Catch-Up (By No Means a Catch-All) [1 of 2]

That’s all five of us together. We have very few photos of the five of us together. So, for no other reason, I put that up at the top of this blog post. A post which will be pathetically superficial and shallow and very-non-representative of our real life. Because. Well. Because that’s all I’ve got right now. Our life has been so over-the-top fast-paced that I just haven’t been able to fit in reflecting upon it via the blog (regular readers might have noticed: for the past several weeks there’s been just about nothin’ from me on this here old blog). The way I look at it, superficial and shallow and very-non-representative is at least something.

The truth is, sometimes I am just too dang busy to blog. I know, I know, “busy”…. ugh…. “busy”… busy is a relative word (what is “busy” to some is not “busy” to others)…. and “busy” is such a loaded buzz word these days. I refuse to get into that ridiculous, and oh-so-very-popular, “busy competition” of who is more busy that who — God, do I ever hate that game. But, fact: I am super (ridiculously) busy (“busy” defined: “having a great deal to do”). And, fact: I am proud of how much we cram into this short little life we’ve got to live. If we didn’t take time to smell the roses as we go, then it would be highly problematic. But, we do, indeed, take time to smell the roses, so I’ll defend our lifestyle and good and the right kind of life for us. I am known amongst three certain kids on this planet to be regularly reminding them that “you only live once!” and, thus, you should “go for it!” and “make the most of it!” And I’m not ashamed of that way of approaching the one life we’ve got to live.

Make the most of it we do. But lately, there’s been so much, moving so quickly, that I truly could not take the time out to blog it (forcing myself to spend the time to blog would have meant sacrificing those too-few moments of stillness). But I do want to blog it. Because I want to remember at least some of it — I want to try to chronicle some fragment of it — no matter how pathetically superficial and shallow and very-non-representative of our real life that “some of it” might be.

So, here goes. In absolutely no particular order (not chronological, or otherwise). A quick catch-up, barely scratching the surface, on a little bit of some of what we’ve been up to over the past few weeks.

Just as spring gets really beautiful the academic grind gets really ramped up to a grueling and impossible pace around here. I am so grateful to have Dash now, for many reasons. But one of the big reasons is this: using him for a good excuse, I take a walk in the woods every morning. Lehigh has more than 2,000 acres of protected woodlands, right outside our door, with incredible paths throughout. This is one of the reasons I really love living here on campus. Every morning, as soon as the kids are off to school, at 7:30am, when all is very quiet on a university campus, Dash and I head out into the woods.

So, despite the fact that I was more crazed than ever this spring (the ratcheting up of the end-of-academic-year insanity seems to be getting worse by the year), for the first time in many springs, I was able to fully immerse myself in the beauty of it, and appreciate it very fully, for at least 30 minutes every morning. After a very long winter of trudging through the snow and ice in these woods, it was just an astoundingly beautiful experience to watch spring bloom day-by-day.

Somewhere tucked into that jam-packed spring was our favorite event of the year at LU: the Community Service Office’s outreach festival for the South Bethlehem community — Spring Fling. Because Kyle and Owen play baseball for their actual local team (based on their actual residential address; i.e. not fudging it like many families do) — South Side Little League is our team. And as a result, Kyle and Owen have real friends, who are their teammates, in South Bethlehem. One of the highlights of the year for me was watching my boys (professor’s kids) run around the lawn of the University Center with a pack of their good friends (South Side kids). To say that this (genuine relationships between Lehigh faculty folks and South Side folks — let alone their kids) is rare is the understatement of the year. In fact, for real, I think it is unique. We love it in its entirety. Here are K & O with a few of their friends at Spring Fling — somehow Lehigh photographer Christa Neu was able to get these guys to stand still for half a second in order to capture this amazing photo ~

And here’s Meera, doing her thing at Spring Fling (she also rode a mechanical shark like a champ, but that’s a whole other story) ~

We also went to another of our favorite campus spring events: the International Bazaar ~

And there was the 3rd Grade Wax Museum at the bambinos’ school. This was the culmination of weeks and weeks of hard work studying “famous Pennsylvanians” (OMG how am I ever going to survive so many more years of school projects?!?!). Owen chose (and ultimately, became) Kobe Bryant ~

Kyle was Ben Franklin ~

Classic choices for these two very similar, and very dissimilar too, twins. (Note: in a similar vein, earlier this year, for a different project, Owen chose Walt Disney, and Kyle chose Abraham Lincoln.) Anyway, the thing that struck me the most about the entire “Famous Pennsylvanians” project was when I saw Kyle’s drawing of Ben Franklin. One of the (many) parts of the project was to “create a postage stamp portraying their chosen person.” I was awe-struck by the fact that Kyle portrayed Ben Franklin very purposefully with clearly dark brown skin. Fascinating!! Right?!! Fascinating I tell you! Everyday absolutely fascinating stuff is going on left and right all around me with these three incredibly interesting kids of mine.

Meera’s big spring school project was the Kindergarten Science Expo. I was awe-struck at that too — but this time by whoever had the stroke of genius to plan for the kindergarteners’ ‘5th Grade Buddies’ to partner up with them during the expo. Meera’s big buddy was there with her every minute of the expo, helping her to field questions, make her science experiment run, manage the messes, and sooth the nerves of a little girl doing her first big expo event. Genius I tell you! I love this school. They are pure genius at work there!

Oh. And the boys got new bikes this spring. So, yes, there was that. And of course, with new bikes they can now take their biking to a whole new level.

This photo is deceiving. It looks pretty tame, but if you look closely you see that both wheels are actually off the ground ~

Meera falls more and more in love with this dog every day. They have a special relationship ~

There was a trip to the dentist. This seems mundane, I know. The dentist. But it was so not mundane. Because, of course it was not. After Owen’s cleaning was done it was Meera’s turn. And Owen politely requested to be able to observe. The dentist’s office was excited about his interest/passion for the subject of dentistry, and thus were extremely accommodating to what they saw as a potential-future-medical-professional. They placed a chair next to Meera and talked Owen through the entire check-up and cleaning, explaining every tool, and answering all of his (many, many) questions. The dental hygienist and the dentist were both in on this, and caused quite a stir throughout the entire office. (Meanwhile Kyle sat in the waiting room playing with an iPad; he has zero interest in watching people scrape plaque off of his little sister’s teeth.) It was seriously the craziest trip to the dentist I’ve ever experienced.

The main reason for this trip has always been to spend Easter with Grandpa Les. This year it was an especially poignant and memorable visit. Grandpa Les was in decline, and I think we knew it would be the last time we’d see him. He was about to turn 99 years old. And we knew his time with us on earth was coming to a close. Here we are with my beloved grandfather on Easter Sunday 2014 ~

We all returned to Worcester 5 weeks later for Grandpa Les’s funeral. It was a beautiful service honoring and celebrating his long life. We didn’t take photos on that trip (for obvious reasons). But Braydon did snap this one of Meera with two of her “cousins” (my cousins’ kids; I guess that makes them Second Cousins?) ~

There was a trip to Washington, DC to get together with Braydon’s side of the family to celebrate Auntie Sabrina’s 40th birthday. We spent a beautiful spring day at the National Arboretum, which was in full bloom at that time.

This year was Kyle and Owen’s 2nd Annual Weekend Away with MorMor and MorFar (this was their birthday present, and cousin Sadie’s birthday present, from their grandparents). This year they went to Boston for a Red Sox game at Fenway Park (huge deal for K & O!), and then on to Cape Cod for a whale watch! From all accounts it was a great time (photos thanks to MorMor and MorFar) ~

While the brothers were away, Mommy and Papi took Meera for her own special weekend away in Baltimore. This was just as much for Braydon and me as it was for Meera — a little lux get-away for just the three of us. Our rule for the weekend was to do absolutely NOTHING we would do if Kyle and Owen had been with us. According to Meera, “No Sports!” was the golden rule. We vowed to not even eat in a restaurant that had sports on tv. We had an amazing weekend full of art, fashion, shopping, and eating (wow, we had some good food!). Meera’s favorite thing to do in a hotel is to order take-out Chinese food and eat in the hotel room while watching tv; we have done this a few times in the past, and seriously, she loves this… so, we obliged her wishes and did that one of our nights in Baltimore). The whole weekend was sort of heavenly for us three. It is so special to get time alone with one of our kids, and doing it is always a reminder of how important it is to do.

Dash had to stay with friends for most of these trips. He had some fun himself, getting spoiled rotten by various people who doted on him while we were away (he stayed with three different people/families over the course of these various trips). His favorite memory, though, I’m sure, (or maybe it was just my favorite memory?!?), was when Liana and Mike took it upon themselves to take Dash on a day trip to the beach!

(post 2 of 2 here)