Anniversary + Father's Day

Today is both Father's Day and our anniversary, so we kind of, sort of celebrated both things.

Juanito woke up at about 2:00, and soon thereafter the two of us went out for a late lunch without children to celebrate the fact that we have been married 23 years. (Seriously. 23 years. We got married when we were 22, which means that we've been married a year longer than we were alive before we were married. What?!)

And then we came home and got the kids and headed downtown to walk around and swing on the giant tire swing and take silly pictures and just enjoy the lovely day. And i was reminded, as always, that our kids are the best kids.

At one point, we stopped in Rosa Park Circle and somehow got on the subject of dreams, and after a while, Houston was all, "Well. And then there's my shopping cart dream." The rest of us were all like, "Whaaaaat?" And he said, "Oh yeah. That was a recurring dream that i had. There was a white room with a shopping cart in the middle on a pedestal and it was turning around and around, and that was the entire dream. And for some reason, for years, that was my best dream ever." Bwahahahaha!!!

December 24

Christmas Eve!

We celebrated Christmas with my family today, over at my sister Jill's house. We had lunch and opened presents and had appetizers and opened more presents and played games and had dessert and played more games and generally had a fun time. There are lots of pictures here.

We got home and the kids got to open their Christmas pajamas, which they all immediately threw on and have sworn to wear all day tomorrow. Yay! I successfully made pajamas that actually fit without needing adjusting this year! Woohoo!

December 11

Despite the roads being terrible today, what with quite a steady fall of snow and absolutely no snow plows to be seen, we had a progressive dinner with my family. We started at our house for appetizers, went to my parents' house for soup and salads, and then finished off at my sister Jackie's house for desserts. There were babies to be held and delicious things to eat and fun people to talk to, so it was all very lovely.

This morning, Katrina and Zane went out to the "forest" by our house to go sledding down a hill that they call "Big Butt." I think it has that name because it's a big hill and they used to slide down it on their butts, but i don't actually know for sure. We skipped church this morning (see: terrible roads), and as soon as they heard that we weren't going to church, the two of them wasted no time throwing on all of their snow gear and heading across the street to Big Butt.

Before everyone showed up here, i suddenly realized that we should probably shovel the walk so that people could get to our house without wading through half a foot of snow. As soon as i said we should shovel, Zane leaped up and said, "I'll do it!" got on the snow gear that he had just removed, and completely shoveled a path from the street to the house. He was all, "I LOVE the snow!"

All of the church events were cancelled tonight because of the snow, which was actually quite nice, because the rest of our weekend has been filled with one thing or another. We read some Christmas books and the kids took showers and everyone got a chance to just relax a little bit. I am a fan of being home and having time to just be still. 

Babies and politics and awkwardness

Today was Sunday, and we all went to my parents' house for dinner. Jim and Alisha were there, so we got to see and hold my little nephew and niece - Micah and Eloise - for the first time since we saw them in the hospital. They're getting bigger, but they're still just so tiny and adorable! They're both still 2-3 pounds lighter than my babies were when they were born, so....

We're three weeks out from the presidential election, and going to my parents' house around election time is always a bit of a minefield for me, I tend to lean Democrat while the rest of my family is pretty securely Republican, so i generally do my best to just avoid political conversations as much as possible. THIS election - Trump vs. Clinton - is particularly ugly, so every time we're going to see my family, i remind my children not to say Anything! Political! At all! And if anyone else talks about politics, just let it go. Houston was all, "If they say something i think is funny, can i laugh?" Me: "No." Him: "Okay. If they start talking about Trump, i'll just come tell you i need help with my homework." I feel a bit like a coward, but i also think that i just need to get through the next month or two without any hard feelings on anyone's side. And thankfully, today was gotten through with very minimal talk of politics. Only three more weeks. We can do this.

Tonight was parents' night at Fifty6, which meant that we had some of our girls' parents come visit our group. I am completely intimidated by adults. I realize that that is ridiculous, since i technically AM an adult, but being in charge of leading a group of 12-year-olds is somehow far easier than being in charge of explaining to 4 women what we're trying to do with their children in our group. I get all overly exuberant and ask stupid questions when there are awkward silences. And then i look at Beth all panicky, hoping that she can do something to stop the train wreck. I am entirely glad that that is finished for the year.

Babies!!!!!!

Last night my brother and sister-in-law had twins, and they are teensy and adorable and i would hold them all day if i could. The little girl is Eloise Grace and she was 4 pounds, 11 ounces. The boy is Micah Elliott, and he was only 4 pounds! They're so, so tiny. And so, so cute.

I went by myself to see them this morning and got to hold them for about half an hour. It was the perfect time to go - nobody to share them with! (Except Jim and Alisha, of course!)

And then tonight we all went to visit them. The kids were SO excited to meet their cousins! And now that they've had so much practice with holding Amiya, they're practically pros! (Except Zane, who "really doesn't like to hold babies.")

I took a million pictures, because i am me. Here are some of my favorites.

My grandpa is 97!

My grandpa's 97th birthday was on Tuesday, so today we all gathered at his house for a birthday party.

The party was scheduled for 5:00, but since he lives on the lake and the kids love to play on the beach and in the water, we decided to go earlier than that, so the kids and i got there at about 2:00. We stopped inside to say hello to my grandpa, and the first thing he said was, "Well, i hope you're not here to swim! Because the water is only about 45 degrees!"

And the water was, indeed, freezing. Absolutely, numbingly cold. But it was a really warm day, and when sitting in the sun, it was hot enough that i really wanted to jump into the lake for a swim. For the first hour we were alone. The kids made sand castles near the water, just close enough to get a tiny bit wet while not getting drenched. I walked out to my calves a few times to cool off.

Eventually my sisters came. Jill and i took a walk down the beach. Jackie dared me to go all the way in the lake. I tried. Katrina, Houston, and i all went in together, but we only made it up to our waists before we had to stop and turn around. It was a weird sensation to be standing in water up to my waist and be completely numb from the waist down, but sweating on my top half.

Most of the family was there, except for my brother's family (because they live in California) and my cousin Betsy's family (because they were camping with a group from church). Juanito and i were in charge of making a cute cake, and Grandpa provided the pizza - lots and lots of pizza. We ate. We talked. We caught up with cousins we haven't seen in a while. It was a good time.

We survived a tornado.

Yesterday my sisters and i went to my grandpa's house to help clean it for a bit, and then we headed down to the beach to let the kids swim a little bit. And then we all went out to lunch with my grandpa. The kids sat at one table and the adults sat at another, and it was great fun for all of us. We talked about lots of random things, including the story about how my grandparents met and which provinces in the Netherlands all of our ancestors (on that side) came from. (Friesland, Friesland, Krampf, and wherever the city of Apeldoorn is located. But looking at a map of the Netherlands, i can't find any provinces that look remotely like "Krampf," so now i'm confused.) (Apeldoorn is in Gelderland, which makes me - as someone who liked the movie "A Knight's Tale" - very happy.)

The waves on Lake Michigan were huge, and they all loved leaping around in them. I remember being little, and absolutely loving the days when the waves were giant. Now that i'm the parent, i'm actually quite nervous about it - undertows and all that - so i'm a mean mom who only lets the kids go a short distance out into the lake, both because it's dangerous with the undertow and because it's so insanely loud that if they get any farther out, they totally can't hear me. They had fun, even though they had to stay close to shore.

In the evening, we went to a movie at our church. They showed "Zootopia" in the parking lot, and it would have been awesome, except that they forgot that there were giant lights in the parking lot that came on as soon as it got dark, so it wasn't actually terribly dark out there. As a result, we could only actually SEE about half of the movie - the half that takes place in bright light - because everything that happens in dim light was completely dark for us. Afterwards, Zane said, "It was too bad we were sitting so far down, because we couldn't see as well." Because when you watch a movie on a computer and it's tilted wrong, everything looks dark.... Cute little child of technology.

Today was going to be a completely boring day, filled with sleeping and reading and lounging, and it started out that way. At about 2:15, though, the sirens all started going off, and i looked it up to be sure, and yep! There was a tornado! We all headed down to the basement (Except Emma, who refused, causing the children all kinds of worry. But the basement steps are scary, especially for a dog.), and i started "The Great British Baking Show" on Netflix to keep the kids' minds off the tornado. While we were down there, my dad called to make SURE we were down there, because the tornado totally touched down and was headed straight for us. Upon hearing that, Zane crawled under a nearby end table and started crying. This is part of the problem when your favorite genre is "books about the most dangerous things in the world," because then you know exactly how dangerous tornadoes can be.

After about an hour, we were given the all-clear, and headed back upstairs. We did drive around a little bit this evening, and about a mile from us had lots and lots of downed trees and power outages and closed streets. We saw one tree that managed to take out part of a house and a car. So it might be the tornado that has touched down closest to where i've been. 

Olympics and other stuff

The past several days have been filled up thus:

- Watching the Olympics. I love the Olympics - especially the summer Olympics - and so i get a little bit obsessed. And i'm kind of passing that love/obsession on to my kids. Everyone's favorite is gymnastics; the uneven bars is the favorite favorite.

We all wish that NBC would show more variety. There's fencing and shot put and javelin and equestrian and synchronized swimming and archery and diving and all kinds of other interesting sports, but we really only get to see swimming, track, and gymnastics most of the time. I feel like, when i was a kid, we saw all kinds of different events during the Olympics, but that could just be me remembering things that didn't exist...?

- We tried to go blueberry picking today, but the orchard was closed. There were many sad faces in our car. So instead, we went shopping for school clothes. I feel like i don't want to actually buy many clothes for my kids right now, because all of them have been growing like weeds. Weeds! Houston grew something like 2 inches just in the past 2 months. Buying pants just seems futile! And yet, i supposed i can't just send my kids to school in their underwear....

- I went out for pizza with my mom and sisters to celebrate my younger sisters' birthdays. We sat and talked and laughed and ate delicious pizza. I love my family!

- Katrina had a sleepover with her friend Alex. Between sleepovers and the Olympics, Katrina (all of the kids, but especially Katrina) is getting farther and farther behind on sleep. Everyone is so tired!

- Our friend Keren came to town to visit, and we all went to Beth's house for pizza and Olympics! Beth made cute decorations! And got patriotic glow sticks! And candy in the colors of the Olympic rings! And Keren came up with games to play! With medals! It made the Olympics even more fun!

- Keren and Beth and i went out for pizza for lunch. And then Keren and Beth came over for dinner. It was fun and i love my friends!

- Keren gave Zane a box of slime-making stuff for his birthday, so Zane and Houston spent a long time yesterday making all kinds of slime and gross substances. They thought it was awesome.

Busy, busy, busy! But in a good way.

This has been a very busy but fun week. And it's not going to get any less busy!

On Sunday we went to a park/splash pad with my parents, my sister Jackie and her family, and my niece and nephew. It was pouring in the morning, and when we woke up, i was certain that we'd have to go somewhere else, but then it cleared up just in time. It wasn't super warm, but the kids totally played in the water anyhow and had lots of fun.

Katrina had a birthday party on Sunday afternoon, so we left the family earlier than we usually do and went to drop her off at her friend's (grandma's) house, where they apparently swam in the pool for 4 hours before quick eating cake. It was exactly the kind of party that Katrina loves - swimming, swimming, and more swimming.

On Monday, Juanito and Houston left for a quick trip to Kentucky. Juanito is staying with his mum, spending most of their time doing zumba, from what i can tell, and Houston is staying with his uncle JJ and his grandpa on their farm.

Tuesday morning Katrina, Zane, and i went to my parents' house for a sleepover! We've often said that the one downside of living so close is that we don't get to do the whole "visit for an entire week and get to spend lots and lots of time together, just hanging out," so my mom invited us over while half of the family was missing anyhow. Yay!

And that's what we did! We hung out and talked. I went shopping with my dad. All of the kids and i went to my sister's house to swim for half an hour. After the kids went to bed, Jackie came over and she, my sister Chellie, my mom, and i played cards for a few hours. And then the next day we spent hours at Jackie's house, swimming again. (The kids were thrilled!)

We took Emma with us, since we'd be gone nearly 2 days, and she completely exhausted herself, and i'm not even sure how. She was on her leash the entire time. It wasn't always being held, but i wanted to be able to grab her when she started chasing my parents' dog around. Their dog (Lily) is a tiny little fluff-ball, and she's a bit intimidated by Emma, so every once in a while she'll just randomly start barking at Emma. Emma takes that as in invitation to play, so she's all, "OKAY!" and then Lily is all, "Scared! Must run away!" except that as soon as she starts running, Emma gleefully chases her. And since Emma is about 10 times Lily's size, Lily's not a fan of the playing. (She's not always super good at not encouraging the playing, though. One time i actually watched her run straight under Emma from back to front. Emma was all, "What the?!")

While we were setting up our bed in the camper, where Katrina, Zane, and i slept, it was about 2:00 in the afternoon and my mom and i were boiling. It felt like the center of the earth, and we were all, "Geez. We might need to come sleep on the floor in the air conditioning instead!" My mom asked, "Will you need blankets? Or is a sheet good enough?" and i was all, "NO! A sheet is plenty! It's SO HOT!" Cut to the middle of the night, and the temperature has dropped by about 30 degrees, and Katrina (who was sharing the bed with me) and i were shivering. I finally woke up enough to stagger out of bed, half asleep, undoubtedly looking like a completely drunken sailor, across the camper to where the blankets were kept. But in my sleep-addled brain, i grabbed the smallest, thinnest blanket, which barely covered one of us and didn't offer much warmth, and we continued to shiver until about 6:30. We were huddled together to share body heat, and i finally asked, "Uh, hey. Should i get another blanket?" I grabbed one of the big, heavy blankets, threw it on the bed, and we both immediately relaxed and fell into a deep sleep. Lesson: Always have a blanket handy! I should know this already!

While we were swimming on Wednesday, i spent a while teaching Zane to swim again, and he did SO WELL. He can now swim the width of the pool, and he's all, "I LOVE swimming! Can we go swimming again soon? And you can teach me more?!" Success!!!

And then, Wednesday night, Beth came over and hung out with us for the night. We ate dinner and watched an episode of Cupcake Wars and then sent the kids to bed and sat and talked and talked and talked. Fun!  

The beach! And Katrina's popsicle.

We spent most of the day out at my grandpa's beach today. It was warm and sunny, and most of us accidentally got sunburned, but the sunburn was worth the fun. Houston and Katrina were out in the water nearly the entire time we were there, which was no surprise. Zane spent the first half of the time on the beach, building sandcastles, until i went in, and then he joined me and remembered that, "HEY! Playing in the waves is fun!"

When we first got to my grandpa's house, Juanito and the kids went down to the beach while i sat and talked with my grandpa. We talked about books (he's always trying to steer me toward reading more ... meaningful/worthwhile-type books) and he gave me lots of suggestions of things to read. We talked about what was new with us and him and the family in general. We talked about the first movie he ever saw (Sunset Boulevard) and how he wasn't allowed to watch movies when he was growing up, which led to his story about when he made profession of faith. It went like this:

"When i made Profession of Faith, we had a whole catechism class with about 16 people, and each person had to go individually to talk to the elders. The elders only asked three questions. Do you dance? Do you play cards? Do you go to movies? And if you answered yes to any one of those three questions, you had to wait a year, repent, and try again."

Me: "So...they didn't ask anything at all about your faith or what you believe?"
Him: "No. That was it. Three questions. Because the dancing was too sexual, the cards were playing with providence, and the movies represented all of the evils in the world."

Crazy.

Anyhow. eventually i went down to the beach to swim a bit, sit in the sun a bit, and take pictures of the kids and Juanito. I taught Zane how to kind of surf the waves close to shore on his stomach, and he loved that.

And then, as we were getting ready to leave, my grandpa asked if we'd like to go to dinner with him, so we went to an early dinner (we had to get Juanito home for Zumba) of really delicious hamburgers. And while we ate, we talked about the various places my grandpa had practiced medicine and which was his favorite (working the emergency room! "But even though i was a surgeon, i always tried to figure out how to fix them without doing surgery if it was possible. Most surgeons just want to cut open everyone!").

While i was reading to the kids tonight (Howl's Moving Castle and Harry Potter book 4), i let the kids make and eat popsicles. The popsicle maker thingy is SO COOL, and the popsicles are delicious, and Houston and Zane's were perfect, but Katrina's was...not. When i pulled it out, i immediately saw a fairly large moth frozen to it near the top. Ew. I cut that whole part off, and Katrina went about eating the rest of it, until suddenly she spit a piece out, threw it to the floor of the porch, and exclaimed, "I JUST BIT INTO A FLY!" So apparently her popsicle was SO DELICIOUS that not just one bug but TWO froze themselves to death to get to it. The fly was way at the bottom, and she hadn't actually eaten it at all, but...SO GROSS.

I let her have a bowl of ice cream.

Houston was all, "What?" And Katrina and i both said, "She/I bit into a FLY!!!" and he immediately shrugged in a, "Yeah, that's fair," kind of way.

Meijer Gardens!

We went to Meijer Gardens today with my mom and my niece. (All of us except Houston, who chose to stay home and sleep. In the middle of the afternoon.)

Neither of them had been to the Japanese Gardens yet, and Juanito had only been to part of it, so we spent the majority of the time in that section of the gardens. It's been several weeks since we walked through that area, so all different things were blooming, and it's just such a beautiful garden that i'm totally happy to visit it again.

One of the things i love about going to Meijer Gardens with different people is that everyone we go with brings something new. Going with my mom is a whole different experience than going without her - it's a lot slower, as she looks at individual flowers, and i actually learn (though sadly, don't actually remember) the names of different flowers and plants and trees. I discover that flowers that look quite different to me are actually the same, just a different variety. And since the kids are along, they spot every single animal that comes anywhere near to us. Today, Katrina spotted a crayfish that was hiding so well that even after she pointed out where it was, it still took me a long time to see it.

The past several times we've been out and about, we've run into people playing Pokemon Go, but i really didn't expect to see them at Meijer Gardens. AND YET! They were certainly there. There was one guy walking along, looking at his phone, who was wearing a Pokemon shirt, and i decided it was safe to ask him if there were Pokemon in the gardens, and he was all, "Oh yeah! Lots of them!" He then proceeded to explain the entire game to my mom. I know it's a popular thing, but i think people are weird. 

Goodbye Rick

My brother Rick left today, to move way out to the deserts of California. We're all sad to see him go, and so, so happy that we got to spend the past several days with him.

Meanwhile, Katrina got home from camping, stinky and filthy and full of stories of adventure and fun. It's so good to have her home again!

We spent the afternoon at my parents' house, and then spent the evening in a heap on the couch, reading and then watching a BBC show about animals. All of us were pretty exhausted from lack of sleep, so having an evening to just do nothing was perfect.

Picnic and lots of games

Our family all met at the park tonight for a picnic. It's our kids' favorite park, and Zane was all, "Katrina is going to be so sad she missed this!" And yet, Houston chose to sit with the adults and play a game of Wizard. Earlier in the day he told me, "I cannot wait to go to Grandma's house!" And when i asked why, he was all, "Cards!!!"

So we played a game of Wizard before dinner. And then after dinner, Jim brought out his game of Washers, which is similar to horseshoes except that you're throwing washers into a box rather than a horseshoe onto a pole. We played a couple of games of Washers, but that game can only be played by four people at a time, so we moved on to the next game.

Three of us had brought along our sets of bocce ball (mine is clearly and considerably inferior, but it was great for the little kids!), so we combined the three sets and had a giant game with twelve of us. Juanito was the referee/little ball pointer-outer, and he was all, "I'm so happy that i found a way to play this game that i can actually enjoy!" It was the most chaotic game of bocce ball ever, with everyone just kind of throwing their balls at random, but it was totally fun. Houston and i were a team, and we won the first game, which was awesome, and then we did totally and completely terribly for the next two games.

By the time we finished playing, it was getting late, so we left the park and hit the ice cream store. Yay for delicious ice cream!

And then most of us went to my parents' house for yet another game of Wizard. Yay for fun people who like to play games! I would have stayed a lot longer, but Juanito had to get to work, so we took a picture of the six original siblings, since this was the last time we'd see each other before Rick leaves tomorrow, and then we headed home. It was nearly 11:00 by then, and Zane was all, "I'm getting used to these late nights!" 

Friday fun!

Nearly everyone was at my parents' house today. All six of the original Martinus kids, four spouses, and a lot of the grandkids were there for at least parts of the day. It was fabulous.

I told Zane that he wasn't allowed to watch TV, so while his cousins were watching a cartoon, he went outside and watched the show through the window. Kids.

We talked, made cookies, rolled coins, and played lots and lots of cards. Lots of cards. Houston learned how to play Wizard and won by a landslide his very first game. (It was totally beginner's luck, because he did lose quite horribly most of the rest of the night.) We had Chicago-style pizza (yum!). We played Duck with about 10 of us and it was wonderfully chaotic. We ate cookie dough (mmmmm). It was another super-fun day with family. Yay!

Meanwhile, Katrina left to go camping with Beth and Karla and Karla's kids. I miss my girl, but i really hope they're having fun! 

More family!

We spent most of the day with my family again. My parents, my brothers, my sister Chellie and her kids, my kids, and i all went to Pizza Ranch for lunch. We sat there for nearly two hours, until the kids all decided they needed to leave because the TV started having a show where they were trying to show the most flattering underwear for women's butts or something, and they didn't want to watch all the women in underwear.

The kids have been loving spending so much time with their cousins. They run around the yard playing all kinds of weird, made-up games. Meanwhile, we adults either sit around and laugh a lot or we play games of the more organized variety.

It's been a great few days.

Family!

We spent the day at my parents' house. The kids were introduced to "The Price is Right," and we hung out with my dad for a few hours. I walked around the garden and took pictures of some of the beautiful flowers.

And then my brothers got there, and we all played Uno Roboto. The kids love that game, mostly because the get to give themselves silly names.

After a few rounds, Juanito got there, and Rick, Jim, Juanito, Houston, and i headed out to play croquet. We played with an absolutely ridiculous course, ranging all over the yard and going through crazy obstacles. It wasn't exactly the way the fancy British people play croquet, but it was fun. And i very nearly won, which is kind of shocking when playing any kind of game that requires a ball and aiming ability.

After the first game, we moved to the front yard and started a new game with a new course, but shortly after we started, right about at dinnertime, my sister Jill and her family arrived (bringing with them dinner for all of us!), and shortly after them, Alisha and Harrison and Eric and Kelly all came, and our game kind of broke up as we all got distracted by all of the new people. And that was totally okay, because i was completely losing at that point.

And THEN! As an added bonus, my mom and sisters and their kids all got home from Iowa just as we were starting dinner! It was SO GOOD to see my mom again - she's been gone since forever. And so we spent the rest of the night laughing and talking and telling stories and laughing some more. I love my family!

Rick!

My little brother Rick is unexpectedly in town for the next two days before moving out to the middle of nowhere in the desert between California and Nevada, and so we all went over to my parents' house to see him tonight. Yay!

My mom, two sisters, and their kids are stuck in Iowa with a broken car (I'm so sad for them! I hope they get back tomorrow!!!), so it was just my dad, my two brothers, one sister, Juanito, my kids, and me. We sat and talked and talked for quite a while, partially about Rick's move and job, and partially reminiscing about past trips and life when we were little. While we were sharing stories and my kids were laughing along, i was totally remembering sitting at my grandparents' house, listening to my mom and her siblings tell hilarious stories about when they were young, and absolutely loving it. I hope my kids have similarly happy memories.

And then we went out and played Molkky for ages until the sun went down and we simply couldn't see well enough anymore and Juanito had to get to work. It was totally fun.

We missed having everyone there, but it was fun to have a smaller group too. On the way home, Houston commented that he loves my whole big family, but he's kind of glad that we have less kids, so even when they're all grown up and married, there won't be a ton of people. 

2nd of July!

It's the Saturday before the 4th of July, and here in Grand Rapids, they do the fireworks on Saturdays, which is actually kind of nice, because then the smaller towns can do fireworks on the actual 4th and people don't have to choose.

Beth came over, and we grilled - brats and hamburgers and chicken, because we have some picky eaters - and then we had Juanito drop us off downtown, drive back home, and ride his bike back down to meet us. We found a spot in the middle of one of the main bridges - not a great spot, but adequate - and settled in to wait for the fireworks to begin.

Except then my brother Jim called and invited us to come watch the fireworks with them in his office building, so we leaped up and rushed over there. And the view was incredible, and we are now thoroughly spoiled. The Grand Rapids fireworks are great, regardless of where you stand, but when you can see them from several floors up, with a perfect view, you get to see the ones that are only visible to people with perfect seats.

Afterwards, we walked most of the way home while Juanito went back for the car. The kids were all completely hyper and excited and chattered non-stop. We got home at about 11:00, and people in our neighborhood were, of course, setting off fireworks. Loud ones. Until about 12:30. Because it's what they do.

RIP Aunt Marilyn

In my life, i've spent hours and hours trying to fit my Aunt Marilyn into some kind of box that i could then look at and say, "Okay. That's who she is." When we were little, she was the aunt that we were (or at least i was) a little bit afraid of. She was never afraid to scold us or tell us to be quiet. She was stubborn and opinionated and quite a packrat, but was also incredibly generous, kind, and sentimental, and she had a strong love for her family.

Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Billy lived in New York for most of my life. My family visited them for spring break when i was 13. The year before, they had visited us, bringing along Uncle Billy's niece, Monique. And so one of the first things i asked Aunt Marilyn when we got to New York was, "Are we going to see Monique while we're here?" Except i was shy and apparently spoke very quietly. Aunt Marilyn looked at me seriously but kindly and said, "Probably. But it's polite to call them black people now." I nodded (incredibly confused) and walked away. It was only later that she and my mom figured out what i had asked, which was not "Are we going to see more negros while we're here." (Much laughter ensued, mostly not by me. I was too embarrassed.)

When we were in 8th grade, Uncle Billy and Aunt Marilyn paid for us to fly to New York, and she was then our tour guide for a week. My cousin Helene is the same age as me, so the two of us went together. We went to the top of the World Trade Towers, drove through Times Square (back when there were lots and lots of places with peep shows), and...i'm sure we did lots of other fun things that i can't remember right now. The very, very best part was that we were there for the Fourth of July the year that the Statue of Liberty re-opened, and New York did a spectacular fireworks display that was synchronized and with seven (i think) different locations, all set to music. We went downtown and stood in a spot where we could see the Statue of Liberty and at least four or five different fireworks. It was the best fireworks ever, ever. (This was also the trip where i accidentally dropped a watermelon on the kitchen floor. It exploded. Aunt Marilyn was still bringing that up the last time i saw her....)

As a kid, it never struck me as odd that my Iowa-grown aunt had married a black man, way back in 1970 when the civil rights movements were still a very recent memory. That fits with her personality, though. She was the only one of her 8 siblings (as far as i know) who voted Democrat. She knew what she believed, and she stuck to it, but she was always very happy to talk (and talk and talk) with anyone about any subject.

A few months ago, she was seemingly completely healthy, and her health deteriorated so rapidly that it just stunned everyone. She was the one in a million people who gets Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which explains why the doctors couldn't figure out what was going on. In the end, it wasn't a shock when she died, and because it was expected, it's pretty easy to just go on as normal. But whenever i stop to actually think that i won't get to see her or talk with her, and that there won't be any new memories to be made with her, i'm really sad. She will be so very missed.

Everything that's been happening this past month

I mean... I can't seem to write more than once a month lately. I have no real excuse. Nevertheless. Here we are.

It's been an eventful month - the end of the school year always is! Field trips and graduations and all of the hoopla that goes along with school ending and summer beginning. Yay! I took a million pictures and narrowed them down to my favorite 140 for a slide show...and then realized that that was way, way too many pictures for most people to want to actually look at, so i narrowed it down again to the bare bones, and those are the ones in the slideshow above. I will, if anyone in the world is interested, put the long slideshow down under.

So! Without further ado! Things that have been happening! (In order:)

1. Juanito has been building shelves and cabinets in our front room, and they are getting closer to being finished. It's all being made from old pallets, and he's doing a beautiful job. I can't wait until it's finished!

2. For the past 14 years, we've had at least one child in the baby/preschool/elementary area of church. Every Sunday, we've had to check a child in and out, and for most of that time, that included wearing a paper armband with the child's number. This month, Zane graduated out of the elementary area, up to Fifty6, and thus our time with the little kids area is finished. Henceforth, all of our kids will be sitting in church with us and then going to their individual areas on Sunday evenings.

Our church makes kind of a big deal out of the "graduation," and Zane was totally excited about participating. They did a whole graduation ceremony, at which they gave each "graduate" their own Bible (Houston and Katrina were totally jealous of the Bible!), followed by a family breakfast.

For weeks, Zane had been complaining that he didn't WANT to go to Fifty6. Couldn't he just stay HOME? Whyyyyy???? And i know why he was so opposed. It's because Houston was never a fan of Fifty6 at all. I tried to convince Zane that he would like it, that HE was not Houston, that Katrina liked it! He was not convinced. And then they had a Sunday where all of the grades moved up to their next group, and Zane got to experience Fifty6...and suddenly he LOVED it and started asking just how soon he'd be able to start going. He's now very disappointed that he has to wait until September.

3. Katrina has been using a school flute for the past couple of years, and she desperately wanted one of her very own. As the end of the school year got closer and closer, marking the point at which she'd have to return her flute for the summer, she got more and more desperate. She started looking up flutes, trying to figure out if there were any - ANY - that she could afford. She found a brand of flutes that were not only reasonably priced but also made in colors. Colors!

At first she totally leaned towards pink, but then she reasoned that she might outgrow pink, and really she likes blue just as much.... And so she spent some of her vast savings and is now the proud owner of a lovely blue flute, which she absolutely loves. (She does have to play it using slightly different fingering for one note, because otherwise the key doesn't press down all the way, but she adapted to that very quickly.)

4. For the first time, we were all able to attend the Great Salmon Release. This was Katrina's very first release, and rather than releasing one fish and then quitting, she made up for the previous years missed by releasing 5 salmon, all of whom she named first (Fred, George, Hermione, Sally, and Bob).

Every year, for the past three years, the kids' school has gotten salmon eggs. The kids get to watch the eggs hatch and grow until they're ready to be released in the spring. The first year, Juanito somehow got pulled in to helping parcel out the salmon into baggies, to hand to kids, who then released them into the river, and since then, he has been one of two guys who's been in charge of that job. This year we also helped with transporting buckets of salmon from the school to the river. And, of course, i take pictures, because...i'm me...and since i know that the teacher in charge of the salmon (who was both boys' teacher in third grade) likes pictures, i sent them to her. A week or two later, i was in the school to pick up the kids, and i noticed that there was a display of giant poster-sized pictures of the salmon release. I was all, "Oh, cool!" and then, "Hey! I took that picture!" and then, "Hey! I took ALL of these pictures!" I'm practically famous. Except for y'know...not.

5. The Sunday before Memorial Day, when it was fairly warm, we went to my sister's house for dinner so that everyone could go swimming in their pool afterwards. The kids were all in heaven. Most of the adults were much more rational and stayed dry and warm.

6. On Memorial Day, Beth, the kids, and i walked around downtown. It was a somewhat surreal experience, because it was absolutely deserted. We went down into an almost always completely full parking garage, and it was empty. Completely, utterly empty. Zombie-apocalypse-level deserted.

7. We went to see Verve Pipe at a free outdoor concert with Beth and Stephanie. It makes me happy that we're able to see them live fairly regularly. I think this was our third Verve Pipe concert. They started out with their kids' songs, which...i actually know and love more than most of their adult songs, and then finished off with stuff for the grownups. Juanito and i sang along with songs like "Cereal," "Wake Up," and "We Had to Go Home," while Zane pouted about having to be there at all and Katrina and Houston half paid attention and half read their books.

8. The fourth grade had their annual field trip to the YMCA camp. When Houston and Katrina had this field trip, it was an overnight, but this year they shortened it to just a day trip. It was a long day - we left school at 8:15 in the morning and got back at 8:00 at night - but i'm pretty sure that we did pretty much all of the same things we did when we were there for two days. There was canoeing and archery and rock wall climbing and crafts and candle-making, but Zane's favorite part was the "fur trading," where the kids had to run around in groups trying to find carpet squares with random animals written on them.

Again, there was archery! And canoeing! And rock wall climbing! But Zane preferred searching for hidden squares of carpet. Weirdo.

In the archery portion, the kids each got to shoot three arrows. When it was Zane's turn, his first arrow hit the dirt far before the target. His third shot went way over the target. But on his second shot, Zane hit a perfect bulls-eye. It was amazing. And nothing but sheer luck. Zane spent the rest of the day telling everyone he could find that he was really proud of himself because he got a bulls-eye.

In the past, the chaperons have been allowed (and encouraged) to go canoeing with the kids, and we were allowed to canoe basically wherever we wanted to on the lake. The rules have apparently changed, because this year adults weren't allowed to go out with the kids, and the canoes had to stay within a fairly small area. It was disappointing that i didn't get to canoe with Zane, but it was especially disappointing that the kids didn't get to really enjoy themselves as much. They spent most of their time just trying not to run into each other. Sigh. Rules.

We were the last group of kids from our school to get to do the rock wall. There are two walls the kids can choose between, one of which is quite a bit harder than the other. Most of the kids chose to do the easier wall, but about a third of our group decided to try the harder side. The guy in charge told us right away, "Just so you know! Nobody from the other groups has successfully reached the top on this side." Most of the kids chose to stay and try it anyhow, and every single one of them that tried made it to the top. It WAS hard, and they needed a lot of encouragement, but they all got to ring the bell at the top. Zane was the very last one to go, and everyone except for his teacher and i had already left for the next event. He was a bit disappointed to not have everyone there to cheer for him, and he had a hard time trying to figure out what to do with those long, long legs of his that got in his way, but he made it to the top and was completely impressed with himself. As he should have been.

9. Festival of the Arts! I told Houston beforehand that he was really just too old to do the paint-in portion this year. It's supposed to be for kids aged 12 and under, and we let him sneak in last year, but this year he's 14, and ... no. And so he decided just to stay home altogether, because he "only likes the painting and otherwise doesn't enjoy it." (????) So the rest of us went without him.

Beth and i looked at the schedule ahead of time this year and actually planned out what we wanted to see and when we should go. I wanted to see dancers, and she wanted to see "The Mines" playing, and there just happened to be a dance group right before the Mines were on, so we chose that group. And it was, absolutely, the very best dance group i've ever seen at Festival. It was a pretty large group, with kids from about age 9 all the way up through high school, and every single routine they did was as fun to watch as the one before it. I wish i could remember their name so that we could make sure to see them every year!

10. Houston went on a class trip to Chicago. It was an overnight trip, and they packed it full of fun things. They went to Navy Pier and took a boat tour and went to Medieval Times on Thursday night, and then they spent all day Friday at Six Flags Great America. He had So! Much! Fun!

11. Zane had his end-of-the-year field trip/party at a park. (Not a park right nearby like you'd expect, though. A park 45 minutes away, because....?) There was sand castle building and water balloon tossing and general playground-playing. Zane and his friend Finneas had both worn their fedoras, so they invented a new game called "hat ball." It was a very low-structure day, which was lovely.

12. We had a graduation party for Houston. It wasn't anything super-exciting - just cake and ice cream and family - but he loved it.

13. Katrina had her end-of-the-year beach field trip/party. It was not the warmest of days, and it threatened rain all day, but most of the kids ended up swimming nonetheless, and the rain held off. So! Success. We went to the most ridiculously strict beach/park i've ever, ever been to. Before you can even get in, the guy at the gate grills you about the rules, of which there are legion. (No running. No flotation devices of any kind, unless it's USCG approved. Goggles are okay, but no face masks. If you build a sand castle, you need to knock it down when you're finished.)

Katrina's at that age where kids are all at completely different stages. Some of the kids in her class still look like little kids, while others look like they could be 18. The boys are almost universally shorter than the girls. Some of the girls ran around in their bathing suits completely unselfconsciously, while others never changed or just kept giant coverups on the whole time.

14. Houston graduated. I already covered that.

15. The sixth grade band never did have a concert, so the band director decided that "anyone who wanted to" could come play at the graduation. Katrina was all excited that she was going to get to play during graduation. She practiced and practiced. (Her: "I'm nervous, because i just don't know if i'm doing this right!" Me: "Well, when you play with the group, are you able to keep up?" Her: "We've never practiced this!" They all went into it completely without every once playing as a group or even practicing that song. What?)

We got to the church for graduation, and she talked to the band director, who was all, "Oh, there's been a change. Instead of playing during the graduation, we're going to play out in the lobby beforehand." So...everyone there was sitting in their seats, waiting for graduation to start, which meant that NOBODY was out in the lobby. The entire audience consisted of Juanito, Beth, my parents, my sister, and my niece. And maybe two other people, but they weren't actually paying attention.

The band, meanwhile, was made up of 10 people, including the director, who played the trombone rather than actually directing. And yet! Everyone who had also been to the 7th and 8th grade concert agreed that they were significantly better than that concert had been. They sounded great, ESPECIALLY considering that they'd never once practiced!

16. Last day of school! Woohoo!!! Of course, Houston hadn't had school for almost a week, what with his class trip and then graduation and all. We went and picked up the kids, and then met Beth at Steak and Shake for end-of-school celebration shakes! Yay!!!

17. Juanito took a couple of days off, and so on Thursday we went to the local Frank Lloyd Wright house for a tour. The kids and i had gone last year, and last time we were almost the only people on the tour, and it was really cool and informative. This time, we apparently picked the busiest day of the year, so there was a giant crowd on the tour with us. It was still interesting and the house is beautiful nonetheless, but the kids and i were disappointed that there wasn't more interesting information. I think there were just too many people for the tour guide to be able to throw in lots of interesting side-bits.

18. We went to Saugatuck to celebrate our 22nd anniversary. We were about halfway there, when suddenly the front right tire spectacularly exploded. (Honestly, it's just so fitting that we should have car trouble on our anniversary! Our entire marriage has been filled with one random car emergency after another!)

Juanito spent approximately 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get the spare tire off of the bottom of the car (there's a tiny hidden compartment inside under the floor mat), and then had the jack nearly tip over, but he got it changed! Yay! (For the record: I know how to change a tire, but i don't think i could have actually changed this one.)

This was the first time Juanito and the kids had been in Saugatuck, and we had a fun time wandering around. The kids all wanted to buy all the things, and Zane did get a walking, squeaking pig, and Houston got a Doctor Who shirt and a book, and we all got friendship bracelets.

This was the anniversary that marks the point at which we've been married for exactly half of our lives. (Or nearly so. I guess that for me it'll be exactly halfway in a month and a half, and a bit longer for Juanito, but the NUMBER is halfway.) It's also completely crazy to me that when we got married, we were only 8 years older that Houston is now. Crazy!!! But i still think we made the right choice, and i'm so happy and lucky to married to my favorite person.

And there i stop. I need to remember to write more often. This was insanely long. Sorry.