We’ve had lots of great outings in the past few weeks. At the very top of the list was a trip to the Allentown Art Museum to see their current Haitian Art exhibit. For anyone local, especially those with any Haitian connection, this is a Must-See!
We went on a Sunday afternoon, expecting to just make a quick trip of it (assuming it would be a very small exhibit). It turned out to be one of the major current exhibitions at the museum, and Haiti and the Caribbean was the current theme of the entire Children and Family Gallery and Art Education Center. We spent the bulk of the afternoon at the museum and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It was such a pleasure to just soak in the Haitian art.
We invited Karl and Ralph, two of our Haitian friends, to come with us. Karl is a Lehigh alum (he was one of my favorite students, and now works at Lehigh in Communications). Ralph is a Lehigh sophomore — one of my current favorites. These guys are good friends of our family and it was a joy to spend a Sunday afternoon with them. We had them over for lunch and then we all took in the Haitian Art Exhibit together. It was a good and uplifting and memorable outing. We are so fortunate to have such great role models so actively involved in the lives of our sons.
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Last week was Lehigh’s Spring Break. Which meant (among other things), that I could chaperone a school field trip for Kyle’s class. Kyle is such a sweet boy and it is truly a pleasure to be around him. It is an extra pleasure to have the chance to see him with his friends. I borrowed Braydon’s minivan so that I could take six kids in my car! (I sure do hate all that the dang minivan represents, but I sure do love what the minivan can do!)
We went to an Indian Market about 45 minutes from the school. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire field trip, including the car trips to-and-from, and especially listening to those six kids in the backseat. I am so grateful for these glimpses into the lives of my kids. In that day I could see what a good friend Kyle is to his friends, and it made me so very proud of my boy.
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Meera has been doing serious time on the Turning-5-Years-Old Birthday Party Circuit in recent weeks. She’s gone to half a dozen birthday parties just since Christmas. Braydon has been putting in his time on the Socializing-With-Meera’s-Friends’-Parents Circuit. He’s taken her to every single one of those parties, and has done it well.
The birthday parties of middle-upper and upper-class little kids really needs to be the topic of serious sociological scrutiny. I really hope that someone out there is doing their dissertation on this because it is just chock full of stuff to be analyzed. Lucky for us all, I am not doing that research. It is better left to Braydon to represent us on that party circuit. (Speaking of sociology… and things that are better left un-analyzed by me… note that Meera’s favorite color, by far, is still pink pink pink pink pink.)
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While Meera and Braydon have been on the Birthday Party Circuit, the boys and I have been left to our own devices. Which has meant for some very nice mother-son time for us. One of K & O’s favorite outings is to go out for hibachi lunch at Kome. Owen eats his weight in teriyaki salmon. Kyle gets the steak.
They laugh hysterically at all the jokes, and ooooh and aaaaah at all the tricks, of the hibachi chefs. The hibachi performance just never gets old for these two bambinos. The luxury of being out with just the two of them is such a gift to me. When it is just the three of us I can thoroughly enjoy, and appreciate, the fun and soulful boys that they are. These two drive me absolutely nuts — and I often feel like they are pushing me to the brink of sanity — but there is nothing in the world I love and appreciate more than them. And there is nothing I’d rather do than be on an outing with K & O, watching them enjoy life to the max. And enjoy life to the max they do. They excel at that.
