Payoff

The kids are really getting to the ages where they can work off the debt they owe me for giving them life... either that or Amelia is just a kind soul who doesn't mind helping her old dad...

Spring

Spring has sprung at our house ... and I don't know that only from my allergies ... I know that because my talented wife is growing all the colors of the rainbow in our yard....

Return

I'm not sure how long it will last, but today definitely felt like a small return to normalcy for us.  It started with 10-year old basketball assessments.  Afterwards, we rushed over to Ev's lacrosse game.  Finally, it ended with some escape room fun and dinner outside with a friend of Amelia's.   To top it off, tomorrow has two more lacrosse games in store for us....and if I know my kids, there will likely be a stop at an ice cream shop.  On a related note, I admit it was great to be out and about today....but, a little part of me was missing the solitude of being at home. 

Round Trip

After two years, we finally went on a trip and stayed in a hotel!  I'll admit, we felt a little like we were leaving the nuclear fallout shelter about 3 months after everyone else.  Mostly everyone we saw, including the family members we visited, have progressed far better than us in a post-COVID (continual-COVID?) world.  That said, we went, we saw, we did, and we made it back home in one piece. 

Ev and Amelia became slingshot sharpshooters with the help of their great uncle, Berman...

We visited the World of Coca Cola and tricked each other into tasting as many of the disgusting samples from around the world as possible .... yeah, I'm talking about you, Beverly (Italian soda)

And we got to check out all the animals the aquarium had to offer.  Although, from the looks of this penguin, maybe they got a chance to check out the humans in masks coming to see the animals breathing free...

...All in all it was a great trip...you know, if you don't count the fact that everything about a hotel is a little dirtier, scratchier, and noisier than I remember.  

Scrapbook

Once Ev is a rich and famous athlete (his words, not mine) we'll be able to look back on this photo to commemorate his first ever lacrosse game.  Because, you know, there are sooo many rich and famous lacrosse players....

Geared Up

 Turns out all that lacrosse gear wasn't just for playing video games.... 

First game is Sunday...

Chapter 5

Chapter 1 - Infant

Chapter 2 - Toddler

Chapter 3 - Kid

Chapter 4 - Human who is more mature than their parents think and less mature than they think

Chapter 5 - Early Teens

Well, we've reached a new chapter in Amelia's life - her teen years.  While I don't like admitting it, she's ready.  She's ready for all the fun, the drama, the first loves, the freedoms, the first heartbreak, the temptations, the consequences, all of it.  She's not only ready for all of it.  She's going to be great at all of it.  She's so damn smart.  I don't even mean book smart...although she has the straight A receipts to confirm that order.  I mean life smart.  Emotionally smart.  She can read the room with the best of adults.  She knows when a friend needs to be cheered up and when a friend just needs a silent hug.  She knows Everett is going to annoy her because it is his God-given right and obligation as a younger sibling to do so.  She knows to knock him down when he's acting too cool and to help him back up when he's feeling too vulnerable.  She knows she's smart enough to form her own strong opinions and she knows her parents are smart enough that it's worth listening to theirs.  

I'm not saying she'll escape her teens unscathed. Her heart is too big to not catch shrapnel along the way.  I'm saying I have full confidence she'll make the right choices, have the right perspectives, and feel comfortable enough to ask the right questions....And if she doesn't, her parents will be there to cheer her up, giver her a hug, knock her down a peg, help her back up, and listen to her opinion.