We made pizza for dinner the other night. This is a bit of a Friday night tradition. Fun Fridays: pizza and salad and maybe a friend or a film. Each person gets to make their own pizza, adding the toppings that they like. Lady Kitty surprised me when she proceeded to eat her entire pizza piece by piece. As she asked for get another slice of her pizza, I exclaimed in delighted disbelief, “you’re bottomless!”
“No, I’m wearing underpants and shorts,” she endearingly replied in all sincerity.
Lake’s second year of First Grade is winding down. He has two days left. It’s been an incredible year. He’s doing well—continuing to make steady progress in learning and having a good experience. The second round of First Grade went much better than the first. He had ended Kindergarten in the 30-40th percentile range and stayed there all year in First Grade last year. He was getting extra support at school for reading four days a week, but it appeared that school continued to feel like drowning and he would come home crying and yelling from the exhaustion and the strain. He’s stayed on a steady learning curve the entire time since beginning Kindergarten, and since the repeating of Grade 1, he’s moved into the 80-90th percentile where he had been able to enjoy and absorb the learning, feel more confident and make friends. We are not ones to put too much emphasis on numbers in performance, however I do think it indicated accuracy of assigned age and developmentally appropriateness where the curriculum is aimed at his level of learning readiness. He’s finally in a good spot this year and has resources remaining after learning the reading, writing, arithmetic skills so that he can enjoy his “extracurricular” activities of music, art, dance, and acting. Good job, Lake! You’ve been working hard and doing well.
Last month a highlight was Lake performed in his class’s end of the year play. Michael, Lady Kitty, Theresa and I were all there in the audience to celebrate their accomplishments and definitely to enjoy the show. They did a fantastic job! Well done to their teacher Ms. Thomas for her outstanding leadership and direction.
The play was written by a prior First Grader and had a ‘pirates and mermaids meet environmental efforts by sea life to protect the oceans’ storyline. Lake had a few lines as a comic shark which he delivered spot on, projecting loud and clear, and with perfect comedic timing. Many other parents came up to us to proclaim him “star shark” and “star of the First Grade play.”
I’m including Lakes lines here for your enjoyment, although the words on the page don’t do his performance justice. You’ll have to fill in the laughter with your imagination.
Q: Why didn’t the shrimp share his treasure?
A: He was a little shell-fish!
Q: Why did the shark say after he ate the clown fish?
A: That tasted funny!
Bravo Lake! Superb! Such fun! A perfect day, I’m glad I spent it with you my dear comedic thespian!
Last month during Mother’s Day weekend, my dad and I were sitting on the grass in front my of parents house. We were enjoying our fellowship and the sunshine of the day whilst engaged in the annual changing the oil in my car. My dad invited me to sit with him on the grassy embankment which he shared was called the George Christian Memorial Embankment in memory of his very good friend from Quinault who tragically ended his life in 1999. George was an exceptional human, and an authentic friend. He loved the beauty and perfection of nature and everything comme il faut. Duane and George had spent many hours talking together on that south facing gentle grassy sloped embankment talking together about life, Quinault, and enjoying friendship.
So there my dad and I were on Mother’s Day weekend, sharing in the warmth of the sun philosophizing about life, death, his dear friend George Christian, and Quinault all whilst the oil drained from my car. We were sitting there next to each other on the grass when a neighbor, a young woman unknown to us, drove by and stopped her car in the middle of the intersection. She rolled down her window to call out to us:
“Excuse me,” she said.
At first, we thought maybe she wasn’t a neighbor and instead was a lost tourist in need of directions. But instead, she surprised us by continuing on with:
“I just have to say U2 are so cute. You’re just making me so happy. I just had to say that. Have a great day.”
Just wow. We enjoyed an unexpected pleasant laugh together. This life. These moments. The goodness of family, connection and humanity. So special. we savored the experience together.
And so here we are pictured together on Father’s Day weekend at my cousin Laura’s wedding— this time with Lady Kitty—looking again so traffic stopping cute.
Happy Father’s Day to my dad, Duane! He is a very special person. My dad is a sensitive caring father and supportive friend. We can have deep conversations about pretty much anything. Sometimes they get intense, and we walk in silence or take a break and can pick it up later, or not. We keep showing up for each other— 46 years now. Mostly him for me for many of those years, but we mutually learn from and inspire each other, as well. I’m so grateful for our enduring and continuing relationship. I’m especially grateful for the bond he and my daughter have also been able to develop and share these past four years.
This life, the beauty of family friendship. Taking the time to sit together on a grassy bank again and again over the years. The breathing picture of this in practice—arresting. Traffic stoppingly so.
Happy Father’s Day to my dad, Duane. I love you always. A perfect day. I’m glad I spent it with you!
The children bring Michael a lot of joy. He’s very protective of his bedtime routine with the kids— on the days he works and gets home from the hospital at bedtime he always looks forward to seeing Lake and Lady Kitty and supervising the teeth brushing, pajamas and the tucking in rituals of stories, songs or books, and finally soft cheek kisses.
This Father’s Day was filled with happy family occasions belonging to June — a Murphy cousin wedding and an Ayres cousin graduation. It was a full day atop a full weekend bursting with gratitude of family and celebration of love, accomplishment, pride and fatherhood.
By the end of the day Sunday we were saturated with love and pleasant society and so grateful to settle into the sweetness of the evening bedtime togetherness. These precious moments create the fabric of our current family lives as well as lasting memories and tradition.
A perfect Father’s Day— we’re glad to spend it and every day with you.
Earlier this Spring Lady Kitty said, “ I want to live out at Quinault, but it’s not a house just oranges in a row.”
Memorial Day weekend took the kids out to Quinault with NanaBaba to add more memories to the Quinault memory bank.
A very special place. A very special experience with NanaBaba. A perfect day or three in Quinault… with oranges in a row.
Linnéa graced us with a visit this week—
It was lovely to see her again one final time at the end of her second year spent in Broomfield, Colorado prior to returning to Sweden. Our classic Swedish au pair 💕 We love each of our au pairs and have felt blessed with their presence.
Lake is Eight! Isn’t that great!?
He’s growing up so well and handsomely. He’s a caring big brother and proving to be a born thespian!
To celebrate we had a small yet lovely pirate party with family and friends at Gasworks— which had become a bit of a tradition for Lake.
The weather held off, it was mild with little to no wind which was welcome for the candles and the standers but not so for the kites of Kite Hill (Westport is the winner for wind)…
We played Pass the Parcel, Lucky’s Dad’s way…
Plenty of sword fighting was enjoyed by some,
And the small crew of pirates forsook to board one of the many unsuspecting passing boats. Alas they were not successful there, but overall a successful party was enjoyed by all.
A perfect birthday. I’m glad I spent it with you!
A Perfect Day . . . 