Summer – Life Off Headset

Weekly recap + what we ate: July 4th and Swim season routines and favorites

If you’re visiting me via NGS’s website and my guest post there – hello and welcome! It was kind of a freak coincidence that I guest posted on two blogs a week apart, but that’s mostly because I knew that if I didn’t get a guest post written before I went back to work mid-July, it wasn’t going to happen, and I very much wanted to make it happen. At any rate – I suspect most of you read NGS’s blog already, but if you don’t you should – she writes in a bracingly honest manner about books, every day routines, her adorable dog and cat, and life’s conundrums big and small. My guest post there celebrates her twenty (!) years of blogging by naming twenty operas I love. Thanks for having me, Engie!!!

Last week, my cousins came to visit, and it was deeelightful! By cousins, I mean my father’s oldest niece K and her daughter E. So K is technically the one who is my cousin, but in Mandarin, I call her “older sister”. I guess that makes E my second cousin? Anyhow, they came and it was heavenly. They played with the kids, read them book, had mediation sessions with them (!), and taught them how to make all sorts of Taiwanese treats. It was like they ran a three day Taiwanese summer camp for them out of my house. The kitchen was constantly buzzing while they made things like di gua yuan – little balls, made of yams (or taro) and cassava flour -they’re kind of the same texture as boba, but bigger, and you eat them in a sugar syrup or over shaved ice.

Shaved ice. My cousin brought us a shaved ice machine. Taiwanese shaved ice is a lot finer than a regular snow cone and comes with a wide variety of toppings. We had shaved ice with condensed milk and the taro balls, but you can also do it with red beans, fruit, boba… It’s a nice treat.

They did such a good job of taking turns on the shaved ice machine!

Onigiri. My cousin also brought a little mold to make these seaweed wrapped rice triangles. The four year old loved making them, and called them “Sand Castles” because you pack the rice in the mold then push out a perfectly formed little triangle, like you would a sand castle.

Rice Triangle – perfect pool food! The 7 year old did not want seaweed on his, so he just has rice, vegetables, and pork floss.

AND they picked up around our house. At first I was a little embarrassed by how my Cousin was constantly tidying our very messy house, but then E told me that Cousin K LOVES to clean. I realized that she is a tidier and it made her happy to be able to make our house a little nicer, so I leaned into it and just decided to be thankful and happy.

On the last night of their visit, we went to Hot Pot, and then ice cream. It was one of those sticky summer nights, made even more sticky by the heat and drippy ice cream cones, but the kids didn’t care. They played on the fake grass, running around and doing cartwheels. Which – the four year old can do a half decent cartwheel. I hadn’t known she could do that. What a charming surprise the first time I saw her flip her legs in the air and kind of land on her feet.

All in all it was a wonderful visit!

Other things on my mind… Going into this summer, juggling swim team season was one of my biggest worries, but with two weeks left, I think we’ve gotten the hang of things, so I wanted to write future me a note about what is working/what is not working currently with the current swim/evening routine. The current breakdown:

3:30/4:00pm– start prepping dinner for the pool and packing swim bag. Make sure 12 year old eats a snack. This worked well when I wasn’t working, but it’s going to be tricky when I go back to work for the last two weeks of swim team season. It might be a lot of food prep and take out.
4:30pm– kids hopefully home from school/camp, we all put swimsuits on.
4:45pm– drive to pool.
5:00-5:30pm– little kids go to their pre-team session/ 12 year old and I swim. She’s trying to teach me how to do a handstand in the water :).
5:30pm– pool time free play. I make the kids stay in the pool until adult swim or else we lose a bit of momentum.
5:45pm– adult swim – we get out of the pool. The 4 year old and 7 year old eat dinner. The 12 year old eats another snack if she is still hungry.
6:00pm– we are all back in the pool- big pool or baby pool, depending.
6:15pm– 12 year old moves to swim team practice. I continue pool free time with the two littles.
7:15pm– I get the 4 and 7 year old out of the pool- they take showers and get into their pjs. I take my shower while they are getting dressed.
7:30/7:45pm– 12 year old done practice. We head home.
8:00pm – home. This is where it all goes south a little. ideally, the little kids can brush their teeth and go straight to bed. But often they want to stay up or have another snack. The 12 year old eats the rest of her dinner. I hang up swim sits and clean out lunch boxes, scroll a little on my phone. On Fridays, we come home and have pizza and watch Glee, kind of our summer version of Friday pizza and movie night.
9:00pm/9:30pm – The little kids go to bed. Hopefully. Requires some cuddling/book time from us. This is on the later side, but I figure it’s summer so things slide a little bit.
10:00pm – the 12 year old goes to bed. If I haven’t already fallen asleep while cuddling with the little kids, then I do some more pick up/scrolling/sometimes I watch some tv with the Husband.
Eventually, depending – I go to bed.

My current pool bag pack:
-Two towels – one for me and one extra (I’ve been using Turkish towels – I love them because they are thin and pack well.)
-Two hooded towel/ponchos, one for each little kid. I found these in the bargain bin at Bed Bath and Beyond last year. Love them – so easy to just pop on the kids.
– Space Bag with goggles (kids and mine), and pool toys (it varies, but currently water guns and mini beach balls), and a nose plug for the 7 year old that he wears intermittently
-Space Bag with pjs for the kids and change of underwear for me.
-my rash guard
-Sunscreen (Spray and lotion)
-Shampoo/body wash and conditioner
-lotion
-a book
-The two little kids have swim vests, but they are in charge of bringing those themselves.

The pain points I’m finding in the current routine:
-The big one is that we don’t get to eat dinner together as a family. I realize that we don’t eat dinner a whole lot together when I’m working evenings, so this shouldn’t be a big deal, but I do feel like the Husband is missing out a little bit. BUT we still do pizza and Glee on Fridays, and actually there is no swim practice on Wednesday nights, so we do have dinner together on Wednesday nights.

-I wish I had a different pool bag. I have one of those Classic L.L. Bean Tote bags that are ubiquitous. It used to belong to my Mother-In-Law, and it’s certainly a workhorse, but it’s really awkward for me to carry. The handles are a too short to sling on my shoulder, so I have to carry the bag by my side, which is ungainly when the bag is full and knocking against me. (Though I hear that carrying things at your side is ergonomically better.) I feel like this is the kind of thing I will just be vaguely annoyed at for three months a year and just live with. What I really want is for the two little kids to start packing and carrying (and remembering) their own stuff for the pool. Then my bag would be lighter. (The 12 year old has long been in charge of her own stuff.) Maybe next year is the year I get the two little kids their own swim bags.

-I wish I could take some time to just swim laps. I know swimming is great exercise, but I have to always be watching the two little ones because they still are not strong swimmers. In my ideal world, the 12 year old would watch them during adult swim, but she wants to hang out with her friends and I want her to do that as well. At any rate, it’s kind of a non-issue right now because the weather so hot, there are mandatory pool breaks for everyone, so even the grown ups have to get out of the pool during adult swim. One day, though, I aspire to be able to swim laps. Maybe one day if I don’t have to be at work until later, I’ll sneak in a quick trip the pool on my own.

-I don’t think I’m packing a big enough dinner for the kids and certainly not enough vegetables. Pool dinners are all about what is easy to eat, portable, and appealing to the kids. So it is a combination of whatever fits in the thermos and snack food. I’ve been letting the kids pick a “pool snack” each week, which is usually chips or some kind of salty snacks. Which, is there anything more summer than a bag of salt an vinegar chips eaten by the pool with wet fingers? anyhow, I feel like the pool dinners I pack aren’t ideally balanced and the kids are still hungry when they get home. (Or they are trying to delay bedtime?). Still need to figure this one out.

-There is no time for anything else with the kids. So no picking up, no practicing piano, no chores. Which I think is not the worst thing for summer, but the house is getting gradually messier and messier and I end up staying up late to clean and revenge bedtime procrastinate.

BUT I remind myself that there are only two more weeks left of swim team, so this is just a busy season right now. Because we are lucky, especially in the 90+ degree heat we’ve been having, to be able to go to the pool and cool off in the evenings. It actually feels wonderful. So I’ll live with the messy living room and chlorine scented skin and rack of constantly damp swimwear in the sunroom, because there is a lot of joy and fun to be had these days as well.

On the Flip side – the things saving me this pool season:
– Thermos and lunch box. I gave these a shout out last week, but these have been great for packing dinners for the pool.

-Everyone Lotion. My brother introduced me to this brand last summer. I’ve never been brand loyal to any one lotion, but I really like this one. It’s unscented, and not too thick and not too runny, and rubs in cleanly and isn’t too expensive and doesn’t have too many ingredients. This is what we use to keep our skin from drying out from pool water and frequent showering. We have the large bottle and then decant into a smaller bottle for the pool. I’ve also been using their kids’ body wash/ shampoo as well.

-Rash guard and goggles. In an act of adulting, I finally bought myself a rash guard and a pair of goggles. I’ve never been into rash guards because I don’t like pulling a wet bathing suit over my head. But then I realized if I wore a rash guard, I wouldn’t have to put on sunscreen on my arms and back. So when I saw this zip up rash guard hoodie on sale at Lands End, I decided to try it. Friends, what an amazingly sensible thing to wear! It keeps me protected, even my neck when I pull up the hood, and it keeps me a little warmer in the pool. I don’t know why I resisted sensible things. Same with goggles. I have terrible eyesight so I always just wore my sunglasses in the pool. But then I bought a pair of tinted goggles to help with my attempt to learn how to do a handstand, and again, wow! What a practical thing! I learned that I don’t really need to see too precisely in the pool and that I can put my head underwater and that I actually find being submerged kind of relaxing.

-Drying rack – The kids only have two sets of swim clothes, so we have to remember to hang up our swim stuff right away so that it will dry for the next day. I love our drying rack. I used to dry things in the bathroom, but they dry so much more quickly in the sun room. And I pretend that the drying clothes are contributing a nice moist air for all the plants in our sun room.

-Swimsuit cover up – Last summer, I bought this hooded swimsuit cover up from a booth at a festival. The booth primarily sold Turkish towels, and they also had beach cover ups made from the same material as their towels. I love this cover up – it is substantial enough that I can wear it with or without my bathing suit underneath. It’s really soft and comfortable. There’s a hood, for when I want a bit of protection for the back of my neck. And if I put it on over wet clothes, it absorbs most of the water, no glaringly awkward wet patches. It’s one of those things that seem pricey at the time, but I’ve worn it four days a week for the past month, so it’s been worth it.

-Showers at the pool. Something clicked this year and the 7 year old has decided that he wants to take showers rather than baths. Yay! We’ve never been a “shower every day” family, but in the summer with sweat and sunscreen, we definitely need to up the bathing game. One of the best thing about evenings at the pool is I have the kids shower and get into pjs once we are done, so we arrive home clean and one step closer to bed. I love having that one step taken out of our evening routine. (Though I guess it’s just been moved to a different part of the routine…). Also I’m really glad that the kids can get dressed by themselves so that I can grab a shower too. I’ve never been more bathed in my life.

So that’s the swim life set up for us. Whew. It’s a big chunk if our lives right now.

Grateful For:
-Finding Uh-Oh Bear! We have a little stuffed bear that a friend gave us when the oldest was a baby (or maybe it was the middle child?). We call the bear Uh-Oh Bear because whichever child had the bear loved to throw it on the floor and say, “Uh-Oh!”. Uh-oh Bear came with us to Maine, but then we couldn’t find him when we were checking out of our last hotel. We thought we had maybe left him in Maine and were really sad about it because Uh-Oh Bear is a very beloved stuffy. (I know I probably should just make the kids leave the stuffies at home when we travel, but they love them so much. Last year when we went to Amsterdam we lost another stuffed bear on the plane. We aren’t great with not losing things…) Well, this week, I was getting ready for the morning when the kids came running up to me, super excitedly yelling, “WE FOUND UH-OH BEAR!!!”. The kids found him in the bottom of the 7 year old’s backpack. Hooray! I mean I have all sorts of questions as to why the 7 year old didn’t empty his backpack like I asked him to when we got home two weeks ago, but I’m just going to be grateful for now that Uh-Oh Bear is back with us.

-Beautiful skies. The weather has been so unbearably hot, but there have been some beautiful sunsets:

-A bit of rain and A Capitol Fourth and a nice chill Fourth of July. My Cousins wanted to watch Inside Out (the first one) before they got on the road home, and it was the perfect, cozy early afternoon activity on a hot day. After my cousins left, I realized that I hadn’t been outside all day, so I persuaded the 7 year old to go out with me – he on his bike, and I for a run alongside him. Just as we stepped outside, it started to sprinkle. I asked the 7 year old if he wanted to just stay home, and he said, no it’s not too much rain. So we went for a rainy walk/ bike ride and it was lovely. And then we came home and puttered and ate leftovers for dinner and then watched A Capitol Fourth.
When the 12 year old was little, I worked in Colorado during the summers, and my boss would always have a party on the Fourth of July where we ate food and swapped theatre stories while 1776 played in the background. Her house was on the top of a hill and had a perfect view of the fireworks the next town over. Only the the three year old was scared of fireworks, so we always just stayed in the house. Which is all to say, we’ve never really gone to see fireworks. There are also logistical issues too currently – our County has two firework displays, but they start so late (9pm – I get that it needs to be dark) and the one closest to us, you have to take a shuttle to get to the viewing location and actually isn’t even on the Fourth, it’s the Saturday after. It just has always seemed like a lot of work to go see fireworks. This year, the kids asked to go see fireworks, but I couldn’t wrap my head around going, so we stayed home and, as is our tradition, watched A Capitol Fourth and saw fireworks on TV instead. I actually love our little tradition – we get to see some really great performances, and then see fireworks over the Washington Monument, which is always very patriotic feeling. And then we fall asleep on the couch. Even though we don’t have cable, Capitol Fourth is streamed for free online – another thing to be grateful for. Maybe next year, I’ll think about taking the kids to see fireworks live, but for this year, watching them on TV was kind of nice too.

-Walkie talkies and the hours of play the kids have with them. I had gotten some walkie talkies last year for the kids to take camping, and last week they pulled them out and started talking to each other with them, carrying them with them at all times. There was one day when we went to run errands at Old Navy and the salesperson thought that they had taken the Old Navy staff walkie talkies and told the kids to put them back. It was hilarious and slightly embarrassing. My favorite moment from last week – this moment where I went to the park with the 7 year old – he insisted I take one walkie talkie with me while he held the other. It was a hot hot hot day, and when we got to the park, he sat at the bottom of the slide and just started talking to me on the walkie talkie – just one of those ordinary 7 year old conversations. It made me smile, this moment of him wanting to be far away, but still communicate. There’s a metaphor for something in that.

You can see his little legs hanging over the edge of the slide.

Looking Forward To:
-Figuring out kid drop off/ pick up logistics. This one is actually causing me a little bit of anxiety, so I’m going to re-frame it and say I’m looking forward to things all working out. Each of the three kids will have drop offs at different locations – the 4 year old at her usual day care, the 7 year old at camp at a nearby school, and the 12 year old at theatre camp. The 12 year old’s camp is the farthest away and starts at 9am. I’ve paid for before/after care for the 7 year old so I can drop him at before 9:00 am, probably at 8:40p. The 4 year old will get dropped at school at 8:30am. At least that is the current plan. There is also a lot of things for each kid to bring to school/camp – the 12 year old’s camp requires jazz shoes and a pencil and a 3 ring binder and a recording device (see above). The 7 year old’s camp has water play every day so he needs to bring swim suits and a change of clothes and a towel and sunscreen. And of course all three kids need lunches and water bottles. It all feels like a lot right now, so I’m looking forward to when it doesn’t feel like a lot and just feels like routine. Pick up is also going to be hard… will report back on how that works out. (Okay, two days in, and first day we were 5 minutes late for the 12 year old’s camp, second day we were right on time, but that also felt kind of late. We’ll continue to try to do better….)

-Getting my hair cut! I finally achieved my deal with myself where I wouldn’t get my hair cut until I scheduled my well woman exam. And I did that, and now as a reward I’m getting my hair cut this week. I’m looking forward to having bangs again and getting my hair off my neck, and the quicker showers that come with short hair. I’m trying out a new stylist that my friend recommended. I feel bad for not going back to the stylist that I’ve been seeing for over fifteen years, but it’s gotten so expensive to go to that salon – last year when I was there, it was $120, including the tip. This is just a cut – I don’t do colour or anything like that. I feel conflicted about balking at the cost because I do think people should be paid for their work, but $120 twice a year is a lot. And honestly, I like to keep my hair short, so ideally I would go three or four times a year. But then again, maybe it’s not so bad? Would I pay $120 for a dress? I’m sure I have, and I wear my hair every day so if we are thinking of cost per wear … Anyhow, I’m trying out a new stylist. My friend says if it works out with her stylist, we should schedule back to back hair appointments in have a friend date in the future.

– Starting work on a new show! I start prepping for my next show this week. I’m really excited about this show. I am not excited about the commute though – it’s the kind of commute that can either take 20 minutes or 75 minutes, depending on time of day. I’m going to stock up on podcasts and audiobooks and make sure I have good car snacks and cold water on hand. Currently in my listening queue, Oh Beautiful by Jun Yung – which is not the book I thought it was going to be, and I don’t love it yet – and BBC Radio Drama version of Agatha Christie’s Sad Cypress. I discovered these Agatha Christie radio adaptations last year, and I love them – they are all between one and two hours long, and keep me attentive. It’s interesting to me that the audiobook might be 7 hours long, but the radio play is only 1 – so what is lost/what is kept? I guess there are no descriptions of people or places – everything is done with sound effects and acting. So you might not know that the lady is in a mousy brown suit, but what the mousy brown suit tells you about a character must instead by conveyed through the actor’s portrayal.

-Watching more of this, my current “watch while I late night clean” show. I’m finding it eye-opening, sweet and cringey and so so so human. There is one bit where the main character, gender-fluid Sabi meets trans Olympia and asks her when she knew she wanted to transition, and Olympia says, “Every person is constantly growing into a better version of themselves. We’re all in transition.” I love that thought.

What We Ate:
Monday: Smitten Kitchen’s Coconut Rice with fried tofu and roasted sweet potato and cauliflower. This is the coconut rice from Smitten Kitchen Keeper which I keep making because it is so delicious. I tried making the coconut rice in the InstantPot this time and it worked out really well. Remember that for next time. Vegan.

Tuesday: Ramen – eaten at the pool. Ramen is a ridiculously easy thing to pack for pool dinner. I added chicken, broccoli, and frozen peas to it to bulk it up a little bit.

Wednesday: Hot Pot Dinner out with cousins K and E.

Thursday: Fourth of July, but we didn’t do anything special – we ate bagels adn other leftovers.

Friday: pizza and Glee. The Husband also made a salad.

Saturday: leftover pizza and Sing 2 and salad.

Sunday: Ramen, leftovers, whatever one could find. Sunday was kind of a random grab bag of things because I think we were just done with structured activities like cooking and eating at this point. We had a swim meet in the morning until 1pm, and then I spent the rest of the day prepping for the upcoming week while the kids did Lord knows what. There were forts and books and lots of chattering and screens – for the two littles I had borrowed these tablets from the library that are pre-loaded with educational games. It scratches that itch of being on a screen without me having to 1) actually buy them a screen, and 2) worry about what kind of inappropriate content they’re going to stumble on. And then periodically a kids would say, “I’m hungry!” and I would find them something to eat and they would eat and them move on then come back and eat some more. It’s funny how much our days are anchored around mealtimes – without any set mealtimes on this day, the whole day felt a little unmoored. But I think that’s okay once in a while.

How was your week? Any lost things found?

Seasonal Fun lists, regrets, and Fall Aspirations

My first glimpse of Fall colour this year – at Mont Royal in Montreal in AUGUST!!!

Today is officially Fall!

Earlier this month, I was thinking about all the “Summer Fun Lists” I see around the internet and, conversely this article “Our Biggest Regrets from this Summer “ on Slate. I certainly did not do all the activities on my summer fun list, but I did a lot of them. As I watch the last rays of summer fade, I realized that while there are certainly things I did not get to, I don’t really regret not doing them. I think of my Summer List as a brain dump of all the possible fun things to do between mid-June and September, and I don’t have to do them all; I can chose things off the list that suit my mood and situation at any given time. There is no Bingo prize for checking all the boxes. Certainly there are things on the summer list that do require advance planning – travel, seeing friends, activities that require tickets – but many things do not. And being a planning resistant person, I find that it really helps me clarify my priorities to see what I’m willing to put in the effort to plan for or even do on a whim.

Take, for example, my monthly mom’s group happy hour. I’m the one who plans these for my mom’s group, and it usually goes on the calendar three weeks out. I very rarely plan things that far in advance. Of course there are things that go on the calendar that far out, but these are the immovable things that are set by others – swim meets, rehearsal and performance dates, summer camp, etc. My mom’s group happy hour is one of the rare things that I will actively make plans for – I send out a doodle poll for dates and venue suggestions, pick the date and venue, make reservations, tell my Husband so he can plan to be home with the kids that night. It seems like a lot of work, but I feel like mom’s group happy hour is a priority – I love seeing these moms and swapping stories about poop.

The things on my list that I decide to do last minute or the day before – it’s not really a question of priority – it’s just that I think the priority during the summer is to get out and enjoy the sunshine, so any one of a variety of activities will do. I feel so lucky that there are so many wonderful adventures to have near me that can be pulled off impulsively, so there will always be worthwhile and beautiful things to do. As Oliver Burkeman notes in 4000 Weeks – once one realizes the finite nature of life, one can let go of the infinite possibilities and focus on those things that one actually chooses to do.

Last year, we tried to complete the Maryland Ice Cream Trail, and were a little bummed not to get to all ten creameries on the list and vowed to complete it this year. But you know what? We only made it to two of the ten this year, and I’m fine with that. We still had tasty ice cream. Last year we went to three creameries in one day in our quest and that was arguably not a great move. A great memory, but still… regrettable in other ways.

Alright, now that I think of it, I do have one summer regret – I regret signing the ten year old up for County camp. She didn’t love it (apparently the kids were mean) and it was a bit of a schlep for me. Of course hindsight is 20/20 because she loved the camp last year – but this year, I guess it was a different group of kids. At any rate, now I know and I think next year, we will do fewer weeks of camp. Perhaps over winter break I will have her come up with a list of all the possible things she might be interested in doing and then.

I’m not saying there aren’t other things that I wish I had done more of or less of this summer, but I don’t think I had a summer to regret.

Having said all that, Here are some thoughts and aspirations for Fall, roughly (if not technically) between now and Thanksgiving.

Hallowe’en Costumes. I love making Hallowe’en costumes. Last year’s Millenium Falcon was certainly epic for me. This year, however, the two littles wanted to be something that was going to be far simpler to just buy. The ten year old, however, has a more creative idea in mind. I think she was a little disappointed that she couldn’t top her brother’s Millenium Falcon last year (but honestly, what could?). So this year she has an idea that will be a lot of fun and involves cardboard. Or maybe foam core. We’ll see.

Carve a Jack-o’-Lantern, or two or three. I love pumpkin carving. I’m actually working on Hallowe’en this year, so I’ll have to pre-game. Maybe I should also come up with an appropriate costume to wear backstge?

Another round of attic clean out. Finally work up the heart to get rid of the baby stuff.

Apple Picking. If not apple picking then at least apple sauce and apple pie.

Fall Camping. Given my lack of two day weekends this one is very very aspirational.

Hiking in fall colour. Hopefully once a month. By the looks of this fall foliage predicator, it seems like peak colour with happen in our area around the end of October. The Husband is taking the kids to New York to meet up with my parents that weekend, and since that is tech week, I won’t be going. However…. that means that I will have a day off my myself, so I think I will plan a hike on that free day. Or maybe even a bike ride. There are also lots of hikes and activities that our County Parks department sponsors. They always look really interesting and informative, so I want to see if any will fit in our schedule.

Celebrate the baby’s birthday. This is actually this weekend. I didn’t get it together to plan a party, but we have family in town and we will have cake and balloons (shhh… this last will be a surprise). And she got to pick her breakfast cereal at the grocery store this week, a tradition in our household. She picked Fruity Pebbles.

Go to the Theatre. This one is practically done. I have tickets for Hamilton this weekend, purchased four months ago. I never plan theatre (or anything, really) that far out in advance, but last spring I decided that I wanted to take the two older kids so I went ahead and bought the tickets. I did kick myself later because I didn’t double check my dates – it’s the baby’s birthday weekend plus the kids have Monday off school, so maybe we could have taken a bigger family adventure. Oh well.
Hamilton aside, there’s a lot of other really interesting theatre happening near us – this production of Beauty and the Beast looks to be unconventional and awesome.

Survive Tech Week. Keep practicing good habits and making sure I stay human and don’t become a theatre zombie during a tech process that I might be dreading a teeny tiny bit.

Fix the Storm Door. The glass on the storm door got broken by a child a few weeks ago. It’s a pretty old door so will need to be replaced, I think.

Make progress towards ordering window treatments for the living room. We’ve had a stop gap solution in place for a while since our curtain rod broke. It involves sheers and some too-small black panels. I would like to take a step or two towards having proper window treatments in place again.

Ziplining with the ten year old. I had planned on taking her this summer, but it was just too hot, so we put it off until Fall.

Cozy Kitchen Adventures. Who says Fall Adventures have to mean leaving the house? Fall is the start of “hunker and carbs” season. I do want to make something in my Bundt pan since my last attempt was such a wet goopy fail.

Watch some recent movies. Cooler weather means hunkering and watching movies is a good way to hunker. I’m not always able to stay awake for a full movie these days, but there are some that I really want to stay awake for. I am super excited by this adaptation of on of my favorite books as a child, Catherine Called Birdy. AND the ten year old has read this book, so we can watch it together. Also Fire Island has been on my Watchlist all summer. It’s a gay Asian re-telling of Pride and Prejudice, and all of that is just my catnip.

Happy Hour with my mom’s group. A lot of the parents in this group prefer outdoor meet ups so I definitely want to get a few more Happy Hours in before the weather gets too chilly.

Happy Hour with fellow Stage Managers. There has been a seismic shift in the stage management staff at work this past year and it’s made me realize that I really value the my co-workers as human beings, not just as people I work with. The thought of not seeing them at all this opera season makes me a little sad, so I would love to arrange something.

Free Days that are restorative and fulfilling. Given that I’m working every weekend between next week and the middle of November, I don’t know how many of the Fall weekend specific things I’ll manage to get to – things such as Fall Festivals and Special Fall Events. Since I generally only have one day off a week, I really want to guard that time and spend it on what matters. I’ve been thinking about this lately – how to spend my one precious free day. When I have chaotic and hectic free days, I don’t feel at all ready to go back to work. A good free day needs to be a good combination of life tasks and family tasks and personal tasks and leisure tasks and social time and rest. Which seems like a lot to ask of just one day. So maybe I need to pick three of those categories each free day, with rest always being one of the choices.

Labour Day Weekend 2022. Renaissance Festival!

Another Labor Day weekend in the books, and now I feel like summer is truly on it’s way to fall.

Not everything on my my Labor Day Weekend plans/ aspirations list got checked off, but the most important adventure was accomplished – we went to the Renaissance Festival! The Ren Faire was the perfect way to end the summer — it’s a special outing, outdoors, yet local so we can still come home and sleep in our beds and not have to unpack suitcases. I love going to the Ren Faire. The costumes, the shows, the atmosphere of hubub… Everything about it is just pure fun. Also – not going to lie, but an additional perk right now is that the two littles get to go for free, so I just had to buy tickets for me and the ten year old. (The Husband didn’t go – even though one of our first dates was to the Ren Faire, he doesn’t actually like them.) This was my first time taking the toddler. I think the five year old went once when he was still a baby in the baby carrier.

We went with some friends who had never been before, and when we met up with each other inside the festival gates, they said, “We’ve never been before, so we’ll take your lead on what to do.”

“Well,” I said, “Usually we see shows, eat food on a stick, people watch, and swelter in the heat.”

And we did all that and more.

We watched a Birds of Prey demonstration. The little kids went on Pony rides. The ten year old climbed a rock wall. The toddler wanted to as well, but you had to be four to climb. “I’ll can climb it next year!” she said.

There was a playground with a giant pirate ship where the kids would have played all day if we had let them. There were people dressed as pirates and wenches and kings and queens and fairies and knights and warriors and all other manner of fabulously imaginative creations. The toddler, being the only one in the family with Ren Faire appropriate clothes (aka dress up clothes) was the only one who got dressed up. She even wore a veil that the ten year old had been gifted the first time she went to the Renaissance Festival exactly six years ago to the date. Here’s a then and now:

Of course we had turkey legs (and all other manner of faire food):

There were shows, so many shows to see. Comedy shows, Shakespeare snippets, juggling shows, music shows (bagpipes!). We watched the drama of King Henry VIII’s court unfold as Jane Seymour waits to become queen.

There was a longsword demonstration. We did not make it to the jousting, which was my one regret. In all my years of coming I have yet to see the jousting. I think I always plan on it but then get sucked into watching something else. Well, next year I’ll make sure it’s a priority.

There was face painting and fairy wings and a warrior’s shield.

We were there all day – arrived at 10:30am and left at 6:30pm. By the end of the day everyone was sweaty and dusty and sticky. The lady at the fairy wing booth said to me, “I can always tell the parents who let their kids have the most fun because those kids are the dirtiest.”

We probably stayed a little longer than prudent; I hadn’t brought the stroller so the toddler didn’t take an afternoon stroller nap and she had a pretty epic meltdown when we got home around 7:15pm. Even still, we had a really great time and, not that I would say it was worth an evening meltdown, sometimes one can’t let the last part of the day be the last word on the whole day. Sometimes the epic tantrum is just the price of admission for a fun filled end of summer adventure.

The rest of the long weekend plans/ aspiration list went pretty well:

We did get to the Farmer’s market. The Husband and I took the two little kids and picked up some yogurt and granola from the farmer’s market downtown. Then, because I wanted to do a bigger produce shop, we drove about twenty minutes to a farm stand in the next county because as much as I love our downtown farmer’s market, the produce is less expensive at the farm stand outside the city. The five year old, unbeknownst to me put a watermelon into out basket. The thing was half his size!
Then because it was on the way home, we stopped at Ikea. I had been looking for a container for our paper recycling since our current solution was a cardboard shoebox that was starting to fall apart. The main criteria for the recycling container was that it had to have a lid because the baby is still in that phase where she will put random things in open containers. After scouring the internet, and ordering something from Amazon only to have it arrive broken, I thought we’d check out Ikea. And of course, they had the perfect thing for half the price of anything I saw online. We also found these hooded towels that were perfect size for the two little kids. They’ve outgrown the hooded towels from the baby years, but still like to be swathed post bath. I’d contemplated buying them a set from Pottery Barn or The Company Store, but, again, Ikea had the perfect thing for a fraction of the cost. And the Husband picked up a boot tray that he said was exactly what he needed for draining his plants. Again… perfect thing, fraction of the cost of buying a plant tray from the garden store. We also wanted to buy a mattress for the ten year old, but thought it’d be better to go when she could come with. We did not find a solution for shoe storage – the situation in our foyer with shoes has gotten out of hand. Everything we liked would have to be drilled into the wall, and we have vintage wood paneling that we are loath to drill into. (Later that day, the ten year old just took all the shoes out of the baskets and lined them up in the foyer. We’ll see how the “no storage” solution works… so far, it’s worked better than I thought.)
All in all, though, a very successful morning of errands. I’d forgotten how fun Ikea can be for kids. Every time we walked into one of their faux rooms, the kids were delighted. “I want to live here!” the toddler would say. And for lunch, we ate in the Ikea cafeteria and had meatballs, which felt like a treat.

I meal planned for the week based on the produce run.
Did not managed to re-assess my closet completely, but I did take everything out and purged some things that didn’t fit. Some of it, like the party dresses, I set aside for my daughters in case they want to them when they can fit in them (which is sooner than I think… the ten year old already wears tops and sweaters that don’t fit me anymore). The closet is a little cleaner, but the clothes to be put into storage or given to donation are now in piles all over the bedroom. A little bit at a time, I guess. I don’t love my options for workwear that I have, particularly for the still warmer weather we are having, but I think I will make do for now and resist buying more.
Did not order shoes, but did put some options in my shopping cart.
Did go to the pool one last time before it closed for the season.
Slow run/walk accomplished when the Husband took the kids with him to run errands one morning. Very very slow. I think I only managed to run about 3/4 miles of it. Small steps. Literally.
I did get to relax on the back patio with a book, and I managed to fit in reading a little bit of each book in my current rotation. I feel like I want to incorporate some kind of family reading time. The little kids don’t read yet, but they can sit with a Vox book. Maybe this is a cozy cooler weather aspiration.
Socks and underwear ordered for the kids. I don’t understand why so many companies sell underwear in packs of five.
Did not completely finish prepping my score for rehearsals, but I did put in a little bit of work time to finish timing the show off a video. Even though the video is not the version we are doing, watching it got me super excited to start rehearsals. The music is so good!
I did not bake muffins, but given the Costco run last week, we are pretty well stocked for snacks.
And, not on the list, but something that the Husband and ten year old have made into a family tradition of late – we finished off the weekend by watching and episode of Golden Girls and folding the laundry. (Well the baby didn’t really watch, but she did do summersaults onto the couch.)

All in all, a pretty good weekend.

Weekly recap + what we ate: Back to school and back to work

We are now into September! It seems like some switch of nature was flipped and starting on the first day of September we’ve been having breezy, cool morning. I would almost call them crisp! And the rest of the days have been warm, but not overbearingly so. I am glad for the shift away from the oppressive heat of this past summer months.

The two big kids started school this week. Starting before Labor Day still seems early to me, a kind of like a false start. And starting the Monday before Labor day certainly makes a long first week, particularly since I don’t believe we have any full weeks of school until October thanks to various holidays and half days.

I was a little nervous about the five year old starting a French Immersion program. It is total immersion – the teacher won’t speak English to the parents in front of the kids and parent volunteers are not allowed to speak English when they volunteer in the classroom. I’m excited to see how it all plays out, even though I have a billion questions in my head about the practicalities and logistics of how my son is going to get through his day. I have to remember that the program has been in place in our county for over 40 years, so I imagine they’re doing something right!

I did teach the five year old to say “les toilettes” before he started, though.

The ten year old’s bus didn’t come to the stop the first day so the Husband had to drive her to school. I’m so glad he took the morning off for the first day of school. I called the bus depot later that day and received a vague answer to my inquiries as to why the bus didn’t show. “The driver knows to stop there now. It will be there tomorrow,” I was told. And it was.

She is starting a new school, which I imagine must be tough to start new in fifth grade, but she seems to be liking it a lot. I certainly debated whether it was a good idea to pull her from her old school, and now I know for sure it was the right thing to do. She looks so much happier coming off the bus at the end of the day than she did last year. I’m kicking myself for not switching schools sooner, but hindsight is 20/20, they say.

With three kids at three different schools, I was a little nervous about morning logistics. The baby needs to be at daycare by 9, the five year old’s bus picks up at 9:06am at a location about a three minute drive away from home, and the ten year old’s bus comes at 9:00am, two blocks from our house. And through good luck and kind people, it’s been going pretty smoothly. We have neighbors whose oldest kid is also starting in the French immersion program, and whose youngest is in the same daycare class as the baby. So every morning the ten year old walks the baby to the neighbors and brings their older kid to our house. The neighbors do drop off and pick up for the two preschoolers. I take the two kindergarteners to the school bus, and the Husband picks them up from the bus stop at the end of the day. It works out well because my work day starts late and the Husband’s work day ends early whereas our neighbors have a more conventional work day so doing the bus run would be harder for them. It’s only been one week, but I’m optimistic that this can be a good long term solution.

So my first child free morning… I felt a little adrift. For three years, I’ve pretty much always had a kid with me when I wasn’t working – aside from my girls’ weekend earlier this year and that day the Husband and I went to New York. So with my kid free time, I ran some errands then decided to go to the local botanical gardens where I read my book for a little bit and had a phone call with my sister in law. Then one of my good friends texted, asking if I needed anything from Costco. And I texted back, “Can I come too?”

So yeah, I spent part of my first child-free morning at Costco. Buying all the snacks. I think there are times when I have to embrace the fact that I am a suburban mom. Mid morning Costco runs are one of those times. On the other hand, I love having errand dates with friends.

The last two days of the week I started back at work on a show that I’m very very excited about, Leonard Bernstein’s MASS. It’s a piece I’ve always wanted to work on, but it isn’t really an opera, and it requires a lot of singers and musicians so it’s not something I would have done in the course of my regular opera work. However, the symphony is doing the piece this month, and back in May when I found out my friend was stage managing it, I said, “I’m free in September, if you need an assistant.” And yay! Now I get to work on it. I’ve been listening to the music and the score is so so so good!

Some good things this week:

I confirmed dates for the supertitle job that I did last year. I’m really excited about being able to have more work dates to put in my calendar for the 2022-2023 season, plus I really do like doing supertitle work.
I found my work ID. I had thought I’d misplaced it but I found it right in time for my new gig. It’s such a silly thing, but finding it made me so happy.
I helped the 10 year old do something that I was kind of dreading and didn’t think I would have to do quite yet or be any good at. I’m being vague – it’s her story to tell, honestly, but it was a good bonding moment and I’m glad that we figured it out.
I met up with a friend for a walk, and we saw turtles in the pond along the trail! Also – this friend was just in Canada, and I half jokingly had asked her to bring me back wine gums since the baby had finished off the bag that I had brought home from our Montreal trip. Well my friend brought me back three bags! I was so excited.

I canned and froze a bunch of peaches. This was also a bit of a loss because I waited a bit too long to can the peaches and some of them had gone bad before I got to them, which made me sad. But I still got seven jars and two trays of August peaches to eat in January.

Peaches to remind me in January what summer tasted like.

Dance parties in the kitchen as I clean up from dinner. The ten year old is great at helping wipe down the table and sweep the dining room, but the two littles are less helpful. They do provide some entertainment with their kitchen dance parties. I don’t listen to music enough to curate a cleaning play list, but luckily many other people have and I’ll often just type “cleaning” into the Spotify search function and hit play on whatever play lists come up. Usually it’s something that makes for great dancing:

Such goofy dancers. And the dishes still undone.

The Husband and I rarely have the same taste in tv watching, but we found a show to binge together – The Year of the Rabbit. It’s on Britbox, so we signed up for the free week trial just to watch this show, which I had read about on the website FrockFlicks. Year of the Rabbit is a hilarious, bizarre, smart comedy about a trio of Victorian era policemen – well two policeman and one aspiring policewoman who is trying to fight the patriarchy. “That isn’t even a thing,” she is told at one point. It came out in 2019 and there are, sadly, only six episodes. But given the Husband and my terribly track record for finishing series, six episodes was a perfect length for binging. Highly recommend.

And here’s the obligatory first day of school picture:

We are headed into the last long weekend of the year. Plans and aspirations:
– Farmer’s market
-meal plan for the week. I’m working several nights, so I want to have solid dinner plans in place.
– Closet re-assessment, especially going into work season, figuring what I’m going to wear since nursing tanks and shorts isn’t really work appropriate.
-Order shoes. My current shoe have holes in the toes. I hate shoe shopping, so will probably just place a huge Zappos order and see what works.
-Pool with kids. Closing weekend of our pool so I want to get one more day in
– Renaissance Faire! I haven’t been since before the five year old was born, so I’m really looking forward to this. Huzzah!
-Run? I’m starting back into it now that I’m back at work. Going slow – a 1/4 mile at a time.
– Relax with a book. I like to rotate books, so I have in my current reading pile: Mother Trucker, The Self Driven Child, Boyfriend Material, Tiny Habits, and A Lovely War on audio.
– A little bit of work – I want to organize my score to feel better prepared for rehearsals to start on Monday.
– Order socks and underwear for the kids.
-Bake muffins for snacking next week.

What We Ate: I did clean out the pantry last weekend! I meal planned around some stuff that I wanted to eat up and made a mental note of things to use up in the near future. I gave myself permission to throw away the random ingredients that someone buys – usually from the Asian grocery store – because they they it will make me happy to figure out how to cook it (Good-bye, honey panko crumbs and dried lily root bulbs and five year old dried cranberries brought home from Canada.) And I set up a snack bin for the two big kids to be able to participate in packing their own lunches.

Actually the ten year old has mostly been packing her own lunches for a while, and I wanted to five year old to start doing it as well. It has been pretty hit or miss with him. I’ll make his sandwich and cut up the fruit and cucumber and he will put it all into his lunch box and then add a snack from the snack bin – I guess that is a good start. And then of course, one morning the baby pulled the lunch snack bin out of the pantry and got a pair of scissors and proceeded to cut open and eat a bunch of the snacks. This is why I can’t shower in the mornings.

We’re trying to have more vegan dinners this month and I managed three out of five weekday dinners to be vegan this week (Monday, Tuesay, and Thursday)- which I think is pretty good.

Saturday: Pizza at a birthday pool party.

Sunday: Pizza (made by the Husband) and Movie. Guardians of the Galaxy vol.2. Even though I hadn’t seen the first Guardian of the Galaxy movie, I was able to enjoy the second one without too much confusion. It was a surprisingly affecting movie.

Monday: Tempeh Arugula Sandwiches from Bad Manner’s Brave New World cookbook – I have the cookbook, but you can find the recipe here. These sandwiches were really good, though they involved a bit of prep – the tempeh had to be marinated and cooked ahead of time and so did the cashew cheese. But once I had all the elements of the sandwich, it was a pretty quick meal. I have to say, it was my first time making cashew cheese, and though I wouldn’t really call it cheese, it was certainly delicious and the leftovers made a great dip for tortilla chips.

Tuesday: Eggplant Pasta from Milk Street’s Tuesday Night Mediterranean. I also added zucchini because we had some to use up from last week.

Wednesday: Couscous with Tomatoes and Shrimp. The Husband was out that night, so I made shrimp, which he doesn’t usually care for. I used up half a package of couscous that had been lingering in the pantry. Recipe from Milk Street’s Tuesday Night Mediterranean.

Thursday: Instant Pot Black-eye Pea and Spinach curry from InstantPot Indian, eaten with naan. This was another of the pantry inspired meals. I was working this day so I wanted to make something for the family to eat in case I didn’t get home in time for dinner. The two littles pretty much ate the naan, but everyone else liked this a lot. I thought that bag of naan from Costco would last us for a few meals. I was wrong. We ate the whole bag.

Friday: Take out sandwiches enjoyed while chatting with friends and listening to music at the local golf courses’ Friday night music concerts.

Weekly recap + what we ate: the last week of summer!

The baby started daycare this week, and the two big kids start school on Monday. Three kids all starting new schools! And each kid will be at a different school. So three drop offs. Well, actually two drop offs because the ten year old’s bus picks up down the street.

I was feeling all the feelings when I dropped the baby at her first day of school. She has been home so long and I am going to miss having my little buddy with me. I was worried drop off would be hard, but she waltzed right in with nary a backward glance that first day. My friend said that this was probably a sign that she was ready to be with other kids. I think she was also a little lured by having a second breakfast. The next two days, though, there was more resistance, including one morning where the teacher pried a crying child out of my arms. But the last day of the week she was fine and walked right in. She was really excited because they had had water play the day before and wanted to do it again. Shhhh – don’t tell her that was the last water play day this summer.

We decided to have the five year old enroll in the French Immersion program – a decision influenced slightly by our trip to Montreal. To be honest, I’m still not convinced it’s the right choice, but we’re going to take it one year at a time. The ten year old is starting a new school – switching school for fifth grade is probably not the easiest thing, but I think we agreed that we gave the Mandarin immersion school a good try and it just wasn’t the best fit for us now and into the future. With so many options for school these days, I feel a lot of pressure to make the “right” choice for my kids. And that “right” choice not just for the person they are today, but for the person they will grow into and the world they will live in. And perhaps I’m overthinking this – after all, it is just elementary school.

This last week of summer, we were home. I wanted to take things easy for the kids and also I had several work and union calls sprinkled throughout the day. But the week turned out to be kind of the perfect “last week before school”.

We went school supply shopping! I tied very hard not to fill the shopping basket with things for myself. I did buy one pack of post-its in my favorite, but hard to find colour combination.

We had playdates. We finally met the neighbors across the street this summer – don’t know why it took four years. They actually are members at our pool, and one days at a swim meet, the ten year old said to me, “Those are the girls who live across the street.” And I went over and made friends. I feel like sometimes we get so caught up in living our lives – especially with COVID, that we forget to extend our social bonds. Anyhow, one afternoon this week, I sent the ten year old over to their house to play. And a few hours later they came over to our house to play. And they actually played – screen-free and with low/no parental intervention. It was amazing.

We went to a waterpark with friends. There is a small waterpark near us, but it is only open to County residents during weekdays. Weekend and holidays it is only open to residents of the city it’s in. So one day my friend took the day off work and we packed lunches in coolers, ad we took our kids. After we got used to the many rules, we all ended up having a great time. The ten year old convinced me to go on the really tall slides, and I’m so glad I did. There was one that was super fast and thrilling and one that was slower, where you could see the end coming with time to take a breath and close your eyes. I thought both were really fun, but I actually preferred the slower one – there was something so soothing about meandering down the twists and turns while gazing at the blue sky and clouds.

We went to the pool!

We went to the library and borrowed a bunch of books, including a whole slew of Vox books for the kids. Much as I like reading to them, sometimes it’s great that they can sit with a Vox book and be engrossed so I can get other things done. Definitely one of my favorite things lately for a screen free way to keep the little kids busy.

We had Open Houses for the schools. Both big kids had open houses on the same day, but at different schools. Thankfully the times were slightly staggered. Even still, I didn’t quite time things right and I think we ended up showing up to the last fifteen minutes of each open house. Note for next time: show up earlier if you want PTA ice cream. Even still we got to see the schools and talk to their teachers. Afterwards I took the kids for ice cream at one of my favorite ice cream places, Tropics Ice Cream and Jerk. They have lots of fruit flavors, which is what I like. I got my favorite passion fruit and lychee combination. I also found out that they sell Jamaican patties frozen by the case. Which was very exciting for me – their patties are really tasty and make a perfect lunch option. I think I might think about picking up a case or two in the future for some easy lunches.

Seeing friends – My mom’s group gathered for happy hour one night. Last night we went to hear music at the Golf Course with friends. The band was really fun and our kids went running off in all directions. The five year old found friends from his school and took off with them, kind of a first because he’s always been kind of clingy. We live in a pretty big metropolitan area so I don’t take for granted when we are somewhere and we run into people we know. The golf course concerts are perfect because it’s semi enclosed and very safe and we know our kid will find their way back to where we set up our picnic blankets and lawn chairs. Watching the kids run and dance and laugh and play made me feel like that was summer right here.

Eating summer produce. We don’t always get to the Farmer’s Market – and to be honest the produce is on the pricy side so it’s cheaper to drive twenty minutes to a farm stand – but one of my favorite vendors was having a peach sale, so I put in an order for a 1/2 bushel of peaches and a 1/2 bushel of peach seconds. It always seems like a lot of peaches when I bring them home, but I’ll can some peaches next week, and we’ve already eaten the seconds. We also picked up tomatoes and cucumbers and lots of other vegetables. For lunch that day, I had tomatoes, cucumbers and feta cheese. It was really tasty.

I did not get as much cleaning/purging done as I wanted. But I have big plans to tackle some of that this weekend. Also I really need to tackle my email box for the account I use to make purchases since I’m running out of storage, though that might not be a this weekend thing. Weekend plans/ aspirations:

go through pantry and organize. I want the big kids to pack their own lunches so I need to clear space in the pantry for them to have bins for lunch foods.
tidy toy room and guest room in anticipation of cleaners coming on Monday. The guest room has become a unintended office for me and the paper situation is a little out of control.
organize school supplies and backpacks.
Five year old has a birthday party invite that I’ll take him and the baby to. The Husband and the ten year old got invited to a football game.
Meal plan. We are toying with the idea of doing vegan week nights, so I need to dig a little to figure that out.
hopefully raft night at the pool for a lazy Sunday night before school starts.

Two more things this week:

How is “flowy” not a word!?!?!?! Have they never heard of a flowy skirt? Or flowy hair? Then the next word I tried was “Crony” and that was accepted. And now I have some irate internal monologue about patriarchy and the male-centeredness of Wordle.

And I’ll leave you with this – one day on the way home from school, the five year old suddenly flopped down in the grass next to the sidewalk with a big sigh. “I love shade!” he said with a smile on his face. And he’s right. Is there anything as delicious as a cool spot on the grass underneath a shady tree on a summer’s day? (okay, part of my brain screamed “TICKS!!!!” but I’m telling that part of my brain to shut up and just check for ticks when we get home.)

What We Ate:

Saturday: Home from Montreal. I think the grown ups decided we weren’t hungry because we were unpacking. The baby somehow managed to find a bag of wine gums and ate those. Right before bedtime, she says to me, “But we haven’t had dinner!”
And I say, half-jokingly, “But you ate all that candy!”
And she says, with a little giggle, “Oh, yeah. I forgot.” As if wine gums were a perfectly acceptable dinner.

Sunday: can’t remember. I think it was low effort frozen tortellini and jarred red sauce.

Monday: I went out for happy hour with my mom’s group. The Husband made breakfast sandwiches for the kids.

Tuesday: Chicken Tinga Tacos. Made simple cabbage slaw and pickled onions to eat with. The Husband has requested Taco Tuesday.

Wednesday: Ratatouille sheet pan gnocchi, based somewhat on this recipe. Baked gnocchi is a wonder! I used canned tomatoes instead of fresh, and I think it gave the dish a more saucy taste. Will make again.

Thursday: I was full from Happy Hour and then I went to the Kindergarten Back to School Night. The Husband, home with the kids, I think he fed them chicken salad and PB& J for dinner.

Friday: Sandwiches from our favorite deli, eaten at an outdoor concert. Along with ketchup chips. I brought back several bags of ketchup chips from Canada and I’m almost afraid to break into them because who know when I will get more. But I guess no one is enjoying them when they sit uneaten in the pantry…