During December, whilst browsing the time-suck known as Facebook, I noticed our friend Holly posting about her “experiences not stuff” Christmas. It’s a beautiful idea, one that I wish we could figure out how to get around to. But what really caught my eye was that one of her family’s experiences was going to be visiting a nearby elephant preserve. What? I didn’t know we had a nearby elephant preserve. Then once they went, she posted photos. If I wasn’t already itching to go, those photos sealed the deal.

Maya and Ian snuggling Tai the elephant

I didn’t make the decision right away, but maybe a week before my birthday in February, I happened to notice that the weather the following weekend was going to be great – the kind of 70-degree winter weekend that makes me like living in Texas. I got the impression that no one else in the house had really given much thought to it, so I just did what I wanted and let everyone know. I reserved a visit time at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. I booked a night at a hotel in Fredericksburg that had a heated outdoor pool and a slide for the kids to enjoy. And I purchased our family a slot to experience the elephants at The Preserve.

We had group music classes that morning, and because I asked her so nicely and it was my birthday weekend, Maya tried extra hard to behave in her classes (it’s a challenge). After that, we hastily took music things into the house and brought trip things out to the car and set off to Enchanted Rock.

Watching fairy shrimp at Enchanted Rock

The kids, who are highly interested in the magical properties of things (wands, beans, confetti, etc) quizzed me at length about what exactly made this rock so enchanted. The magic is that we made it to the damn top without anyone dying. Or maybe the real magic is that we made it back down again with only one skinned knee (Maya). Enchanted Rock is a giant granite dome poking out of the Texas hill country. The hike up was a bit tough on us two pudgy office types, but we did it. The kids, other than minor (and easily ignored) complaining did great. We made it to the top and had a little snack and a drink of water and watched the fairy shrimp dart around in the seasonal pools left in hollows in the granite. Maya brought her camera along and snapped away every few feet all the way up. Once we stopped hiking, it was a bit chilly in the breeze, but the day was gorgeous.

We headed into Fredericksburg after that, checked into our hotel, and wandered into town for a walk and some dinner. We stopped by a candy shop for the kids. We visited the Fredericksburg Winery for the grown-ups. And after an unremarkable dinner, we headed back to the hotel to suit up for a swim. The water was very nice, as long as you stayed in it. Otherwise, the night was pretty brisk. The kids – especially Maya who I’m not sure even feels the cold before hypothermia sets in – climbed out of the pool and went down the slide over and over again. It was so, so much fun.

Move over Rockettes

The next morning, we had an excellent breakfast taco and chocolate muffin breakfast before heading out to meet the elephants. Five Asian elephants paraded down, trunk-to-tail, to where we were sitting. They were beautiful and so full of character. We learned their names and unique features. Rosie, Tai, Kitty, Dixie, and Becky – yes, all female – lined up and showed us what they could do. Tai made lots of racket whacking her trunk against building’s cross-beam. Rosie did lots of honking and trumpeting. All of them raised their trunks and feet and waggled their heads.

It was Becky’s turn to get a bath that day, so we all took turns giving her tough hide and wiry hair a good scrubbing. Ian was in love. I’m pretty sure he would have just laid down on her and hugged her if we had let him. Maya was having fun taking gobs of photos. She took a delightful one of an elephant’s rear end, of which she was very proud (not included below – you’re welcome).

Giving Becky a bath

We got to snuggle up to Tai to have our photos taken. Surprising no one, we had to remind the kids that this was a living creature who could squash them beneath one foot if they kept running under her trunk where she couldn’t keep an eye on them.

We got to watch the elephants’ feet get a bit of a trimming. Apparently in the wild, an elephant’s weight and general walking about are enough to keep the dead skin and build-up cleaned from their feet. But not at The Preserve. There the elephant’s don’t have to work too hard to find their next meal or drink of water, so their feet need to be “manicured” every so often to keep them healthy.

The elephants!

The elephants were wonderful. We got to see them paint, work a hula hoop, pick up a person. We got to watch as they ate carrots. Their mouths are so strange to look at in action. At the end, much to the kids’ delight, they called all the birthday people to the front and the elephants serenaded us with their own version of happy birthday.

We lined up for our family photo with all five of those glorious elephants before buying a few souvenirs and hopping in the car to head home. I suspect it will make very little difference, but I hope that I showed the kids that experiences do make really fantastic gifts. We all had a really nice time. And I certainly don’t need any more stuff.

The same day Lolli and Pop left to head back home from their Thanksgiving visit, we went to pick out our Christmas tree. It was sweaty warm outside, but that did nothing to dampen the kids’ spirits. Maya straight up insisted that we get a 9-foot tree this year. Our house is plenty tall enough for it, and we managed to get it home tied to the roof of the Prius, so I guess it worked out okay.

Yeah, this is often appropriate winter attire for the Austin climate.

We managed to cram Sean’s birthday in a few days later. We had dinner at Jack Allen’s Kitchen, which wound up being a pretty good option for both happy parents and appeased kids. Then we came home and had birthday cake.

Here’s the thing. Everything from late October through early January happens in a catch-as-catch-can fashion. I don’t remember when I baked Sean’s cake, but I’m sure I had to shoe-horn it in between other activities (tree decorating, Ian birthday prep, sleeping). I remember carefully putting the lid on the cake container, verifying ahead of time there was space for it, and then … nearly dropping the damned thing on my way to the refrigerator. Alas, everything looked fine, so I went about my business feeling happy that I had dodged that particular bullet because I wasn’t sure I had it in me to make another cake.

At least the cake *tasted* good.

Fast-forward to the evening of Sean’s birthday. I brought out the cake and lifted the lid and could do nothing but laugh. The butter-rich icing had been pretty soft when I iced the cake. My near-cake-death episode caused the top layer to slide a bit sideways from the bottom layer. And then the buttery icing hardened up once it was cooled in the fridge. Sean’s cake resembled some sort of modern architecture, except badly frosted. Anyway, it tasted good.

Ian had his Christmas program at school. He had been singing all the songs for what felt like weeks, and so it was no surprise that he sang along like a boss during his program.

Somebody enjoyed his birthday party!

Ian had been asking to go to Catch Air for his birthday since Maya’s birthday party there last year. Its name has changed to Playmazing, but otherwise it’s the same place he has always loved (or at least it was this past December). We were sweating it a little. We sent his paper invitations to school right after Thanksgiving. By the week or so before his party, we had only a couple or three responses, so we sent a second note to school basically begging people to go. We managed to work ourselves into one of the largest party rooms they have, and seating was still tight. Thank you parents for bringing your kids to Ian’s birthday even though the holidays are SO BUSY!

Santa!

We took the kids to the fancy outdoor mall to chat with Santa. The kids both made Christmas lists to leave with him. Maya’s list reflected her love of vehicles … ALL THE VEHICLES … airplane, submarine, school bus, compost truck – you name it! Ian decided to shoot his shot, reality be damned. He dictated and I typed; all ideas on that list were 100% his own. Here’s a sample: magic wand that works, wings that can really fly, baby chick that’s in a cage so it doesn’t fly away, remote control dump truck, wind-up chick – three of them, snow globe – princesses. See what I mean?

Hand-sewn ornaments.

Maya has been a sewing fiend throughout 2019 and decided that she’d like to sew felt Christmas ornaments for gifts this year. She sewed decorations onto the felt, and then stitched together and stuffed the ornament body. I had planned to have Ian do something similar but with hot glue instead, but he insisted on trying to sew. We compromised. We glued on his decorations, but he sewed the front and back of the ornaments together. Honestly, he did pretty well, though he runs out of interest faster than Maya does.

Ian and his bicycle.

We managed to have a relaxed family Christmas in Austin before the travel craziness. We ran out of time to make Santa cookies and I didn’t realize the kids would want to leave carrots for the reindeer, so we wound up leaving a cookie-cuttered brownie and some broccoli. Maya felt bad and left Santa an apology note … which Santa responded to! The kids were thrilled.

The big deal gifts this year were: a bike for Ian (which he’s been wanting since Maya’s really started riding hers this summer) and a digital camera for our photo-crazy daughter. Because it’s Texas and hardly ever really cold, we’ve been able to take Ian out on his bike a few times, and while he’s still rocking the training wheels, he does seem very proud to ride it. Maya is a prolific photographer. There are few things that escape her interest when a camera is in her hand.

There we are.

Christmas travel was, as I recall, uneventful this year. In Missouri, we got to see all our many, many cousins and most of their parents (poor Aunt Katie was sick). As usual, we made sure we took the kids to see Great Grandma. We went to the Stueve family Christmas, where I’m pretty sure the kids had a dinner of soda, chips, and various desserts. We had a day that was warm enough that the kids got to go play at the creek.

Merry Christmas!

We went to Aunt Darci, Uncle Will, AP, and Steele’s house in northern Virginia this year for the Woods family Christmas this year. The kids got to play Mario Cart with their cousins, ride the Metro into DC, and see a bit of the Natural History museum. They had fun spotting the Washington Monument both when our flight landed and as we were traveling around. Maya tried to wear out the button on her new digital camera, so much was she happily snap-snap-snapping away.

Oreo cookie “gingerbread” house. Constructed in January, after the hubbub had died down.

Back in Austin, we let the kids stay up late enough to ring in the new year on the 31st. And since I never managed to work it in throughout the holidays, they had fun putting together a pre-packaged Oreo cookie house a few days later. We survived the holidays!

Maya had been having headaches off and on this year, some severe enough to cause her to vomit. We had the idea that she might be needing glasses, or at very least, it was something we should rule out before taking her to the doctor. Back in November, Sean took her to the eye doctor, and sure enough, she needed very slight vision correction. They negotiated over glasses frames and eventually settled on a snazzy blue-green polka dotted pair. I think they really suit her, and better still, they seem to have helped with the headaches.

Cute in her glasses! Also, DIMPLE!!!!!!!

The Maya girl had been eagerly planning and anticipating her birthday party for weeks, deciding early on that she wanted an under-the-sea theme. She continues to be obsessed with goodie bags, so we purchased and filled those. She requested to have a heart-shaped cake with pink icing (you know, to go with her under-the-sea theme). Because SO MANY kids were coming, I made a couple dozen chocolate cupcakes as well.

Trampoline fun at Maya’s 7th birthday party!

You may recall that Maya is not fond of the smell of fire. We made a deal with her, which she agreed to: we would get a single “7” shaped candle instead of lighting seven individual candles. When it came down to it though, she cried real tears and discovered she was unable to extinguish the candle while pinching her nose shut. Luckily, her friends stepped in to help.

Ian had fun at Maya’s birthday too!

We decided on Tumble Tech since she had been to a friend’s birthday there and really loved it. The kids spent about an hour in the gymnastics area and seemed to have a ton of fun.  We hastily had snacks and cake in the party room, which was not well organized, especially for such a large group of kids. Then ended their afternoon in the parkour area of the facility.

After packing up the leftover food and all the gifts, we hurried home to open said gifts and then loaded up the car for a trip to Dallas. Why would we drive all the way to Dallas after a frenetic day of party prep and partying execution and party aftermath? Cats.

Our two fancy cats

Over the summer, I had gotten the bright idea to introduce the kids to the songs from the Cats musical. They really latched onto it, singing along and asking questions about what some of the lyrics meant. We knew the traveling show was coming through Austin, and Sean had been watching for tickets. They day they went on sale was a rough work day for both of us, and so we didn’t get to check into tickets till that evening. Sure enough, by then they were essentially sold out of any seat we might have wanted. He very quickly made the decision to buy tickets for the Dallas show instead; it just so happened it was on the logical weekend for Maya’s birthday celebration. And so, we drove to Dallas Saturday night for wonderful seats at the Sunday afternoon performance of Cats.

The kids did great. They were fidgety, but they really loved it. We were sooooo close to the stage. We could see the expressions on the performers’ faces, the detail of their make-up, and maybe a bit more of their anatomy than we had bargained for given their tight-fitting costumes. Ian in particular has already asked to see it again. Go figure, since he regularly tells us he wants to be a singing dancer when he grows up.

Coupla hams, these two!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we were scheduled to take the kids to see Frozen II at an Alamo Drafthouse family party. Maya and Ian dressed up, Maya in her snowflake dress, Ian in his Anna costume. They made snowflake wands and reindeer hats. They decorated snowman cookies. They participated in a singalong. Heck, they even watched the movie. I think they had fun, but both of them had a tough time sitting through the entire show.

Fruit turkeys!

Lolli and Pop made the long drive to Austin to spend Thanksgiving with us. We had to work it in pretty early thanks to variable fall weather, but Maya got to take her long-awaited bicycle ride with Pop. Lolli had a cute craft prepared for the kids; they built turkeys out of halved pears and other various fruits, toothpicks, and googly eyes. They chilled out and watched Lolli’s favorite movie, A Christmas Story, which the kids hadn’t seen before.

Well, I think *one* of them is comfortable.

I had the benefit of working my Thanksgiving dinner prep in at a leisurely pace. We had ordered brisket ahead of time from Franklin Barbecue. I tried out deep-frying some turkey legs for the smoke-averse daughterling and anyone else who preferred turkey over brisket. (Who *are* you people???) Between Holly and I, we made six pies for four kids and six grown-ups. There was dressing, green bean salad, mashed potatoes, hasselback sweet potatoes, creamed Brussels sprouts, and store-bought yeast rolls. I think those dumb rolls were the only dud in the bunch – everything else was straight-up tasty.

On Friday, the kids put up their little Christmas tree and spent time with their grandparents. And then on Saturday, Lolli and Pop started their long journey back home.

In early October, we snuck in our second-ever visit to the Texas State Fair. We’d have liked to wait for cooler weather, but it just wasn’t an option this year. I kid you not, on both Saturday and Sunday, it was 100 degrees outside. I had spent most of the summer reminding Sean that we hadn’t turned on our sprinklers till July, that we hadn’t had that many 100-degree days, that for Texas this summer really wasn’t so bad. Well, I take back all the nice things I’ve said. Our September felt like a second August that happened to bleed over into October. It was horrible.

Sweating amongst the fall pumpkins at the Dallas Arboretum

We thought we’d do the fair on Saturday and then visit the Dallas Arboretum on Sunday morning. After circling the entire fairgrounds and finding zero parking (at least none that wasn’t in some dude’s driveway or in some business’s lot), we decided to reverse our plans. And that is how we found ourselves wandering the incredible grounds of the Dallas Arboretum, fully bedecked in its fall finery, on a sweltering October afternoon.

The sheer quantity of pumpkins and gourds was staggering, the colorful variety providing a beautiful autumn palette that clashed mightily with the sweat rolling down our faces. The theme was, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” and the sculptures, topiaries, and pumpkin buildings did not disappoint. We spent a good amount of time in the area running through mazes, hiding in pumpkin-festooned fields, and pretending to play Schroeder’s piano. We ventured beyond the fall festivities as well. The Children’s Garden in particular was really fun for both kids and grown-ups.

Knowing how hot it was going to be, Sean had made sure to find a hotel with a pool, and I think we were all looking forward to being in the nice cool water after that blistering afternoon walk through the gardens. Alas, that hotel pool was *really* cold. Maya, being Maya, didn’t care at all. Ian on the other hand had bluish lips and a distinct chatter when he told us over and over again he wanted to keep swimming. We thought we might warm up a bit in the hot tub, but wrong again! It was so hot that none of us were willing to actually get in it. Oh well, the swim was refreshing and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun.

Maya is right up front. Ian and I are about four cars back.

We got to Fair Park the next morning right as things started opening up. Last year, we had learned that the kids’ favorite part had been the rides, so we tried to front-load our visit with those activities before the lines got too long. Sean was collecting some data on how well the kids tolerated various kinds of rides in preparation for our spring break trip to Disney World. At least back in October, Ian was unsure about rollercoasters that moved at any pace beyond a pleasant chug. Maya (surprise) was all in, even daring to ride by herself on one of them.

Maya and Ian had fun going through the children’s farm exhibit. They got to put on aprons and pretend to be farmers for a little while. We visited lots of different animas and fed many of them. We even got to see a kangaroo with a little joey in its pouch. A lot of the animals looked stressed or just plain miserable. It could be that a pen at the state fair is not their favorite place to be.

Texas Longhorn – ready to gore the less than diligent fair patron

Naturally, we partook of a few of the deep-fried delicacies on offer. Our favorite was the fried fettuccini alfredo. Another standout was some kind of “burnt ends” enchilada / taco situation. The kids had (sigh) chicken fingers. After a run through to play a few games and to ride just a couple more rides, we loaded up in the car and made the long and somewhat sweaty drive back to Austin.

Maya skating

Not long after the fair, the kids had skate night at the local rink. I don’t know how to skate, so I watched as Sean took the kids out in turns to tool around the rink with their “skate mates.” Not wanting to miss out the next time we had a skate night, on our next date night, I requested that we go back so Sean could teach me. By the end of the night, I could haltingly make it around the rink, but of course this wasn’t achieved without a few falls. On the way home, my right wrist was hurting a bit, but I assumed I had just sprained it and went on my merry way.

Ian skating

When it had swollen noticeably and started to turn weird colors, I thought maybe an x-ray was in order. Sure enough, I had fractured a bone in my wrist (to this day, I cannot tell you which one). The first doctor I saw at the urgent care clinic was jovial enough about the whole thing. At one point, I shrugged and said something like, “They tried to tell me not to reach my arms out if I fell backward, but i just couldn’t avoid it.” She explained to me that probably my body was reacting whether I wanted it to or not. It happens so often, in fact, that they have a name for it: FOOSH or Falling On OutStretched Hands.

I didn’t ever have to wear a cast, just a brace, but it was my right wrist that I’d broken and I am right-handed, so our whole world had to slow down for a while. The first brace I wore (only for a few days, thankfully) actually immobilized my thumb. I have a cushy desk job, and I still found it nearly impossible to work like that. In our current January timeframe, I am brace-free but far from pain-free. The orthopedist warned me it could be six months or a year till my arm felt normal again, so I’m trying not to worry.

Ian – Fall 2019 – Age 4

During October, each kid had their school photos made. Maya still struggles with making the fake smile for a yearbook photo look natural, but I think she did a passable job this year. Plus she was super proud of her fancy dress. Ian is Ian and just can’t help but look cute in his photos.

Maya – Fall 2019 – Age 6

We ended the month with Halloween. Maya and Ian had had their costumes chosen for weeks (in Maya’s case, months), and bonus: I was able to order them from Amazon! The legs in Ian’s wound up being vastly too long. With my dumb broken wrist, I was unable to alter them, and when I suggested that we just cut off the feet (and a few inches of leg), I was met with two teary eyes and a big quivering lip, so I was essentially forced to come up with a solution. Luckily, a friend was able to make the alterations quickly. Unluckily, that friend was sick and wound up sewing the feet on backward. Whoops! The kids thought it was a total crack-up. I was thinking it was still ok; I could find a professional to just turn the feet around. I had plenty of time before actual trick or treating. Unfortunately, Ian wanted to wear his costume to his fall carnival, which was a few days earlier. We were fortunate to find one kind-hearted seamstress who rushed us in and got his costume fixed.

Ian at his carnival

We had amazing weather for the Saturday that featured both the fall carnival at Ian’s preschool and Dolphin Fest at Maya’s elementary school. At the carnival, Maya and Ian met reptiles, got their faces painted and hair colored, and they bounce-bounce-bounced through castles and slides and obstacle courses. At Dolphin Fest, they played games and redeemed their tickets for prizes.

Maya, at Ian’s carnival

Anna and the kids drew the jack-o-lanterns. Maya wanted a scary one and Ian wanted a happy one. Thanks to my dumb broken wrist, I didn’t really get to participate at all. Sean wound up gutting and carving the pumpkins for a change.

These two!

On Halloween night, poor Maya came home from school feeling headachy and nauseated. She managed to pull it together though for about an hour of trick-or-treating. A surprise package from Grammy and Grandpa supplied them with glow-in-the-dark swords for our perilous journey through the suburbs of Austin. Maya and Ian pulled in a giant haul of candy and seemed to have a lot of fun complimenting the neighbors on their beautiful houses. Next year though, we’ll have to have a talk about waiting outside on the doorstep instead of wandering right on in to people’s living rooms.

After our action-packed May, June, and early July, we purposefully kept the rest of the summer as unscheduled as possible. Chilling out around the house. Working through some of the Kiwi Crates that Santa had brought the kids for Christmas. In general, recuperating.

Ian and his unparalleled sense of style

Sean bequeathed all his boxes of Transformers to the kids over the summer, and they were hooked. To this day, when they remember they have them, they can easily while away a full hour or more playing with those Transformers. Some of them have suffered a bit at the kids’ hands, but so far, I don’t think it’s hurting Dad too much.

We had a couple of fun water outings with the McKee-Starling clan. We met them at Typhoon Texas one afternoon. Ian was pretty content to just putz around in the water, but once Maya got past her initial apprehension about the water slides, we could hardly get her to leave.

Ian and Mom at Typhoon Texas

The very next weekend, we hung out with them at their community pool for an afternoon. In Texas the pool water can sometimes get kinda warm and bath-like. It’s a little gross, but it’s still better than standing out in the unforgiving sun.

Snow cone at the pool

Also, toward the end of summer, Maya put aside her skateboard for a bit and learned to ride her bike. It’s really hilly around our house, and it’s hard for her to ride much there, so she’s largely learned in a nearby park.

As the start of school approached, we attended the ice cream social to meet Maya’s teacher for the first time and find her new classroom. We were stunned to find out that she’d be part of a co-teaching classroom. Two teachers and 37 students are all in a giant room. It’s not the environment I had imagined when I filled out the class-placement survey and explained Maya was very smart and capable, but had trouble sitting still and was easily distracted.

Ian told me it was an alien. I wondered if the alien’s name was Mr. Hanky.

The kids also went early and decorated the sidewalks leading into school with sidewalk chalk. I guess the nebulous octopuses that Maya drew and turd-shaped aliens that Ian created weren’t part of the program because the sidewalks had been washed clean by Maya’s first day of school. I have photographic evidence though :-)

Maya on her first day of first grade

And then school started. Maya was brimming with excitement and maybe a few nervous butterflies. Kindergarten had been such a positive experience for her, as far as we could tell, and she was looking forward to going back to school. The transition to first grade has been a tough one though. There’s a more rigid routine and the expectations are greater. Maya describes her teachers as strict. She is expected to follow instructions. She is expected to sit still in her seat and comply. These aren’t things that come naturally to our girl though, and she’s been struggling. We regularly get notes home about various behavioral issues; it has been stressful for all of us.

Luckily, she still tells us she enjoys going to school and says she likes her teacher. Fingers crossed that we can carry that through to the end of the school year.

Maya has been doing a lot of sewing. It started with a pre-formed, pre-holed animal sewing kit and progressed to a more free-form breakfast foods kit. I still cut the felt out for her, but she largely does the sewing herself these days. Nearly all of her creations go to Ian. For Maya, the joy appears to be in the creating of the item rather than the item itself.

Throughout the late summer and early fall, Ian had been on a notebook bender. He’d create little notebooks out of stapled together pieces of paper and then fill them with his name and Maya’s name. He eventually added Mom and Dad in there too. Occasionally, he’d ask us how to spell another word (“moon,” for example) and then that would make regular appearances for a few days before slipping back into Ian’s mental ether to be randomly called upon at some future time.

Ian and Maya at the baseball game, complete with rainbow

In September, we got to go to a Round Rock Express game, courtesy of Sean’s company. They rent a suite, offer up a bunch of food and drinks, and then let us relax and watch a baseball game. Maya LOVES it. Ian loves the food part, for sure, but I truly believe Maya is interested in the game. By the end of our time there, she had a basic comprehension of the rules and kept good track of the score. It was a double-header and one of the games was rain-delayed, so we had to leave without seeing it finish. Maya made sure to check on the score when she woke up the next morning to see whether her team had won.

Assuming WordPress isn’t lying to me, this is our 100th post on this family blog. Fitting I guess that this one is all about a trip we took in late June / early July to visit our family!

Weary hikers with limited tolerance for photographs

Our vacation started, as Woods vacations are wont to do, with a bit of trouble. Sean stayed up really, really late either on the phone or trying to finish things up for his job before he left town for the week. This forced two outcomes: 1 – Sean only slept about 1.5 hours and 2 – because I was doing all the packing and kid-wrangling work, I think I only managed about 4 hours of sleep. On top of that our connecting flight was delayed for about an hour and a half out of Charlotte, so two tired grownups had to try to entertain a couple of rambunctious kids for an extra hour and a half at the airport.

Either way, we eventually made it to Knoxville, TN, where most of Sean’s extended family lives. Our AirBNB house was nice enough, and we could all comfortably spread out and not get in each other’s way. Lolli and Pop and AP and Steele came over and we all had Pizza Palace for dinner.

Steele (4), AP (9), Maya (6), Ian (4)

The next day we went to the family reunion picnic at Sean’s cousin Cathy’s house. This was our primary reason for visiting, or at least our primary reason for the timing of our visit. The kids had fun playing in Cathy’s pool. The grownups had fun sitting still and idly chit-chatting with each other. The kids managed to have such a good time that they conked out during the short drive over to Sean’s Aunt Glenda and Uncle Jerry’s house. After a quick visit there, the still-tired grownups had leftovers for dinner back at the AirBNB house.

After we woke up and had a pre-breakfast, we hit Duck Donuts for our vacation doughnut fix. The kids talked Lolli and Pop into buying them little rubber ducks, and we all enjoyed our doughnuts. They had an out-of-this-world good texture, and the flavors were interesting enough.

Lost Sea Adventure

After letting the kids blow off some steam at the park, we drove out to Sweetwater, TN to check out the Lost Sea Adventure. Unlike our cavern adventure in Texas, this cavern was blissfully cool. We took a fairly easy walk down, down, down through the caverns and then had a brief boat ride on an underwater lake. It was fun watching the fish swim around down there, and I got the impression the kids had a good time.

We enjoyed the country buffet for late lunch / early dinner at a place called The Dinner Bell on our way back to the house. We indulged in a bit of relaxing on the couch before heading into Knoxville proper to test out ice cream from Cruze Farm Dairy and taking a walk to the Sunsphere to go up and see the city.

The next morning we had breakfast at Rami’s Cafe, where I think I would happily eat breakfast every day of my life. We had a slow start that day, but we eventually got the kids out to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a visit. Sean wanted to take them on the Chimney Tops Trail. It’s one he remembers fondly from childhood, but it’s pretty long and difficult for little kids, and it turns out forest fires had destroyed some of the trail and it hadn’t been fully restored yet.

Maya and Ian hiking with Lolli and Pop!

We chose to try it out anyway. Those kids covered 3.7 miles out and back with a 1400-foot elevation gain on the way there, easily their longest hike to date. Ian was carried just a tiny bit. Maya chugged through it on her own. Both have requested that we go on more hikes.

We had dinner at a place in Gatlinburg called Cherokee Grill. The wait was longish and the service was slowish, but the food was really good, especially after that hike. Sean and I were happy for the experience of the Smokies we were able to show the kids, but it was veeeeery late when we finally got them to bed.

Given that, our last day in Knoxville was a pretty laid back affair. We had an easy morning playing around the house and eating breakfast at Rami’s again. We watched Toy Story 4 at the Regal Riviera and then enjoyed doughnut and ice cream treats afterward. We relaxed at the house through the afternoon and had a leisurely dinner at Fountain City Diner (yum).

Travel into Missouri was uneventful, and we arrived in Friedheim in the afternoon. The kids immediately went into playing mode after being cooped in airplanes and cars all day.

Dinner was sort of funny. My parents pray before dinner, and Ian wanted to know all about the “song” they “sang” before they ate their dinner. I guess the kids had simply never noticed the pre-meal prayers before this visit.

Ian on one of Grandpa’s tractors

The next day, actual 4th of July, the blow-up pool came out along with water guns and water balloons. The kids had a TON of fun with all that, but it was marginally controlled chaos for everyone else. All their aunts, uncles, and cousins came over for the big Independence Day celebration. “Baby Paul” was super smiley and sort of crawling. Maya had fun being thrown around by Uncle Jade.

Fireworks in the country

We did smaller fireworks with the kids in the afternoon and then we all lined the porches for the big fireworks show in the evening. It was a late night and we had blissfully tired kiddos when it was through.

They were so tired, they actually slept until 7:30! That doesn’t happen too often. After a morning full of playing and lunch at Imo’s, we visited Great Grandma Schmidt. The kids are always excited to see her … and her cuckoo clock … and her treats and toys.

A torrential downpour cancelled our creek visit for that day, but the kids still played in the pool at Grammy and Grandpa’s once the rain stopped.

The next day, the kids went out to the pond to feed the fish and turtles. Before we left, out of the thin blue air, Maya asked if they had a fishing pole she could try out. Apparently she’d seen a video on youtube and wanted to give it a go. As luck would have it, there was a fishing pole.

Feeding turtles and fish with Grammy

Grandpa got it all baited up and ready to go while an over-excited Maya drove him crazy. They had to cast a few times, but finally, she caught a fish! She and Grandpa reeled in a little catfish that Maya proudly held. Given Maya’s success, Ian wanted to try too, and almost right away, he and grandpa caught a bluegill! The kids were both so, so excited. And now they have completely unreasonable expectations of what fishing is *really* like.

Catching fish with Grandpa

Becky and Iris came by the house after lunch, and we all went to the creek for awhile. Even after playing in the water all afternoon, they came back to the house and played in the blow up pool again. A little kid plastic slide was added to the mix for even more fun. They enjoyed bath time in Grammy and Grandpa’s giant tub, we had more Imo’s for dinner, and that was that. The next day, we took a late flight home, and as I recall (half a year later), our travel was uneventful.

June was just kind of a busy, fun month. For Texas, it wasn’t too terribly hot, I don’t remember anyone getting sick. And generally speaking, I just don’t recall a lot of drama.

Kayaking with Dad.

The weekend after our little Galveston trip, we went to Sean’s annual work picnic. Every year, they do some sort of food contest, and this year it was all about homemade sausage. Sean’s boss seemed completely convinced that I would be entering. I was completely convinced that I was not. I’m not competitive by nature. Having not made sausage since before the kids were born, I was way out of practice, and on top of that, it’s pretty labor intensive. Plus, I find social gatherings to be stressful by default. Add to it the need to compete and I was worried I’d melt down.

Finally though, over memorial day weekend, I gave in. We had a three-day stretch with no plans, so we gathered up supplies and I made some roasted poblano sausage and some hot dogs, vacuum-packed them, and stored them in the freezer. Even with that done though, I informed Sean that I wasn’t competing. I was just bringing things to share with the group. Sean’s boss can be … and I’m trying to find polite words here … impervious to any argument, well-reasoned or otherwise. Anyway, so I was entered in the contest. I was largely either ignored or harassed through the cooking, and I dropped one of my two pans of sausages when I was moving them from the grill to the table. But in the end, I won the contest. I will not be entering again. The good part about the whole thing was that Maya was SUPER proud that her mom won a trophy, so I’m going to lean into that.

While at the picnic, Sean was able to take the kids out in a canoe, which they both really loved. They puttered in the water and collected shells. Maya played with a little minnow-type fish that another kid had caught in his net. We left without any sunburn or serious injuries.

Alamo Drafthouse family party for Secret Life of Pets 2

The very next day, we took them to one of the Alamo Drafthouse’s fun family parties to see Secret Life of Pets 2. Both kids seems to really enjoy the movie – even Ian, who has a lot of trouble caring about a movie for all that long. He was cheering on the characters and during one particularly daring scene even exclaimed, “That was awesome!”

(And immediately following that, we went a birthday party! After which, the entire Woods clan collapsed into an over-scheduled, socially wrung-out heap.)

All through her entire kindergarten year, Maya was perpetually fussed about all the kids losing teeth. The sting became especially intense once Maya had celebrated her 6th birthday and many of the kids who were still *only* five years old were losing teeth. We talked to her about it and tried to assure her, but it did no good.

First tooth lost … and second tooth lost … all in short order.

She had one very loose tooth that we had been discussing. Is she going to lose her tooth while swimming in the ocean, at NASA, at the picnic, in this dark theater? Finally, on that Sunday night, after the very busy weekend, after hearing her lament the fact that she’d never lose a tooth, we explained to her that if she sort of slowly but firmly wiggled her loose tooth back and forth, she could probably convince it to come out. And she did it! It took a little while, and it hurt a bit, but she got the job done by herself. Pure elation radiated from her body as she shot comet-like back and forth through the house. She was thrilled to have finally lost a tooth.

Since we were working through bedtime routines and getting the house buttoned up for the night, we weren’t paying especially great attention to what Maya was up to. She had a second loose tooth right next to the one she had just extracted. This one wasn’t nearly so wiggly as the first one, but apparently Maya was a girl on a mission. She wiggled that second tooth back and forth and back and forth and eventually coaxed it out as well, albeit with considerably more bleeding. I’m not sure “lost” is the right word here, but the girl had now lost two teeth in a single night. And since then, I’m not sure she’s even had one that’s been loose.

She thinks she looks mean.

Not long after we got library cards, Maya had checked out a book about skateboarding. As we read it to her, her excitement became palpable. She decided that she too wanted to learn to skateboard. We thought it maybe wouldn’t stick, but over the course of a few months, she saved up her money and did some shopping around and on the day she had saved enough, she proudly plunked down her own money to buy her own skateboard. Mom and Dad ponied up the cash for safety gear.

We watched a few youtube videos on how best to get started. After some practice during her first outing with her board, she was able to move herself forward and tentatively balance. The asphalt wasn’t the easiest surface to ride on (or fall on), so we even took her down to the local skate park one morning. Again, she did pretty well for a rank beginner. We had found a relatively quiet corner to practice in, but it was a little terrifying with all the accomplished skaters, roller-bladers, and BMXers zooming around. I didn’t want her to get hurt, and I didn’t want her to cause an accident either. Ian rode his little scooter around while Maya practiced skateboarding. The kids had fun watching the people doing tricks in the big curvy pool part of the park. Maya earned several grins as she cheered people on.

Tie-dying shirts for Dad (and themselves).

We even managed to celebrate Father’s Day. The kids made tie-dyed shirts for Dad (and themselves). Together we baked him some of his favorite aged chocolate chip cookies. And I made him a lasagna for dinner while he built his Steamboat Willie legos with the kids. All in all, it was a quiet day, but I think he enjoyed it.

And toward the end of the month, Sean and I got to go see one of our favorite bands from our college years – Jawbreaker! We missed them when they came through town last year and weren’t going to make that mistake again. The show was great and we had fun, but it may have been nicer if audience members weren’t flinging cans of beer at the band. Honestly, who buys an $8 can of beer just to hurl it at the stage?

The kids have been asking and asking for a beach trip. I am the only non-beach person in the house, so every now and then, I just have to give in. Having not been before, we decided we’d try out Galveston. We had originally thought we’d go over Memorial Day weekend, but we actually decided to save money and fight less crowding by going the weekend after.

We left on a Thursday around 9:30 in the morning. Galveston, without kids in the car at least, is about a 3.5 hour drive from Austin. With the kids and a couple stops, I think it was closer to a 5 hour drive. No matter! We got there in time to get settled into our rental condo and after unwinding for a bit, loaded up the car and drove to Stewart Beach.

Beach day number one

Every website we looked at (which wasn’t many) listed Stewart Beach as the most family friendly. Seeing as it was basically the only one we went to, I can’t offer any comparison notes, but it certainly was easy on our family of four. The beach is wide and relatively clean. We could find plenty of seaweed-free space to spread out our blankets and toys and relax. You could walk forever out into the water and not have it come over your head.

The water is brown, and one’s initial reaction might be “yuck, what am I swimming in?” Evidently, the brown color is largely the result of suspended sediments from freshwater rivers pouring into the gulf and carried around by various currents. Our kids were completely unfazed. As usual, we had to chase Maya to keep her from drowning. Ian was a little more hesitant, but as long as he could hold onto someone’s hand, he was all-in as well. Maya’s favorite game was to walk out where the water was about belly-high and let the incoming waves crash into her and knock her over. Ian wanted to play this game too, except he wanted to jump up high enough that the waves didn’t knock him over.

The scary part for Mom and Dad was that those Galveston suspended sediments were so thick that if a kid fell over in the water, you weren’t seeing them again till they popped back up. Alas, everyone survived and when the sun was well on its way toward setting, we all walked up and showered off the sand and saltwater (and sediment) and bundled up in our towels for the drive back to the condo.

Maya had a fearsome hankering for fried shrimp, so we went to our friendly neighborhood Shrimp and Stuff and settled in for a glorious fried-seafood extravaganza. Ian, being Ian, had a glorious plate of fried chicken strips. We got home late and collapsed in beach-smelling heaps in our rental house beds.

They LOVED the bunk beds. Don’t tell our pediatrician.

The kids, by the way, LOVED their bunk beds. They negotiated over who got to sleep with which giant stuffed sea creature each night but otherwise, the beds were drama-free. Ours, while also drama-free, was one of the most uncomfortable I’ve slept on in recent memory. On one hand, it was probably the smallest queen I ever did see, but it made up for it by encouraging both of us to roll to the center of the bed where we routinely woke each other up. Whatever, we were at the beach and everyone was having fun.

The next morning, we headed out to indulge in what has become a Woods family vacation staple – doughnuts. This morning’s destination was a place called Home Cut Donuts. It was fine. Solid donuts, decent kolaches.

We went back to the condo and got everyone suited up to play in the pool for a while. We had brought a kick board. Someone else had left a couple of pool floaties and a boogie board. Ian swam and even jumped from the edge of the pool, which is something he had been hesitant to do in his swim classes. Maya had fun doing her own Maya thing, but had to learn a few tough lessons about pool courtesy and sharing with others.

We had lunch at a joint called Cajun Greek. I think we generally wound up more cajun than greek with what we ordered, but I recall it being good and that the woman waiting on us was incredibly nice.

We grabbed our jackets and went to the Moody Gardens aquarium pyramid after lunch for our scheduled date with a penguin. Moody Gardens is a sprawling affair with many different attractions to explore, but we were really trying to make this a laid-back beach vacation, so we focused in on just visiting the aquarium. Why the aquarium? Because I learned you could meet penguins there, and I was completely enchanted by the notion.

Fontina, the macaroni penguin

At our scheduled time, the four of us met our penguin expert and bundled up for the trip back into the cold. As we walked past the gate that led out to the penguin habitat, several curious penguins wandered up to check us out. We were right there next to them, listening to their loud calls, smelling their interesting smells.

We wandered back through the food prep area where they showed how they prepared the penguins’ meals. Our guide explained to us the various types of penguins they kept and the conservation efforts they undertook. And then we were ushered into our room. Fontina the macaroni penguin waddled in to make our acquaintance. She made paintings for us, stole the guide’s keys, carried some rocks around, tried to disassemble the latch on Sean’s camera bag. We got to talk to her and pet her and learn a little about her life at the aquarium. Penguins are indescribably soft! I couldn’t get over how soft Fontina’s feathers were.

The kids seemed most fascinated by her painting efforts. They may have been a little jealous that they didn’t get to make a painting too. Ian in particular seemed to really enjoy petting her though.

So many jellies

Both before and after our visit with Fontina, we were able to wander through the rest of the aquarium. We saw sharks and a really neat array of jellyfish, and Maya even saw one poor huddled up giant pacific octopus. We watched seals and sea lions swimming, swimming, swimming in seemingly endless loops. The best part though was the Humboldt penguins. We had seen one early on who we were fairly certain was interacting with us. But near the exit, we saw more Humboldt penguins and they were straight up playing with the kids. Ian would run back and forth with his newly acquired plush seal toy (who he named Seal) and the penguin would just chase him and chase him. Ian would stop and the penguin would kind of wait, watching him. And then they’d start their game over again. The penguin was perfectly willing to chase Maya too, but she lost interest pretty fast.

We snuck into the Strand area of Galveston for a visit to La King’s to acquire ice cream and chocolate malt. Their candy display ran for miles. There was a fellow making taffy in the back. The other side of the store had an old-time soda fountain look and feel. It was magic for the kids. Maya, Ian, and Sean enjoyed their frozen treats and then each made several selections from the huge variety of taffy available there.

After a rest at the condo and an unremarkable takeout pizza experience (they offered toasted ravioli, but they were absolutely *not* up to this Missourian’s standards), we decided a nighttime beach walk might be fun. All we had to do was cross the street. We heard the waves crashing, saw the jellyfish glowing, and unbeknownst to Mom and Dad, someone absolutely loaded her shorts-pockets with seashells. Maya looked like she had been outfitted with saddlebags, her pockets were so distended.

The next morning, we tried out Dawn Donuts. Again, the doughnuts were fine, solid, perfectly acceptable. I did find that pastry-wrapped boudin may be a thing we have to try at home, because YUM.

We played in the pool till lunchtime, and I was noticing Ian acting a little strange. I didn’t really think much of it, having chalked it up to him having had a late night and the swimming consuming a lot of energy. We wandered over to Sunflower Cafe for lunch, and Ian was acting weirder still. After some parental troubleshooting we decided that he felt feverish. Sigh. You know it’s a Woods vacation when one of the kids gets sick. We trucked through our lunch and bought some beautiful baked goods to enjoy later. And then all of us went to the condo where Ian had some medicine and all of us had a nap.

The beach is their happy place

Ian seemed to be feeling a lot better after his rest, so we decided to hit the beach one more time. Stewart Beach had worked out so well before that we just decided to go there again. We again all played till twilight was looming. Then I got the kids bathed while Sean fetched some more Shrimp and Stuff for dinner.

The next day, we made a quick breakfast of leftovers and worked on loading up the car. This was NASA day. It just so happens that Space Center Houston was on our way back home, and it just so happens that admission was covered by our Thinkery membership. We figured we would stop in and see as much as the kids’ patience allowed. We will need to go back.

Saturn V rocket is massive

Our visit started with a tram tour to see Mission Control. The kids liked riding the tram, but they were pretty bored listening to the (very brief) lecture at Mission Control. Our next stop though was Rocket Park. We saw some other “small” rockets, but the highlight of course was the giant Saturn V rocket. The kids had been able to pick it out of a lineup of model rockets back at the mission control building, and seeing it in actual size did seem to leave an impression. That thing is truly huge.

Favorite quote from the displays around the rocket: “… it’s a hostile environment, and it’s trying to kill you. The outside temperature goes from a -450 degrees to a +300 degrees. You sit in a flying Thermos bottle.” Walter M. Schirra.

Back at the space center, we had a quick lunch and then headed outside to see the 747 with the high fidelity replica space shuttle. The kids liked this part because they got to climb around and actually see things. They got bored more quickly than we did though, so there wasn’t just a whole lot of time for reading of museum information. By this time, the kids were losing interest and Ian was starting to look puny again.

Once inside, we made sure we all got to touch the moon rock sample. Then after a quick spin by the gift shop, we loaded up and headed back to Austin. There were some truly amazing looking things at that museum that we didn’t get to see. I feel strongly that a return trip is in order.

May, as probably all the parents of school-aged children probably feel, has been a berzerker. We made it through the usual pile of end of school year events and celebrations, but we added in the extra pain of illness, car repairs, and unexpected schedule changes just to make it truly memorable!

Maya the male mallard duck

First up was the kindergarten pond expo. Maya loves ducks. They are second only to octopuses in her hierarchy of beloved creatures. So when she told us she wanted to dress up as a duck for the pond expo, we weren’t surprised. After all, Maya explained to us, there are no freshwater octopuses. This was meant to be a student-driven project, so we talked about the kinds of ducks she had seen at the ponds she’s visited, but all the decisions and most of the execution were her own. She loves the color green, so she decided she’d be a male mallard. Then she set about designing her costume. I drew the shape of her wings, tied elastic for her feet and super-glued her mask together, but she did all the cutting, painting, and drawing otherwise, and all the ideas were hers. She even had to redesign her duck bill because the first iteration flat-out did not work. It was a very good project. (Funny aside … There were many ducks at the kids’ pond expo, but except for Maya, they were all of the yellow, rubber ducky variety. I’m pretty proud of her!)

Maya LOVES her kindergarten teacher

Teacher appreciation week hit us like an anvil to a coyote. We love our teachers and certainly wanted the kids to show them that, but doing a different thing for each kid every day of the week proved to be pretty wearisome. Maya was all in the entire time; she absolutely LOVES her kindergarten teacher. Ian was interested for the first day or two, but after that, he was kind of half-heartedly playing along.

Ian, spring 2019, age 4

Ian did finally manage to get his spring picture day at school, and of course the photos were adorable. These are the first professional photos we’ve gotten with his glasses, and seriously, that cute little turd just can’t help himself.

Happy mother’s day!

Mother’s Day was a low-key affair. I had breakfast at Ian’s school the Friday before. For the weekend though, I just wanted to not have to cook (and further not make any of the plans or decisions for takeout), and I wanted to hang out with the kids and put together my fancy, new Lego Saturn V rocket set. We spent most of the weekend building it in stages. Ian, understandably, didn’t have the patience to sit quite as long, but he did build some, and  Maya the Lego queen helped me build a fair bit of it. The kids made me really pretty bracelets as well, at the very last minute, of course!

Happy mother’s day rocket!

Ian had been sick the weekend before Mother’s Day – random fever, reduced appetite, otherwise no symptoms. He was better within a couple days. Maya was vomiting for a few days, seemed to get better, and then suddenly was sick again. Right in between those two bouts of illness, Maya managed to squeeze in an art show. She and the other kids in her after school art class assembled trifold displays filled with their artwork. She was supposed to present her work to me and the other parents. Mostly though, she asked how long it would be till she could have some of the punch and cookies offered as post-art-show treats.

Art show!

Maya’s second illness wound up being STREP! I’d never have guessed it. She never complained of her throat hurting and was not really coughing at all. She barfed once and ran a fever. It took the nurses no time though to decide on a strep test and the results of the rapid strep test came back so quickly that our doctor called it before they even told him. The upshot of this is that within 24 hours of starting amoxicillin, she was considered non-contagious, though we let her rest another day beyond that because she was just so worn out!

Tiny dancer’s getting to be a big kid

Ian’s big dance recital was on the 18th. He sported a dazzling silver vest over his favorite rainbow shirt, and his moves were on point. The best part of course is that he seemed so happy and proud of himself! Funny aside: There was a photographer at the event and we went ahead and purchased the photo package he was offering. All the other parents had been explaining which kid was theirs so he’d know which action shots belonged to which family. I started to explain Ian’s outfit and whatnot and the guy kind of cocked his head at me, grinned, and said, something like, “Yeah, I’ll remember him.” I guess being one of only a couple boys the whole day and wearing glasses and a rainbow shirt to boot, he was bound to stand out.

The kids love guinea-pig sitting

The next week, we took care of the McKee-Starling clan’s guinea pigs, which the kids absolutely loved. Sadly, since then, one of these very old and well-loved piggies has passed away.

Bye, bye kindergarten

This was also Maya’s last week of school. Kindergarten has been a very good experience for Maya, and she was in a complicated state of happy-sad about it being over. She loved her teacher. She had friends she enjoyed playing with. She seemed to genuinely enjoy learning new things. We went to her end-of-year party and took silly pictures of her with her friends and watched the play they put on, called The Lonely Fish. Maya played the part of an octopus.

This summer, Maya has been hanging out at Ian’s preschool. Ian, of course, is thrilled that his big sister is coming to his school. Maya seems to be enjoying the mental break (though her teacher asked us very early on if we could send her with an age-appropriate workbook, so maybe she’s not taking that much of a break). We’re doing a couple of local summer reading programs as well, so hopefully those fancy new kindergarten skills don’t atrophy too much. So far, it’s all been going well, and at this point, we have less than a month till Maya starts first grade, and Ian is back to flying solo at preschool.

I’m sure I’ve said before that Maya’s favorite holiday is Easter. She started working on us to gather all the necessary supplies to dye eggs at least a full week before the holiday. That may not sound like much, but this is a monumental display of forethought for fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants Maya.

Working together … sort of.

Both Sean and I have been break-neck busy at work, so many of our things get done at the last possible minute. Ian made crayons and stuffed eggs for his class hunt the day before it occurred. Sean and the kids decorated eggs on Saturday, eggs he had purchased only that morning. The easter bunny bought his extra supplies on Saturday and he and his helper spent part of their Saturday night assembling baskets and stuffing eggs. This all happened really, really late too because Maya was so excited about hunting eggs the next day that she could not sleep. Even the leftover magic confetti from the night before her first day of kindergarten wasn’t helping.

Tradition with Dad

Sean and I made a plan that I would get up at 6 and sneak out to hide eggs. I hadn’t thought through the fact that I would be doing so in the dark. The eggs were hidden though, and I managed to not accidentally step on any of them. I crawled back under the covers at 6:11. At 6:15, I heard Maya spring out of bed, followed shortly by Ian. I guess I will need to get up earlier next year because wow, was that close!

Ian’s basket contained an incredibly soft stuffed bunny who he has dubbed “Easter Bun Bun,” to distinguish from the bunny Maya sewed for him whose name is just Bun Bun. Maya received a chicken puppet who I believe she named Beeyawk! after a line from a book she had recently fallen in love with called “A Hen for Izzy Pippik” by Aubrey Davis.

These two!

After a very hasty breakfast, we got the kids into their fancy duds, and they pelted out into the yard. The eggs were gathered in record time. Cascarones were cracked over heads. Photos were begrudgingly stood for.

Our friend Larry, of the Seattle Leone family, was in town for work, and we wound up spending most of the rest of our Sunday with him. Our kids love, love, LOVE grownups, so they were really excited to see him. Plus, he arrived bearing gifts of PEZ dispensers. At that point, Maya and Ian might have traded us in for him.

We had hot chicken at T-22 for lunch and took a hike up to an overlook for the Pennybacker bridge in the afternoon. Then the kids took him to their favorite restaurant, Freddy’s, for dinner, where both kids insisted on sitting with him.

Poor Larry – they would not leave him alone! 

Larry sports a shaved short hairdo, and Maya was completely obsessed with it.  We have had many, many conversations with our children about respecting personal space and keeping your hands to yourself, but you’d never have guessed it. She kept rubbing his head. We’d get her to stop, but as soon as we weren’t watching her, she was right back to it! Larry took it like a champ, but it was a little much.

At the end of the day, both kids were sad to find out that Larry would be sleeping at a hotel instead of at their house. I guess we’ll have to see if next year, Maya requests a visit from the easter Larry along with the easter bunny.