Wedding Pictures

I have a friend who's getting married in a few months.  He and his fianceé have picked the venue and date, so things are rolling along.   He and I have been friends for several years, and I thought he was married all this time.   I told him all this discussion about wedding plans made me think of our wedding.   

I told him he was being subjected to pictures of our wedding because I had been looking at them.   Has it been close to twelve years?   Wait, let me do the marriage math.  <how old is my son? okay, add one year to that, hold on, what month did we get married? okay, I think I have it right within one year.>

It's a good thing I took a lot of math in college.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was drinking all the ginger ales, which were reserved for people having upset stomachs or just not sodas any day of the week.   So he had to ask to have one.  He did not ask.   He did not like the consequence.   When do they learn?  Nevermind, I still haven't learned some lessons.

The Cookie Chef Daughter:  My daughter made more chocolate chip cookies.  She loves the recipe and the cookies.  I think we need to teach her more recipes because I think she'd like to cook other things too. 

First Day of Starbucks

Today was the first day of Starbucks.   I mean school. I meant school, of course.  Just because I stop on the way to school for delicious coffee and pumpkin bread on the way to school doesn't mean I'm any less eager to jump out of bed, get dressed (not always), and take my daughter to the next city over for her school day. 

Okay, truthfully, sometimes I lie in bed between the snooze alarm repeats and  think, "if you get up, there will be Starbucks..."  

The Big Boy Update:  My son spent the day doing screens as no one was around to play with.   He didn't turn the bonus room into a war zone, and he didn't eat in the living room.   I'm calling it a win for the day. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter calmly started fifth grade today.  No fuss, no excitement.  She came home and said it was a good day and she liked her teacher.  I'm so glad things went well for her. 

Fifth Grader(s)?

My son insists he isn't in the next grade until the first day of school.  So following with that line of logic, I currently have two fifth graders, or rather I will tomorrow when my daughter starts fifth grade.  We came home today from visiting my parents in the mountains and got my daughter ready for school. 

Tomorrow ends the sleeping in or not having to get up early days of summer.  That is unless I can convince my husband to take my daughter to school in the mornings.   

But then I wouldn't get Starbucks.   And I need Starbucks.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son was very unhappy today because he lost so many privileges in the house that he had no place to go and do things.   He agreed to not make the chairs into weapons and not eat in the living room.  He knows he's on probation, but I opened up the areas to him again tonight.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter didn't want to take a bath or shower or wash her hair today and instead wanted to go to school four days dirty.   That idea did not go over well with me.   She took a shower. 

Almost Home

Tonight we went to "Aunt Jo's" house for dinner.  This is what I would consider my other or alternate mother as we spent so much time with their family during my childhood.   To my children, JoAnn is Aunt Jo.  

The meal was delicious, and the company was lovely.  My children didn't enjoy all the reminiscing quite as much as the adults did, but I was a child once, and I understand.  Still, we all had a good time. 

Of note, the beautiful view of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the late afternoon into evening light on the deck was a sight I remember from many trips over the years when we stayed at their house as a family before my parents bought a house in the same town.  I loved all the time we spent there and have fond memories any time we visit. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I am always sad when we talk about a beautiful view, and my daughter just sits there, knowing she will never see it.   She never says a thing or mentions it afterward. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son was sweet and jumped to hug Aunt Jo when we arrived and as we were leaving.   She is absolutely an aunt to him, even though he's not actually related. 

Remembering Japan

We're visiting my parents and we went to one of the Hibachi restaurants last night where they cook the meal in front of you.  I got to sit by my father and he and I shared a bit of sake, something that seems like such a tiny bit of alcohol divided by the two of us over the full course of the meal.   Tiny little cups of sharp tasting rice wine shared between us.  

My father told me about when he went to Japan.  I was quite young when he went with a business associate of his.   Dad's memory isn't what it used to be, but he remembers some things from his past very clearly.   I couldn't remember who he went with but he said immediately, "Floyd Mathias" when I asked.  He told me about the different places he went and some of what he did while there.  

I remember him coming home with so many things from the trip.  My father and I love to shop and back in 1980 or somewhere around there we didn't have the same global economy so my father stocked up before coming back.   Even today I see things from that trip in their home.  

About five minutes later my father would tell me about his trip again and we'd reminisce over the time he had.   It was nice to hear him talk about it.  He really loved that trip where he collaborated with professionals in Japan. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son played Scrabble with my mother, husband and daughter.  He was exultant when he scored a lot and vocally unhappy when other people were doing better. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is s good with words.  She loved playing scrabble with the help of her father for positioning and what the letters on the tiles were.   They are inset and we can feel that inset, but it's not enough to be able to read them.  Plus, she doesn't read capital letters much.  It's too hard.  I can close my eyes and I can't even tell what they are.   But she can remember the board layout and the letters she has.  And she's very good with words. 

Saved By Arrival

My son had a telemedicine appointment this morning and my husband had a client meeting with a contractor.  Once those two things were complete, we were to hop into the car (not literally, we usually step into the car) and head to the mountains. 

Departure was not as early as we had hoped, but we're all here and the drive was fairly uneventful.  The dog, who doesn't like going in the car as much as she did when she was younger but in classic dog sense mode she could tell we were planning on leaving and so insisted on staying in the front seat so as to not be left behind; 

The children are old enough to manage themselves and were in a good mood so things didn't break down into bickering.  We stopped for food with outdoor seating and the dog had some ice water and a little milkshake.   We did a second bathroom stop that had supercharging in the parking lot and in the eight minutes it took us to run in and use the facilities we added sixty range miles back to the car. 

We arrived at my parent's with ninety range miles remaining.   The children were so happy to see my parents.   So was the dog.   So were we.  We have missed them. 

The Banker Game. My mother said our children definitely took after my father because of all the places they could have pulled out the little cash register to play some game of baller, they did it in the one place that blocked traffic from multiple directions.

All Negative

My daughter is no longer COVID-19 positive and the rest of us are in the clear, including the dog, not that she was in question but just to be sure we asked her if she felt okay and she looked back at us blankly so I took that as an affirmative.  

Tomorrow morning, after a bit of a rush with a doctor's appointment and client meeting we're off to the mountains to visit with my parents, Mimi and Gramps.   We're all looking forward to seeing them as well as spending some time in the mountains.   

Mimi has been planning activities for us all and there is good food to be eaten.   In classic grandmother fashion, she has purchased far more victuals than we could possibly eat.   The only disappointment is that my husband isn't bringing his motorcycle on the new trailer he just had delivered.  There were issues with the trailer hitch height and stability and to charge the car we'd need to disconnect the trailer at each stop, something we haven't had a chance to practice with yet, so it seemed prudent to save the motorcycle for the next trip. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Clean Update: My children are both clean.  They have had a bath and their hair has been washed.  My daughter's hair has been color refreshed as well.   The only one who is left to wash their hair is me, and as it's getting late, I'd better sign off from this blog post and get to it.