Family

Easter. Kids got a bunch of eggs and other treats at home, we met up with the Polish side of the family at L&D’s for more eggs and smoked meat. We learned that Chilkat cannot stand in front of KrisDi for photos anymore, but we’re still a cute family.

Chilkat and Chilkoot drew pictures inside of little leaves for their theater production’s poster.

Chilkoot and I went to a Mariners game with his Scouts troop. He got tired of it around the fifth inning and we went home.

Mommy Son Day: Main event was iFly “indoor skydiving,” soccer, baseball, bowling, iceskating. I know they went to IHOP for breakfast, but don’t know what else they ate.

Daddy Daughter Day: I was there, so I have more to say about this one. Chilkat and I went to Original Pancake House for breakfast (I had an apple pancake), went to Third Place Books in Seattle (almost had a meltdown because I would only buy her one $25 book and I made her pick), visited a park, then she painted a ceramic dino at Paint the Town, then we went a Dave and Buster’s. We spent something like $60 on video games. We ate lunch there, but they were super duper slow and it wasn’t particularly good. We went to another park, then a more indie / retro arcade filled with mostly old arcade machines that ran on actual coins. We ended up in an awkward timing scenario, and decided to get quick food at an Amazon Go store (which is weird, because you just pick stuff up and walk out, and it charges you based on what the camera systems observed you took with you). Unfortunately, Chilkat forgot she didn’t have enough food for crunchy things. We had planned to go to Cold Stone after that, but the line was super long, so we went back to the Amazon Go store and got ice cream. Then we went to see the movie Bad Guys and went home for bed. Chilkat’s favorite part was, “All of it.”

KrisDi went to Phoenix, cruelly abandoning me to the whims of our children. It reminded me that no matter how much I appreciate KrisDi, it’s not enough. Parenting is hard, especial with lots of stuff that needs to happen. I ended up missing some work and skipping an important meeting to help Chilkat with a math evaluation that she had ignored for eight days to start the morning it was due.

I had to do Chilkat’s hair for one rehearsal. There were covid cases in Chilkat’s classroom, so we had to keep testing her before sending her to rehearsal. She remained negative. We didn’t really have time for a regular trucknic in KrisDi’s absence, so we just ate ice cream back there.

I mentioned in a previous post that baseball started, one thing led to another and we got a new TV. I built a 20″ extender frame on the wall out of 2×4 to install the extendible TV mount so I can actually see the whole TV from my spot on the couch.

Meanwhile, KrisDi got to eat Portillo’s and In & Out and meet up with a friend at the Arizona Wilderness brewery. I mean, I guess she also had to give a presentation on short notice.

P Dubs and T Dog had their baby, healthy little boy I guess I’ll be calling D Dubs. We got to go visit him for a bit.

KrisDi and the kids completely emptied out the toy closet, got rid of roughly one small truckload of toys (~5% of total), and put stuff back in a relatively organized fashion.

The kids had spring break. We didn’t have any big plans, but we did get a reservation at a wizard/magic themed restaurant called the Splintered Wand, which had lots of strange magic-related decorations, staff in costumes, and a wand bar (wand store?) where we let the kids get their own special wands. They also had an interesting food menu and apparently one of the more diverse absinthe menus.

Aside from that…the kids mostly loitered around the house while KrisDi and I worked for spring break.

KrisDi and the kids dyed eggs in preparation for Easter. They used the shaving cream and gel dye method again.

Chilkat lost one tooth immediately before her last dental appointment (because she was terrified of the dentist doing it). The dentist found a few cavities that needed attention. When we brought her back for the fillings, the dentist also yanked four other loose teeth, all four on top, leaving her with only one opposing pair of molars to chew with.

The beginning of April was dominated by the kids’ theater stuff. KrisDi and I (and our nice cameras) were volunteered as the photographers, so we hosted headshot day (all the kids come to our house to try to take head/shoulders shots for the playbill). Of course, this involves a fair amount of shenanigans, such as goofy poses, bubble machines, and swordplay.

We also took a bunch of photos at a couple of rehearsals and the costume fitting.

Other stuff:

• KrisDi, Chilkat, and Big D went out shopping for dresses in preparation for the Dubs’ wedding this summer. I think they took separate trips — KrisDi and her mom, Chilkat and her mom.
• We finally got together with the False Alarm girls to exchange Christmas presents.
• KrisDi cleaned out the freezers. It had been so long that she found a teething ring in there.
• I finally got back together with my friend Mr. JJ for lunch.
• I had my first business dinner in years — we went to an Indian restaurant with a Belgian guy. It was nice.
• Baseball season started, so we get to start watching the White Sox lose again.

I’ve let myself get behind again. So sue me.

Flowers started blooming. KrisDi’s efforts to floralize our yard started a couple years ago. This year’s bunny population is smaller than last year’s, but we’re still losing some pretty little soldiers.

Our contractor finished painting our trim white. It looks nice.

We had a birthday get-together with the Popes, covering me, Chilkat, and one of the Popes. The Pope and I drank some of the whisky I gave him for Christmas. We ate lots of stuff. It was nice. Mom got to participate!

KrisDi made a carrot cake in the shape of a ceramic ring gage for me. I was kind of joking when I suggested it, but of course KrisDi ran with it. And of course I ate the whole thing. Well, Mom ate some, too.

Belated Grandma Christmas finally happened. Very belated because (1) Mom moved to New Mexico, which interrupted Christmas plans and (2) omicron interrupted our plans for her to visit earlier in the year (I no longer even remember what the original plan was). Mom gave the kids family heirlooms — Chilkoot got a slide rule and Chilkat got a horse statuette. Aside from the traditional family photo calendar, we helped mom get some furniture, but we did not present anything of this at official Grandma Christmas Time ™.

We finally got a chance to meet Miss K’s daughter, our new Granddaughter A. Granddaughter A was not so sure about us.

School photo time came and went and we received the photos. Chilkat, Chilkoot, and Chilkat + Chilkoot.

Chilkoot’s scouts troop did a little hike at Mercer Slough, where we got to see a bat skeleton as well as a bat.

The next Kettleworks production started rehearsing. Chilkat has one of the lead roles, Dot, an anxious cow.

My friends B and C came over one night for dinner and a flight of big Fremont barleywines.

HB came over the next day to share some of his beer with me and let our kids play together.

My work “Beer of the Week” group selected a malt liquor, which was fun but not delicious.

P Dubs and T Dog had their kid, whom I guess I will be calling D Dubs. Everyone’s doing fine. Chilkat was actually willing to hold him, but we had to strongly encourage Chilkoot to do so. Not sure what his hesitation was, but we could only get him to do it by letting him sit on a couch with a pillow on his lap, and putting the baby on the pillow. Both of them adore him. As I’ve told KrisDi several times since he was born…he’s cute, I can see P & T are going through a wonderful time in their life, and I’m super glad I don’t have another kid that age.

Mom came out to visit, a delay from her originally scheduled visit (I think February was the original plan) when omicron was raging. We didn’t have any major mom-related plans, she was mostly just hanging around with us while we lived our normal life, which included a large number of things.

The kids had their auditions for the next Kettleworks show, which is about a bunch of toys and is set mostly inside a claw game. Chilkat got the lead role of Dot, an anxious cow, which I thought was kind of funny because I’d had a conversation with the director a month or two previously where I said something along the lines of, “Chilkat was born to play characters with anxiety.” Chilkoot is playing several supporting roles. KrisDi and I are the photographers again.

Because of JTF and our trip to Hawaii, Chilkat didn’t get a regular old birthday party. So, she had a small party/sleepover with three of her friends, followed by “family” party. I still don’t fully understand, but she chose cactus and tacos as her birthday theme, so of course KrisDi complied magnificently. We ended up eating tacos or variations on tacos for like 80% of meals for a week.

KrisDi (“and I”) had gotten Chilkat tickets to see the Wailin’ Jennys for Christmas, and I don’t remember if this was the original schedule or if it was delayed due to pandemic stuff, but we got to take the kids to go see the Wailin’ Jennys sing at Benaroya Hall, which was lovely as expected. Chilkoot got a hat, and at intermission, Chilkat and I went to go and buy her an autographed poster — but we ended up at the back of a super long line for merch. I sent her back to our seats while I waited in line and the show started, so she wouldn’t miss any of it. Parenting is moving in the direction of letting kids do things on their own — in this case, navigating through an unknown and crowded space with no parental supervision.

Chilkoots’ Scouts’ Pinewood Derby had been delayed due to coronavirus stuff, but we finally got to do that, too. Which meant finishing the car first. Chilkoot’s car was decorated as a watermelon slice, but he named it Cantaloupe.

Chilkoot was thrilled to actually win — his car was faster than all the other cars, including the “unlimited class” made by people not in the troop or not following the car rules completely.

My birthday fell on a Monday. I had a full day of meetings, and then we had a parent meeting.