. We failed to reserve parking ahead of time, but it wound up not mattering because that area was nearly a ghost town on Memorial Day. We managed to park on the street.

At 630 feet tall, the Arch is considered the nation’s tallest monument. It has a stainless steel structure, was designed by architect Eero Saarinen, and was completed in 1965.

We puttered in the museum trying to get the kids excited about catenary curves and rotating ride capsules until our designated tram time. Ian, who has ridden all manner of ridiculous roller coasters and thrill rides, seemed apprehensive about going up inside the Arch. Maybe it’s because we kept describing the tram system as “unique” and “one of a kind.”

Things have changed since I was a kid. They now have the two sides of the Arch separated, so once you’re at the top, you’re only on one side of it. Also, you’re limited to ten minutes before you have to go back down. It wasn’t bad, but it did feel a bit rushed. Still the kids got a huge kick out of it, and it was fun for Sean and I to experience it again.

If I remember correctly, the ride up takes 4.5 minutes, the ride down, only 3.5. Safely deposited at the bottom, we hit the gift shop, walked the riverfront a little bit, took about a billion photos, and then headed back to the car.

We had a quick lunch at a White Castle in Eureka and then it was off to Six Flags St Louis! The kids love amusement parks, so this year, we had sprung for a season pass and have thus far made very good use of it as a fun add on to our vacations.

We had been seeing posts from our Missouri friends talking about the invasion of the cicadas. Evidently the 13-year cicadas and the 17-year cicadas managed to emerge at the same time for the first time since 1803. We hadn’t really noticed too much in the heart of St Louis, but out in Eureka, it the buzzing of the cicadas was deafening – as in, the roar of the roller coasters was somewhat muffled for all the noise the cicadas were making. They would occasionally pop into our faces or hitch brief rides on our t-shirts, but other than the possible hearing damage, they weren’t too bad, at least for us.

We managed to hit a number of rides, but still had a few we hoped to ride or re-ride before we left when our beautiful, sunny, 80-degree day suddenly turned dark and rainy! It wasn’t in the forecast (at least not that we noticed), so we were completely unprepared for it.

The rides had shut down in the rain, and it was getting on toward dinner time, so we met up with our friend Matt at Dewey’s Pizza. The food was outstanding and it was nice to sit and have a beer and catch up a little. We let Maya and Ian chill out and watch videos on Maya’s phone, so everyone got to relax a little bit.

After dinner, we drove down to Friedheim to Grammy and Grandpa’s house, rolling in around 10:00 that night – another long and fun-filled day!

To conserve vacation time and to get out of the way and let Grandparents and Grandkids spend time together, Sean and I worked for the next few days. Connectivity was a little dicey, but otherwise, it worked out pretty well. We got some of our work done and the kids had quality time with Grammy and Grandpa. That first day, after spending a morning spent catching frogs, they had lunch out and went to the Cape Splash Family Aquatic Center to play on water slides for the afternoon.

That evening, we all went have dinner at The Pub. The couple times we’ve gone, the food has been great and everyone is so friendly there. Plus, this time we got to sit in the nonsmoking section, much to Maya’s relief. Not a terrible way to celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary! Also, Grammy made a dessert for us, and even decorated it!

The next day – Wednesday – while Sean and I worked, Grammy and Grandpa took the kids to Hoeckele’s Bakery to choose some breakfast doughnuts. They spent the afternoon at a trampoline park. It was funny too. Sean and I were working so we weren’t paying the best attention to what was going on around us, and at some point, we noticed it was really quiet. They had all just gone. It was amazing!

Ian had been saving up his quarters for this vacation with the specific goal of going to Circle U and spending some money in the video games there, so that evening, that’s exactly what we did. This is where Ian wanted to order shoestring fries, but because of what his eyes were seeing on his soda cup, he kept referring to them as horseshoe fries. I even slipped up and called them that once. It sounds kinda dumb now, but at the time, it was hilarious.

The kids, Maya especially, spent a lot of time on this trip hanging out by the pond, catching critters. They caught sooooo many little frogs in various stages of tail loss. Somewhere along the line Thursday morning, Ian came bursting into the office where Sean and I were working and said with breathless delight, “Mom, come look. We caught a turtle!”

Sure enough, they had the prettiest little turtle. In doing some research (and getting a second opinion), we believe it’s a Western Painted Turtle. The kids, especially Ian, wanted very badly to keep it. He set up a really nice little plastic bin for it, complete with water and food and spent lots of time checking on it. He named it “Kernel” – who knows why.

Anyhow, I did some looking. Those little guys can live 40 years or more, and if you want to care for them properly in captivity, you need something like a 100 gallon enclosure with dry areas and wet areas and dark places to sleep and places that replicate daylight with special lamps, and on and on and on. We all agreed that Kernel would live his best life right out there at that pond. They spent the day enjoying Kernel – he even slept in the basement that night, tucked away in his plastic bin, so he’d be “safe.”

That afternoon my siblings and their spouses and children all came to the house and we had a spectacular visit during which I didn’t have the presence of mind to take too many photos. Uncle Jade caught a whopper of a fish. Maya and Lily played in the pond. And Ian played with, well, everyone. Henry, who is now 15 (!!!) and learning to drive, practiced a bit in the side-by-side.

The next day, our last day in Missouri, we mostly hung out around the house. Sean worked, but I went ahead and took the day off to hang out a little bit before we left. Grammy and Grandpa have TONS of different kinds of bird feeders lining their deck. Plus the pond attracts lots of water birds. I had been having fun watching birds during downtime here and there. We saw goldfinches and red-winged blackbirds and both red-bellied and red-headed woodpeckers. Add to that the ruby-throated hummingbirds fighting endlessly over the feeders.

But nothing tops the bald eagle that came to visit the pond. On our last day, we saw it do several flybys before finally swooping down to grab a catfish from the pond. We watched the bird struggle a bit to get it to shore, but once it did, it tore into that fish. After the eagle left, we walked down to find what was left of a decent-sized catfish.

That evening, we packed up and drove about halfway home. That’s how we closed out our month of May, halfway between Friedheim and Austin. I don’t recall the trip home being at all remarkable. During the driving parts of this vacation, we introduced the kids to the Myth series by Robert Asprin by listening to the “Another Fine Myth” audiobook with them. They seemed to like it, and listening to an audiobook has been a nice way to break up their screen time during the long drives.