I don’t even remember May any more. All the teachers at school tried to squeeze in last minute fun. We did all the teacher appreciation things. There were soccer games, some canceled, some not. And we had to find a new piano teacher. We traveled for a concert, and we traveled to visit grandparents. We celebrated a 50th wedding anniversary and a 23rd wedding anniversary and we caught toads in a pond. This much I know: it all happened. I just need to remember it well enough to write it down.

At the beginning of the month, with Maya’s last piano lesson looming, we decided we needed to make a parting gift to show our appreciation. We decided that Maya would build and paint a birdhouse, since Ms. Hannah shares Maya’s love of avian life. Maya got to learn to use a hammer (which she was a little nervous about), and she learned about dry-fitting things before applying wood glue. And she’s always loved to make things and to give gifts, so it was a fun project. Plus the birdhouse was well-received!

We wind up doing a lot of things to encourage Maya’s love of birds. It’s not even all that hard – they’re everywhere and often very visible. Ian’s reptile and amphibian fascination can be harder to accommodate. When we heard that someone called Wildman Phil would be doing a show at a nearby nursery, we decided to take Ian to check it out.

By all accounts, he loved it. Here are the creatures I noted having seen: a tarantula who’s known as a bird-eating spider (even though it doesn’t generally eat birds), a soft-shelled turtle, a uromastyx who is a kind of spiny-tailed lizard, a gila monster, a legless lizard, a king snake, a corn snake, and a reticulated python. Ian seemed very interested in all that was shown, though he maybe could have done without the spider.

Wildman Phil asked if anyone wanted to come onstage and hold the python. This python was pretty huge (about 12 feet long), and Phil was clearly looking for a bigger kid to hold it, so it wasn’t a big surprise when he locked in on Maya as his volunteer. To her credit, I think she tried to get Ian up onstage too, but ultimately, it was just Maya, a not particularly cooperative python, and Wildman Phil doing his best to keep the python from slithering away from the kid. Maya did well, and she clearly loved it. Ian took it all in stride and was delighted to be able to touch the bubbly scales of a well-contained gila monster after the show.

How does one tell a legless lizard from a snake? They have ears (snakes don’t). They can blink (snakes don’t have eyelids). And they have a tail that can break off and grow back. Also, the way a snake moves is much more refined than the way the legless lizard moves. It was interesting to see the comparison.

For two days in a row at school, Ian came home reporting a lost tooth. He’s been a slow teeth-loser, so I think he was pretty excited about the whole deal, plus he’s sporting that toothless smile that makes for such cute and funny photos.

Maya took an after school coding class in the spring, and one day after school we got to go watch her code demo. Like her mother, she seemed shy about presenting her work in front of everyone, but it was a fun little game. As she describes it, a cat-person is being chased by a bowl of cheese puffs with legs. The object is to keep away from the bowl of cheese puffs. Cute first effort, and we heard one of the other parents say something like, “I would totally play that game.”

Maya’s last piano group class was the day before Mother’s Day. Kids showed up and hung out and did music games and performed pieces just like always, but it was kind of a subdued affair. We didn’t really want to say goodbye, and Maya struggled a little.

Because of the May pandemonium, we really didn’t have much time for Mother’s Day. The kids made me cards and presented me with gifts, and that was about the end of it. There really wasn’t even time to “take the day off.” Maybe next year.

We saw a cool caterpillar in the yard. After a bit of looking, seems to be an American Lady Caterpillar. I like all our cool lizards and caterpillars and weird beetles, and of course the birds, squirrels, raccoons, and foxes. It’s fun to try to identify all of them. Probably I should have been a biologist or something instead of an engineer.

We snuck in a quick visit to school to watch Ian perform in the school’s MARE week finale. Their elementary school has an ocean week, and they use MARE (Marine Activies, Resources, and Education) curriculum to, as they say, create ocean-literate kids who are excited about science. It must be working because the kids are always pretty wound up about it.

That weekend, we tried a new thing. Sean and I had gone to the Cruel World festival last year. Sean’s dad, Harry (who the kids know as Pop) came and hung out with them while we jetted off to California for the day-long festival. It worked out pretty well and we had a lot of fun. This year, we thought we’d try to take the kids along. It’s held at the Rose Bowl, so there’s a big outdoor space and food trucks. Our college friend (and the officiant at our wedding) Matt came along as well – he’s really good with kids.

We got in late and our AirBNB was a little confusing to enter, but all in all, things went fairly smoothly. The house we rented was comfortable and we could all spread out, which was nice. The next day, after doughnuts from Monarch Doughnuts and lunch from Menya Hanabi, we walked to the metro station to get ourselves over to the Rose Bowl. We arrived in time to see Berlin (who we had missed last year thanks to that stupid merch line). They were only there because the Motels had to bow out. (Also, right before concert date, Adam Ant wound up not making it and was replaced by Squeeze.)

The kids spread out on a beach towel and colored pictures and watched the little lady onstage sing. They seemed semi-into it – Ian even asked to be placed on Sean’s shoulders briefly so he could see better. Then – ahem – aromatic vapors and smokes were really bothering Maya. Luckily a nice lady near us noticed and offered her a mask. She wore that thing pretty much the whole day, and it seemed to help. And now we know we need to bring Maya a mask to future shows.

It wasn’t long before the kids were kind of used to the remove earplugs, pack up, relocate to new stage to see different band, reinstall earplugs routine. They seemed to particularly enjoy the Vapors set. Maya and Ian were both dancing along, doing the dance we now refer to as The Cockatoo. In deference to the kids, we didn’t really try to push too close to the stage for the most part. We would lounge in a higher ground spot (if we could find it) a ways back from the stage and watch from there. The music is plenty loud and thanks to the big screens, you could sort of match what was happening to the teeny figures on stage.

Let’s see if I can get them all: Berlin, The Vapors, Gang of Four (who beat the shit out of a microwave on stage!), Gary Numan (who Ian was particularly entranced by), Echo and the Bunnymen (hooray, Sean got to take the kids to see his favorite band of ALL TIME), Love and Rockets, we listened to Billy Idol for a bit more than saw him. The dudes walked me over to the Iggy Pop stage. There was a nice open area for us to spread out and Cushman shared his funnel cake with the kids. Then he and Sean walked over to watch The Human League a bit while the kids and I hung out and watched Iggy take his shirt off.

And then The Bad Thing happened. They abruptly shut absolutely everything down because 30 miles away there was lightning and all indications were that the storm was headed our way. Presumably because evacuating 75,000 people is hard, they wanted to give us a head start. The cynic in me kept thinking, “if you’re going to get struck by lightning, please kindly do so off property.” So, we wouldn’t be seeing the rest of Iggy Pop’s set and we would not be seeing Siouxsie. These were the two acts I was most interested in, so it was a bit of a heartbreaker. Still and all, the behavior some of the grownups around us displayed was pretty shitty. I hope like crazy we showed the kids how disappointment should be managed … and those other folks showed them how it shouldn’t.

Maya was flipping out a little because there was a thunderstorm coming, and she’s a little apprehensive about those. But I explained repeatedly that Dad and Matt *did* know where were were, but that I *didn’t* know where they were, so the smart thing to do is to stay right where we were. Networks were jammed up, so we couldn’t really communicate either. But eventually find us they did and a sad Cushman, two sad Woodses, and two Woodses who were all-concerted-out-by-this-point-anyway made their way to the shuttle buses back to the metro station.

We eventually found out that Siouxsie, Iggy Pop, and Gary Numan would be coming back the next evening to do their sets, but there was no way we could rearrange our schedule to stay an extra day, so we missed out. Still, I like to think it was a good first concert for the kiddos, and we did enjoy the acts we actually got to see.

We came back to the kids’ last week of school. We had our back fence rebuilt (it had been beaten up by a fallen tree from the ice storm), got Maya to her end-of-year soccer party, and hastily prepped for our grandparent trip.

Right away after school let out on the 25th, we started our drive toward Alabama. We wanted to arrive in time for a dinner with the out-of-towners on Friday evening, and we thought it best to have a 6-hour drive before that rather than a 12-hour drive. The kids still find it novel to stay in a hotel, so this plan didn’t bother them at all.

We arrived in Alabama the next afternoon with enough time to unpack and unwind a little bit before social hour began. Dinner that night was at Okinawa. Even though they do hibachi there, Maya and Ian both opted for sushi! And they ate it! Ian and Sean’s nephew Steele, who are only a few months apart in age, hit it off something fierce. I think if we lived closer to Darci and Will, those two boys would be a force to be reckoned with.

We talked 75% of the Jester clan into making a side trip over to the local Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream shop. The limited time only creation at the time was an Everything Bagel ice cream. This stuff is amazing! It truly captures the essence of an everything bagel in a rich, sweet ice cream. It is so weird in the best possible way.

The big 50th wedding anniversary celebration was the next day. Harry and Helen were married in 1973, and so their anniversary dance party was 70s themed. The four of us all dressed up, each person choosing their own outfits. Maya became enamored with this pair of white go go boots. Sean became obsessed with this insane pair of yellow pants. Ian and I did the best we could to keep up. We tried to learn a few dances too before the big day, so we could participate … well, except Sean who decided he was “the photographer.”

Harry and Helen also sprung for hula hoop instructors to help keep the kids entertained. The hula hoops were EXTREMELY popular amongst kids and adults alike. Good food was had, dances were struggled through, Ian and Steele got ahold of the Polaroid camera and had fun with that. Maya and Sean even managed to win the 70s costume contest – hooray!

After all that fun, we loaded up a few things in the car and headed back to the house. And get this – Harry and Helen and probably most of their line dance friends STAYED AND DANCED FOR SEVERAL MORE HOURS! These people are crazy.

The next day was our anniversary (only the 23rd – not nearly as impressive), so we went with Lolli and Pop and the kids to have lunch at Seasons 52. The food there is pretty delicious and LolliPop could find things there that would fit their specialized diet. I wish I could replicate their vegan pasta dish because I think Ian ate as much of it as Lolli did. That guy needs vegetables in his life. For my part, I had some glazed carrots flavored with gochujang that I’m well on my way to figuring out how to make.

The kids got to go to the pool with LolliPop the next day while Sean and I worked on laundry and packing. We hear it went well and they stayed long enough for Ian to finally be ready to leave (though maybe Maya wasn’t so ready). That evening, Maya managed to pull out a loose molar. Poor kid; she was in a fair amount of pain before that tooth came out. Maya manages pain entirely too well, so it’s a big deal when she’s actually complaining that something hurts.

And then, after some bright and cheerful doughnuts from Hero Doughnuts, it was time to drive to Missouri. The drive was kinda strange because our navigation system routed us differently from normal – some business about a dam in or near Memphis potentially breaking. What?!? Normally we would take a direct diagonal route on I-22 between Homewood and Memphis and then I-55 north from there. Instead, we took a slightly longer but very pretty drive that routed us north through Huntsville and Nashville and then over through Kentucky to Cape Girardeau, and that’s where we finally found I-55.

We arrived in Missouri not too much later than planned and the kids got to unwind a bit with toys and outside time. We even made time to ride out to the pond and feed the fish – some of those fish are getting pretty big!

The next day, Grammy and Grandpa had The Most Fun Thing Ever planned for the kids – the water park. The Cape Splash Family Aquatic Center was just about perfect for the kids. They’d been to a local Texas water park in the past, Typhoon Texas, but they had been so young at the time, they mostly stuck to the splash pad and kiddie slide area.

Now they were primed to experience EVERYTHING. Plus, the park was contained enough that we could mostly just let them roam free, slide as much as they wanted, and feed them whenever they showed up feeling hungry. Also, since it was midweek and we got there when most folks are at work, it wasn’t all that crowded and the kids could slide and lazy river as much as they wanted without just a whole lot of waiting.

We showed up around midday and essentially stayed till the place closed, and it’s all the kids could talk about. They loved it! When the time came, they didn’t really want to leave.

The next day was mostly a recovery day. The kids had played really hard at the water park the day before, so on this day, we relaxed. Always at Grammy and Grandpa’s there are art projects. The yard is huge, and and there are lots of little toads and frogs to catch around the pond. And … there are cousins! Maya and Lily, who are only about 6 months apart in age (despite the BIG height difference), really played well together this time. And evidently both of them are skilled frog catchers!

We learned on this trip about Gus the Goose. Gus is a white goose who apparently has worked himself into a flock of “regular” geese (Canada Geese, maybe). Well, we managed to find a couple of very nice Gus feathers around the pond while we were walking – one for Maya and one for Lily! And while I never got to see the infamous goose, the kids did.

And finally, it was creek day! Every summer when we visit Grammy and Grandpa, the kids spend time at the creek. This time, there was the added fun of cute little ring floats. Ian, Maya, and eventually Lily as well got to float around in a unicorn, a duck, or a flamingo, as the mood struck them.

And there were SO MANY critters to catch. We saw a snake slither off into the brush when we first pulled up (didn’t get a good enough look at it to ID). The kids caught a bunch of toads. They caught little fish and a few random crawdads as well. I tried to show Maya that if you just let the crawdad walk on your hand, it probably wouldn’t pinch you. There were no guarantees of course, so there were no takers.

That last evening, Grammy and Grandpa took us to the Circle U so the kids could play video games. It’s a small thing, but they now fully associate a stop by Circle U with a visit to Grammy and Grandpa’s house. The food is good and they don’t mind rambunctious kids, so I’m content. We were surprised to find that as the evening progressed a live DJ with a karaoke machine set up shop. They kept asking for requests, and the kids all wanted to put theirs in. No one else was really taking them up on it, so that’s how the fine patrons of Circle U found themselves treated to Ian’s request, Thunderstruck by AC/DC. Maya wanted to hear Octopus’s Garden by the Beatles. I don’t remember what she chose, but Lily got to hear her request as well.

And the next day it was time for the very, very long drive back to Austin. This time we tried a different thing to help break up the drive. Sean borrowed an audiobook from the library – “The Magic Misfits” by Neil Patrick Harris. The books as read by Mr. Harris himself was about four hours long. We’d listen to the book in hour-long chunks split up by regular old screen time. It worked like a charm. The kids (and even the adults) were fully engaged in the story and the segmenting of our time a little did make the long trip more tolerable. And now, with school and soccer and travel buttoned up, maybe June would be a little more relaxed!