We moved Lex into his first ever apartment this weekend. He’s living off-campus this year, with two of the guys from his campus apartment last year. They seem like a good group. One of his roommates who lives an hour away was there as well, with his family for a bit, unpacking and moving in. We had a nice chat. The boys have a nice apartment a few blocks from school. Second floor, three bedroom, classic old house with wood paneling, gypsum lath and plaster walls, and high ceilings. Lex has the smallest of the three rooms, but he seems fine with it. We bought him a new dresser, desk, mattress (he has a hand-me-down bedframe from a roommate who upgraded to a bigger bed), and window AC. The tenant before him left a pile of Christmas lights on the floor, so E and I put them up around the window for a little whimsy.
A cute little house…… on a cute little street.Building a dresser. They started it, but Eve finished it and built all the drawers.Building a desk.Photos by MemaGoats and musicCozy room with little sister resting on the bed.Good night.
Alan and Lex went out to buy an AC and some groceries while E and I finished building the furniture and unpacking his bags. We ordered pizza for dinner and finally said goodbye around 10pm.
I almost forgot to take a family photo! Fortunately I remembered, just as we were saying our goodbyes. I was sad to leave my baby, alone at night in that apartment by himself, but he was ready to settle in and start making it a home for the next year or two.
The next day he had his drumline audition. He’ll be playing Bass 2 again this year. He was hoping for snare, but he said bass is fun too and he’s just happy to be back on the field with his band friends. <3
I’m hanging out in Long Island for college stuff, but apparently I haven’t posted high school graduation stuff yet. Life is busy!
Last month sweet baby Eve graduated high school. Not sure how she went from a cuddly baldy to a high school graduate, but here we are. She graduated with honors, excellent grades, a solid friend group, and a plan for the future.
We had a beautiful evening for graduation. We hosted a party afterwards, that was a lot of fun, if you ignore the fact that it was very dark! I thought of everything except the fact that the sun would go down! LOL. We had fun anyway!
The next day we celebrated Mema’s birthday at the lake. :)
Happy Birthday to Mema! Happy Graduation to E! Happy summer to all! :)
My tiny baby boy entered a new decade last week! Years ago my grandpa made a comment about how we take so many more pictures of babies than of older people. That came back to me just now as I realized I only took two pictures of Lex on his 20th birthday, but probably a hundred on the actual day of his birth!
The pile was small, but high quality..The photos weren’t even good photos. Poor kid. I’ll have to do better on the 21st!
The weekend before, E and her friends went to Senior Prom. They took photos at the Powerhouse, had dinner at Panera, survived torrential rain to get there, then danced their hearts out at the Marriott.
We also attended the FRC wrap party on a recent weekend. E and her teammates designed trophies for the coaches and we 3D printed them. We had fun at the party and everyone enjoyed the awards.
G and E presenting the awards.The gold is their robot design. :)
I’m currently home alone, getting a tiny taste of the upcoming year. Lex and E drove to Worcester together to meet with Lex’s roommates and landlord for next year. They planned the trip, including extra time for whimsey, and seem to be having a great trip. They’ll be home soon. E sent me some photos while Lex and his roomies made plans. I can’t wait for the full update when they get home!
The living roomHis bedroom. Now to figure how to furnish it!
R spent the day sleeping, waking up at 4pm when I woke him!, then headed out to spend the evening with friends. I’ve been alone with the cat and dog for company.
We are skewing towards calm around here, but the chaos still rears up… usually around midnight! And I love it. <3
We had an exciting weekend in Long Island recently. Eve and I drove down late Thursday night, met up with Rosy, then spent Friday at Hofstra University for an Admitted Students Day. We talked to a bunch of people at the resource fair, met Kate (one of the mascots), had lunch in the dining hall, and got a personal tour of the dorms. The dorms are awesome! We’ve visited a lot of dorms over the past few years and these are by far the best!
We had a fun moment while we waited for our dorm tour guide to arrive. We were standing at the welcome table with several “Pride Guides” (student tour guides) around. One of them asked Eve if we’ve been there before because she recognized King Gerald! She was excited to hear that it was the same shark! She told us she actually has the King Gerald pin on her bulletin board! She brought a bunch of her friends and they all oohed and aahed over sharks, Gerald, and E’s artwork.
After we got done on campus we drove down to Jones Beach to dip our toes in the Atlantic. It was super windy and cold though, so it was a very brief visit, but fun nonetheless.
Then we did a little shopping and headed back to the hotel. Rosy and Eve were going to go swimming in the hotel pool, but everyone was tired so we rested for a bit first. Eve was restless and grumpy a bit, until she finally said “Would it be wild and crazy of me to just make a decision now?” I laughed and reminded her that deposits are due in two weeks so she’s going to have to make a decision soon! She said “I’m just going to go to Hofstra.” We snuggled up in her bed and used her phone to accept the offer and put down our deposit. Afterwards she was full of energy and happily went swimming with Rosy.
She’s going to Hofstra!!!
The next day we took the LIRR into the city to visit the NYC Aquarium. It took us three trains and lots of time to get there because it’s on Coney Island, and the weather was wet and drizzly the whole time, but it was well worth the trip! We saw a sea lion performance, otters, fish, and sharks! Eve was thrilled!
She looks ready for college, right? :)Coney Island Boardwalk
When then went back to Times Square and braved the elements to get some dinner and make it to our show. Rosy wanted a diner and we ended up at the Westway Diner, which apparently is where Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld first came up with the idea for Seinfeld. Who knew?! It was pretty tasty diner food. :)
We rounded out our adventure with tickets to Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty-Sided Tavern, an interactive Dungeons & Dragons production at Studio 42. It was a ton of fun and absolutely hysterical. You use your phone for the interactivity part and they said photography is welcome, so we took some pictures! On the LIRR on the way back to the hotel, E posted a picture from the show and tagged the guy. Much to her surprise, he reposted it on his account! They ended up having a friendly back and forth for a little while. She loved it.
Sunday we said goodbye to Rosy over waffles then headed home. Eve wanted to take the ferry so we did a little exploration in Port Jeff while we waited for the ferry. Eve and I are very slow travelers, in a most whimsical way, so we got home late on Sunday, but it was a great weekend. Alan babysat Huxley for us and provided excellent pick-up and delivery service.
Gerald loves the sea!We let Gerald “drive” while we were on the ferry.
Now that Eve has made this big decision, we move on to the next thing….
I’m a little behind on the postings, but I can’t miss this big one! The last of my babies turned 18. We’re all grown-ups around here now! Kinda. LOL.
We celebrated with robotics, painting, muppets, and sushi. I took the birthday squad out for pottery painting and dinner. I thought we could go to a restaurant, but after much discussion they decided to get sushi take out and watch the Muppet Movie at home. They were all wound up after painting, so I drove to the local park and kicked them out to run around for a bit while we waited for our sushi order to be ready. They maybe be growing up, but they are still the goofy kids I know and love. <3
This year Lex and River are both going to be at college for election day, so we all voted by mail together. (This was a few weeks ago, I just forgot to post it then.) It was nice to be able discuss the ballot together, talk about the candidates, and let the boys hear my thought process. Alan was there too, so they got some of his insight as well. Of course we all made our own decisions and completed our own ballots.
My first time voting was at the campus center at Syracuse University. I went into the booth and pulled a big lever to vote for Bill Clinton. That was probably a more memorable experience that Lex and River got, but I think this election is more critical! I’m glad they both got the chance to vote. It’s their first presidential election, but, let’s hope, not their last!
Hard to believe, but Miss Eve, now Everly, is graduating this year. We had her senior pictures taken last weekend. We went to a waterfall we found over the summer. She wanted the woodland fairy vibe and she wanted to splash in the water, so it seemed like the best place. Her friend Simon joined us to get his pictures done as well. We had fun and I’m excited to get the professional pictures back! In the meantime, here are a few that Alan and I took. :)
Welcome to Back to School season! This year we had a pretty staggered start to the school year. E started yesterday, R started last week, and L started a few days before that. I did not start at all, however I did celebrate my one year anniversary at the Howe Library yesterday.
1st-ish week of sophomore year at WPI
1st day of classes at RIT
First day of senior year
The final picture frame photo. :(
One year (and one day) at the library!
I’ve been missing the drama of the start of school a little bit. Not the stress that goes along with the drama, but a school is such a big, strong community and over the years you build your place within it. When you leave, the community goes on. Obviously. This year there is drama at the district level and a mold contamination in my (old) building that’s required multiple classrooms to move, multiple grades to start a week later, and teachers are scrambling. I hear there’s a class room stationed in the library. I miss the drama, but also happy I’m not in it. Weird how two things can be true at once.
Anyway, the kids are all back at school and doing well. <3
We had another graduation celebration last weekend. This time for the middle kid. Family from all sides and places came. It was a little anxiety laden IMHO before the weekend, but all went very well and we now have two high school graduates in the house. Three, if you include me. :)
The rain held off for most of the ceremony, with only a quick downpour while the valedictorian gave his speech. Poor guy. We all just put up the umbrellas and got through it. By the time they were handing out diplomas, the rain had passed, leaving a rainbow and fiery red/orange sky in it’s wake.
The valedictorian giving his speech in the rain. The superintendent was nice enough to hold an umbrella over his head. :)
This is blurry because it’s a zoomed in screenshot from the livestream recording on YouTube.
River and El.
After graduation, River spent the evening with his bio-siblings while we the rest of us went back to my house for an exciting evening of hanging out. :) The next day we took a little “hike” on the Appalachian Trail (about 100 yards, but long enough for me to step in dog poop 🤢😡), visited a nearby waterfall, accidentally harassed a homeless person at the park, and then went to check out Mema and Tom’s tiny house lakefront rental. We enjoyed the day and delicious, lake-side dinner at the Baited Hook.
It was a really nice weekend full of family, love, and celebration.
Local and primary elections were today and Lex coincidentally happened to be home between terms, so I took him to vote! Last night we reviewed the ballots, discussed the candidates, did some research on the additional budget questions, and made a plan to vote. He was pretty into it. Today after work (me) and DND (him), we went over to the high school. He was already registered, so it was quick and easy to get the ballots and fill them out. Weirdly, there was a huge line for the tabulator machines! We waited for a little over a half an hour, chatting about all sorts of things, then it was our turn. I asked the poll worker standing by the machine if I would be allowed to take a picture, she said sure, then congratulated Lex on his first time voting. 😄
I’m proud of this young man and I’m happy that I got to experience grownup milestone with him. 🇺🇲
