Emelia has a great ear for music. For as long as she's been able to talk, she's been able to recognize music she's heard before. Even covers. So for a very long time, I've encouraged her to take music lessons. We never forced her into taking them -- I figured that if she was made to take them, she'd grow to resent taking them, much as I had when I was a kid. There were drawbacks to this approach -- when she was five, she asked for, and received, a ukelele as a souvenir. On the ride home, she picked at it and sang out the alphabet as accompaniment, declaring that she could play the ukelele. Sadly, that's been the ukelele's high point, as it was strummed more times on that car ride home than it has in the succeeding three years combined.
Last December, I brought up the subject of lessons again, and she "gave in." She wanted to make sure, however, that she didn't have to perform in front of anyone. I told her to pick her instrument, and after a bit of back-and-forth, she selected the piano. We have a curbside special of a keyboard that I came across around the time she was born, so as far as I was concerned, she made a fine selection. We signed up for lessons in January, and as we ended up with a late afternoon Thursday slot, we've made it work so that I sit in with her during the lesson. Steven, the instructor, is absolutely great with her -- he's generally very positive and I've yet to see him lose his patience, even when she starts plinking while he's trying to talk to her. I sit in the back, taking notes on what songs she's supposed to learn, and things to look for/work on as she practices.
During the week, she and I go over her assignments -- maybe once a week she practices on her own, but the rest of the time I'm there with her. Sometimes she gets frustrated, but we work through the parts that challenge her, and so far at least, by week's end she pulls it together. I may not be as patient as Steven is, but I seem to be doing ok. I tell her to stop saying she's sorry when she makes a mistake -- that she only needs to apologize if she's goofing off/not listening/not trying. I'm sparse with my praise, but she understands that when I say it's good, it's significant. And I'm able to let her know when she's made enough progress during a practice even when she's not all the way there.
My approach seems to gibe with her. She doesn't dread practice, sometimes asking me when we can work on her assignment, and other times playing her assignment on her own after we've gone over it earlier in the day. Without prompting, she has repeatedly thanked me for encouraging her to take lessons, and has said that she loves playing the piano. When in Florida last month, rather than being shy and uncomfortable with playing in front of her grandmother, Emelia called her over so she could perform for her.
It's only been a few months, and of course she'll likely get sick of the piano, lessons, practice, everything. But I'm enjoying not being there yet. My daughter has a tendency to keep working on things she's good at rather than tackle things she isn't -- at some point, I'm going to have to use her experience with the piano as proof that she can get good at something even when she starts off knowing nothing about it.
I have to be honest -- when trying to anticipate the things I'd most enjoy about being a parent, it never entered my mind to think piano practice would make the list. It's nice to know that a middle-aged man can keep learning too.
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Epic Summer Update 1 -- MUSIC!!
We're just getting started on our summer, and it's kicked off with a feast of music.
A week ago Thursday, my friend Tom and I went to see The National. We tailgated some beforehand, as the rain rolled into the area. When we went into Merriweather, we found our seats -- in the center of row 9, i.e., great location! But then when the opening band, The Dirty Projectors, started up, we started to worry some. They sounded awful -- the bass overpowered everything, lots of distortion. We went outside and on the speakers outside of the tent it sounded much cleaner. Not that we enjoyed it any more -- the harmonic dissonance (or whatever you want to call it) of the the band's vocals didn't appeal to either of us. When The National finally took the stage, we were relieved to hear that the acoustics were excellent, despite what we heard from the opener.
And the show was fantastic. I would have preferred more songs from Boxer than we heard, and I didn't think much of one of the new songs, Fireproof, but no real complaints. The closing trio of Mr. November, Terrible Love, and acoustic Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks was the highlight of my evening. Evidently it's a common close-out for them, but as I hadn't seen them before, I was delighted.
This past weekend, we finally made it up to the Clearwater Festival, a music festival on the Hudson River, created by Pete Seeger to restore the Hudson and keep it clean. Our friends Kim and Larry have been pushing us to join them for years, but in the past we'd always had a conflict in our schedule.
On Saturday our families went up there (our friends have two children as well), hung out in the back of the main stage area, and took the kids on little trips around the festival to see other attractions. We also met up with friends of Kathy from back home, who also came for the festival. The acoustics were great, even as far away as we were, but because I wasn't really able to see anyone, in many ways it didn't really feel like we were at a concert.
Non-musical aside: Later in the day, while the kids were playing at the beach, I was hanging at our base camp, and a lightning bug landed on my arm. And started crawling along my arm, and hand, and fingers. After around 20 minutes, I jokingly named it Sparky. And when my family returned, I told Emelia that we had a pet firefly. Since our dog Nora had died in January, we had been petless. We're planning to get a dog at the end of the summer, when we stop traveling, but I had it in me to joke about having Sparky the firefly be our pet instead of getting a dog. And Emelia jumped right on board with that idea. She loves bugs of all varieties -- in fact, she was a pillbug for Halloween! Kathy sent me to get dinner for the family, so I let Sparky climb onto Emelia's arm, and away I went. I know I should have seen it coming, but I didn't -- upon my return Emelia was sobbing in Kathy's lap because Sparky had flown away in my absence. I mean, it was inevitable that Sparky would leave at dusk, but poor Emelia hadn't thought about it (and of course, I hadn't thought about what that inevitability would do to Emelia). Until I returned, Emelia had been doubly burdened, because she thought I'd be mad at her because Sparky flew away while in her care. Kathy and I both did what we could to assure her that Sparky would be happier there where it lived, among its brothers and sisters, but it took quite a while to ease my daughter's mind. Needless to say, Kathy has threatened to kill me if I ever do something like that again.
The sets I saw that day, in whole or in part --
Sunday we got a sitter to watch the four kids, and it was just the adults. Kathy really enjoyed the down time that came from not having the girls around. Needless to say, we took in a lot more of the music, and also set up closer to the stage. It also was far easier to go to other stages to see other acts. In addition, I got to meet in real life one of my turntable.fm friends -- fun! The musical highlight of the day was seeing Jason Isbell, whose new album, Southeastern, is one I've been listening to constantly since before it came out last week. A special bonus was having Patterson Hood, frontman of the Drive-By Truckers (Isbell's former band), join Isbell on stage, and then having Isbell return the favor during Hood's set. Between those two sets and the closing performance by Son Volt, I was treated to a great afternoon of Americana.
The sets I saw on Sunday, in whole or in part --
We drove home on Monday, and after dinner I went out to one more show, this time with Mike Doughty opening for Low. I got there right before the doors opened, and plopped down in the middle of the third row. I was pretty beat from the weekend, but I'm very glad I went -- Low was fantastic. Surprisingly, they also were happy -- frontman Alan Sparhawk isn't known for being warm, but he really did warm up and engage with the small crowd that saw them. As for Doughty, I like how he sounds, but unfortunately, his songs lacked variety stylistically, and so got fairly boring all too quickly.
My next show isn't for another few weeks, which is a good thing, because I could use the rest. Not that I'm getting any -- the next part of Epic Summer kicks off tomorrow morning with a 6:10am flight out of BWI.
A week ago Thursday, my friend Tom and I went to see The National. We tailgated some beforehand, as the rain rolled into the area. When we went into Merriweather, we found our seats -- in the center of row 9, i.e., great location! But then when the opening band, The Dirty Projectors, started up, we started to worry some. They sounded awful -- the bass overpowered everything, lots of distortion. We went outside and on the speakers outside of the tent it sounded much cleaner. Not that we enjoyed it any more -- the harmonic dissonance (or whatever you want to call it) of the the band's vocals didn't appeal to either of us. When The National finally took the stage, we were relieved to hear that the acoustics were excellent, despite what we heard from the opener.
And the show was fantastic. I would have preferred more songs from Boxer than we heard, and I didn't think much of one of the new songs, Fireproof, but no real complaints. The closing trio of Mr. November, Terrible Love, and acoustic Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks was the highlight of my evening. Evidently it's a common close-out for them, but as I hadn't seen them before, I was delighted.
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| The National (photo by Tom) |
This past weekend, we finally made it up to the Clearwater Festival, a music festival on the Hudson River, created by Pete Seeger to restore the Hudson and keep it clean. Our friends Kim and Larry have been pushing us to join them for years, but in the past we'd always had a conflict in our schedule.
On Saturday our families went up there (our friends have two children as well), hung out in the back of the main stage area, and took the kids on little trips around the festival to see other attractions. We also met up with friends of Kathy from back home, who also came for the festival. The acoustics were great, even as far away as we were, but because I wasn't really able to see anyone, in many ways it didn't really feel like we were at a concert.
Non-musical aside: Later in the day, while the kids were playing at the beach, I was hanging at our base camp, and a lightning bug landed on my arm. And started crawling along my arm, and hand, and fingers. After around 20 minutes, I jokingly named it Sparky. And when my family returned, I told Emelia that we had a pet firefly. Since our dog Nora had died in January, we had been petless. We're planning to get a dog at the end of the summer, when we stop traveling, but I had it in me to joke about having Sparky the firefly be our pet instead of getting a dog. And Emelia jumped right on board with that idea. She loves bugs of all varieties -- in fact, she was a pillbug for Halloween! Kathy sent me to get dinner for the family, so I let Sparky climb onto Emelia's arm, and away I went. I know I should have seen it coming, but I didn't -- upon my return Emelia was sobbing in Kathy's lap because Sparky had flown away in my absence. I mean, it was inevitable that Sparky would leave at dusk, but poor Emelia hadn't thought about it (and of course, I hadn't thought about what that inevitability would do to Emelia). Until I returned, Emelia had been doubly burdened, because she thought I'd be mad at her because Sparky flew away while in her care. Kathy and I both did what we could to assure her that Sparky would be happier there where it lived, among its brothers and sisters, but it took quite a while to ease my daughter's mind. Needless to say, Kathy has threatened to kill me if I ever do something like that again.
The sets I saw that day, in whole or in part --
- Judy Collins
- Antibalas
- The Lone Bellow
- David Bromberg Quintet
- Acoustic Hot Tuna
- Mavis Staples
Sunday we got a sitter to watch the four kids, and it was just the adults. Kathy really enjoyed the down time that came from not having the girls around. Needless to say, we took in a lot more of the music, and also set up closer to the stage. It also was far easier to go to other stages to see other acts. In addition, I got to meet in real life one of my turntable.fm friends -- fun! The musical highlight of the day was seeing Jason Isbell, whose new album, Southeastern, is one I've been listening to constantly since before it came out last week. A special bonus was having Patterson Hood, frontman of the Drive-By Truckers (Isbell's former band), join Isbell on stage, and then having Isbell return the favor during Hood's set. Between those two sets and the closing performance by Son Volt, I was treated to a great afternoon of Americana.
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| Isbell (L) joining Hood (R) during Hood's set |
The sets I saw on Sunday, in whole or in part --
- Buffy-Sainte Marie
- Pete Seeger and Lorre Wyatt
- Vieux Farke Toure
- Jason Isbell
- Patterson Hood Band
- Acoustic Hot Tuna and Pete Kimock
- Keller Williams and The Travelin' McCourys
- Son Volt
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| Relaxing on Sunday at Clearwater |
My next show isn't for another few weeks, which is a good thing, because I could use the rest. Not that I'm getting any -- the next part of Epic Summer kicks off tomorrow morning with a 6:10am flight out of BWI.
Saturday, June 01, 2013
Epic Summer
The best summer of your life is supposed to take place sometime in your childhood. You’re off all summer long, going swimming most days, you have a great time at summer camp, and your parents scheduled an amazing 10-day vacation that included going to the beach &/or the mountains &/or an amusement park. Maybe it’s when you’re six, or perhaps when you’re 13 (right before you’re supposed to make money during the summer), but at whatever age it does occur, it’s unquestionably during your youth. It isn’t supposed to happen during the summer you turn 45.
But why shouldn’t it? Kathy’s been a Stay at Home Mom for the past two years and will be going back to work in the Fall. In the future, the kids are going to want to do their own thing, and Kathy’s time will be limited by work. I’ve accrued lots of leave over the years, and I can’t imagine a better time to take a chunk of it. Accordingly, I have dubbed this summer Epic Summer©, and we will be spending it camping, beaching, mountaining, flying, reunioning, amusement parking, music festivaling, swimming and....
How Epic does it look? In April the parents of one of Emelia’s classmates invited us to join them for any weekend over the summer at their family place on the Jersey Shore. We had to turn them down because the only weekends we had left are the ones that you need every so often to do things like laundry (Kathy is hoping to go up there with the girls during part of a week when I’m working, but I’m skeptical that she’ll pull it off). It’s at the point where this weekend and next are the last consecutive weekends we have at home until September.
The Thursday before Memorial Day weekend is when we kicked things off. On that day, Emelia and I drove to Mt. Catoctin for a school overnight trip, spending quality time and sleeping just the two of us in one of the screen-only cabins (we shared a bunk bed). We loved being there and with each other -- we made meals together, did activities organized by her teachers, read a book to each other, told a story I had written together at the campfire, and much more. We overcame the adversity caused by her too-tight water boots irritating her foot enough that she couldn’t walk for a few hours. The heavy rain was kind enough to come just as we were turning in and leave before we got up. The cold weather behind that front made the morning chilly, but couldn’t dampen our spirits, particularly with Emelia’s foot feeling ok again.
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| Emelia Hard at Work Mapping the Goon |
We left Catoctin just before Noon on Friday, racing back to Capitol Hill to get Kathy and Hannah, and load up the car to go camping at Cape Henlopen State Park, just north of Rehoboth, in Delaware. The beach traffic made the trip long, and the strong winds we found upon our arrival made setting up camp more than a little difficult -- we had to enlist Emelia to help set up the tent, because the wind made it more than a two-person job. Once we got past those two challenges, however, we had a great time. We were in a group of 30+ campsites set up by a work acquaintance -- mostly families, with plenty of kids Hannah’s and Emelia’s ages. Common dinners, campfires, and hanging out, but plenty of time for our nuclear family to do things by ourselves. We went to the beach briefly a couple of times in the unseasonably cool (but very sunny) weather, and did a nature walk as well. We had a great time, and figure to return next Memorial Day weekend, hopefully even bringing other friends along.
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| Two Sweet |
Things are quiet the next couple of weeks. I’m going to a concert (The National with The Dirty Projectors opening) this Thursday, and Emelia’s last day of school is the following day, but that’s about it. After that, however, here are how things are shaping up:
- June 17 -- see Low in concert (Michael Doughty opening) (just me)
- June 20-26 -- fly to Minnesota for Kathy’s college reunion, plus a couple of days to enjoy Minneapolis
- July 4 -- drive to Raleigh to visit friends
- July 6 -- drive to Hilton Head for our annual trip with my side of the family (my parents, siblings, nieces and nephews), at a disgustingly over-the-top amazing house on the beach (thanks Mom and Dad!).
- July 7 -- My 45th Birthday
- July 10 -- My sister gets married
- July 13-14 -- drive back home via Raleigh
- July 18 -- see Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside in concert (just me)
- July 23 -- see Bob Dylan, My Morning Jacket, Wilco & Ryan Bingham with family and friends
- July 24 - August 11 -- Roadtrip
- July 29-August 1 -- Lancaster, PA for Dutch Wonderland and other local activities
- August 1-3 -- Visit someone TBD as we head North
- August 3-10 -- Stay with friends at a very rustic cabin in Central Maine
- August 10-11 -- Head back home
- August 16-18 -- Campground Brewdown in Central PA. Likely but not certain.
- August 19 -- Presumably Hannah’s first day of school
- August 31-September 2 -- Labor Day weekend camping at Big Meadows with friends
- September 3 -- The official end of Epic Summer©. Emelia’s first day of school, Kathy’s first day of work
I hope everyone else’s Summer will be every bit as Epic as ours looks to be!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
A Happy Ending
We had to punish Emelia last week.
At the parent-teacher conference on Monday, Emelia's teacher told us that Emelia wasn't listening to any of the other adults in school, just the teacher. And even then, it was a struggle. So we talked to Emelia about it afterwards, while the family was driving me to work. And I followed up with it on Tuesday, when I walked Emelia to school.
At the parent-teacher conference on Monday, Emelia's teacher told us that Emelia wasn't listening to any of the other adults in school, just the teacher. And even then, it was a struggle. So we talked to Emelia about it afterwards, while the family was driving me to work. And I followed up with it on Tuesday, when I walked Emelia to school.
So we were rather surprised when later on Tuesday the teacher called Kathy, and said that Emelia was misbehaving and being disruptive. And even more surprised when the teacher called Kathy a second time, because Emelia was still acting up. Kathy spoke with Emelia on the second call. It didn't matter -- Emelia remained awful for the rest of the day.
We threw the book at her, at least as much as we were willing to do given that she's five. She wrote an apology (her words, our help with spelling) that she delivered the next day; and was placed on two weeks of no dessert and no video.
Kathy was the one who set most of the punishment, but it didn't take long before she was contemplating making exceptions. I wanted us to hold firm -- at the time Kathy handed down the sentence, she had told Emelia that she wouldn't have s'mores while we were camping, even though her friend (and everyone else) would. I reasoned that if Kathy was going to make that a feature of the punishment, it wouldn't do any good to remove it. Kathy ultimately agreed, so we didn't make exceptions.
During the first week of punishment, the teacher reported that Emelia was behaving well at school. At home, Emelia also behaved well, and didn't complain about the punishment. She even reminded Kathy that she was on punishment a couple of times when Kathy forgot. During camping, she sat around while everyone else ate s'mores, and didn't complain at all.
In short, she was great for the whole first week, including Tuesday, her first day back at school after the long weekend that included an overall lack of sleep.
Tuesday evening, we ended the punishment after one week, making clear that we ended it because of her good behavior and because she didn't complain. The point had been made, and Emelia responded positively. We didn't see what more a second week of punishment would accomplish.
On Wednesday, with the punishment lifted, Emelia's teacher said Emelia was excellent during the day, and at home she was great too.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Another Letter to Emelia and Hannah
Weekends like this past one will hardly be a blip in the girls' memories when they're older, so I thought it best to try to capture it for them. Because in my mind it truly was a special one -- making a special weekend doesn't require a special trip or (much) special planning. All it requires is special people.
About the girls, May 2012
Emelia. Emelia at five is fiercely independent, except when she isn't. She's engaging, snuggly, and determined, but also she has trouble accepting things that aren't how she wants, be it with her peers or her parents. She has a strong sense of justice, usually centered on how she's being falsely "accused" of misbehaving. In sum, she's very much how she's been for the past two years, except wiser, more stubborn, more eloquent, and more creative. And even more delightful, if that's possible.
Hannah. Hannah is three months past her second birthday, her happiness that never flagged in the past now tinted occasionally by bouts of two-ness. Still, strangers regularly come up and tell us what a happy child she is. She's talking up a storm, loves to jump and do all sorts of physical activity, and she generally can't be left unattended. She's no longer napping every day, and Kathy especially isn't happy about it. She loves balls, dolls, and vehicles.
The weekend
Friday. Kathy, Emelia and Hannah headed up to College Park after school to visit with Shizuka, Kaz and Michiko (Eric was away) -- I Metro'd up there after work to meet you for dinner and a little hanging out, before I took the car back to tend to Nora, leaving the three of you to have a sleepover. I stayed up too late on TurnTable, and from what I hear, Emelia and Kaz also stayed up pretty late, chit-chatting away, best friends just like their Moms. Still, I was up the next morning before Kathy called for me to head up for a bagel breakfast.
Saturday. Up there, play and good times continued around a delicious bagel breakfast. After breakfast, Kathy, Hannah and I made a trip to the nearby REI, then came back to grab Emelia and all of us headed home. Lunch at home was followed by Hannah's (and my) nap. We woke Hannah and away we went to a Street Art Festival down at Yards Park. Actually, the girls' highlight was less the festival and much more the fountain and little pool, where I think they both would have stayed had I not pulled them away so we could see what we (I) came for. Truth be told, however, there wasn't much that interested us in the festival. The one exception was a troupe of acrobats that Kathy and I enjoyed, but Emelia and Hannah were pretty bored. Emelia eventually turned to performing her own acrobatics, far more impressed by what she could do than could the members of the troupe. After that we headed home for a simple dinner and an early bedtime for the girls.
Rather, an early bedtime for Hannah. After dinner I reminded Emelia that she wanted to make a Mother's Day cake for Sunday, so we set to work on that. Mother's Day is not traditionally known as a cake holiday, but last year we inadvertently started a tradition -- since I had a special grown-up surprise birthday party for Kathy three days earlier, we assuaged Emelia's feeling of being left out by making a Mother's Day cake. She remembered it well this year and wanted to make one again. Both before and during the making, Emelia must have referenced the "surprise" about 100 times, always making sure Kathy didn't know what we were up to. Emelia's bedtime followed the baking.
Sunday. I woke up early, and Emelia followed quickly (as did Hannah when Emelia got up). I got some milk for Hannah while Emelia and I set to work with the frosting and sprinkles. Being clueless about such things at the time I purchased the cake mix, I quickly discovered that devil's food cake crumbs off very easily if you apply frosting, so I ended up having to do that, even though we both wanted Emelia to have the honors. Instead, she got to put the sprinkles on. I left her to spell out "MOMMY" with them, or "MOM" if the letters got too big, but even that was a bit too optimistic. Let's just say that I was able to perform a salvage job so that the "O" wasn't a solid block of sprinkles.
About the girls, May 2012
Emelia. Emelia at five is fiercely independent, except when she isn't. She's engaging, snuggly, and determined, but also she has trouble accepting things that aren't how she wants, be it with her peers or her parents. She has a strong sense of justice, usually centered on how she's being falsely "accused" of misbehaving. In sum, she's very much how she's been for the past two years, except wiser, more stubborn, more eloquent, and more creative. And even more delightful, if that's possible.
Hannah. Hannah is three months past her second birthday, her happiness that never flagged in the past now tinted occasionally by bouts of two-ness. Still, strangers regularly come up and tell us what a happy child she is. She's talking up a storm, loves to jump and do all sorts of physical activity, and she generally can't be left unattended. She's no longer napping every day, and Kathy especially isn't happy about it. She loves balls, dolls, and vehicles.
The weekend
Friday. Kathy, Emelia and Hannah headed up to College Park after school to visit with Shizuka, Kaz and Michiko (Eric was away) -- I Metro'd up there after work to meet you for dinner and a little hanging out, before I took the car back to tend to Nora, leaving the three of you to have a sleepover. I stayed up too late on TurnTable, and from what I hear, Emelia and Kaz also stayed up pretty late, chit-chatting away, best friends just like their Moms. Still, I was up the next morning before Kathy called for me to head up for a bagel breakfast.
Saturday. Up there, play and good times continued around a delicious bagel breakfast. After breakfast, Kathy, Hannah and I made a trip to the nearby REI, then came back to grab Emelia and all of us headed home. Lunch at home was followed by Hannah's (and my) nap. We woke Hannah and away we went to a Street Art Festival down at Yards Park. Actually, the girls' highlight was less the festival and much more the fountain and little pool, where I think they both would have stayed had I not pulled them away so we could see what we (I) came for. Truth be told, however, there wasn't much that interested us in the festival. The one exception was a troupe of acrobats that Kathy and I enjoyed, but Emelia and Hannah were pretty bored. Emelia eventually turned to performing her own acrobatics, far more impressed by what she could do than could the members of the troupe. After that we headed home for a simple dinner and an early bedtime for the girls.
Rather, an early bedtime for Hannah. After dinner I reminded Emelia that she wanted to make a Mother's Day cake for Sunday, so we set to work on that. Mother's Day is not traditionally known as a cake holiday, but last year we inadvertently started a tradition -- since I had a special grown-up surprise birthday party for Kathy three days earlier, we assuaged Emelia's feeling of being left out by making a Mother's Day cake. She remembered it well this year and wanted to make one again. Both before and during the making, Emelia must have referenced the "surprise" about 100 times, always making sure Kathy didn't know what we were up to. Emelia's bedtime followed the baking.
Sunday. I woke up early, and Emelia followed quickly (as did Hannah when Emelia got up). I got some milk for Hannah while Emelia and I set to work with the frosting and sprinkles. Being clueless about such things at the time I purchased the cake mix, I quickly discovered that devil's food cake crumbs off very easily if you apply frosting, so I ended up having to do that, even though we both wanted Emelia to have the honors. Instead, she got to put the sprinkles on. I left her to spell out "MOMMY" with them, or "MOM" if the letters got too big, but even that was a bit too optimistic. Let's just say that I was able to perform a salvage job so that the "O" wasn't a solid block of sprinkles.
Kathy came down and opened Emelia's card and my present, a 16x20 canvas collage of the girls using photos from last month's beach trip.
After poking around for a bit, I was going to suggest we go to the Arboretum, but Kathy beat me to it. Great minds and all, at least that's what I tell myself (and her). We enjoyed walking a lot with the girls, and only had to carry Hannah a little bit at the end. Sadly Hannah didn't want to let us take photos of her, but we snuck a couple in. And Emelia got a couple of Kathy and me -- she liked taking the photo of us kissing.
Kathy decided she wanted lunch at Franklin's, so that's where we went. Again Kathy and I were in harmony, ordering the same beer and meal -- it's like we were celebrating our anniversary a few days early (the 16th). Back to the house afterwards, for naps for Hannah and me. I slept, but no luck with Hannah. Kathy was a bit frazzled when I came downstairs, so I grabbed Emelia and we walked to the grocery store. When we got back, we got the house ready for the return engagement of Shizuka and the kids, this time with Eric in tow. A nice dinner was followed by the surprise cake, which was well received by all, much to Emelia's delight. Our dinner guests didn't stay too late, and we put the girls as soon as the company left.
A busy weekend gave way to a quiet evening, as Kathy and I relaxed in preparation for the week. So ended a wonderful Mothers Day weekend.
Caveat. Were there low points in this amazing weekend? Of course -- it's too recent to wipe those clean via the nostalgicator. Still, they were relatively small and insignificant compared to the multitude and intensity of the high points.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Changes
Kathy stopped work in June to be a full-time stay-at-home Mom, and we started living on a budget last April in anticipation. Suddenly, the money we were permitted to spend on ourselves was restricted significantly. It had never been limitless, but we've always been fairly responsible to the point that we never really felt restricted. We feel it now.
And so my trips to buy new beers have dropped off -- hard to keep to a budget when a stop at State Line eats up all your money for a month. And even though I spend far less per visit to one of my favorite bars than I do at State Line, those trips have tapered off too. To be honest though, that started in earnest when I went on a diet at the first of the year.
At the same time as I've been cutting back on beer geekery, I've been undergoing (as Kathy put it) my once-a-decade move to a new online community. In the '90s, it was jumbalaya, a community of people who like playing boggle. In the '00s, it was ratebeer, a community of beer geeks. In both these instances, I've made a number of friends that extended beyond the virtual into the real world.
And now, I've discovered turntable.fm, a music site where you dj for others in a chat room. I'm finding new music, and meeting folks who enjoy the same music I do. Given that I love music but had given up on radio long ago, this is a wonderful discovery. And let's face it, listening to music in a chat room costs no more than one's internet connection, whereas there's only so much enjoyment one can get talking about new beers without spending on the beer itself.
And so instead of spending on beer as much, I'm now spending on concerts. I spent about the same at each of two shows in March as I would have for a night at a bar. And while I can't remember a single beer I had the last time I went to my favorite beer bar, I expect the great memories of the last show I attended, Langhorne Slim at Iota, will be with me for quite some time.
I haven't stopped there either -- my passion has resulted in our summer plans including a trip to a music festival. We'll see how it goes with the whole family camping at a four-day music fest, but fingers crossed it's the beginning of a family tradition.
This isn't about a rejection of beer -- I'll still drink and rate beer as the opportunities arise (and for the fifth year in a row, we'll still be doing at least one camping beer weekend). I would love to try more beers and go to a bunch of shows, but the budget and the time isn't available. And at this point in my life, to the extent I have to choose, I'm choosing music over beer.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
A Letter to Emelia and Hannah
We take photographs for all sorts of reasons, but mostly to capture a moment in time. In this post, I will try to capture a moment in time of roughly 72 hours. It's not about the family, though everyone is part of it; instead it's about your father, as he is at age 43, an age that probably means little to you personally when you'll read this, but also an age/time in my life that you'll have scant memories about me as a person. I can't say that these are typical days -- I think it might be the first time since we've become parents that I went out three days/nights in a row. To Hannah I apologize -- you're only two at the time these events transpire, and so even as our interactions are wonderful, they're not particularly memorable, or more accurately, distinctive for purposes of this letter. As such, Emelia features more prominently than you do in this letter.This has been a winter of no winter. I had used my heavy coat for three days of the entire winter. It was in the 40s on Saturday, but in the 60s on Sunday, and the 70s and 80s Monday through today.
On Saturday night, I went to DC United's season opener, a game that ended in disappointment because despite getting outplayed, the scoreless draw was in reach until an added-time goal sent the team to defeat. In the stands we engaged in gallows humor to pass the evening, a sadly too familiar past time at United games these past few years. Still, it was nice to be with the gang again after the five month offseason, even though I have little to do with them outside of United games.
Sunday morning as we were adjusting to Daylight Savings we all went to visit Sharon, Gary, Andrew and Declan for breakfast, a visit that was pretty enjoyable. When Hannah showed signs of needing her nap, I drove everyone else home, and headed to a beer tasting. I had just lost 19 pounds from a diet I went on at the start of the year, and this was my first local tasting in several months. Between cuts in my personal budget and my waning interest in beer gatherings/ratings, this was something of a treat. While there I watched FSU defeat UNC to give the team its first ACC championship. And I tried a lot of beers and ate way too much food. A beer tasting doesn't involve a lot of volume -- most beers I only drank a couple of ounces, so that the 35 or so beers I drank was about a six-pack of volume -- that's a sizable amount, but not so much when the consumption was spread out over 7 hours. As with the soccer match, it was enjoyable even though I'm not close to any of the other attendees. Where once I had close ties to some of the local beer geeks, the ones I've cared about have moved or moved on, and the current regulars generally aren't people that I'd ever do something socially with outside of tastings.
I got home at a decent hour -- Kathy was still up, and we chatted a bit before we both went to sleep. Alas, at 12:30 or so, Hannah woke up because her pacifier fell out. Kathy responded to it, I woke up when she went to attend to Hannah, and I never could fall back asleep. Two hours of sleep on the night left me pretty tired the next day. I had had visions of going to a concert on Monday night, but lacking sleep and a ticket to the sold-out show, I gave up on that. At 4pm, however, I was offered a ticket, and went to an amazing show. Back around 11, I still stayed up another hour or so because I was so pumped up from the show. Six hours of sleep left me in pretty bad shape in light of the sleep shortage the previous night as well.
Tuesday morning I had the pleasure of walking Emelia to school. We both were enjoying the fantastic weather on the walk. As is often the case, our conversation was all over the place. It started with my trying to convey how wonderful the concert experience was, and Emelia claimed to completely understand, because she's five. I told her that we would go to Floydfest that summer, where I looked forward to sharing some music experiences with her. At some point the conversation shifted to dreams/goals, and Emelia informed me that she intends to marry her best friend (for the past two weeks), Timothy. I asked what happened to Jonah, as she had said she was going to marry him just a couple of weeks ago. Emelia explained that when our families had last gotten together, Jonah indicated that he probably was going to marry someone at his current school, so Emelia had set her sights elsewhere. And it made sense to me that she would select Timothy because Kathy had just recently explained that she was married to her best friend. Emelia had been changing her designated best friend quite frequently, and I couldn't help but wonder whether/how Kathy's statement was coloring Emelia's perspective.
On my way to work afterwards, I had a most unusual experience. As I was leaving the L'Enfant Plaza metro station, a man was going down the up escalator. He stopped a little in front of me, and I walked past him. A few seconds later a second man was walking down the up escalator, and he was completely naked. He had a shirt or something loosely covering his genitals, but that was about it. I have no idea what was going on, only that I had no interest in trying to find out. His shoes and the rest of his clothes were at the top of the escalator, unable to follow the conveyor as it slid underground.
Tuesday at work (yes, I was working amid all these activities), we released a big item that I had worked on for a couple of years. I had a bit of pride in completing it, but the greater feeling was one of relief. It was a challenging, difficult, and often frustrating process, and I was glad to leave this portion of the project behind.
Tuesday evening, when I got home, Kathy was set for us to enjoy the nice weather to go to Lincoln Park for a picnic (Emelia's idea). I was beat and not up for it, and Hannah was showing signs of being tired too. Still, I did my best to rally and we went. Hannah insisted on holding both Kathy's and my hands on the walk over, and got upset when we weren't doing that. At one point she threw herself to the ground in a decidedly two-year-old way; unfortunately she's more used to the floor at home, and hurt herself on the harder surface. After a few cries she rebounded, and we got to the park a couple of minutes later. We stayed there for a few minutes, but it started to rain, so we hurried back home and ate the rest of the picnic on the living room floor. Hannah went to bed shortly after that, and with that, the 72-hour window into my life has elapsed.
Monday, January 25, 2010
And My Mind Begins to Grasp the Notion of Hell...
Yesterday, Kathy, Emelia and I spent the day visiting with our friends Gary, Sharon, and their son Andrew. We spent the day in shifts, rotating which two adults would watch the kids. When we got there, we stayed for a little while, before Kathy and I slipped out for lunch. Upon our return, Kathy and Sharon went out for a movie, and when they got back, Gary and I walked over to my new favorite beer bar, ChurchKey.
There's something wonderful about having a great beer bar in town, particularly when it's only a couple of blocks for where a friend lives (no matter how much I'd enjoy it, that it's not a couple of blocks from my own house is probably a good thing).
It's not like I hadn't been there recently; in fact, it'd just been Tuesday night. And when I woke up the following morning, I had a terrible feeling -- I had undertipped "my" bartender, a guy who always looks out for me whenever he's working. So I walked in with an extra $10 bill to hand him in case he was behind the bar. He was, but he wouldn't accept the money, and swore that we were fine. No problem -- after another afternoon of stellar service, we just added the $10 to the tip on this bill.
Even having been there just five days earlier, there were two beers on draft and one on cask that I hadn't yet tried. And the AFC Championship game was on the TVs. And it wasn't crowded, which is usually the case when I go in the evening (at least the waits to get in on a Tuesday night seem to be a thing of the past). So we were able to get a seat right at the bar.
And because it wasn't busy, we were talking with the staff a little more than usual. We could hear the music that was being piped in, and as I do pretty much every time, I exclaimed at how similar the selections were to my own choices. Not just the likes of the Shins, My Morning Jacket, Belle & Sebastian or even the New Pornographers, but even less familiar stuff like the Jayhawks, Stephen Malkmus, and Band of Horses. So Gary asked the staff that was present if it was a station, and if so, which one. And suddenly, a scowl appeared, on all of their faces. Someone explained that it was the owner's iPod, and that it was the same thousand or so selections on shuffle all the time.
The rest of the evening, my mind stretched to fathom the idea of being subjected to that, where slowly my love for great tunes would turn inside-out, and I would come to loathe the very music I once loved.
There's something wonderful about having a great beer bar in town, particularly when it's only a couple of blocks for where a friend lives (no matter how much I'd enjoy it, that it's not a couple of blocks from my own house is probably a good thing).
It's not like I hadn't been there recently; in fact, it'd just been Tuesday night. And when I woke up the following morning, I had a terrible feeling -- I had undertipped "my" bartender, a guy who always looks out for me whenever he's working. So I walked in with an extra $10 bill to hand him in case he was behind the bar. He was, but he wouldn't accept the money, and swore that we were fine. No problem -- after another afternoon of stellar service, we just added the $10 to the tip on this bill.
Even having been there just five days earlier, there were two beers on draft and one on cask that I hadn't yet tried. And the AFC Championship game was on the TVs. And it wasn't crowded, which is usually the case when I go in the evening (at least the waits to get in on a Tuesday night seem to be a thing of the past). So we were able to get a seat right at the bar.
And because it wasn't busy, we were talking with the staff a little more than usual. We could hear the music that was being piped in, and as I do pretty much every time, I exclaimed at how similar the selections were to my own choices. Not just the likes of the Shins, My Morning Jacket, Belle & Sebastian or even the New Pornographers, but even less familiar stuff like the Jayhawks, Stephen Malkmus, and Band of Horses. So Gary asked the staff that was present if it was a station, and if so, which one. And suddenly, a scowl appeared, on all of their faces. Someone explained that it was the owner's iPod, and that it was the same thousand or so selections on shuffle all the time.
The rest of the evening, my mind stretched to fathom the idea of being subjected to that, where slowly my love for great tunes would turn inside-out, and I would come to loathe the very music I once loved.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
The Agonizer
I did it with a camera purchase, and now I'm making that seem like impulse by comparison. I'm talking about my thinking about whether to buy a new car given that our family is expanding.
We have a 2002 Honda Civic, and that purchase was the fallout of Kathy's post-9/11 freakout. She wanted to have a way out of the city if there was another attack, and I went along with it, even though I wasn't comforted by the possibility of being stuck in traffic with the rest of the city's residents that were trying to flee. Having no car at that time meant that it would have been a royal pain for us to do a lot of comparison shopping, so in November 2001 we went to the Honda dealer, liked the Civic, and bought it then and there.
And for 90% of the time, the Civic is all we need. It's got us covered for any around-town travel. For leaving town, however, it's rough, though with the loss of Junebug, it's at least feasible. Once #2 arrives, however, anything more than a weekend requires a bigger car.* As would camping, as we were packed to the gills with just the three of us. And the Civic isn't as comfortable as we'd like, though I think that has more to do with our aging than the car's aging. Kathy was on board with getting a new car, but the truth is, I'm the one behind this push, and she'd be ok with whatever I decide.
So I started looking in August -- I didn't see many station wagons, which would have been my first choice, and minivans get such lousy gas mileage that we didn't want one, which left us looking for the most part of SUVs. Not that SUVs get great mileage, but at least some of them are in the 20s, which is way more than what the minivans get. We started with the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V, but didn't jump at them because the price wasn't good enough to justify stopping our search. I started considering the Ford Escape, even though its storage was a bit less than the Honda or Toyota, and it's a noisier car, because it's cheaper and I liked the idea of buying a vehicle that's union made in the U.S.A. The Subarus, Outback and Forrester, were interesting, but we don't need 4-Wheel Drive and didn't like the cost it added or the mileage it subtracted. Then we read about the upgrade to this year's Chevy Equinox, and would consider paying more up front to get the best mileage in the class, but it's a larger car in exterior size, even though its interior is comparable to the Escape rather than the Honda or Toyota.
Finally, a couple of weekends ago, someone mentioned the Volkswagen Sportwagen TDI, and I was back to looking at a stationwagon. It's a fair amount more expensive than the others we were looking at, but its mileage is so much better, as in ~34 MPG. I test drove one a couple of weekends ago, and enjoyed it. Kathy liked the idea of being in a car rather than an SUV. And if the dealership had had one that had the features we wanted, it's likely we would have bought one right then.
But they didn't. And it's not an easy car to find -- they come off the lot about as quickly as they arrive, and most dealerships have back orders. No price negotiation, and the ones showing up are generally fully decked out with features I don't need and certainly don't want to pay for. So the price differential is even more than I'd originally thought.
And so here I am, back to wondering if we can live with the Civic for a little while longer, all the while considering the possibilities. One possibility is that we could get a roof carrier, even if we're not sure we could lift it onto the top of our car. All I know is that I need to agonize about this decision for a while longer, because that's what I do.
--
* -- I recognize that "require" is a relative term, but you try telling Kathy that she doesn't need to pack so much stuff, or that Nora doesn't require her own seat if she comes.
We have a 2002 Honda Civic, and that purchase was the fallout of Kathy's post-9/11 freakout. She wanted to have a way out of the city if there was another attack, and I went along with it, even though I wasn't comforted by the possibility of being stuck in traffic with the rest of the city's residents that were trying to flee. Having no car at that time meant that it would have been a royal pain for us to do a lot of comparison shopping, so in November 2001 we went to the Honda dealer, liked the Civic, and bought it then and there.
And for 90% of the time, the Civic is all we need. It's got us covered for any around-town travel. For leaving town, however, it's rough, though with the loss of Junebug, it's at least feasible. Once #2 arrives, however, anything more than a weekend requires a bigger car.* As would camping, as we were packed to the gills with just the three of us. And the Civic isn't as comfortable as we'd like, though I think that has more to do with our aging than the car's aging. Kathy was on board with getting a new car, but the truth is, I'm the one behind this push, and she'd be ok with whatever I decide.
So I started looking in August -- I didn't see many station wagons, which would have been my first choice, and minivans get such lousy gas mileage that we didn't want one, which left us looking for the most part of SUVs. Not that SUVs get great mileage, but at least some of them are in the 20s, which is way more than what the minivans get. We started with the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V, but didn't jump at them because the price wasn't good enough to justify stopping our search. I started considering the Ford Escape, even though its storage was a bit less than the Honda or Toyota, and it's a noisier car, because it's cheaper and I liked the idea of buying a vehicle that's union made in the U.S.A. The Subarus, Outback and Forrester, were interesting, but we don't need 4-Wheel Drive and didn't like the cost it added or the mileage it subtracted. Then we read about the upgrade to this year's Chevy Equinox, and would consider paying more up front to get the best mileage in the class, but it's a larger car in exterior size, even though its interior is comparable to the Escape rather than the Honda or Toyota.
Finally, a couple of weekends ago, someone mentioned the Volkswagen Sportwagen TDI, and I was back to looking at a stationwagon. It's a fair amount more expensive than the others we were looking at, but its mileage is so much better, as in ~34 MPG. I test drove one a couple of weekends ago, and enjoyed it. Kathy liked the idea of being in a car rather than an SUV. And if the dealership had had one that had the features we wanted, it's likely we would have bought one right then.
But they didn't. And it's not an easy car to find -- they come off the lot about as quickly as they arrive, and most dealerships have back orders. No price negotiation, and the ones showing up are generally fully decked out with features I don't need and certainly don't want to pay for. So the price differential is even more than I'd originally thought.
And so here I am, back to wondering if we can live with the Civic for a little while longer, all the while considering the possibilities. One possibility is that we could get a roof carrier, even if we're not sure we could lift it onto the top of our car. All I know is that I need to agonize about this decision for a while longer, because that's what I do.
--
* -- I recognize that "require" is a relative term, but you try telling Kathy that she doesn't need to pack so much stuff, or that Nora doesn't require her own seat if she comes.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
A Man Walks Into A Brewpub
So yesterday, Kathy, Emelia and I stopped in at a brewpub in upstate New York for lunch on our way back to DC from Vermont. We get there at noon, right as the place opens. The greeter is in fact the co-owner, and after he assures us that we haven't arrived too early to be seated, he asks if we know what was special about the day.
I immediately answer, "It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!"
"Uh, it is? Well, that's not what I was thinking."
"Oh right -- it's Rosh Hashanah."
"Is that so? Well, it's also the start of Oktoberfest in Munich!"
"It is?"
"It sure is, and we're about to tap our Alt in honor of Oktoberfest."
Even though we weren't on the same page as far what made Saturday special, I did try the beer they had made in honor of Oktoberfest, and thought it was pretty decent.
I immediately answer, "It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!"
"Uh, it is? Well, that's not what I was thinking."
"Oh right -- it's Rosh Hashanah."
"Is that so? Well, it's also the start of Oktoberfest in Munich!"
"It is?"
"It sure is, and we're about to tap our Alt in honor of Oktoberfest."
Even though we weren't on the same page as far what made Saturday special, I did try the beer they had made in honor of Oktoberfest, and thought it was pretty decent.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Aaron's Diet, Part 1*
I hit the scale a little over a week before I went to Cooperstown and showed up 1.5 pounds above the weight I have long said I never wanted to exceed. I have several reasons for why I set that weight limit, but the basic reasons are tied to my health, most significantly that my bad back doesn't need to have additional strains placed on it by having to support a large gut on the opposite side.
Given that a beerfest weekend is completely antithethical to a diet, and to give me a target start date, I didn't start dieting until I got back from there. So essentially, my diet began on Monday August 3.
Goal: Lose 20 pounds from that peak, pre-Cooperstown weight, by the end of October. In truth I'm ok with being a couple of pounds more than that, but because I expect to put a couple of pounds on once I stop dieting, I've set my target accordingly.
My diet rules:
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* - Disclaimer: I'm blogging about this primarily because it's a big thing in my life at present, but also to put pressure on myself to reach my goal by making it public. It is not to brag about my limited success, to suggest to others that they need to diet, or how anyone else should diet. Ok, maybe I'm bragging a little too, though I have no idea why I should be over seven frickin' pounds.
Given that a beerfest weekend is completely antithethical to a diet, and to give me a target start date, I didn't start dieting until I got back from there. So essentially, my diet began on Monday August 3.
Goal: Lose 20 pounds from that peak, pre-Cooperstown weight, by the end of October. In truth I'm ok with being a couple of pounds more than that, but because I expect to put a couple of pounds on once I stop dieting, I've set my target accordingly.
My diet rules:
- Severe curtailing of alcohol consumption. In the time I've been dieting, I've had one evening when I went drinking (4 beers), and a total of 1.5 beers otherwise. I've had no other alcohol.
- Don't impose my diet on the people around me. Kathy wasn't happy about her weight at the start of her pregnancy, but that doesn't mean she should be losing any weight now. It's not up to Kathy to change the foods that she and Emelia want to eat, it's up to me. As such, I'm the one who needs to have willpower. Essentially then, on the food side of things, I'm eating what Kathy is eating, but I'm taking significantly smaller portions than I was previously, and I'm doing my best to limit snacks. What that means, for example, is that we've still ordered pizza, and all that's different is that I try to have fewer slices than I ordinarily would. Also, we went out for Mexican and although I had a full entree of fajitas, I successfully resisted eating any chips and salsa.
- Accept that I'm going to be hungry. I've read about dozens of diets (without even looking for them) and in selling themselves, each tries to say it's easy. I don't know if they're correct, but my "eating less" diet isn't easy for me -- I'm hungry most of the time. To prevent eating every time I feel hungry, I remind myself of what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. Most of the time, that does the trick.
- It's not cheating to have limited indulgences. This is a key to me. I don't think it's constructive for me to feel like I'm failing when I give in to the hunger, indulge a sweet tooth or actually consume a beer. The bottom line is that I'm taking in far fewer calories even if I have those "lapses," so I treat the occasional treat as part of the diet, not a break from it.
- Exercise. I don't burn many calories going on the walk-jogs I've been doing roughly every other morning since the first Wednesday of the diet (currently about 1 3/4 miles jogging, and 1 mile total of warm-up/cool-down walking), but I am improving my conditioning, and of course that's something that's important for my general health. The key question is whether my back and other aches will interfere -- currently I feel much more sore on my jogs than I did at the start of my regimen. Jogging is hard on the joints and frame, but I don't need any special equipment or to go somewhere to jog -- I can just roll out of bed and go. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep it up.
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* - Disclaimer: I'm blogging about this primarily because it's a big thing in my life at present, but also to put pressure on myself to reach my goal by making it public. It is not to brag about my limited success, to suggest to others that they need to diet, or how anyone else should diet. Ok, maybe I'm bragging a little too, though I have no idea why I should be over seven frickin' pounds.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
My Little Girl is Growing Up So Fast!
We're down to the last four days of having a nanny for Emelia. She's shared Avery (Nana) with Jonah for over two years, but this spring we decided that Emelia was ready for something different. On Tuesday September 1, she starts in a Montessori program on the Hill.
Emelia has been excited about going to school for a few months already. In May she went to the school for a little while so the school could see how she responded, and she LOVED it. When it was time for her to leave she started crying because she was having such a good time. Ever since, she's been asking when she was going to go to school again.
For me, the hardest part of the change isn't that she's growing up. It's that we're saying goodbye to Jonah and Avery. Jonah's still around the corner from us, and we'll have many chances to get together. But Jonah has been a pseudo-sibling for Emelia (ironically, Avery says they're sometimes mistaken for twins when she takes them to the park), they get along so well, and it's clear that they're a positive influence on each other. They'll go from seeing each other three times a week for 9 hours at a stretch to a couple of hours every week or so. We told Elisabeth of our plans to switch to the Montessori program and thought she might want to do the same with Jonah, but she wanted to stay with Avery. And so the two kids will take different paths, and it's left me feeling wistful. I don't think Emelia realizes that starting school means no more Nana and Jonah.
As for Avery, we've been happy with her, and know that she's been a major part of Emelia's growth and development. When we told Avery of our decision, she agreed with our assessment that Emelia's ready for something new, and that the Montessori program will work well for her. Avery had thought that we didn't need her next Monday and had made plans to watch Emelia's "replacement" Jack (Jonah is switching to a Tuesday-Thursday schedule starting this week), but as soon as I said we still needed her for that day, and asked if she could watch Emelia and Jack together, she immediately said she'd tell Jack's parents that she'd start the next day, and beamed over the thought of having one last day alone with Emelia. Avery has offered her services if we need some assistance due to Kathy's pregnancy or because of the birth.
To accommodate the school's five-days-a-week schedule (8:30-3), Kathy is returning to work five days a week, five hours each day (she'll pick up and drop off Emelia), compared with her current schedule of working a full work day on Monday through Wednesday and being with Emelia on Thursday and Friday. We're not quite sure how it'll work -- Kathy's taken advantage of those days off to run errands or have repair people over. We'll also avail ourselves of the school's after care some days, given that Kathy's work will occasionally require her past 3pm.
Regardless how it goes, it's another chapter in the adventure known as parenthood.
Emelia has been excited about going to school for a few months already. In May she went to the school for a little while so the school could see how she responded, and she LOVED it. When it was time for her to leave she started crying because she was having such a good time. Ever since, she's been asking when she was going to go to school again.
For me, the hardest part of the change isn't that she's growing up. It's that we're saying goodbye to Jonah and Avery. Jonah's still around the corner from us, and we'll have many chances to get together. But Jonah has been a pseudo-sibling for Emelia (ironically, Avery says they're sometimes mistaken for twins when she takes them to the park), they get along so well, and it's clear that they're a positive influence on each other. They'll go from seeing each other three times a week for 9 hours at a stretch to a couple of hours every week or so. We told Elisabeth of our plans to switch to the Montessori program and thought she might want to do the same with Jonah, but she wanted to stay with Avery. And so the two kids will take different paths, and it's left me feeling wistful. I don't think Emelia realizes that starting school means no more Nana and Jonah.
As for Avery, we've been happy with her, and know that she's been a major part of Emelia's growth and development. When we told Avery of our decision, she agreed with our assessment that Emelia's ready for something new, and that the Montessori program will work well for her. Avery had thought that we didn't need her next Monday and had made plans to watch Emelia's "replacement" Jack (Jonah is switching to a Tuesday-Thursday schedule starting this week), but as soon as I said we still needed her for that day, and asked if she could watch Emelia and Jack together, she immediately said she'd tell Jack's parents that she'd start the next day, and beamed over the thought of having one last day alone with Emelia. Avery has offered her services if we need some assistance due to Kathy's pregnancy or because of the birth.
To accommodate the school's five-days-a-week schedule (8:30-3), Kathy is returning to work five days a week, five hours each day (she'll pick up and drop off Emelia), compared with her current schedule of working a full work day on Monday through Wednesday and being with Emelia on Thursday and Friday. We're not quite sure how it'll work -- Kathy's taken advantage of those days off to run errands or have repair people over. We'll also avail ourselves of the school's after care some days, given that Kathy's work will occasionally require her past 3pm.
Regardless how it goes, it's another chapter in the adventure known as parenthood.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
We're Putting the Band Back Together
So stop me if you've heard this one before --
This extended family does volunteer work in a foreign country for a week, and spends a second week traveling around with the help of a local kid serving as translator. Nearly five years later, the local kid comes to America, and he's going to hang out with the family for a couple of weeks.
I'm not sure it'll become the latest reality show this Fall, but that's what's going on with us. Christmas time 2004, Kathy and I went with her parents, her sister and sister's then boyfriend, her sister's three kids, and her aunt to Costa Rica, where we volunteered on a coffee farm near Monte Verde for a week before traveling around the country. We met Wilfreddy during our stay at the coffee farm, where he and his family live. He then accompanied us for the second week, serving as translator and taking in some of his country with us.
Currently, Wilfreddy is taking an ESL program in Pennsylvania, and when that finishes up at the end of next week, he'll be heading to DC to stay with us. Also coming down will be everyone who took the trip with us except Kathy's sister and her sister's now-ex-boyfriend. The plan is for everyone to stay with us, something that should be both fun and challenging. The plan right now is to put Wilfreddy and Kathy's sister's kids upstairs in our loft, put the folks in our guest room, put the aunt in Emelia's room, and put Emelia on a blow-up mattress on the floor in our room (hopefully, Nora and Junebug don't become too territorial of our floor).
I'm not sure what the itinerary is -- there was talk earlier of a couple of overnight trips to nearby regions, but if those plans have evolved, I know nothing about them. I figure I'll see people when they're here and when I'm not working. My boss will be out of the country then, so I need to mind the shop -- it'll be difficult for me to take off during the visit. Regardless, I'm expecting that I'll get to do things with them, and that things will be a little crazy for duration. Fun too.
Photo of Wilfreddy and me right before we went ziplining, January 2005.
This extended family does volunteer work in a foreign country for a week, and spends a second week traveling around with the help of a local kid serving as translator. Nearly five years later, the local kid comes to America, and he's going to hang out with the family for a couple of weeks.
I'm not sure it'll become the latest reality show this Fall, but that's what's going on with us. Christmas time 2004, Kathy and I went with her parents, her sister and sister's then boyfriend, her sister's three kids, and her aunt to Costa Rica, where we volunteered on a coffee farm near Monte Verde for a week before traveling around the country. We met Wilfreddy during our stay at the coffee farm, where he and his family live. He then accompanied us for the second week, serving as translator and taking in some of his country with us.Currently, Wilfreddy is taking an ESL program in Pennsylvania, and when that finishes up at the end of next week, he'll be heading to DC to stay with us. Also coming down will be everyone who took the trip with us except Kathy's sister and her sister's now-ex-boyfriend. The plan is for everyone to stay with us, something that should be both fun and challenging. The plan right now is to put Wilfreddy and Kathy's sister's kids upstairs in our loft, put the folks in our guest room, put the aunt in Emelia's room, and put Emelia on a blow-up mattress on the floor in our room (hopefully, Nora and Junebug don't become too territorial of our floor).
I'm not sure what the itinerary is -- there was talk earlier of a couple of overnight trips to nearby regions, but if those plans have evolved, I know nothing about them. I figure I'll see people when they're here and when I'm not working. My boss will be out of the country then, so I need to mind the shop -- it'll be difficult for me to take off during the visit. Regardless, I'm expecting that I'll get to do things with them, and that things will be a little crazy for duration. Fun too.
Photo of Wilfreddy and me right before we went ziplining, January 2005.
Monday, August 03, 2009
My Life With Beer Update
I've slowed down. I'm only rating at a pace of about 500-600 beers each year, rather than the 1000 or so I used to rate (ok, so it's a relative thing). I'm drinking more for pleasure rather than rating, but I'm also drinking less overall. As I'm getting older I seem to have less endurance, not that I was a real heavyweight in the first place. Also, the acidity of the beers seems to hit me a fair amount, whereas until about a year ago, I never had heartburn from beer.
Circumstances are helping with my cutting back. The DC RateBeer crew is a little less organized than it was about a year ago, as a couple of key members have moved -- thus, there are fewer local tastings to attend. It probably also helps that Tom has moved a few blocks away, so we're not drinking together as much. Also, I missed my second RateBeer Summer Gathering in a row (this year was San Francisco), after attending the first six.
Still, it's hard to limit myself as much as perhaps I should, given my continuing love for beer. Indeed, this weekend Tom and I made our way up to Cooperstown, New York to indulge in Belgium Comes to Cooperstown, an annual beer festival organized by Ommegang Brewery and held on their premises (I also made it up there last year). We got there on Friday afternoon and camped there with many other beer devotees, including a large number of RateBeer members, several of whom I've known for years. The festival is Saturday afternoon, but really the best part of the weekend is the beer that other attendees bring to share when the festival isn't taking place -- people bring bottles, growlers, and kegs to share with their fellow beer lovers.
And despite the incredible amount of great beer flowing, I actually did a fairly good job of limiting the amount of beer I consumed. I got there tired due to too little sleep on Wednesday night, and rather than force myself to stay up late that first night, I went to bed after the shmancy beer dinner (that included plenty of beer). Saturday I held off drinking until about 10am, mostly stopped by about 8pm (which was when the real beer sharing got going), and turned in early again. Upon my return I joked with Kathy that I got more sleep camping at a loud beer festival than I would have in my own bed.
For the next month or so I'm going to try to cut back dramatically, and see if I can shed a couple of the pounds that have accumulated around my waist. I'm not about to stop altogether, and indeed am looking forward to the new brewpubs to hit when we go up to Vermont next month. All the same, a little moderation for a little while could make a little difference.
Circumstances are helping with my cutting back. The DC RateBeer crew is a little less organized than it was about a year ago, as a couple of key members have moved -- thus, there are fewer local tastings to attend. It probably also helps that Tom has moved a few blocks away, so we're not drinking together as much. Also, I missed my second RateBeer Summer Gathering in a row (this year was San Francisco), after attending the first six.
Still, it's hard to limit myself as much as perhaps I should, given my continuing love for beer. Indeed, this weekend Tom and I made our way up to Cooperstown, New York to indulge in Belgium Comes to Cooperstown, an annual beer festival organized by Ommegang Brewery and held on their premises (I also made it up there last year). We got there on Friday afternoon and camped there with many other beer devotees, including a large number of RateBeer members, several of whom I've known for years. The festival is Saturday afternoon, but really the best part of the weekend is the beer that other attendees bring to share when the festival isn't taking place -- people bring bottles, growlers, and kegs to share with their fellow beer lovers.
And despite the incredible amount of great beer flowing, I actually did a fairly good job of limiting the amount of beer I consumed. I got there tired due to too little sleep on Wednesday night, and rather than force myself to stay up late that first night, I went to bed after the shmancy beer dinner (that included plenty of beer). Saturday I held off drinking until about 10am, mostly stopped by about 8pm (which was when the real beer sharing got going), and turned in early again. Upon my return I joked with Kathy that I got more sleep camping at a loud beer festival than I would have in my own bed.
For the next month or so I'm going to try to cut back dramatically, and see if I can shed a couple of the pounds that have accumulated around my waist. I'm not about to stop altogether, and indeed am looking forward to the new brewpubs to hit when we go up to Vermont next month. All the same, a little moderation for a little while could make a little difference.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
A Month of Reflection and Looking Ahead
Earlier this month I celebrated my birthday, and it was wonderful. Emelia was wholly engaged in the celebration -- wanting to open the cards with me, singing me Happy Birthday, and looking forward to/enjoying the cake. Kathy made my favorite breakfast, huevos motuleños (fried eggs over tortilla, black beans and peas, covered with green salsa and goat cheese (Kathy uses feta)), and for dinner took me to one of my favorite restaurants (Nam Viet in Arlington). And my gift from Kathy and Emelia was a year's worth of massages, an extravagance that will probably do me a world of good but which I would never bestow upon myself. The day was completely low-key, and it was all I needed -- Kathy had trouble believing me when I said how much I enjoyed myself. The fact that several dozen people wished me happy birthday on facebook was surprisingly satisfying as well -- I like to think that it gave me a taste of what it might have been like to have had a birthday during the school year instead of the summer.
As the day of my birthday approached, I reflected on the fact that it had been a year since my mugging. Hard to believe that it's only been a year, as it seems much longer ago. It doesn't seem to affect me on a day-to-day basis (heck, days go by when I don't even think about it), though it's possible my troubles sleeping are influenced by that event. It's slipped in among my life events to become one of the multitude of things that have gone into defining who I am, never becoming a singular something that defines me.
Also this month I hit the halfway point for eligibility for full federal retirement. Amazingly enough, I can get full retirement in less than another 16 years. I'm not really one of those people who obsesses over my retirement eligibility, but I get a reminder of it every year in my statement of benefits, and as a numbers geek I'm more than capable of dividing by two. Before we had Emelia, I used to daydream about early retirement, and fully contemplated retiring no later than my first opportunity for that full pension, a worst-case scenario. Full retirement at the first opportunity, however, is less than one-third of my salary, and like everyone else's, my 401(k) took a big hit with the market crash. And now we have Emelia, and my eligibility for full retirement coincides with the time that Emelia would be about to start college -- I don't know that we'd be able to get Emelia all the way through college on a pensioners' income, though it'd be plenty easy to take that income and find a job I might like more. However I do it, I expect to work longer than I once contemplated, but I no longer mind it as much -- with the arrival of Emelia, my mindset has shifted from having to work to set me up for life, to having to work to provide for my family. I'd be lying if I said there isn't a bit of wistfulness, but it's a trade-off that I've made and would gladly make again.
And that statement provides the segue to something that's been on my mind every day of the month, and then some. Earlier this week we reached a big milestone, the end of the first trimester of Kathy's pregnancy. Yes, that's right -- something that took so much effort the first time happened without so much as a visit to the fertility clinic this time. Child #2, a.k.a., the Groundhog,* is due at the start of February. Kathy's been having a harder time this go around -- last time she was stressed by the absence of symptoms, worrying that was a bad thing; and this time she's complaining about those very symptoms. I guess there's no pleasing some people. We had wanted to keep the news completely quiet during the first trimester, but figured we had to tell my family during the week at the beach given Kathy's symptoms (and the inability to provide any other reason why she would reject all of Josh's delectable alcoholic offerings). So then in the name of equality, we had to tell Kathy's family. And although the story's been slowly leaking out, we've kept things mostly quiet, and I suspect that many of you are hearing about it for the first time. Now that we're making that news public, I can talk about it on the blog -- it's been tough to offer posts on the blog given that I couldn't discuss that particular elephant in the room of my mind (said elephant currently weighs less than an ounce), but I'm hoping to write more frequently again.
--
* - Note that the use of the nickname The Groundhog is not meant to suggest that we would name a boy child Phil.
As the day of my birthday approached, I reflected on the fact that it had been a year since my mugging. Hard to believe that it's only been a year, as it seems much longer ago. It doesn't seem to affect me on a day-to-day basis (heck, days go by when I don't even think about it), though it's possible my troubles sleeping are influenced by that event. It's slipped in among my life events to become one of the multitude of things that have gone into defining who I am, never becoming a singular something that defines me.
Also this month I hit the halfway point for eligibility for full federal retirement. Amazingly enough, I can get full retirement in less than another 16 years. I'm not really one of those people who obsesses over my retirement eligibility, but I get a reminder of it every year in my statement of benefits, and as a numbers geek I'm more than capable of dividing by two. Before we had Emelia, I used to daydream about early retirement, and fully contemplated retiring no later than my first opportunity for that full pension, a worst-case scenario. Full retirement at the first opportunity, however, is less than one-third of my salary, and like everyone else's, my 401(k) took a big hit with the market crash. And now we have Emelia, and my eligibility for full retirement coincides with the time that Emelia would be about to start college -- I don't know that we'd be able to get Emelia all the way through college on a pensioners' income, though it'd be plenty easy to take that income and find a job I might like more. However I do it, I expect to work longer than I once contemplated, but I no longer mind it as much -- with the arrival of Emelia, my mindset has shifted from having to work to set me up for life, to having to work to provide for my family. I'd be lying if I said there isn't a bit of wistfulness, but it's a trade-off that I've made and would gladly make again.
And that statement provides the segue to something that's been on my mind every day of the month, and then some. Earlier this week we reached a big milestone, the end of the first trimester of Kathy's pregnancy. Yes, that's right -- something that took so much effort the first time happened without so much as a visit to the fertility clinic this time. Child #2, a.k.a., the Groundhog,* is due at the start of February. Kathy's been having a harder time this go around -- last time she was stressed by the absence of symptoms, worrying that was a bad thing; and this time she's complaining about those very symptoms. I guess there's no pleasing some people. We had wanted to keep the news completely quiet during the first trimester, but figured we had to tell my family during the week at the beach given Kathy's symptoms (and the inability to provide any other reason why she would reject all of Josh's delectable alcoholic offerings). So then in the name of equality, we had to tell Kathy's family. And although the story's been slowly leaking out, we've kept things mostly quiet, and I suspect that many of you are hearing about it for the first time. Now that we're making that news public, I can talk about it on the blog -- it's been tough to offer posts on the blog given that I couldn't discuss that particular elephant in the room of my mind (said elephant currently weighs less than an ounce), but I'm hoping to write more frequently again.
--
* - Note that the use of the nickname The Groundhog is not meant to suggest that we would name a boy child Phil.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Did I Mention It's Been Crazy?
My first two posts after my hiatus were about travel. This isn't surprising, because there's been a lot going on with us. In fact, we're nearing the end of a crazy couple of months. But it's been good (mostly). Here's what I'm talking about:
April 8: Host a Seder for 9
April 8-10: Host my Aunt Faith and cousin Jeff for Passover
April 18-25: Trip to Hawaii with our friends Sharon and Gary
Weekend of May 2: Nothing scheduled, which was a good thing because all three of us were sick for 2-4 days.
May 5: Kathy's Birthday
May 7-9: Surprised Kathy by having her friend Jen down for her birthday, and they met up with two other friends who now live in the DC area.
May 10: Mother's Day
May 13-18: My folks visited
May 14-17: 10th Anniversary getaway to Rehoboth Beach
May 22-25: Camping with Tom and Anna
May 27-29: Hosted my college roommate Pete and his girlfriend Evette for a visit
May 29-31: By myself, went to NYC to visit Jeff and attend a RateBeer gathering.
June 5-14: Family vacation in Hilton Head with overnight stops in Raleigh with Chris and Margie.
Weekend of June 21: Mercifully, nothing. Well, except Chris and Margie staying with us while they were in town for a wedding.
June 26-28: Camping with local beer geeks. Same event as this, except it's smaller this year.
June 29-July 2: Hosting Kathy's friend Jen and her two kids, while they visit DC.
July 3: All day beer gathering of locals.
July 4 weekend: No plans yet, but just wait.
July 7: Somebody's birthday.
Maybe it'll settle down after that, but I'm not counting on it. We still have to decide whether to go camping at a festival outside of Richmond the weekend of July 11 -- we're leaning against it, but Tom and Anna are pushy. And there are always more activities that pop up on our calendar. At least, there always seem to be. I figure that's usually a good thing. Usually.
April 8: Host a Seder for 9
April 8-10: Host my Aunt Faith and cousin Jeff for Passover
April 18-25: Trip to Hawaii with our friends Sharon and Gary
Weekend of May 2: Nothing scheduled, which was a good thing because all three of us were sick for 2-4 days.
May 5: Kathy's Birthday
May 7-9: Surprised Kathy by having her friend Jen down for her birthday, and they met up with two other friends who now live in the DC area.
May 10: Mother's Day
May 13-18: My folks visited
May 14-17: 10th Anniversary getaway to Rehoboth Beach
May 22-25: Camping with Tom and Anna
May 27-29: Hosted my college roommate Pete and his girlfriend Evette for a visit
May 29-31: By myself, went to NYC to visit Jeff and attend a RateBeer gathering.
June 5-14: Family vacation in Hilton Head with overnight stops in Raleigh with Chris and Margie.
Weekend of June 21: Mercifully, nothing. Well, except Chris and Margie staying with us while they were in town for a wedding.
June 26-28: Camping with local beer geeks. Same event as this, except it's smaller this year.
June 29-July 2: Hosting Kathy's friend Jen and her two kids, while they visit DC.
July 3: All day beer gathering of locals.
July 4 weekend: No plans yet, but just wait.
July 7: Somebody's birthday.
Maybe it'll settle down after that, but I'm not counting on it. We still have to decide whether to go camping at a festival outside of Richmond the weekend of July 11 -- we're leaning against it, but Tom and Anna are pushy. And there are always more activities that pop up on our calendar. At least, there always seem to be. I figure that's usually a good thing. Usually.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
10 Years and Counting
On May 16th, Kathy and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. My folks came up to take care of Emelia, so Kathy and I could take our first vacation sans child in the 2.5 years since she was born. In fact, it was Kathy's first night away from Emelia since she was born. Kathy was anxious enough about leaving Emelia that she insisted on going somewhere nearby, so we went to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, less than three hours from here. We had both been there briefly -- Kathy's uncle and aunt have a home there, and in December 1998 they hosted a small family engagement party for us. But I think we only stayed one evening, and I don't even remember seeing the ocean on that trip.
This time we stayed at a hotel one block from the ocean, and constantly walked down to the beach. It was too cold to swim (or even to stand in the surf for very long), but it was great to walk on the beach, especially Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, before the weekend visitors filled the place up. Among other activities, we saw our first movie together since Emelia was born, watching the new Star Trek, which we both enjoyed quite a bit. And three nights in a row of eating out alone at nice restaurants was a treasured experience. But whether it was these activities or others, the main thing we did was spend unhurried time in each other's company, something that doesn't happen much around a toddler, no matter how much we enjoy being with her (and believe me, we do).
While we were in Delaware, Emelia had a wonderful time back home. The folks kept us informed on how things were going, which helped keep Kathy relaxed and enjoying herself. We very much appreciated their coming up to take care of Emelia -- it was the best anniversary present we could ask for. That they enjoyed having that much time with Emelia (and vice-versa) makes it that much better.
In terms of what being married for ten years means to me, I think it's incredible that I could find someone who is so right for me. Incredible to think that 12 years ago I didn't even know this person whom I would marry, and grow to love more as each year passes. Incredible to think that if our love keeps growing as it has been, my love for Kathy will be so much greater in a decade than it is now. Simply put, my marriage to Kathy has been and continues to be incredible.
This time we stayed at a hotel one block from the ocean, and constantly walked down to the beach. It was too cold to swim (or even to stand in the surf for very long), but it was great to walk on the beach, especially Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, before the weekend visitors filled the place up. Among other activities, we saw our first movie together since Emelia was born, watching the new Star Trek, which we both enjoyed quite a bit. And three nights in a row of eating out alone at nice restaurants was a treasured experience. But whether it was these activities or others, the main thing we did was spend unhurried time in each other's company, something that doesn't happen much around a toddler, no matter how much we enjoy being with her (and believe me, we do).
While we were in Delaware, Emelia had a wonderful time back home. The folks kept us informed on how things were going, which helped keep Kathy relaxed and enjoying herself. We very much appreciated their coming up to take care of Emelia -- it was the best anniversary present we could ask for. That they enjoyed having that much time with Emelia (and vice-versa) makes it that much better.
In terms of what being married for ten years means to me, I think it's incredible that I could find someone who is so right for me. Incredible to think that 12 years ago I didn't even know this person whom I would marry, and grow to love more as each year passes. Incredible to think that if our love keeps growing as it has been, my love for Kathy will be so much greater in a decade than it is now. Simply put, my marriage to Kathy has been and continues to be incredible.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Hello Blogger My Old Friend...
...I've come to write on you again.
So I'm back. I thought I had nothing left to say that couldn't be covered in the twitter-like status updates on facebook. And maybe that was the case. But I decided that I still need to say it here, where I can store my footprints rather than have them wash away with the ebb and flow of all the other things that facebook compiles. The reason is simple -- I'm 40, and my daughter is 2. By the time she's 22, and maybe starting to learn about who her father is, I'll be a different person, and she'll never have known the person I am now. And I want her to have various anecdotes of who she was as a little girl, given that we'll undoubtedly have forgotten most of them unless they're recorded somewhere.
Of course, who I am as a blogger is not an accurate portrait of who I am -- it's what I choose/bother to share, and who I hold myself out to be in the public environment of this blog. Still, that'll have to do -- I have no desire to share everything.
And you the reader in the present are welcome to come along for the ride. It's a given that I'm writing for you too, not just future Emelia. Otherwise I could just keep a journal.
--
Now that that's out of the way, let's cover Hilton Head, where we spent the second week in June with my family for our annual vacation. Unlike last year, we drove down -- our direct flights being canceled last year, thereby requiring a connection, probably had something to do with it. Both coming and going, we stayed in Raleigh with our friends Margie and Chris, hitting a bit of the beer scene down there and seeing their new house (they closed on it the Friday we were in Hilton Head, meaning that we stayed in different places coming and going). They'll be up here this weekend for a wedding, and we're camping with them next weekend, meaning we'll be seeing them all four weekends in June. Seeing Margie, a college friend, was as close as I came to attending my 20th college reunion, as Hilton Head started the same weekend that was held.
Down in Hilton Head, the house we stayed at was amazing, as the family selection seems to be each year. We let others fight over the bedrooms with the ocean view, and grabbed the darkest room we could find in hope of sleeping in. It didn't work, as I think I was out of bed by 6:30 every morning except one.
The beach was lovely and the weather was pretty cooperative (mostly sunny, and only over 90 a couple of days). We had a good time for the first part of the week, and the absence of "Explosion Wednesday" that has been present in past years was a definite improvement. Still, by the end there was some strain, which probably started in earnest on Thursday with Dad's fixation on consuming the leftovers. If we had thought to turn his mention of them into a drinking game, maybe things would have stayed a little mellower, but I only just thought of it while typing this out. And besides, being plastered by 10am is not conducive to keeping up with children, of which six were present.
The newest child to enter the family's fold is three-month old Emily, daughter to my sister Shari. We met Emily on this trip, and she's a real cutie (and sweetie). Emelia loves babies, and she had been looking forward to meeting "Baby Emily" for months. The reality mostly seemed to meet her expectations. Throughout the week, Dad regularly interchanged the names of Emelia and Emily. I can't really blame him -- when we picked Emelia's name, we were concerned with picking a name that wasn't too close to others in the family, but Shari had her heart set on the name Emily for a long time, and stuck with it when the time came. As long as she keeps Emily west of the Rockies for the most part, I figure the country's big enough for both Emelia and Emily.
Emelia had a great time with her cousins -- she gets along with all of them (they all get along with each other), and at the end of the week, she was so sad that she had to say goodbye to everyone. Probably Emelia's favorite activity for the week was going in the pool, especially jumping in from the side and having one of us catch her. Her excitement at doing that resulted in her jumping a few times before the adult was ready for her, eventually resulting in stern lectures and time out of the pool because she forgot to ask if the adult was ready. Her next favorite activity was putting on various articles of her cousins' clothing -- she already has a shoe fetish that exceeds her mother's.*
Foodwise, easily the highlight of the week was the Dallas contingent's night in the kitchen. Kim started us off with afternoon queso that was delicious. For the actual meal, Josh led off with crabcakes that were fantastic. Next up was a tasty salad course that Josh and Hunter prepared that included a goat cheese medallion covered in crushed pecans. As for the main course, most people were served 3-inch thick steaks that received universal acclaim, while Hunter, Kathy and I went with 10-ounce tuna steaks that were some of the best I've ever had. After taking a bit of time to digest, Kim brought out poundcake topped with creamcheese frosting and fresh fruit -- fairly simple but so good. In case you're wondering what we did for our night of cooking, we volunteered to make dinner the night we arrived (4pm check-in), so we kept it simple with ground turkey tacos. Our meal was well received (as were all the other meals the various family members prepared, lasagna by Dad/Mom/Shari and BBQ chicken by Rebecca & John), but it certainly belonged in AA compared to Josh, Hunter, and Kim's major league offering.
So we survived another year, even thrived at times, and Josh and Kim get to pick next year's place. That they haven't already is something of a miracle considering how much Mom was looking at places for them to select. Collectively, our family is crazy enough to think that the destination should be all set up a full year in advance. Last night, Josh and Kim threw up their hands by sending around a list of six possible houses in four different locations, and seeking feedback. Our response is simple -- all the houses look lovely, and we'll be happy with whatever you choose. They're not getting out of their responsibility that easily!
--
* - At least it exceeds it now that Kathy's somewhat reformed.
So I'm back. I thought I had nothing left to say that couldn't be covered in the twitter-like status updates on facebook. And maybe that was the case. But I decided that I still need to say it here, where I can store my footprints rather than have them wash away with the ebb and flow of all the other things that facebook compiles. The reason is simple -- I'm 40, and my daughter is 2. By the time she's 22, and maybe starting to learn about who her father is, I'll be a different person, and she'll never have known the person I am now. And I want her to have various anecdotes of who she was as a little girl, given that we'll undoubtedly have forgotten most of them unless they're recorded somewhere.
Of course, who I am as a blogger is not an accurate portrait of who I am -- it's what I choose/bother to share, and who I hold myself out to be in the public environment of this blog. Still, that'll have to do -- I have no desire to share everything.
And you the reader in the present are welcome to come along for the ride. It's a given that I'm writing for you too, not just future Emelia. Otherwise I could just keep a journal.
--
Now that that's out of the way, let's cover Hilton Head, where we spent the second week in June with my family for our annual vacation. Unlike last year, we drove down -- our direct flights being canceled last year, thereby requiring a connection, probably had something to do with it. Both coming and going, we stayed in Raleigh with our friends Margie and Chris, hitting a bit of the beer scene down there and seeing their new house (they closed on it the Friday we were in Hilton Head, meaning that we stayed in different places coming and going). They'll be up here this weekend for a wedding, and we're camping with them next weekend, meaning we'll be seeing them all four weekends in June. Seeing Margie, a college friend, was as close as I came to attending my 20th college reunion, as Hilton Head started the same weekend that was held.
Down in Hilton Head, the house we stayed at was amazing, as the family selection seems to be each year. We let others fight over the bedrooms with the ocean view, and grabbed the darkest room we could find in hope of sleeping in. It didn't work, as I think I was out of bed by 6:30 every morning except one.
The beach was lovely and the weather was pretty cooperative (mostly sunny, and only over 90 a couple of days). We had a good time for the first part of the week, and the absence of "Explosion Wednesday" that has been present in past years was a definite improvement. Still, by the end there was some strain, which probably started in earnest on Thursday with Dad's fixation on consuming the leftovers. If we had thought to turn his mention of them into a drinking game, maybe things would have stayed a little mellower, but I only just thought of it while typing this out. And besides, being plastered by 10am is not conducive to keeping up with children, of which six were present.
The newest child to enter the family's fold is three-month old Emily, daughter to my sister Shari. We met Emily on this trip, and she's a real cutie (and sweetie). Emelia loves babies, and she had been looking forward to meeting "Baby Emily" for months. The reality mostly seemed to meet her expectations. Throughout the week, Dad regularly interchanged the names of Emelia and Emily. I can't really blame him -- when we picked Emelia's name, we were concerned with picking a name that wasn't too close to others in the family, but Shari had her heart set on the name Emily for a long time, and stuck with it when the time came. As long as she keeps Emily west of the Rockies for the most part, I figure the country's big enough for both Emelia and Emily.
Emelia had a great time with her cousins -- she gets along with all of them (they all get along with each other), and at the end of the week, she was so sad that she had to say goodbye to everyone. Probably Emelia's favorite activity for the week was going in the pool, especially jumping in from the side and having one of us catch her. Her excitement at doing that resulted in her jumping a few times before the adult was ready for her, eventually resulting in stern lectures and time out of the pool because she forgot to ask if the adult was ready. Her next favorite activity was putting on various articles of her cousins' clothing -- she already has a shoe fetish that exceeds her mother's.*Foodwise, easily the highlight of the week was the Dallas contingent's night in the kitchen. Kim started us off with afternoon queso that was delicious. For the actual meal, Josh led off with crabcakes that were fantastic. Next up was a tasty salad course that Josh and Hunter prepared that included a goat cheese medallion covered in crushed pecans. As for the main course, most people were served 3-inch thick steaks that received universal acclaim, while Hunter, Kathy and I went with 10-ounce tuna steaks that were some of the best I've ever had. After taking a bit of time to digest, Kim brought out poundcake topped with creamcheese frosting and fresh fruit -- fairly simple but so good. In case you're wondering what we did for our night of cooking, we volunteered to make dinner the night we arrived (4pm check-in), so we kept it simple with ground turkey tacos. Our meal was well received (as were all the other meals the various family members prepared, lasagna by Dad/Mom/Shari and BBQ chicken by Rebecca & John), but it certainly belonged in AA compared to Josh, Hunter, and Kim's major league offering.
So we survived another year, even thrived at times, and Josh and Kim get to pick next year's place. That they haven't already is something of a miracle considering how much Mom was looking at places for them to select. Collectively, our family is crazy enough to think that the destination should be all set up a full year in advance. Last night, Josh and Kim threw up their hands by sending around a list of six possible houses in four different locations, and seeking feedback. Our response is simple -- all the houses look lovely, and we'll be happy with whatever you choose. They're not getting out of their responsibility that easily!--
* - At least it exceeds it now that Kathy's somewhat reformed.
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