It’s been so long now, I can’t even remember how July started. Other than Maya’s swim team practices, we had a bit of a camp reprieve at the beginning of the month. So it only made sense that I would get sick.

It started out benignly enough with a little sore throat. Then some congestion was added. My body felt like it does when I have a fever, but I don’t think my temperature got much beyond the 99s. We had bought all the stuff to make a swanky lobster bisque on 4th of July, so I muscled through that, though I mostly just wanted to rest. Then because I didn’t feel well, no one in our house bothered about fireworks. It was a very subdued celebration of our country’s independence.

The next day, I’m not even sure why, I decided to take a COVID test. I haven’t had a test come back as quickly or as affirmatively positive as this one did. I was in the middle of texting Sean to see how long you were supposed to wait for a line to appear when I noticed it rapidly and boldly emerging next to the control line. Thankfully no one in the house got sick. Because COVID wasn’t even really on my radar, I wasn’t being obsessively cautious, and I was under the weather for a few days before it occurred to me to test.

Our month was pretty low key. We watched the movie Chef with the kids, and were inspired to make Cubanos, courtesy of a youtube recipe from Brian Lagerstrom. The pork was divine, and bread was exactly what I want from sandwich bread. The kids were largely content with just pork and bread. Sean and I went in for the whole mustard, cheese, pickle, pressed sandwich thing. It was a good experience.

Ian had been watching a show called, “Is It Cake?” The premise is that these incredibly talented baker/artists make cakes that legit look like real life objects and in a comparison, contestants have to decide which is actually cake. Ian decided that he’d like to try his hand at cake decorating. We started simple with an iced chocolate cake. He has asked to try a confetti cake next.

The weekend of the 14th, Maya had her last of three swim meets on her fun summer league. Her favorite stroke is butterfly, but she’s fastest at backstroke. In fact, if she weren’t so worried about bonking her head on the wall (a real concern, to be sure), she’d be very fast. I hear this backstroke speed is hereditary (her dad).

The next week, both kids had camp. Ian went to a Lorcana camp at the comic book store, which by all accounts he adored. Maya tried out a songwriting camp. She’s musically very talented and competent, but she very much prefers to do things on her own rather than in a group. The group aspect of songwriting camp was going to stretch her a bit, and I think Sean and I were both apprehensive about how well she’d like it. We needn’t have worried. Every day she was excited to go, and when we picked her up, she’d babble endlessly about all the things they had done that day. She’s already planning to go back next summer and has been working on Ian to try it out too.

The evening of the 19th, after camps were all done, we loaded up the car and headed partway to Alabama for Camp Lollipop. Maya and Ian would spend the week hanging out with their grandparents. We would spend the week working from Alabama. It seemed like a good arrangement.

Our hotel in Shreveport had a lot of “character.” The AC didn’t work, the blackout shades didn’t black out, and to top it all off, the coffee machine didn’t work. Oh, also, the clock was wonky – it was always 2:25p, no matter what. We weren’t really there long enough for it to matter much; mostly it was a place for us to sleep a bit, so no big deal.

Lolli and Pop had a dance that Saturday evening, but we managed to roll into Homewood in time to see them a bit before they headed out. After much dithering, we tried a place called Sam’s Deli for dinner. Sean and I loved the dinners we ordered. Their falafel was amazing! The kids were maybe less excited about the chicken fingers they got from there.

On Sunday, we rested, at least in the morning. The kids chose Nothing But Noodles for lunch, and it was on the way there that we learned the startling news that President Biden had dropped out of the 2024 presidential race against Donald Trump and had endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris instead. It’s one of those historic, unprecedented kinds of things that can’t help but dominate the lunch conversation. And the kids seemed to be listening too, because they definitely had questions.

Pop took the Maya and Ian to the pool, much to their delight. If someone would take them to the pool every single day, I think they’d be happy. Our fun event for that evening was to go see the Despicable Me 4 movie at the Grand River Drive-In in nearby Leeds.

They have a really nice set-up there. There’s sort of an attached food court area where you can secure food and drinks from a handful of eateries. We went to fetch the family some dinner to eat during the movie and holy wow were they out of everything the kids might have liked. There was no red sauce for pizza and their fryer was out of service so no french fries. It was tricky finding food the kids would eat, but we more or less managed.

When we got back, the movie was just starting, so we missed a little of the beginning, but no big deal. The kids were there with Lolli and Pop, so they saw it. Our car was a little fussy. To hear the audio, we tuned to a particular FM frequency, but in accessory mode, our car just kind of shut off every so often and our audio had to be re-started. For us at least, it was a little hard to hear unless we were sitting inside the car. If we were to do this more frequently, we’d need to find a good audio solution for chilling out near the car in our lawn chairs. There was definitely plenty of room for us to do that. Still, everyone had a really good time. Gru and the minions are a hoot, as always.

On Monday, Sean and I set up to work, and Lolli and Pop took the kids to the Cook Museum of Natural Science in Decatur for the day. Maya and Ian’s favorite part of that experience was getting to work a mining sluice. They got a sack of mining dirt and sifted off the dirt in the running water to see what sort of gemstones had been hiding in their bag. Ian tells me one of his is an emerald, so that’s pretty exciting. Then, after all that fun, Lolli took them for their obligatory run to the pool.

That evening, the kids chose Okinawa Sushi for dinner. I think Okinawa may be the kids’ most eagerly anticipated meal when they visit Lollipop. They get cool Ramune sodas, excellent sushi, and even miso soup. What’s not to like!

After Okinawa, we went to Big Spoon Creamery for ice cream, mostly at my request. I don’t crave sweets often, but every once in a while, I love a good ice cream. They had a unique variety of flavors. Ian had a basil flavored ice cream that was to die for. Maya, with her coffee affinity had one called caramelatte. I had a corn and blackberry one, and Sean had the peach and bourbon cobbler flavored ice cream.

Pop had been starting to get sickly already on Sunday. By Tuesday, Lolli was well into her illness as well. It was decided that in the best interest of everyone, we should head back home. We worked through the day and then loaded up and headed halfway home that evening, finishing our drive on Wednesday. The drive home was uneventful, though the kids were sad their visit was cut short.

We pass the time on long road trips by listening to audiobooks with the kids. On the way out, we listened to Swindle, by Gordon Korman, which was geared to younger kids. It was maybe a hair boring for the adults, but the kids seemed to enjoy it. On the way back home, we started listening to Divergent, by Veronica Roth. They really seemed to get into this one, so while it may seem a little “old” for a 9- and 11-year-old, for ours it was spot on.

We mostly used our unanticipated extra time at home to try to pack for our big summer vacation ahead of time. We wouldn’t be flying out till Monday the 29th, so for a change, we had time to lay everything out, check and double check that we were remembering necessary items for specific outings, and even purchase a few last-minute things. It was as un-chaotic as packing for a trip has managed to be, since we’ve had kids.

And then we flew to Hawaii.

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.

This was a healthier month for us. We started off going to school one evening to watch Ian’s Davis Virtuosos performance. They put on a small singing and percussion performance and while Ian gave us a few dirty looks for taking his photo, I thought he did very well.

Of course that first full weekend, we attended the big eclipse campout. We had, for a couple weeks, been expecting to not see much of the eclipse for all the cloud cover, so we were delighted when we actually got to see at least some of totality!

The next weekend, on Saturday, we got to see yet another Ian performance, this time on his guitar. His teacher got him added to the roster for a Beat4Beat concert at the ACC Music Recital Hall. This is an event he participated in last year as well, and it’s really neat.

That Sunday, at Ian’s Cub Scout pack meeting, they got to participate in an egg drop challenge. Ian was given an egg and a handful of tokens with which he could “purchase” a limited quantity of materials for cushioning and securing his egg. He built his egg-protecting contraption and then dropped it from a first floor landing. It survived! He then got to try dropping it from the second story landing, and again his egg made it! It did not, however, survive a fidgeting 9 year old boy on the way home.

Our college friend Chris has been learning to play the trombone as part of Blowcomotion, a “community learning brass band.” We missed his first gig, but were able to see him on the 21st when he played at Central Market. The kids got gelatos, and we all got to watch a delightful brass band performance that was big big big on personality.

On the cooking front, I think I finally found a kolache / klobasnek recipe that works for me. Making the dough was a bit of a pain, but generally speaking, I thought the flavor and texture were spot on. We did some with plain sausage, some with sausage and cheddar cheese, and some with sausage, cheddar, and pickled jalapenos. And they reheat well.

I also have a new favorite way to make pizza. It features a focaccia crust and is baked in a caste iron skillet. We haven’t made it with the toppings described in this recipe, but we’ve now used that crust recipe several times, to delicious effect.

And we ended the month quietly by having Maya harvest her radishes. The weather is getting pretty warm, and I wasn’t sure how much they’d continue to grow. Alas, we only had one fully formed radish and several that were radish-y enough to eat. Regardless, Maya was happy with her radish haul.

Already last year, even before the annular solar eclipse happened in October, I was thinking through how we could make the total solar eclipse in 2024 special. Since it was happening in April, before Texas turns into a furnace, I thought camping would be an excellent plan.

Texas state park campsites can be reserved 5 months ahead of time, and so I had chosen a few parks that would be in the path of totality, and set a reminder a few days before 5 months ahead so I could scope out preferred locations within the parks and that sort of thing. They were all gone. Every one of them. I searched a bit for non state park campsites, but the price gouging was so stupid that I just didn’t have the heart to bother. Austin was in the path of totality, so we’d just watch it from our house.

Then in February, the pack leader for Ian’s cub scout troop, sent out information for a scout campout to which cub scout families were invited. Camping was for Saturday through Monday (the day of the big eclipse), and the intervening time would be chock full of scouting and eclipse-related activities. It was more than we had planned to spend, but it was just too good to pass up. Plus, Ian and that pack leader’s youngest son are very good friends, so he’d have someone to play with as well.

Sean rented a lens for his camera that would be good for eclipse photography. He purchased a solar filter for said lens so he could take photos of the partial eclipse as well. He made sure he had the right hardware so he could correctly mount the camera and lens to his tripod.

As the big day approached, we kept watching our forecast. We’d been enjoying so much clear and mild and sunny weather, it was disappointing that for a solid ten days our forecast ranged from cloudy to cloudy and rainy and back to cloudy again. Oh well, we were gonna go camping regardless, so we’d just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best.

The Smilin V Scout Ranch is only maybe 40-45 minutes away from us, but we were definitely out of town. Since we weren’t to be provided food on Saturday night, we chose to stop by Liberty Hill and eat a calm-before-the-storm dinner at Dahlia Cafe. We couldn’t have asked for better. It was only about 5:00 when we got there, so it wasn’t too full. The food was good – Sean and I had chicken fried steak (and theirs is a solid rendition), Maya had a cajun tilapia dish that she was very fond of, and Ian – believe it or not – took down nearly all of a 12-oz ribeye. They have pies by the slice or whole, but the kids scored big with a brownie for Ian and a blondie for Maya, both topped with generous scoops of ice cream.

Check in at camp was from 6-10p that evening, but when we rolled in around 6:30, things weren’t too busy, and we were saved a camp site so that Ian and his scout friend could be neighbors. Mostly, Sean and I set up our tent and things while Ian played with his friend and Maya caught crickets and grasshoppers. There was a big open area for the kids to run and play in and still be in eyesight of the grown ups, so the set-up was perfect for us.

After our camp prep was finished, we took a stroll around the grounds to walk off dinner and orient ourselves a bit. We located the bathrooms and the main pavilion where food would be served on Sunday and Monday and where some of the activities took place. We wandered by the scout store and bought capitol area council eclipse patches for the kids.

It was a windy night, and our very boxy tent did a fair amount of dancing in the breeze. Other than the noise, I don’t think the kids were all that bothered about it, but Sean and I were both relieved when it had made it through the night.

Sean and I were already awake, but at 7:00, we were treated to the sounds of a bugler bugling to get everyone up and moving in time for breakfast at 7:30. The first round of scouting activities commenced at 8:30, and it was not limited only to scouts. Maya could participate too. Heck, even Sean and I could if we wanted to. Maya wanted some down time, so Sean went with Ian to go through an orienteering course.

Maya and I met up with them when they were going to build lego cars to run down the track, pinewood derby style. I had a lot of fun examining the animals they had on hand. They had a variety of central Texas toads, frogs, and lizards. There were turtles and tortoises. We even got to check out a couple of snakes. They had a ball python, which everyone got to hold. And they had a lovely rat snake who maybe wasn’t “tame” enough to be handled safely.

After that, we all trundled up to the shooting range where Ian and Maya tried out both archery (which Ian has had a fair amount of practice in, though not outdoors and in the wind) and “wrist rockets” which are sling shots. With those, they shot dried chickpeas at a row of foil pie-plates clipped to a string. Those things are hard to aim on a good day, but doubly so, I’d imagine, when your target is waggling around in the breeze.

After lunch, we walked to a different area to look at a couple different solar telescopes and do some eclipse and eclipse-adjacent crafts. The kids made coronas (like they’d see when the sun was behind the moon if it weren’t too cloudy) using black paper and chalk. They punched out pictures and words in thick paper so they could use those to let the sun shine through and make little eclipse shapes, like we did with the colander last fall (again, if it’s not too cloudy). And they used LEDs and batteries to make red light flashlights that they could use during this evening’s star party (if skies were clear).

Right then, the sky was clear enough to check out the solar telescopes. Yes, plural. Here’s the episode where I learned there are multiple ways of observing the sun through a telescope. Evidently, in the past, I’ve only looked at it through a white light filter. This allows you to see the sun spots, which in itself is interesting. But, with a hydrogen-alpha solar telescope, the filter only allows a narrow frequency of light through toward the red end of the spectrum, and this is the frequency at which the sun shows much of its activity. Looking through the hydrogen-alpha telescope, we were able to see the prominences exploding up from the sun’s surface. Many of these arc right back to the sun’s surface, and we were able to observe that as well around the sun’s edge. In the body of the sun, we saw a dark line that represented a prominence as well. It was our first time seeing that, and it was amazing.

The kids were getting antsy by this point, so we moseyed back toward our camping spot for a little breather before the kids went and did more activities. They worked at a water flow exhibit a bit, but rather than listening to the well-intentioned leader teach them about waterway maintenance, they just wanted to obstruct water flow and play in the water. By this point, it was getting pretty hot, so I’m not too surprised. Ian spent a very long time chatting with a fellow about the finer points of coin collecting. In fact, he went back and visited that man at least one more time and walked away with a magazine on the topic.

Maya needed some downtime, so I sat with her for a while at our very hot, sunshine-filled camp site so she could read about birds and not be bothered by nine year old boys or adults who insisted she follow directions.

We went back to find both the boys embroiled in, of all things, chess games! We rounded them up and headed back to the main pavilion to hear a talk from Colonel Mike Fossum, former Eagle Scout and astronaut. He had spent time on the international space station and came to chat with the kids about scouting and about outer space.

Col. Fossum made it through his whole talk and nearly the entire Q&A afterward before one brave kid finally asked the question they’d all been wanting to know. How do you go to the bathroom when there’s no gravity?! I suspect he’s had to field this one before because he had a carefully delivered explanation peppered with just the right amount of humor. There’s a suction system for the urine so it can be recycled. “Yesterday’s coffee is today’s coffee!” he quipped. On space walks they wear a MAG or maximum absorbency garment, “because calling it a diaper just wouldn’t be cool!” he grinned.

The kids had all been given nice photos of him at check in, and he spent a very long while, probably literal hours over the course of a couple days, talking with the individual kids and signing their photos for them.

After dinner that evening, we hung out a while and listened to a live band playing “the classics” which apparently now includes things like “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” I don’t recall getting old, but apparently I’m there. The kids were bored and went and played while the grown ups sat in the shade and relaxed. A nice cold beer right about then would have been delightful, but that understandably doesn’t jive with a scout camp, so we made the most of water from a nearby spigot and cans of cold soda purchased from the scout store.

Maya abhors the smell and taste of grilled food, so we had brought along a couple of dehydrated meals just in case. While she liked that evening’s dinner (after hounding the nice volunteer serving the food about how it had been prepared), we had promised her one of the meals, so Sean made it for her. And to her credit, she ate her second dinner as well.

We didn’t have too much time after that before we headed to the big event of the evening – the star party. We used red light or no light at all in walking to the star party location. (I learned more new things.) I had thought that you didn’t use white light because it causes the pupil to retract and it takes a bit for it to re-adapt to dark conditions. But there’s more to it than that. Evidently, after your pupils dilate to let more light in, then the rod and cone cells in your retina produce a pigment (rhodopsin) that increases our eyes’ sensitivity. If that is damaged by white light, it can take as long as 40 minutes to reset. This pigment isn’t damaged by red light.

Ian’s pack leader is an enthusiastic amateur astronomer. Presumably because he’s not doing this every day like it’s his job, he has fun with it. To paraphrase … Here’s a constellation. Here’s its story. Where I grew up the sky was different. The spring sky is different from the summer sky. And on and on.

Early in the evening, before it dropped too low in the sky to avoid interference from our atmosphere, we were able to check out Jupiter and three of its moons with a telescope. We learned to spot satellites as they zinged through the sky. And we saw so many constellations, more and more as the clouds drifted away and the sky continued to darken. Here are some that I remember: Big Dipper, Little Dipper (faintly), Orion, Perseus holding Medusa’s severed head, Leo, Gemini (or separately Castor and Pollux), Cassiopeia, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Taurus, Canis Major, Canis Minor, the Pleiades (or the seven sisters), and more that I simply cannot recall. I would have stayed longer, but Maya was telling me her legs hurt and not telling me that she was cold out there in her shorts and short sleeves. Despite having left early, the experience had been a hit for me. It was a beautiful night to look at the sky.

We went to bed that evening under clear skies and cold, crisp, quiet air. In the middle of the night at some point, the wind abruptly picked up and by morning, we emerged into a thick, moist morning under heavy cloud cover. It was a long while till the eclipse was happening, but given that rain showers were slated to come through in the afternoon, none of us were too optimistic about the cloud cover diminishing.

There were activities happening again on this last day in camp, but most of us were a bit tired from the past couple days and maybe a little mopey about the weather on top of it. We mostly just let the kids run free and play while we worked at dismantling our campsite and packing up the car, just in case that rain came earlier than expected.

The eclipse would start at 12:17p, so shortly after lunch, volunteers distributed eclipse glasses to all attendees. We thought the crowd would really swell on Monday, because folks had the option to just come for the day instead of camping all weekend. And while it’s true that more people arrived, it never felt crowded.

We did get some intermittent breaks in the cloud cover to observe the moon slowly creeping in on the sun. Sean had set up his camera and was capturing a few cool images. Much more of the sun had to be covered than I’d have expected before we really even noticed how dark it was getting. We were delighted to see a good big patch of blue stretching out in front of us, and for a little while we could see the crescent of the sun shrinking ever smaller. But things were moving too quickly, and with maybe 15 or 20 minutes till totality a thick bank of clouds rolled through.

Sean said he thought he saw a clear patch, but I couldn’t discern what he meant and thought maybe he was just giving me a little hope. But I had none. I slumped in my lawn chair and tried to be happy with the things we did get to see. The mood trickling through the crowd was ripe with disappointment. And then, it felt like just moments before totality, we got little flickers of fingernail sun through the clouds. Yells of “I SEE IT” rolled through a crowd consisting significantly of too-cool-for-school teen and preteen boys.

And suddenly we saw the sun slip away. First we saw Baily’s Beads, then a diamond ring, and then a dark circle in the sky surrounded by a shimmering corona. The clouds obscured our view from time to time, but it was incredible nonetheless. I don’t think photos can adequately prepare you for what you see, nor do I think they can reflect what it was like to be there in that moment seeing the world go briefly dark with only a halo of sun to provide light. And then, like a weird 360-degree sunrise, it was over. I don’t recall seeing Baily’s Beads on the way out of totality, but we got a cloudy diamond ring again. Not very much of the sun had to be uncovered before it was back to feeling like daytime again. A friend had said earlier, whether we see totality or not, there will be tears, and she was correct.

The moment totality was over, the kids were ready to hit the road. The poor darlings had been deprived of their screens since Saturday morning, after all. But the clouds had somewhat dissipated, so we hung out for a while taking a few more photos of the partial eclipse. We had observed bright red briefly in the corona during totality, and I thought my eyes were tricking me, but in Sean’s photos and in the solar telescope, we saw prominences around the edge of the sun that mirrored those red bits. This time too, you could see the arch of the more distinct prominence very clearly. We were told that that prominence might be ten Earths tall.

Eventually we finished packing up and headed home. Traffic was a bit thicker, but it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. The theory is that maybe since the forecast for eclipse viewing was so terrible, many folks either didn’t bother or went elsewhere. At any rate, I think we were home by around four o’clock, unloading our car and trying to set things back in order.

Sean’s parents were in Arkansas for the eclipse and got a good clear view during totality. My parents in Missouri had clear skies and a good long time to watch as well. We had kept the kids out of school so we could watch together as a family, and we were pleased to find that there had been a break in the clouds and everyone at the kids’ school got to experience totality as well. Talk about a shared experience! We had nearly zero cell reception at the camp ground, so it was funny to see all the different texts from friends and family once we re-entered cell coverage.

Now that I’ve seen it once, I want to experience it again. I’m sure that zeal will diminish over time. After all, there are plenty of experiences with which to fill one’s time. But until then … Europe in 2026? Maybe Australia in 2028?

While much of Texas is still in drought conditions, our county (Travis) included, the winter and early spring rains have gone some ways toward lessening the severity. In February, I was worried that summer was going to be very early this year, and it may still be, but we’ve enjoyed some pleasantly mild weather in March.

We started our March outdoors! Maya and Ian have little food and herb crops they want to grow in the back yard. We don’t have a whole lot of sun in that area, so they’re relegated to some strategically placed pots and a couple sunny-ish spots in-ground. Maya has a pot full of radishes she started at the beginning of the month. I worried that it was a little early, but we also let her buy a cayenne chili pepper plant as well, and it is thriving. Ian’s preferences run to warm weather plants, so we’ll start his seeds soon.

All four of us also spent a weekend trying to clear out some of the overgrown back yard as well. Between a few injuries, my bad back, and the infernal heat last summer, I just kind of gave up on the yard. Volunteer trees have spread, beds have become overgrown with weeds, and our poor Monterey Oak is still bent over from the big freeze last year.

While we were back there, we noticed that our cherry laurel tree at the back of the yard was almost shimmering with the movement of insect life around it. The tree had flowered, and between the honey bees and the busy comings and goings of red admiral butterflies, things were in constant motion – a little treat for all our hard work.

We whoa-ed up on yard work so I could get Ian over to a Cub Scout den meeting. We all met up at a local fire department to learn about the service they provided to the community. The fire station and the fire engines were pretty neat. Ian and the other kids got to try on some of the oxygen tanks and the big jackets to see how heavy they were. They got to see where the fire fighters slept and ate and relaxed during their shifts. We talked through the plans we would make as families in case of a fire – get out of the house, leave everything behind, meet outside at a designated place, and if you can, close the door behind you to help deprive the fire of oxygen.

We had what I think was our first 90 degree day of the year in early March. Thankfully, the heat has simmered down since then and things have been pleasant.

Maya and Ian’s grade school has a MARE week every year. Each grade level has a different aquatic area to focus on, and this year, at long last, Maya finally has the ocean as her area. Against advice from her teacher (who warned Maya she may have trouble finding information on the topic), she chose to study and report on the Dumbo Octopus. She and the other fifth graders made displays and games that featured their chosen sea creature, and their parents all got to visit and learn and play their games.

And then, since it was spring break for us, we left on Friday the 8th for our spring break vacation to Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC!

Ian and I got some kind of snotty, coughing illness while we were on vacation, and at least for me, I was a little down and out when we got back. I even took a day off sick, which I rarely do. Finally, we all felt well enough and were unscheduled enough to go to our usual bluebonnet spot and grab some photos. This was on the 19th, and from the pictures I’ve seen, we were maybe a little early to see the full, brilliant flush of colorful flowers, but even at that, the display was lovely.

Still, it’s good we got our photos in when we did, because Sean was sick and then Maya became sharply ill yet on top of it. In fact, she stayed home a couple days from school to rest and eventually found out that she had strep!

We more or less did as little as possible for the next couple weeks. We resold tickets to a concert, bowed out of Ian’s spring cub scout camp out, and even got a refund on movie tickets we had bought. Whatever this illness was, it sapped me of my energy, and it was quite a while before I wasn’t sneaking in a nap after work and still going to bed on time AND sleeping all night (which is odd for me).

This kids have decided they’re done believing in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny, but they still want holiday gifts, cash for teeth, and – I came to find out when foolishly suggesting we skip it – to hunt for easter eggs. Thankfully, since we have no illusions to keep alive, we (mostly Sean) decorated eggs with them on Saturday. They woke up to find they had fully loaded easter baskets to root through on Sunday morning. And then after puttering around for a while, we sent them to their rooms so we could take the eggs they had decorated the night before and hide them in the yard.

Sean did most of the hiding, while I kept him company, offering suggestions here and there. We were delighted to find that a beautifully colored green anole had found one of the eggs Sean had hidden. I had to give Sean my phone so he could reach up high enough to take a decent photo.

After the hunt, we decorated easter cupcakes – vanilla for Ian, carrot cake for Maya. I had bought a little kit that had candied ears, nose, eyes, and cheeks so that each cupcake could look like a bunny. Maya and Ian played by the rules for a couple cupcakes and then let their creativity take over. A few days later, the eyes had melted a little, and they freaked Maya out to such a degree that she wouldn’t even look at them. She had me remove the decorations before she was willing to eat them.

We ended the month more or less feeling normal and easing back into our normal schedules. Hopefully April will be a healthier month for us.

Every year here lately, during the long, hot days and months of summer, Sean and I discuss relocating. There are lots of good reasons to move. We’d like to spend more time outdoors. It would be nice for the kids to be closer to their grandparents. Austin has gotten so big that I think it may have outgrown us. With all this in mind, we decided to spend our spring break visiting Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC with the dual purpose of vacationing and scoping the places out as potential relocation options.

Day 1 – Flying to Atlanta

Our most cost-effective flight option for this trip was a round trip flight to Atlanta. We figured, what the heck, we’ll start our trip off with a visit to Six Flags Over Georgia. To maximize our time, we wound up taking a direct flight out late Friday night. We finished up packing after our work days were done and headed out early enough to arrive at what could be a very busy airport about 2.5 hours early. We weren’t allowed to reserve parking, but thankfully, it was no problem. The shuttle driver accidentally shut the door early, bopping me square on the ass – I guess I wasn’t moving quickly enough! We both thought it was hilarious though, so no harm done.

The lines weren’t horrible, and we made it through with enough time to comfortably eat dinner and still relax a bit before boarding the plane. We couldn’t talk the kids into anything more adventurous than East Side Pies, but that’s fine; we’re big on choosing our battles over here. Here’s a funny aside. Because this was dinner, each of us planned on ordering a couple slices to carry us through our evening. At per slice pricing, that would have run us $56. Since eight slices is a whole pie, we wound up buying it that way at $28. Weirdly, the ability to order a whole pizza seemed to hinge entirely on the availability of actual pizza boxes. Word to the wise, I guess.

Our flight into Atlanta was extremely rough. Huge bounces and drops that almost made your stomach turn. Even the kids focus on the screens was nudged enough for at least Maya to wonder what was going on. The pilot came on the intercom at one point to tell us that we’d be on the ground very shortly, and I’ll admit it. For the most fleeting of moments, I had the thought that he sounded awfully cavalier about crashing an airplane.

We didn’t dilly-dally exiting the plane, and still our baggage made it to the carousel before we did. Way to go ATL!

The kids, while waiting for our rental car, were crashing our two roller bags into each other. I told them that their suitcase bumper cars would lose them their screens if they kept it up. Apparently they decided that Suitcase Bumper Cars would make a great band name. Maya on keys, Ian on guitar and singing. His friend Damian plays drums. Their long-time friend Herbie plays bass. I personally can’t wait to go to that show.

Day 2 – Six Flags Over Georgia + Lollipop!

Since we had gotten in so late the night before, especially given the time zone shift, we all tried to sleep in a little. We had a hotel breakfast and then were off to Six Flags to meet up with Lolli and Pop who had driven over from Alabama to hang out with us while we were in the Atlanta area.

We had a near-perfect amusement park day. The crowds were very thin, I guess since it was so early in the season. The sky was overcast and the temperature was maybe on the cooler end of being pleasant. The longest we ever waited for any ride (Superman) was maybe 15-20 minutes, and more often than not, we waited for only one iteration of the ride to run before we were able to board.

Several things were closed, which was a little sad, but I think it was an acceptable tradeoff to have such easy access to everything else. We had a new experience too. After you get seated in the Superman coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia and get all strapped in and buckled down, it actually tilts you such that your back is horizontal to the ground, with you facing downward, so that you can fly like Superman. The ride was fun with lots of twists and turns and odd-feeling inversions. But, at one point in the ride, the positive Gs you experience are such that I and my borked spine will never ride that one again. And if I encounter another that has you sitting in the same way, I’m likely to pass. Be warned!

I think Lolli and Pop were impressed with the kids’ thrill ride mania. They took to calling us the Fearsome Foursome, so willing were we all to try out all the rides.

We managed to get through the park quickly enough that we could leave a bit early and have a more civilized dinner. Lolli and Pop are Atlanta experts by this point, so at their suggestion we wound up at R. Thomas Grill. There were lots of nice vegan options for them, and a whole variety of items both vegan and otherwise that sounded very appetizing. Plus the place was kitschy fun with a relaxed hippy vibe.

On the way in and out, we peeked in on the sleeping or near-sleeping birds hanging out in enclosures outside the restaurant. There were a couple of cockatoos named Peaches and Creme, and a macaw called Ruby. I think maybe Maya is moving beyond her bird phase. She seemed only marginally interested, though maybe she’d have been more engaged if we’d gotten there early enough for the birds to be awake and active.

I think we had about enough energy to make it back to the hotel and fall quickly to sleep. Not only were we adjusting to the time change, but we’d jump forward yet another hour overnight for daylight savings time.

Day 3 – World of Coca Cola, Goodbye to Lolli and Pop, Off to Greenville

The kids had clearly been showing signs of under-sleep the day before, so we tried to let them stay in bed absolutely as late as possible without horking our schedule too much. We wandered down around 9 for breakfast, already mostly packed. After checking out, we headed into Atlanta to visit World of Coca-Cola.

There’s a very regimented way they shepherd you through the displays. First, we entered a room full of “artifacts” and played a guessing game. Then we were ushered into a theater to see a real tear-jerker of a short film that was essentially a lengthy advertisement. Then we got to walk through the big shiny vault where the super secret formula for Coca Cola is ostensibly stored.

From there, we were able to visit some more interactive exhibits. We checked out a wall of aromas. We did our own assembly of flavors and the kids got to taste test those.

The final experience (before the gift shop, of course) was the tasting room. We worked our way through dozens of Coca Cola products. I shudder to think how much sugar and caffeine our kids consumed that day. Bittersweet Beverly was there, as a fond reminder of our Disney World experience. We tried out Country Club – a sort of dry peachy one that was recommended to us on our way in. Bonbon Anglais was tropical fruity. Inca Kola was a banana-forward reminder of our Toronto trip.

We headed over to Mellow Mushroom afterward for lunch. The decor at this place was bonkers. Maya and Ian got a kick out of the punny labels on the bathrooms: Mels for the boys and Femels for the girls. Sean and I had a spectacular Cuban sandwich pizza and some seriously delicious mushroom soup.

We parted ways with Lolli and Pop at that point and started our 2-2.5 hour drive to Greenville, SC. We rolled into our hotel around 5, and not too many minutes passed before our kids were suited up and partaking of the hotel swimming pool. The pool at Drury was cool because part of it is indoor and part of it is outdoor, and the kids could swim beneath a divider to get from one side to the other.

After post-pool cleanup, we went to Society Sandwich Bar for drinks and dinner. I enjoyed Somebody’s Quincineara – a tiki drink with mezcal as the base spirit. Sean had a pina colada that made use of Jagermeister. Both drinks were amazing. We had been a little on the fence about going to this place with Maya and Ian, but the bartender cheerfully mixed the kids up some mocktails, then to their delight, served them in very cute kitty mugs.

The food was solid too. We split some Philly cheese egg rolls to start. Ian had some ramen that he really enjoyed. I thought my fried chicken sandwich with honey, pickles, jalapenos, and pimiento cheese was to die for. Four tired and under-slept Woodses went back to the hotel and crashed after all that.

Day 4 – Greenville Real Estate, Reedy River Falls, BMW Zentrum Museum, Paris Mountain State Park

After again slow-rolling our wakeup and hotel breakfast, we drove into town to meet up with a very nice real estate agent named Morgan. She gave us a bit of tourist advice and talked through our interests and described some of the neighborhoods that might be suitable for us. Armed with information, we set out to enjoy our day.

We spent a delightful hour or more tromping around Reedy River Falls, watching geese and snapping photos. This is right in the downtown area of Greenville, so we really didn’t have far to go to get anywhere. We popped briefly into the Grand Bohemian Lodge, mostly to check out the art gallery. We had fun walking across the pretty Liberty Bridge, and rather less fun locating the public restrooms.

Maya and Ian decided on sushi for lunch, and so we had a pleasant meal of gyoza and rolls and nigiri at Konnichiwa.

We drove out to Spartanburg to visit the BMW Zentrum museum after that. I had been hoping that all of us could tour the plant while we were there, but there was no tour available that would accommodate our younger kids. At least we could check out the pretty cars. I could not get over just how huge that facility was. We spent a solid few minutes circumnavigating the grounds till we finally got to the museum.

The kids got a kick out of the racing cars and the gift shop. Sean and I were enthralled with a video showing some of the vehicle assembly process. I think one of the factoids shared during the video was that the facility employs some 11,000 people, which is incredible given the extent to which robotics and automation are utilized.

Afterward we checked out the Greer real estate scene. Sean’s commentary after driving around a bit looking at houses was that he’s more in the market for a small city than a large town. Greenville would fit the bill, but Greer probably would not.

We stopped in at Bruster’s for a quick ice cream. It was warm enough in the sunshine, and the kids had been fairly tolerant of all our real estate exploration, so we figured it was time for a treat. It was nothing fancy, but it scratched the itch, and Maya and Ian seemed happy.

Since we were in the area, we drove to Paris Mountain State Park to get in a post-ice cream hike and take in the area’s natural side a bit. We hiked along the Sulphur Springs Trail to a pretty, stair-stepped waterfall. There was a photogenically decaying stone tower in front of it that Ian climbed around on a bit. All in all, a pleasant enough hike.

The kids had Poke Brothers for dinner. Sean and I love to eat poke, but we were both pretty full still. The kids didn’t realize until that moment just how much the also love poke. I think of it as relaxed sushi. Sean wound up supplementing with a bit of the hotel-provided dinner. And I dug into some of the pizza we had leftover from Mellow Mushroom.

After “dinner,” I hung out and watched the kids play in the pool for a while, while Sean went to check out a local liquor store. We always like to see if there are interesting things on offer that are either local or simply not distributed to central Texas. Alas, all Sean managed to find was that the liquor store had closed at 7pm. Whoops!

Lolli had brought along some pink-fleshed oranges for the kids to test out, and they did so after swimming. The oranges were extremely aromatic as I peeled them. Maya demolished hers in record time. Ian decided that his needed to be cold before he could enjoy them, so we popped them into the fridge for a bit. (He tried them the next day, but it turns out he didn’t like them cold either. More for Maya!)

Day 5 – Conestee Nature Preserve, Sigal Music Museum, Six and Twenty Distillery

We thought we might wake up early and catch sunrise at Reedy River Falls, so I dutifully set my alarm for 6. When it went off, Sean commented that he didn’t have a tripod along and that it likely wouldn’t be worth waking the kids, especially since it appeared that Ian might be getting the sniffles.

The kids managed to sleep through all that. Sean fell into a fitful sleep, no doubt plagued with guilt at having woken me up for no damn reason. And I relaxed and read my book for a couple hours.

We eventually all got up and moving, had our hotel breakfast, and spent a little time checking out the real estate offerings in Mauldin. We didn’t spend too long at this before we moved on to check out the Conestee Nature Preserve. We tried out the yellow trail at the preserve, thinking it would provide us the best chances to view wildlife. First thing in the morning when critters are more active might have been a better choice. The walk was a good one, if a little hot, but a little disappointing on the wildlife front. We saw some sunbathing turtles, Maya spotted a couple new birds, and we listened to a few geese honking (which I had already decided the day before made me think of Brass Monkey by the Beastie Boys, so I was well entertained). Toward the end of the trail we saw a really neat beaver dam, but no beavers to speak of.

We tried Papi’s Tacos for lunch, and it was fine. The taco game in Austin is pretty strong. I wasn’t really expecting to find anything comparable. Sean and Ian stopped in at a place called Carmella’s for dessert (Maya had had a paleta at Papi’s). Ian proudly announced that he would like to try the chocolate mouse tart please. We were only briefly flummoxed before realizing there was a really lovely chocolate mousse tart in the display case.

After lunch, we made our way over to the Sigal Music Museum. It was small, but really interesting. The first floor featured piano-esque instruments, largely from the 1800s and 1900s (with some exceptions). I wish I could remember the percentage, but they’re only able to display a small fraction of their collection at any given time. The kids were invited to play a couple of the instruments. There was a harpsichord on the way in that Ian tried out. Further in, there was a large Steinway grand piano that we couldn’t convince Maya to play till the very end of our visit.

The upstairs featured a special exhibit, “Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred.” Musical instruments from all over the world were selected from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection. This included a Tibetan percussion instrument that was made with human skulls. There were so many things displayed, the like of which I had never heard of or seen before. Our kids still aren’t big readers at museums, so we didn’t get to linger quite as long as the grown ups might have liked, but still, it was a fun visit.

We wanted to relax a bit, so we stopped in at Six and Twenty Distillery. Not being sure of the expectations in South Carolina, I popped my head in and checked that they were okay with the under-21 crowd hanging out while the over-21s sipped some whiskey. No problem at all, turns out. The kids hung out and sipped ginger beers while Sean and I tried a handful of their offerings.

Back to the hotel for laundry day – woooo! The kids had some pool time while I spent $10 at a coin-op washer and dryer getting our clothes clean and (mostly) dry.

Day 6 – Off to Asheville, Campbell’s Covered Bridge, Hendersonville, Dupont State Forest

We packed and checked out of our hotel this morning and bid farewell to Greenville. Distance-wise, the drive between Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC is not particularly lengthy, about 60 miles, but we added a couple stops, just for fun.

Campbell’s covered bridge was built in 1909, and it’s the only covered bridge left in South Carolina. We spent several pleasant minutes tromping around down by Beaverdam Creek over which the bridge spans. Maya was on a mission to catch frogs and by the end even managed to catch (and release) one of them.

From there we drove up into Hendersonville (which is maybe 20 miles south of Asheville) to check out the area. We stopped first at a visitor’s center where a nice lady gave us some helpful hiking advice. Then we parked along the main strip and had lunch at Arabella’s. Home fries are normally something Sean and I kind of write off as non-specific filler. Take note though: the home fries at Arabella’s are the stuff of legend. Crispy outside, supremely fluffy interior, and a delightful seasoning that I’m pretty sure had the barest whisper of sugar added in.

After that, we stopped in at Kilwin’s for sweet treats. Then we moseyed up and down the street, checking out the shops and, now that we were in actual North Carolina, went searching for Cheerwine. Cheerwine isn’t wine just like ginger ale isn’t ale and root beer isn’t beer. It’s flavor is reminiscent of cherry Dr Pepper and it was born in North Carolina. We found some in a candy shop, and sat right outside to try it out. All four Woodses agreed that it was delicious – a rarity in our household.

Next, we drove out to Dupont State Forest and took in a couple of waterfall hikes. We went first to Hooker Falls (named for Edwin Hooker who used to run a mill below the falls, not the oldest profession), whose trail has the unfortunate distinction of being downhill on the way to the falls and uphill on the way back from the falls.

We have apparently ruined the kids for waterfalls after having taken them to Niagara Falls a couple summers ago. Hooker falls is a whopping 12 feet tall, and the kids just weren’t impressed. Sean and I, on the other hand, enjoyed the lovely light roar of the falls and the cool breeze off the river.

I think I was the only one that still wanted to hike, but Sean and the kids humored me nonetheless. We walked next to Triple Falls, a longer and definitely more strenuous hike. Thankfully, the hard part was on the way to the big payoff (the falls) and the walk back was much easier. While larger and definitely more impressive, Maya and Ian just had trouble getting all that excited about it.

After that, we finally drove up to Asheville and checked into our hotel. We weren’t super hungry, even after all that hiking, so we let the kids swim for a while. And this pool had the same part-indoor, part-outdoor configuration. Hooray! Also, Maya and Ian made pool friends, though Ian was a little miffed that he was the only boy in the pool.

It was probably around 8:30 when we finally tried to eat dinner and it’s amazing how early things shut down. We tried to eat at a joint called Chai Pani, but they were out of room for the rest of the night by the time we got there. In hunting around for enticing choices, we quickly came to the realization that Asheville may be a bit short on late night options. And that’s the story of how our first meal in Asheville was at a Chick-fil-a. Boo.

Day 7 – Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center, Moogseum, RosaBees – the best meal of our trip

We got up and moving a little more quickly today so that we could go try Vortex for local doughnuts. I had a mango chili glazed doughnut that was spectacular, but otherwise, I think the Woodses were a little disenchanted with their experience.

We drove around a bit checking out some of the housing and real estate options because the things we wanted to do didn’t really start opening up till 10 and 11. To kill some more time, we headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center. When I started planning this trip, my Blue Ridge Parkway plan had been to drive north and take the Craggy Pinnacle hike. It wasn’t even on my radar to consider whether portions of the parkway might be seasonally closed, so I had been disappointed to find a wee or two earlier that the road to Craggy Pinnacle would not likely be open in time for us to take that route. Visitor Center personnel talked us through some alternate plans and provided us with a few maps and things and sent us on our way.

By this point in our trip, poor Ian was congested and coughing, and I was headed that way myself, so we stopped in at the Ingle’s grocery store to find some medicine and to stock our hotel fridge with more Cheerwine.

Finally things would be opening up, so we headed back into town to visit the Moogseum so the ids could learn all about making music with modular synths! The museum is small but highly interactive. You get to learn about the story of one Robert (Bob) Moog, who invented his namesake synthesizer in 1964. There isn’t a ton of reading to be done, but still the kids wouldn’t. Luckily, there were theramins to play with as well as a number of different models of Moog synthesizers (Moog Modular, Voyager, Subsequent 37, and Moog Mini) to try to figure out. Maya was bent that she couldn’t play chords, but she seemed to think patch cables were fun, and she really enjoyed the theramin. Ian is more willing to let another person help him figure things out, and so he and Sean worked together to get interesting noises out of the synths. Overall though, I think he was a little bored.

After this, we headed straight to Chai Pani for lunch and waited only a few moments for a seat to open up. This place was worth the wait. We started with okra “fries” which were an absolute hit with our table – cut thin and fried crispy, they had all the lovely okra flavor and none of the mucus texture. Our meals themselves were amazing. I failed to write down what we ate, but Sean and I each ordered a dish and then traded halfway through. The kids ate their food well, in my recollection.

After lunch, we stopped in at Cultivated Cocktails so the grownups could sample the goods. They were kind enough to make the kids some mocktails as well. Plus, at the table we were sitting at, there was a journal, and one of the staff members stopped by and encouraged the kids to write and draw in it.

Maya and Ian had behaved very well at the distillery, so we took them for sweet treats again at Kilwin’s, where I let Maya talk me into letting her get a caramel apple (all of which she ate), and where Ian selected some chocolate-covered and sprinkle-bedecked Oreos.

We thought we’d drive out to do the short family tour at the New Belgian Brewery’s Asheville location, but we arrived just in time to find that tour only ran sporadically and to try calling the next day. Well, I tried calling a couple different times and could never get through to someone to tell me about those tours. Maybe another time.

We took the kids back to the hotel for a quick swim while we figured out dinner. We eventually settled on RosaBees, but they only had a late reservation, so we killed some time by heading up to Tanbark Ridge Overlook. It was a little hazy, but still we had a lovely view of the mountains.

RosaBees is in an area of town known as the River Arts District (or RAD for short), and since we were still early for our reservation, we wandered around and took in the graffiti and checked out the local businesses who had settled there. The art was a lot of fun and the vibe was for sure laid back.

Dinner at RosaBees was phenomenal. Our reservation time was like 30 minutes before they closed and we were all dressed very casually, but they did nothing but make us feel welcome and cared for. We started by splitting a lomi salmon appetizer (Ian is a big fan of salmon). Maya had a poke bowl that was chock full of things she loves. Ian was probably the big winner with his bowl of saimin with gochujang pork belly. Sean went traditional with a loco moko with mushroom gravy. I went for the ube scallops – seared scallops with purple sweet potatoes – and that was lovely too. We ended our decadent evening with a giant dessert that we wound up splitting four ways. I regret nothing.

Day 8 – A Lot of Eating, Drinking, Packing, and Sniffling

Our intention had been to get up early, grab doughnuts from Geraldines, and then spend a few hours puttering on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Amazingly / Amusingly, neither of the grownups thought to check the weather. Four Woodses belted headlong out into drizzle and drear.

We did go and get our doughnuts from Geraldine’s, and everyone seemed much happier with this experience. Sean and the kids each got something called The Henry – a croissant dough doughnut with chocolate cream – they tell me it was delicious. Sugar in the morning doesn’t always agree with my constitution (stupid aging), so instead of doughnuts, I chose an asiago bagel sandwich with egg and cheese, which was also delicious and very satisfying.

We gamely drove back out to Tanbark Overlook and while it was misty and eerie and honestly quite beautiful, the sky was growing more overcast by the moment and the sun never showed, so we gave it up and headed back to the hotel to rest a little and figure out what to do instead.

Sean sagely pointed out that we really needed to have some Carolina-style barbecue while we were here. After some quick local research, we settled on Luella’s, where we enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches and a variety of sauces. Sean had mac and cheese and I had some pleasantly thin and crispy sweet potato chips.

After more driving around and checking out real estate, we tried out Devil’s Foot Beverage Company, whose farm-to-can ethos informs their soda and canned cocktail line. We thought the kids would get a kick out of this since they offered such interesting soda flavors. For my part, I thought their sodas were wonderful, but that’s not too surprising because they had very little sugar. The kids, especially Ian, were underwhelmed. Maya seemed to love her fuego ginger but didn’t care for the cherry limeade. Ian tried both the ginger and the root beer but didn’t really take to either.

Too bad, too, because this was meant to satisfy them for a while, so Mom and Dad could check out a nearby distillery. The Eda Rhyne distillery was exciting because they create a variety of spirits that make use of “heirloom grains and local botanicals,” and the results are indeed unique. Luckily, the place is actually family friendly. There was a no-quarters-required stand-up arcade style video game console to play at. They happily made the kids mocktails to sip on. And there was a juke box too, though the jury’s out as to whether it was accepting customer input.

Meanwhile, Sean had a black Manhattan, made with their nocino (a walnut liqueur). I had a three-sample tasting of some of their fine and lovely bitter spirits. Sean let me choose what we took home from this place – I wound up with an Amaro Oscuro and an Appalachian Fernet, and I have absolutely no idea what to do with them!

We did a little more scoping out of the local real estate after this, and then, though we gave Maya and Ian the option of going to the arcade, they chose to go back to the hotel and swim for a little while instead. Ian and I weren’t feeling super well, and the weather still hadn’t really cleared up, so we we just rolled with it.

We hit the White Duck Taco Shop location back in the River Arts District for dinner. They had frozen Cheerwine on the menu.- hooray! And their taco menu was pretty esoteric. Some of our more interesting choices were tacos filled with shrimp and grits, duck mole, and bulgogi with kimchi. They had pretty good chips and queso too. All in all, a pleasant experience.

And it provided a nice break before we needed to pack. This was no longer “long drive in a car” packing, this was now “suitcases on an airplane” packing, so it took a little longer. We had an astonishingly large quantity of liquor bottles to secure! And the kids had done a good job of finding interesting souvenirs. Most of it was finished that evening, which just a little left over for the next morning.

Day 9 – Blue Ridge Parkway, Heading Home

Our flight out of Atlanta didn’t leave till the evening, and so we had some time to take the scenic route between Asheville and Atlanta and get at least a little of the Blue Ridge Parkway experience.

After a quick hotel breakfast, final packing, and checking out of our last hotel, we were on our way. The weather wasn’t perfect, but we made the most of it. We stopped at overlooks and took photos and admired the curvy, crazy roads.

We even managed to take one small hike – the Frying Pan Mountain Tower Trail. At the end of the trail, we were able to climb nearly to the top of that 70-foot tall fire lookout tower, and the views were nearly as breathtaking as the cold, cold wind that what whipping through.

We climbed back down and made our way back to the car and finished our drive to the airport. One thing that was tricky, since we were early in the season, the facilities were largely closed. Facilities here includes bathrooms. Every one of them was locked. We were warned to make sure the gas tank was full before entering Blue Ridge Parkway, but no one warned us to also make sure our bladders were empty. Lesson learned!

I don’t recall the drive to the airport being particularly remarkable. We returned our rental car and got through the airport without any real issue. We had a layover in New Orleans and right around dinner time, so I thought maybe we could score one more good meal on the way home. Alas, even though it was like 7-7:30, things were closing down. We wound up just sneaking in some hot dogs and burgers and calling it a day.

The big question is, would we want to live in Greenville or Asheville? There are positives to both. I think we generally liked the feel of Greenville more, but it’s hard to argue with the scenery in Asheville. After digging around in the real estate market, it seems like the best we could hope for is a financially lateral move, and we haven’t decided whether it’s worth the upheaval to the kids’ lives to relocate. Now, ask me again in July, and I will personally probably have a more clear opinion. Either way, we had a fun vacation experiencing a part of the country that none of us had been to before.

For all our relative rest in January, February came in like a freight train. Throughout the end of January and right up to the day, Sean and the kids were working on cars for the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby.

It all started with a build day at one of the pack meetings back in January. A bandsaw was brought in by one of the other parents so that everyone could cut their pine blocks into the profile they wanted. I was worried my anxiety might actually immobilize me if I saw that many kids age 11 and under around bandsaws, so I asked Sean to go with Ian to that meeting. He had talked through preferences with both the kids ahead of time. Ian decided that he didn’t care whether his car was fast, he just wanted it to look cool. Maya wanted hers to look like a cat … and to be fast.

To separate the ear ridge in Maya’s car, Sean drilled it out with a rotary tool. At the kids’ request, he bought white wheels to replace the black ones that came in the original car kit. Ian had selected a big metal skull to include in his design, but it took up half the weight allowance of the car (a paltry 5.04 oz), so they ultimately decided to save it for next year.

Pieces and parts showed up from all over. Sean visited the local Scout store, bought odds and ends from Amazon, ran to the craft store for the correct paint colors, and even made a trip or two to the hardware store.

Decorating started with a layer of spray paint for each kid’s car. Maya’s was the base color for her cat, Ian’s ultimately was entirely painted over. Maya painted hers to look like Lumos, our seal point siamese / tabby mix. Ian wanted his to look creepy, and big, veiny eyeballs were his theme. Eventually Maya’s was called the Furball Express and Ian’s was called ICU. Get it? It’s an eyeball pun.

The several days of painting weren’t even the half of it though. I had Sean explain to me all the little tweaks he made to improve the speed of the kids’ derby cars. He added tungsten weights to each car. Evidently the weight distribution is the biggest factor to gaining speed. He carefully drilled holes into each of the cars about 1/3 of the car’s length from the back. He used gorilla glue to secure the weights in the holes. After that swelled and dried to its ultimate size, he used wood filler to make up the difference. Then he sanded the whole apparatus smooth.

Removing friction was another big consideration. He bought some kinda tool to allow the axles to be bent at a precise angle so that the back wheels could ride on the outside edges of the wheels and the front ones could ride on the insides. Further, he used a saw to raise one side of the front axle channel slightly so that the left front wheel wouldn’t actually even touch the ground. This also allowed the car to do something called “rail riding,” whereby the car is pulled very slightly into the rail so that it doesn’t bounce around as much, which would otherwise be something of a momentum killer.

But wait, there’s more! He also de-burred and polished the axles. He achieved this by sticking the axle in a drill as if it were a drill bit, turning the drill on and taping down the on-switch, and then using moistened 1000-grit sandpaper to smooth the axle. And just in case things weren’t rolling smoothly enough after that, the axles were dusted in graphite powder to boot.

My gram scale, which is normally only used once in a while for precise measurements of seasonings for batches of sausage or yeast and salt for bread got a real workout during this whole process.

Check in for the derby cars happened the evening of February 2nd, with the big event happening the next day. It was clear that there was a tinge of unease when Maya and Ian had to surrender their cars for the night.

Sean got the majority of his advice from this video from Mark Rober, the engineer who rose to nerdy fame by creating a stinky glitter bomb to thwart a package thief. As I understand it, these are the easy hacks. A derby parent could go way, way beyond this. To quote a friend of mine, whose son was in cub scouts when he was younger, “Not saying I went over the top with pinewood racing, but I own a bandsaw, scroll saw, drill press, track, books and other assorted tools.” And later, “Note I am also not saying I didn’t go over the top. When I was buying syringes to properly apply wheel oil, I might have had a moment.” Heh.

The day of the race was pretty amazing. The scout leaders and volunteers were extremely well-organized and things went very smoothly. They made sure each car had a chance to run in each of the track slots and then averaged their time. This was done by den, then for the siblings, and later on, for the outlaws. Maya wound up taking second place in the siblings race! Competition was pretty fierce in the bear den though, and Ian, who admittedly had gone more for style than speed, didn’t fare quite as well (though he still had a really fast car).

There were tons of design awards also, and that’s where Ian was hoping to succeed. One of the categories was creepiest car, and he thought that was his niche. Sadly, an all-black car decorated with a tombstone was chosen instead. Then, to add insult to injury, Maya’s car was chosen for the best name award. She was understandably quite excited about her successes, but poor Ian had a rough day. She wasn’t even in scouts! Luckily, the blow was somewhat softened by him getting to go to a friend’s house for a sleepover later on that day.

Back in January, Maya had chosen band for her fine arts class next year in middle school. As part of that process, she attended an instrument test drive that afternoon after derby. She was given a sheet with all the instruments listed and blanks for each instrument’s proctor to assign a rating from 1 to 5, with 5 showing the most aptitude and 1 the least. We started with the flute, which was a little tricky, and she got maybe a 1 or 2 on that, but for everything else she tried, she had nothing but fours and fives, and mostly fives. She knew she didn’t want to do orchestra, so I think she tried everything but the string section.

Maya has perfect pitch. This essentially means she can hear a note and just tell you what it is without any reference note for comparison. She’s constantly dinging glassware and squeaking doors so she can tell you what note she’s hearing. It used to embarrass the heck out of me. Her former piano teacher would try and do solfege with her class of piano students – hand signs to go with do re mi. For what they were doing, the “do” was supposed to be a C, and evidently her teacher didn’t quite hit it, and Maya would loudly point out, “that’s not a C!” Sigh. Luckily her teacher rolled with it.

Anyhow, the folks letting her try out the instruments seemed pretty tickled with this ability, some of them testing her, some of them clearly trying to let her find notes on her own. She had so much fun. Our one hour visit wound up lasting for two solid hours. In the end it was down to oboe or clarinet, and Maya ultimately decided she enjoyed the feel of a double reed instrument over a single reed instrument, though she loved the way both of them sounded.

Immediately after this, we fetched a friend of Maya’s and they had a sleepover at our house. It was so busy that day. You know what else happened that day? My birthday. I don’t make too big of a fuss over things being on the actual date, so we actually went out for birthday dinner the night before. The four of us ate at Musashino. The sushi was excellent, to be sure, but possibly my favorite thing I ate that evening was a dish of salmon skin, fried and served with a pile of interesting veggies.

On the day of my birthday, after all the running around after kids, I baked a cake. I have gotten some amount of shit for baking my own birthday cake (Sean would like everyone to know that none of this shit came from him), but here’s the thing: I like to make them, and since it’s my fucking birthday, I don’t have to care about anyone’s preferences but my own. I made a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing, and I loved it!

The day after my birthday, I spent the afternoon taking Ian on a hike with his cub scout bear den, and then afterward we hung out at home and let me open gifts. This birthday is a weird one for me. I don’t generally get too wound up about my age, but I’m 48 this year, which happens to be the same age my mom was when she died. Her habits and lifestyle and circumstances were vastly different from my own, so it’s not that I’m worried. But it has me thinking about her more than I might normally allow. She missed so much. We’ve missed so much with her. I wonder how Maya and Ian would have reacted to her. She was a good human who didn’t always make the best choices, and in the baggage-free way kids love their grandparents, I expect they’d have loved her just the same.

Anyhow, it was a crazy, action-packed week! The kids had school photos on the 7th. And I thought I wasn’t going to get to post them for February, but luckily, we received them just a day or two ago.

Maya had a rough run in art class during second quarter. She loves making art, but when she decides she doesn’t want to do something, it can be hard to move that mountain. She even got dinged a little for behavior on her report card for it! What could be the cause for all this ire? Self portraits. She didn’t want to do one, at all. She explained it to me every time she had art class. So you can imagine my surprise when I received an email in February that said, “Your student’s self portrait has been selected to represent Davis Elementary in the Austin ISD District Art Show.” I was so shocked, I verified that it was Maya they were talking about and asked for a photo of this much-hated self portrait. Lots of wins for Maya this month!

As the kids are getting older, holidays seem to be a little less all-consuming. For Valentine’s Day this year, I baked the kid a heart-shaped pan of brownies and ordered them valentines from Amazon that they spent an afternoon filling out for their classrooms. They received cool hoodies from Lolli and Pop and Amazon gift cards from Grammy and Grandpa, both of which they were quite excited about.

Our weather has already been unseasonably warm. The daffodils came up sunny and bright mid-month. We have had multiple days well into the 80s already, with one day creeping dangerously close to 90. I could have cried. Please don’t let spring be over already!

I have a sous vide machine that was gifted to me by a friend who couldn’t return a water-damaged unit for refund. The machine (a SousVide Supreme Demi) worked great, and I made only one dish with it. We made that meal with some regularity though. I had planned to make said dish one week and was sad to discover that the machine refused to power on. We poked around at it a bit, tried to decide if it was worth trying to fix and ultimately decided to replace it with an immersion circulator. Somewhere in the past several years, these things have moved beyond professional kitchens and science labs to become a consumer item. The one thing I’ve tried so far – pork belly chashu to add to my packaged ramen – turned out beautifully. Now I make two dishes sous vide! (Maybe I should try more, now that I have the flexibility afforded by the circulator.)

We made onion dip from scratch so that it would be eat-able by a gluten intolerant friend, and it was DELICIOUS! If you don’t like to cook, it may not be worth spending time caramelizing onions, but if you don’t mind, then it is totally worth the effort. Just make sure you buy really sturdy potato chips – even the ridged ones we bought weren’t up to the task.

The rest of the month was ok, I guess. I discovered on unpacking Maya’s school bag that she had fidgeted a pencil entirely through her math workbook. One our friends asked if she disliked math. No, she actually loves math. I suspect she was just bored and may not even have been entirely aware that she was putting a pencil through her work.

Our internet was down for a couple days, which isn’t optimal for two technical people working from home. I discovered very quickly that my phone’s hot spot was not up to the task, not without a serious bandwidth upgrade. The kids’ screen time wasn’t super exciting without internet access either, so we all went out for palliative ice cream instead.

Toward the end of the month, we went with Ian to the Cub Scouts Blue and Gold Banquet. I was on more than one parent meeting where this banquet was discussed as though everyone knew what it was for. I had to look it up. It’s a celebration of the birthday of the founding of Boy Scouts of America. We went and had barbecue, watched Ian get awards for completing another bear adventure and for selling popcorn in the fall. We saw the fifth grade cubs cross over to being actual boy scouts instead. It was all very ceremonial.

In an odd turn, I’m actually writing this up on the last day of February! In the end, it’ll take a few more days to get photos and to post, but I’m sort of on time for a change. Who knew that was even possible!

With the Halloween, Thanksgiving, three birthdays, Christmas craziness behind us, it was finally time to breathe. After getting home late on New Year’s Eve and staying up to ring in the new year, we took it easy on New Year’s Day.

I woke up and made cinnamon rolls from scratch. I realize that doesn’t sound like taking it easy, but I find it pleasant to cook when there aren’t a thousand other things I should be doing instead. I didn’t get out of bed early, and I made my coffee before I started and it was probably 10:00 before we were eating breakfast, but no one was in a big hurry. If anyone’s interested, I used this recipe, and I quartered it.

Maya and Ian didn’t go back to school till January 9th, so they had plenty of time to work their way through some of their Christmas gifts at a leisurely pace. They stayed up late and slept in and seemed to take full advantage of their break.

We lost access to Netflix DVDs and Blue-rays toward the end of last year, so we’re still trying to mentally transition to not just adding things to our Netflix queue when something interesting comes out. Given this, we hustled out to catch Wonka at the theater before school started not knowing whether we’d eventually have access to it via one of our streaming service. I really enjoyed the movie. Certainly I have a soft spot for the original, but this one’s a contender.

Back in November, I had broken down that big ribeye roll. I was determined not to let any of my investment go to waste, so I had ground the meatier trimmings for use in burgers later. Alas, that was going to be way, WAY too fatty for pleasant consumption, so we got a small hunk of brisket and ground that up to mix in. That has made several delightful meals of probably still slightly too fatty burger. The kids love them best if they’re not served on a bun.

Mid-month, the weather forecast was calling for a pretty hard freeze coming up. There was no precipitation called for really, so as long as the power grid held up, we figured it wasn’t too big of a deal. Still, it prompted the bringing inside of tender potted plants and the protecting of hose spigots and our beloved palm tree. When Sean did our regular weekly grocery run, he said things were pretty picked over. Luckily, we weren’t really needing any of the staple items that the panic-buyers scoop up in such strangely large quantities.

For a couple days, it didn’t get above freezing. The kids had a delayed start at school for a couple days. Generally, it was fine. Then things started thawing. Sean had just taken the kids to swim class, and I was just settling in to cook dinner and figured I’d roll in our trash cans so I’d have easy access to the compost bin. As I was rolling the compost bin into the back yard, I heard a weird noise, very much like rushing water.

And that’s when I noticed our new fountain! We have this oddly-placed spigot in the middle of the back yard. It had been covered up, but apparently not sufficiently for it not to freeze and break (we figure it had been stressed in previous freezes). I tried and failed multiple times to shut off our water to the house (we have the correct tool now) and ended up calling an emergency plumbing service to cap the pipe.

During all this hubbub, we were also becoming educated on middle school class selection. Maya is a little nervous but also very excited about middle school next year. The fifth-graders had already gotten to visit the school back in December. We went again as a family one evening this month to talk to the different teachers and understand about some of the different math and foreign language and fine arts classes on offer.

Maya wasn’t sure whether she’d rather be in choir or band. In elementary school, in both fourth and fifth grade, she had a lot of fun in the after school choir group, but they put on a production of a musical each year. We were sad to find that the middle school theater group didn’t do musicals. We went to talk to the choir kids to see if they put on musicals. Maya asked them if they did anything other than just sing. The young lady who talked to us was clearly very fond of choir and happily explained to Maya that no, they don’t just sing, they dance too! Maya audibly noped out of choir at that point and our conversation was over. Luckily, she seemed to find her people in the band group.

I went to a very small school up through eighth grade, so all of this is amusingly new to me. However, I just can’t believe the pressure that’s put on these kids already in middle school to think about attaining high school credit. And then I attended a phone call about how things play out in high school and was astonished at how hard they pushed the kids to start attaining college credit in high school. Sean has looked into it some and has found that entrance into the UT college system can be extremely competitive, even if you’re in-state, so possibly all this fervor is well-placed.

Maybe it’s easier to see at my advanced age, or maybe I’m just not keeping up with the times. Life is short, childhood especially so. I refuse to put pressure on our 11-year-old to take the toughest course load that she’s capable of carrying, and frankly I’m a little put off by the parents who do that to their kids. I’ve even gently suggested that Maya doesn’t have to take the hardest courses, that she’ll want time to play her instruments and hang out with her friends, to read, to be a kid. We’ll see how it goes.

Ian has chosen to be in the after school choir group again this year as well. He participated last year as well and seemed to like it well enough. Plus one of his best friends joined with him, which I suspect is the main motivation.

Maya had signed up for the UIL competition this year. She’s never shown any interest before (her latent competitive streak seems to have been unlocked this school year), and it’s up to her whether she participates in these things, so it’s nothing we’ve pushed. Her fifth grade teacher seemed astonished that she hadn’t been part of UIL before this year.

UIL stands for University Interscholastic League and at the grade school level offers a handful of academic contests for area schools. Maya chose to participate in oral reading, where she would read a couple of poems out loud, and number sense, where she would have to very rapidly do math in her head.

On the day of the North Austin competition, which was held at her elementary school this year, we headed into a very loud and crowded cafeteria and waited for her specific events to start. Her oral reading was first, and it kept dragging on and on. Her number sense competition had already started when she finally got out of the room and headed down for that next event.

After she came out of number sense, I had asked if she wanted to wait around for food and for the awards ceremony. She told me she didn’t think she had done that well and that we could go get something else to eat. I was content to leave because by then I was finding the crowd overwhelming as well, and also, given her heretofore noncompetitive nature, I was inclined to trust her judgement on how she had done in the contests.

We left. We took the kids to have lunch at one of their favorite restaurants (Freddy’s) and then we headed home to relax. The UIL competition was just a thing that we had tried out, and now we were on to other things. No big deal. And then, Maya’s math teacher texted me. Maya had won first place in the number sense competition. She’ll go on to a district-level competition in March.

Since we didn’t stay for the awards ceremony, Maya received her ribbons in school on Monday. It turns out, she also placed 5th in the oral reading competition. Only first through third place go onto the district competition, so she will be competing in number sense but not oral reading. Still though, for a kid who thought she hadn’t done very well, it seems like she made out all right.

In other news, around the 21st of January, the kids started work on their Pinewood Derby cars for Cub Scouts. They even let Maya participate in the sibling’s competition, much to her delight. Sean was hard at work getting kids to start making design choices for their cars so that at the January 21st build meeting, he could have someone with a bandsaw actually cut the cars into the profile the kids wanted. Much, much more work was done on these cars, but I’ll cover that more in the February post, since that’s when they actually raced.

Toward the end of the month, Ian, who is becoming quite the artist, started attending an after school art class once a week. He refuses to show me any of his work, but he tells me he enjoys the class, so we’ll lean into that.

And that’s our January! It provided the slow re-build we needed following our insane October – December. We took things so slow that we didn’t even get our Christmas tree denuded and out to the curb till mid-month, and I don’t even care. It’s been nice to stop and smell the cinnamon rolls.

All of us were ostensibly well again leading into December. We let Maya stay home on Friday the 1st. Even though she’d been fever-free for over 24 hours, she was clearly still exhausted. I had no problem believing here either. For one, Maya hates missing school. For another, Sean and I were still both pretty wiped out, and even Ian, though he’d never admit it, was still running a little slower than normal (and he was awfully compliant about bedtime).

That evening, Anna hung out with the kids while Sean tolerated a Liz Phair concert for me. Right after college, I did field work, and so I would spend hours in the rental car driving this way and that along various fiber routes. This was in the olden days when you either listened to the local radio stations or brought a handful of CDs along. “Exile in Guyville” traveled many miles with me that year, and when I heard it would be performed in its entirety, it sounded like something I didn’t want to miss.

It was a weird experience. She and her band sounded great, and they put on a solid show. But this is an album I listened to in college in my late teens / early twenties. Back then I ran on anger, self-possession, and an overdeveloped “fuck you” attitude. I’ve mellowed considerably since then, so mostly I think I had a mental chuckle at how Ms. Phair, who is slightly older than I am even, felt about singing these songs now. I was happy I went, and I think even Sean enjoyed himself a little (or was saying so just so I wouldn’t worry about it).

We managed to start decorating our Christmas trees some over the weekend finally. Lights, garlands, and stars went up. The kids selected the ornaments for their little tree, and we hung a few on the bigger trees as well. This year, we decided to buy a single reasonably-sized real tree (7-8 feet) and then flanked it with a couple of shorter, skinny tinsel trees. I thought it was very pretty and gave us plenty of real estate for ornament hanging.

On December 3rd, Sean’s birthday, I wound up begging him to take Ian to his scouting event so I could finish making his birthday cake. At his request, I made the same chocolate malt cake that I have for the past several years. The recipe had moved websites, and the link to the icing recipe was broken so I had to improvise a little. I should really write this stuff down.

For Ian’s scout outing, to fulfill their “Fellowship and Duty to God” adventure, they visited a local Buddhist temple! I was so impressed and maybe a little sad that I didn’t get to go with Ian. Sean tells me that that group of 8- and 9-year old kids behaved very well and were respectful throughout.

That evening, For Sean’s 50th birthday, we tried taking Maya and Ian along with us to Uchi, one of our very favorite restaurants. The kids have developed a deep affection for sushi over the past year, and historically Uchi has served us many spectacular meals over our long time in Austin, so we were hopeful. We had the kids dress up a little, and I think that may have helped set the tone. They were so well behaved! Sean and I had the omakase (meaning the chef selects our dishes) and the kids each chose some nigiri, a sushi roll, and a cooked dish. Between the food they picked, which they definitely loved, and bites of our various dishes (many of which they also liked), we spent an entertaining evening celebrating a milestone birthday and mmmm-ing over our food.

The next week saw us decorating the trees in little fits and starts, trying to finalize Ian’s birthday planning, and getting Maya to all the events surrounding her after school choir group. She had rehearsal on Monday, rehearsal on Tuesday, three performances on Wednesday (one of which occurred in the evening so family and friends could watch), and then finally a caroling event in the Balcones Woods neighborhood right near the school on Friday.

Maya’s musical this year was the Broadway show “Seussical,” or rather a school-age adaptation of the same. She had to audition and was placed in the role of Mrs. Mayor. While she had originally wanted to be one of the cats in their infamous hats, she eventually came around, learned all her lines and songs, and did a bang-up job!

And after that crazy week, on Saturday, we drove to Houston for Ian’s cub scout campout at NASA’s Space Center Houston. I had been looking forward to their camp out at NASA ever since Ian decided he wanted to be in cub scouts. The last time we went to the space center, the kids were a lot younger and somewhat less interested. This time, the crazy was different. Just like the camping trip in November, we wouldn’t even be there for 24 hours and a great deal of that time was fully-scheduled.

We arrived early enough that we could wander around and check out the exhibits for a while on Saturday before the schedule kicked in. That was fun. Outside, we of course got to see the full-scale model of the space shuttle and its carrier 747. They also have a Falcon 9 rocket that we could check out. That guy clearly had some service scars from the two missions it was used for. Inside we saw exhibits showing space flight’s history of course, but also displays relating to the new Artemis mission to the moon and what subsequent space flight to Mars might entail. Maya chuckled over how much the Mars mock up looked like Arches National Park. We watched some excellent movies relating to the astronauts on the ISS and how their day-to-day lives ran. The idea of adapting to a space with no formal “up” or “down” boggles my brain a little.

Once the doors closed to the general public, the schedule kicked in. The good folks at Space Center Houston had activities galore planned for the kids, and Maya and Ian wanted to do ALL OF THEM. Meanwhile the parents gazed wistfully at the huge and unique light display (it was called “Galaxy Lights”) and hoped they’d be able to eke out a little time to walk through it.

The kids built rockets, made crafts, built gingerbread habitats (“Repeat after me: do not eat your habitat.”) drove RC vehicles, and consumed more sugar than Sean or I probably want to know about. In short, they had a blast (ha). We even managed to sneak out for a few minutes here and there to wander amongst the Christmas lights.

Once all the Christmas light visitors cleared out, the space center was locked down and we set up camp right amongst the exhibits. We could have camped outside, and I might have liked to, but given the uncertainty of the weather in December, we didn’t sign up for that option.

After a difficult night, we managed to pack up, grab breakfast, and make it to our tram tour on time. We got to see the giant Saturn V rocket, of course, but this time we got to see the Astronaut Training Facility. When we visited several years ago, it was Mission Control that we got to see.

After a stint at the gift shop, it was time to head home. Ian wound up riding back with his friend Malcolm, and Maya was delighted to have a brother-free ride home.

The very next morning, I was on a stupid-early flight to NYC for work – what timing! It was interesting seeing New York City all decked out for the holidays. Because of where the telco sites we visited were located, we stayed down in the financial district. Airport aside, I’m not sure we ever made it further north than maybe 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Still, it was a good trip, and it renewed my interest in getting a family vacation set up sooner than later. There’s so much to see, and honestly with the subway system, it’s not too bad getting around.

I arrived back in town on Thursday in time to drive Maya to her piano lesson. After I got back from that, Sean and I sat down and purchased basically all the Christmas gifts we could buy online for both Missouri and Alabama.

The next day, after work was done, Sean took Ian to get some birthday balloons, and I got his cake baked. He just wanted plain vanilla cake, but we decided to decorate it like a Poke Ball! I have a friend who did this with a spherical cake, if you can believe that. I was not that brave, and instead used a regular old double layer cake. I don’t think Ian minded.

On Saturday, we had Ian’s party at the Move Sport Ninja Academy, a Ninja Warrior gym. He had been to a party there earlier in the year and absolutely loved it, and the same was true this time. The kids played and played for the better part of our two-hour time, interrupted only a pizza and cake break midway through.

The next day, Ian had a caroling event with his cub scout troop. They went to a local nursing home and sang for the residents there. After caroling, Ian picked up his kit for participating in the pinewood derby. Sean will be building his derby car with him, so it’ll be interesting to see what they come up with.

The next day, we spent time making ornaments for grandparent gifts and taking Ian out to his favorite restaurant, Pappadeaux, for his birthday dinner. As usual, he feasted on fried crawfish. He had a celebratory brownie for dessert. Then we went home and opened gifts, and guess what? Ian got roller blades. Both kids will have their own skates for the rink.

We had our Texas Christmas on the 22nd. I had planned to work that day, but I just couldn’t quite figure out how to get everything in before our trip out of town. Ultimately I took the day off and was mentally much better off for it. I could get all the clothes laundered, things prepped for our cat-sitter, and I could relax and enjoy everyone opening their gifts without feeling like I had to make sure I hadn’t missed any emails.

And then the very next morning, we left at ridiculous o’clock to get ourselves to the airport to fly to Memphis! The way we split things up this year was to book a round trip flight to Memphis. Then we rented a car and drove first north to the Missouri grandparents, then southeast to the Alabama grandparents, then northeast back to Memphis. It’s a tolerable medium. I think.

We were really worried about how busy the airport would be given how awful it had been right before Thanksgiving. Then the afternoon before we left, I happened to notice a local news article urging us to make reservations for parking spots at the airport. What? I didn’t even know that was a thing. Alas, those have to be made 24 hours ahead, so we’d just have to show up and do our best.

Sure enough, when we got there, regular long term parking was fully booked. Luckily, there was space available in the more expensive garage parking (we were in the blue garage), so that’s what we did. We got parked and through security with a minimum of fuss, and consequently, we had plenty of time to go grab breakfast and sit down to eat it and still had time to relax before our flight.

Our flight was uneventful and our luggage was readily available after we landed in Memphis. And we had arrived early enough that all the rental car places would still be open! Alas, our rental car place (it was Dollar) had no cars available for us. We had a reservation. Actually, to save money, we pre-paid our rental. They sort of shrugged and told Sean it might be a couple hours before a car was available, maybe more. There was nothing for it but to wait. Luckily (?) our wait wound up being about an hour before we got the most smoke-smelly-then-covered-up-with-perfume funky car I’ve ever been in. I thought poor Maya, who has trouble with certain smells, was going to abandon ship altogether and spend Christmas in Memphis.

Luckily we rolled into Missouri with a minimum of fuss (though both the grownups were unspeakably tired after our early start). The kids got to see their grandparents and stretch out and play.

It was unseasonably warm, so the next day, Christmas Eve, Grammy and Grandpa suggested we go to Tower Rock. First though, we loaded up on a doughnuts from Hoeckele’s Bakery. Grandpa had fetched an assortment and we spent a couple lovely breakfasts having interesting doughnuts (my favorite was the red velvet cake one).

The Mississippi River was low enough that you could actually walk over to Tower Rock. Usually, the river flows around it. On the way, we saw a bald eagle, perched in a field. Dad thought he maybe had his eye out for fresh roadkill.

It was indeed a beautiful day to be outside. The eroded limestone is sort of naturally stair-stepped and easy to climb, and Ian made ample use of this feature. The rope we might normally use to climb to the top had been removed, but I think Ian, given half a chance, might have gone up anyway. Coming back down would have been tricky. Maya seemed to enjoy poking at the sand and casting her thoughtful gaze up the river. We’re assuming she was thinking through Blox Fruits strategies. She did find a hollowed out gar that was pretty interesting to look at.

We had stopped for a late lunch at East Perry Pub. The food was really good and even though they were busier than we expected on Christmas Eve, we got to eat fairly quickly.

That evening, Maya and Ian decided they wanted to go to church and see my sister Rachel’s kids perform in their Christmas program. I worried that we only had casual clothes, but Grammy and Grandpa were quick to tell us that was no problem. We taught the kids how to use the hymnals so they could sing along, and especially Ian was all in on the singing. Maya tells me that she hummed instead. We got to see the older Bachmann kids singing at the front of the church, but the two little boys had fallen dead asleep in Grammy’s lap!

I had forgotten, it’s been so long, but it is customary for the kids to get handed a paper bag full of fruit, nuts, and candy on the way out of church after the Christmas program. Maya and Ian were delighted!

On Christmas day, we did a lot of lounging around. We mentioned to Ian that Grandpa had real guns and that maybe Ian could ask to see them. Grandpa did one better; he let Ian shoot with one! After a very good explanation of gun safety, Grandpa and Ian did some basic target practice with a .22 caliber rifle. Ian struggled a little with the length of the rifle, but was able to aim and shoot fairly well regardless. As we walked down and set up to shoot, all was quiet, but after the first shot, the big white goose that has called Grammy and Grandpa’s pond home, Gus, set to honking and making his way hastily across the pond.

Against all odds, Imo’s pizza was open, and so on Christmas day, we had a satisfying lunch of toasted ravioli and provel-coated pizza. It was at Maya’s request, but I was so, so happy to get to eat there.

That evening, we had the big holiday party at Aunt Sharon and Uncle Doug’s house. All Ian could talk about was getting to play the ball game again. In this case, it is not a traditional sport, despite what the name might imply. A pile of random goods (think stickers, ice scrapers, ornaments, lotion, barbecue tools, etc, etc) get wrapped, layer after layer, in plastic wrap. The initial ball the players are presented with is immense. One player dons gloves and tries to unwrap the plastic wrap as quickly as possible, while the player next to them rolls a pair of dice. The first player can continue to unwrap till the next player rolls doubles, and anything that falls out is theirs to keep.

It results in barely controlled mayhem, and while that may not appeal to every kid, ours love it, especially Ian. We came home with all manner of crazy stuff. Sean and I, for example, now each have an ice scraper to put in the car. There were scads of stickers and wacky ornaments. I hear there was candy, but somehow that all got eaten before it was packed up for shipping.

We played more games, sampled whiskeys (including one that Dad/Grandpa used a home smoke infusion kit on, to lovely effect), and ate finger foods till I thought we might burst. It was a fun, laid-back evening, and I’m so happy we got to go again this year.

The next day, we woke up as early as our late night and alcohol consumption allowed and started cooking! Carol always makes a huge and glorious spread of nibbles that we all graze on throughout the day, and I do my best to keep up and help out a little here and there.

During all the nibbling, we snuck in various permutations of family photos all while the kids slowly melted over how long it was taking to get to the glorious pile of gifts under the tree. After the last photos was taken and the Christmas story was ready, finally the kids could open their presents. With eight grandkids, they were opened faster than Grandpa could hand them out, and I still don’t quite know what everyone got.

Poor Nathan had a rough go of it. He apparently was feeling sick and so he wasn’t up to being quite as boisterous as the rest of the crew, poor kid. That aside though, it seemed like everyone had fun and received things they enjoyed.

We spent an afternoon playing games and chit-chatting and of course grazing grazing grazing. The kids played with their toys and each other and got some solid cousin-time in. We had pulled the car out into the sunshine earlier in the day and opened all the doors in hopes of mitigating some of the perfumed smoke aroma, and that seemed to have helped. And good thing too; we’d have to spend several quality hours in that car the next day.

In the morning, in between packing, the kids managed to play a bit more. Ian did a little more shooting with Grandpa, and by all accounts has a pretty good aim. Somehow several treats, including an entire package of Oreos managed to sneak into our car as we packed. Grandparents.

The kids were annoyed to discover that they couldn’t just have their screens for the whole 7-hour drive. Sean borrowed the last audio book installment in the Magic Misfits series for us to listen to on our trip. In roughly two hour chunks, we made it through probably a little more than 2/3 of the book on our trip from Friedheim to Homewood, letting the kids have screen time breaks in between.

We managed to make it into Alabama in time for dinner with the whole family at Okinawa. Since Maya and Ian have found their love of sushi, this is a favorite of theirs. Plus Steele was there! Ian and Steele have become very good friends this year, and they played well together during this visit. In fact, that first night we were in town, Ian and Steele had a sleepover in the basement at Lolli and Pop’s house!

The next day, Sean and I plowed through last minute shopping and gift wrapping while pop took all four grandkids to the trampoline park! We hopped around a little trying to find restaurant gift cards for the grown-ups’ stockings. We stopped by a place called Eli’s Jerusalem Grill and the aromas were so enticing that we wound up splitting a shawarma snack before heading on to our other errands. We went by a place simply called Sugar to get sweets for the kids’ stockings. It was fun loading up bags from the “by the pound” bins and giant lollipops and oddly flavored jelly beans were nice add-ons as well.

That afternoon, we had Alabama Christmas! Downstairs, everyone dug into their stockings and in the mid-level, we opened gifts. Even with only four grandkids, it was a spirited affair, and I still didn’t manage keep up with what everyone got. Maya was the delighted recipient of a kitty robe and slippers.

You know those huge, rainbow colored lollipops that kids can’t resist but when the rubber hits the road, they can hardly eat a quarter of the silly thing before getting bored? Hero Ian managed to eat the entire lollipop. I think it took him the better part of the evening to do so. I don’t remember them being any flavor but sweet when I was a kid, but he tells me it was delicious. Maybe Sugar does something special with theirs.

The next day, at Ian’s request, we had Nothing but Noodles for lunch, where he proceeded to order plain buttered noodles with a side of shrimp. I demonstrated my culinary prowess by being confused by the skinny, cracker-like breadsticks in my pad thai and trying to use them as chopsticks (whoops). As is something of a pattern for us when we visit Homewood, we went out to the movies that afternoon! The kids chose “Migration,” and it was cute enough. They shared a huge bucket of popcorn with Lolli and Pop.

On our last full day in town, we did a lot of puttering around. We did go out to eat at Aww Shucks for lunch (after fetching some fast food for the kids). Sean and I each had ears of corn with sprightly toppings that were a messy pleasure to eat. (I had buffalo lemon pepper and Sean had garlic herb parmesan. So tasty.)

We spent a little time packing things up that evening, and finished the next day, new year’s eve. Our flight out of Memphis wasn’t till the afternoon, so we didn’t have to rush to get everything loaded up, which was nice. Travel that day was easy. We wound up having a lot of down time to eat our meals and read and play with screens and whatnot. Our flight touched down in Austin around 10:20 that evening, and we rolled into our driveway a little after 11. We had enough oomph left to haul in our stuff and settle in to have a bit of champagne and ring in the new year with the kids.