summer of fun 2013

things I want to do this summer

1.  go to hamilton pool
2.  catch fireflies
3.  have one picnic a week
4.  bellaire aquatic center as many times as possible
5.  a family trip with just my people, no one else
6.  get annabelle reading, really reading
7.  get tallulah to learn her letters
8.  read the borrowers, on the banks of plum creek, the other astrid lindgren series about the boy detective
9.  find a lighthouse
10.  musuems
11.  fireworks
12.  be bored
13.  sprinkler fun
14.  lose the training wheels
15.  find  lighthouse

who is in????

Weekend happenings

We live in an international time in an international city, at least according to all the press Houston is getting lately for being so cool. I am not sure how I feel about this because sometimes I think that all of this worldliness dilutes us, but I guess if I really felt strongly about this I would live elsewhere and have married differently.

This weekend started out with a trip to greekfest. The kids tanked up on gyro meat and learned about the traditional clothing of Crete. And there was dancing, of course and now I have a 5 year old who wants to go to Crete.

Saturday marked the end of soccer season . H was one of the coaches and I was very proud of his involvement. The kids all seemed to really like him, too. One kid asked Annabelle, "does your dad have a black belt?" Awesomeness.

Then on Saturday night we headed to Miller Outdoor Theater to see a performance of la boheme. Miller Outdoor Theater might be the coolest thing about cool Houston. They provide free, world class entertainment for the whole city to enjoy all while eating a picnic supper. We weren't sure how opera would go over with the 2 and 5 year old crowd, but figured that if you re going to introduce your kids to it, this is the way to do it.    Personally I will always think of this performance as "la bathroom," because I took Tallulah there 4 times including once for a poop accident. Tallulah was content as long as she had a cupcake, and since I had 6 of them and since she is a slow eater, I was able to read the libretto to Annabelle. Annabelle fell in love with Mimi and when I returned from one of my trips to the loo with Miss Luu she was  overjoyed to tell me that Mimi decided to stay with Rodolfo .

And then came act four.   There questions like, " Is that the doctor??"  "Is the doctor coming soon?? "  And then the realization, " mommy I don't think the doctor is going to make it in time." In the end she was crying and told us she "hated this opera" which is strong for her because she thinks hate is a bad word, which, of course, it is. Hyphen snapped a picture of her anguish with his phone, you can almost see it in the dark .

Then today after mass, we headed to Chinatown to eat at Tan Tan. Annabelle asked why we always have to eat at Japanese restaurants, to which I replied " because you are half Japanese." And that's how your dad got his black belt and why he can wax the car so well.

Annabelle and her BFF Greek dancing

I hate this opera

When in Chinatown eat as the Chinamen do.

I wanna be a Vietnamese vaquero

H : "It's hard to drive with a cowboy hat on."

Me: how did the cowboys do it?

H: I don't know, but I am pretty sure they weren't in a mini van.

a glimpse of things to come

We went to Oil Ranch today, out in Hockley.  It's one of those places that has pony rides and playgrounds and teepees and a train ride and a barn with animals and a hayloft.

We went with some other moms, one of whom is the mother to a boy we have known since Annabelle was six months old. This kid is a real rounder, full of piss and vinegar, as my dad does indeed say, and a kid who I legitimately like, not in the patronizing way in which adults like children, but in the way a person enjoys another person's company.

In the way of life long friendships between 5 year olds, Annabelle and The Boy alternate between fighting, bossing each other around and playing beautifully together and today was no exception.

They were in the hayloft, jumping and sliding and then The Boy's mother had to take some other kids to the bathroom and he was left in my care.  By this time, things had settled down in the barn and it was just us in the hayloft.  Someone, someone who clearly doesn't understand how hard it is to get hay off of a fleece jacket, suggested that we bury The Boy in hay before his mom came back and then scare her.  The Boy, being an adventurous sort, was game, with one caveat--no hay in his face.

So he and Annabelle set about burying him in hay and after while some hay got in his face and he asked Annabelle if she could get it out.  She obliged. She obliged with gentleness, with tenderness-- removing little pieces of hay from his hair, around his nose, the freckles on his cheeks and in the corners of his eyes.  His eyes were closed and his face was peaceful and relaxed, and he had a slight smile.  She obliged and I watched and I felt queer in my stomach.  I felt like I was removed from them and they from me.  I felt like I was intruding, that maybe I should look away, but I was transfixed by a request so small and in some way so meaningful.  It was ineffable.

And it is inevitable.  Someday, if Annabelle is very lucky, she will fall in love and have a moment like this that is real.  Right now, she is five, and has an age appropriate understanding of what romantic love is.  I am not one that tries to tag children with adult emotions and by no means think she has a crush on this boy, or likes him in any other than a 5 year old way, especially given the other night at soccer when he pushed her and knocked over her water bottle and she retaliated by kicking him a little bit too high in the leg with her cleats on...allegedly.  

But someday, she and her sister will fall in love and touch a boy's face with real tenderness and until that day part of our job as their parents is to show them what love looks like, and teach them how to love and be loved, not only for them but for society as a whole.

It makes me happy.  It makes me sad.

The word I am looking for is bittersweet.    

when you fall out of love...

A long time ago, I would have stayed up late for this.  I would have been looking forward to it with baited breath.  But not anymore, frankly, I could give a flying f!@# (as my mom says my dad says, but really only she says).  I might have dvr'd it and laughed at his glibness and then called my parents to see if they saw him, which of course they would have because they are old and still watch Leno, all the while listening to my husband say what a moron he is.  I would have provocatively said"you're not jealous are you?" and then given him a wet kiss just below his ear on his neck in a way that H would know I was really thinking of him, my one celebrity crush.

But not any more.

Screw you Matt Lauer.  You got Ann Curry fired and now I hate you forever.