Graduation!

On Friday, we celebrated 2 graduations in our family.   Alaina "graduated" from her elementary school, and Ethan graduated from middle school.

Alaina's 4th grade promotion was a short morning ceremony.   The class sang a few songs and a few of the kids spoke about their favorite school memories.  We have been taking a kid to that elementary school for 9 years, so it will be a transition for us to no longer go there.   Middle school, here comes Alaina!

In the afternoon, Ethan had his 8th grade graduation, which had more of the usual pomp and circumstance.   The kids were individually recognized, and each received ribbons and a diploma.  Jeremy, Gary and Eileen came up from Southern California, and my dad and Marilynn were there as well.   

  

Afterwards, we had a nice dinner at Perrys to celebrate the occasion, followed by cake at home.   

 

My dad gave him a pretty cool graduation present--he framed his first check that he got from working at Kumon!

Then Ethan left to attend his 8th grade promotion party where he celebrated with his classmates.  Though we really have no idea what went on, he did come home with a cup full of candy and told us that basically he just ate and jumped around the whole time.  

 Anyhow, this is an interesting inflection point for Ethan--he is leaving all of his classmates to head to high school in the city.   By the end of his time at middle school, he definitely felt "done"--he has been frustrated by the lack of challenge and the social scene there.   I hope our switch next school year will be a better fit for him!

Reflections at 44

 This past Monday, I celebrated by 44th birthday.   44 is somewhat of an unremarkable year, I suppose.   At first for my birthday, I was feeling sad, because Jason was out of town, and I had to work.   

But actually, as I really began to reflect, I snapped out of it because really, what do I have to be sad about?

I have a wonderful family, a beautiful home, a great job, and importantly everyone is healthy.  I am pretty lucky.   So I spent the day feeling grateful for all I have, which really is the best birthday present ever.

Piano Recital

 This weekend was pretty quiet--relatively speaking.   We only had a piano recital, an 18th birthday party, softball practice, and a Girl Scout meeting, lol.

The highlight of course was the piano recital.   The kids both did ok, having probably not practiced as much as they should have before hand.   Ethan played the first part of the Joplin's entertainer, which is a pretty difficult song to play.

On Saturday, we also celebrated Alexandra's 18th birthday with Marcy and Jason's cousin Becky.   We went to a Japanese restaurant in Petaluma.   It was the first time we had been to Japanese sinc

e our trip to Japan and the kids were excited to try their favorites here in the US.   Ethan had Tonkasu and Alaina Gyoza.   It was very good--but the kids tell me, not as good as Japan.   Spoiled kids.

Memorial Day Weekend

 We had a nice long weekend, which was definitely needed!   We split the time between Sacramento, where Alaina played in her first summer softball tournament, and our cabin.

During the drive were were amazed at how green California still is for late May--its like all the water this winter has finally rehydrated everything.

We still have a lot of snow at the cabin--the beach is totally covered and the lake is mostly covered too.   I guess when you get 753" of snow in one winter it must take a while to melt!  No cleaning up the beach or our property or collecting kindling this Memorial Day.   It was incredible to see the damage the snow caused to the roads, street signs and even some houses.   It was a powerful winter!

Alaina continued playing softball--this time with snowballs!

The weather was in the mid 50s and mostly sunny, so even though we couldn't hike in the snow, we did get out to walk/bike in the neighborhood.

 

Our Memorial Day BBQ was indoors though--too chilly to eat outside.

A nice break from work.   The kids have 3 weeks of school left and are counting down the days!

Second Place Softball Season

 This weekend marked the end of Alaina's rec softball season.   She played well and had a great team.   The past weekend was the playoffs--21 teams in Marin competed to play in the championship--and her team made it to the game!

  Unfortunately, they did not win, losing quite substantially 12-3, but the umps did seem to favor the other team!

So her team received 2nd place trophies.   This is the second second-place trophy she has gotten this season.   Earlier this spring she also played on our town's all-star team, where her team, again, came in second.

Though there were a lot of tears shed by girls on the team, Alaina didn't seem to mind coming in second too much.   She just isn't THAT competitive.  

But, actually it has been a lot of fun watching her play and gain confidence this season.   She is going to play travel ball again this summer, so we have more softball ahead of us.

Working man

 

This spring, Ethan has not one, but two jobs!   After turning 14, he was eligible to work at Kumon, as a grader.  Now he goes there every Monday and Thursday after school and corrects kids' homework and helps them in class.   As a bonus, Alaina is a student, so he gets to correct her work too (which sometimes presents a bit of a conflict of interest......).   Any way, he gets paid 0.50 over minimum wage, which in California is a sweet $15.50 an hour.  Not too bad!

Also this spring, he is working as a little league umpire.   He has umped a few games, and tells us that it is "boring".   But he does get paid $40/game--pretty good money at age 14, so I guess the boredom is worth it.

Last week, Jason brought him to the bank and helped him set up his own checking account.  He now has a debit card, linked to Apple Pay...so he can charge away!   Financial independence!

Grandma Ferschl

 Today would have been my Grandma Ferschl's 100th birthday, had she not died in November of 2020 at the age of 97.5.  We had always talked about throwing a big 100th birthday party for her when she was alive--I know she really had hoped to make it--and was looking forward to it despite her religion.   I am sad that she didn't make it to this day.  Unfortunately, the pandemic likely made her final days much more difficult, being isolated and probably quite lonely.   The last time I saw her was through a window at her assisted living facility.   

I sure wish we could be together celebrating today--I can hear her now, in my head, ordering a steak from Alioto's, cooked extra-well done, "like a hockey puck", and maybe drinking a 7 and 7.   I miss her smile and her laugh, the snacks she alway put out for us when we came for a visit, her cooing over the kid's dimples.  But mostly, I just miss her.   Happy Birthday Grandma!