Kid Talk
Vacation Notebook Leftovers On the way to school today, M. and C. were talking about their ages. M. first said, “C.. How weird is it that next year I’ll be 10 and you’ll be eight?” C.’s eyes gleamed as she considered it. “Wow, that will be weird. It’s like we’re skipping a year!” Sometimes I love the way she thinks.…
Vacation Wrap Up
Happy spring! We are home, safe and sound, and the girls are back in school again. Wait. They’re not. We have seven inches of snow and, I believe for the first time since we started at St. P’s, school has been cancelled. It’s the endless spring break! Whoo hoo!1 What a weird thing, to go from the beach/pool on Friday…
Beach Update 2
Well, it’s raining again. But it’s only 9:00 and today it looks like the storms are going to blow through in the next couple hours. But, man, yesterday was about perfect. Right around 80, overcast until noon when everything blew away, and we then had perfect Florida skies all afternoon. We did a shell walk in the morning. We watched…
Beach Update 1
A lazy morning here on the island, so I’ll share a few details of our trip so far to keep me from having to write 5000 words about it when we get home. Of course, I may end up writing more than that this way, but that’s your gain! Ok, the drives down were uneventful. Sure, everyone was cranky by…
On The Road Again
We are off. To Florida. Again. I know. We are spoiled rotten, and our daughters are going to grow up to be contemptuous brats that complain because they’ve been pamered their entire lives. I mean, who goes to Florida twice in two months? It was an unexpected combination of factors that has us well on the way to Captiva Island…
Il Papa
Those Catholics know how to do timing. I was sitting in the parking lot at St. P’s Wednesday, waiting for dismissal, when suddenly the skies opened up and what had been light flurries turned into thick, white flakes that cut visibility and quickly covered windshields. It only lasted a minute or so, but as those big flakes fell, I couldn’t…
Parenting Notebook
Sunday I was finishing up my story on the state swimming meet at my desk. Around the corner, I heard C. reading a book to S.. It didn’t register at first, but soon I stopped writing and paused to listen closer. C. wasn’t slowly picking out sight words or reading some book for early readers that mixes pictures and words.…
Weekend Notes
Some various and sundry notes about the weekend past. I covered the boys high school state championship this weekend. As always, it was something else. The event itself is kind of tedious, especially when I only had one swimmer, who was in the finals of two events, to write about. Watching the crowd is the best. I believe I’ve written…
A Little Privacy Please
It is winter, which means we spend a lot of time in our basement where it is warmer and less drafty than our family room. I, especially, tend to head down there in the evenings to watch TV, read, and relax after the girls have gone to bed. Recently M. let me know she was keeping tabs on me. “Dad, I…
Party Notes
Book-ending our vacation were L.’s first two birthday parties that were her own. She’d been to several parties over the years, but always because she was the third sister, not because it was the party of someone her age. So she was awfully excited about these two gatherings. It was funny to watch her. As one of the two or…