My Achilles Heel

 I can count on one hand the number of things I just absolutely cannot do. Most things I will at least attempt badly many, many times. And in parenting, I've never hit a wall. Until now. We finally found my Achilles Heel: I cannot teach driving. Period.

Issa is a really good driver, but I absolutely cannot be the one in the passenger seat on the highway. In fact, I can't even be in the back seat.

She is scheduled to get her license in August, so we are trying to get those last hours in and get more major highway driving in. Brad insisted we all go yesterday. I closed my eyes in the backseat and cried as she merged from 147 onto 40 and then onto Wade. It's an interchange I hate, and I just couldn't watch while she did it--even though she did great merging across five lanes of traffic.

I finally figured out why I just can't, though. I have spent 16 years keeping her safe. When she is driving, I am so worried about the other drivers I just can't deal. If I'm not in the car, I feel totally fine with her driving. I just can't be a passenger...and I told her I will likely still have to be the driver when she is 30.

Books 17 and 18

I finished two wildly different books within the last week!

Book 17 was a very quick read because it's target audience is late elementary/early middle:

Stephen Hawking and his daughter wrote it together. It's science fiction, but Stephen made sure everything could plausibly happen. It also has inserts of non-fiction about different space things. It was a cute book, and I'm adding it to one of the classes I teach on adolescent content literacy.

Book 18 was way more difficult:

It's the first book I've read entirely in Italian. It's a memoir I bought at the Museo del Diario. The woman originally wrote her life story on her bed sheet when her husband passed. It is a very sad story about life during the way for a very poor family in rural Italy. I'm proud of myself for being able to do it, but my next Italian read will need to be something happy!
 

A Weekend of Celebrating

Friday, Brad and Evan headed to the mountains for Mountain Quest! They camped all weekend, but Issa and I drove up Saturday so we could watch Brad test for his black belt:

He was amazing! A bench broke in the middle of his demo, but it didn't even phase him. He finally has that black belt!

Before we left, I build a fire pit so Brad would have a place to relax and recover when he got home:

We had the stones, and now we have a space to actually cook around the fire and not worry about the dogs getting too close!

Sunday, we also celebrated Father's Day when he got home:

Evan had the brilliant idea to get him BBQ tools. He got him gloves, I got him a knife, and Issa made him an apron.

We ended the night with a small fire:

Yesterday we were all in recovery mode, but we are all still so very excited and happy for Brad! He's waited a long time for this, and now it's finally his.
 

Settling Into Summer

We are all fully settling into summer. For us, that often means projects and more time for hobbies. Issa has reorganized her room and all of our pantries this week. Evan gutted his room, which is thrilling on so many levels, and I'm tackling the back yard:

I was that dirty. I have big dreams for the space, but there is a lot of clean-out that has to happen first!

I also finished book 16 this week:

This is an interesting perspective on the relationships among our nation's founders. It clarifies a lot of the mythology around those early years, providing interesting context. Kai is going to read it next, and I'm very excited to have someone to talk about it with! 

Last night we also had our first board game night of the summer:

Tora was very helpful. We got the expansion for Happy Little Dinosaurs, and the new cards were very fun to try!
 

Not a Bad First Day

 If the rest of the summer is anything like yesterday, I will take it!

I only have to come to campus two days a week, so although I worked a ton yesterday and had Zoom calls, I was actually able to be home, witness the chaos, and take a lunch walk with Brad.

Issa went to brunch with friends in the morning. Then she went to Home Depot, learned how to purchase lengths of chain, and set up the hammock in the back yard. She spent most of the day reading in the hammock.

Evan is doing a redesign of his room. Four bags are ready for Goodwill, a bag of trash went out, a load of recycling found the bin, and six of my spoons resurfaced!!! He is slowly working through everything, and I'm really excited to see what he does with the space.

We ended the day with one of my former students coming over for dinner. She is housesitting for us later this summer, and we had her over to meet the zoo. It was a really fun evening, and I was still in bed by 9:30.

It was a good, good day.

Sweet Summertime

We are officially in summer mode around here. Friday was the last day of school, so we celebrated with a fire pit dinner:

The main course was hotdogs:

But we were most excited to try out our new pudgie pie makers:

Brad and I were very excited for an old camp favorite, but the kids would rather stick with s'mores!

We are looking forward to a lot more summer and a lot more family time...

 

So Long Middle School

The Bower family is officially done with middle school!

Tuesday night Evan started to get ready for his graduation ceremony and grabbed an old white shirt:

Needless to say it was not fitting:

Thankfully, the ceremony was Wednesday and he found the right shirt late Tuesday night. Side note: we will be deep cleaning his room now that school is out.

Last night was the official ceremony:

All of the administrators spoke, and all the eighth graders walked across the stage to get their certificates:

Bless Issa. She had planned to come along, but the traditional graduation Edible Arrangement was running late. She stayed behind and watched the video so she could be here to grab it for him:

It's a little surreal to close this chapter, but I think we are all very ready for the next one!
 

A Chicago Weekend

Issa, Allison, and I left Saturday morning for a weekend in Chicago to see Taylor Swift! My sister very generously hosted us and created a truly memorable weekend for them!

We left our house Saturday morning at 7am. Issa's bag got pulled for extra screening because of her melatonin gummies, which I found hysterical and she did not. But we made it to our gate with plenty of time:

We had an incredibly smooth flight and hopped a taxi to Shannon's place. We dropped our stuff and headed straight to lunch at BrightWok, which is one of Issa's very favorite completely gluten-free restaurants. The next big request the girls had was to visit the Starbuck's Roastery, which is a whole different experience:

We were expecting just a giant Starbucks--wrong-o! It's five floors, and when you walk in they shuttle right onto a spiral elevator to the top. We didn't go all the way up because that is a bar with all coffee-infused beverages. There is a whole floor dedicated to coffee flights and alternative brewing processes, and whole floor that is a bakery of experimental pastries. We spent most of our time on the ground floor, which is where you can see them roasting and have some experimental drinks. I had a dark chocolate mocha that was absolutely amazing! There are tubes throughout the whole Roastery where coffee beans shoot through, which was super fun to watch. We were all surprised by the lack of merchandise, but we also really loved our signature coffees. If I lived close, I could easily see myself meeting friends here often!

After Starbucks, we stopped into Walgreens for some sunscreen. Shannon and I cracked up when the girls asked if they could look around for a while:

Apparently it was a super fancy, super fun one!

We spent Saturday afternoon on the river for an architectural tour:

Both girls had taken interior design, so they were in their element:

After the tour we headed back so the girls could settle into their very own apartment for the weekend while Shannon and I enjoyed a beverage on her patio. We couldn't have asked for better weather, and it was so fun to watch the boats on the river while we sipped. We had dinner at our favorite tapas place, and then headed back to Shannon's. The girls swam while Shannon and I talked and watched the light show across the river:

Sunday morning, we had breakfast at Shannon's and then went down to the aquarium, which was shockingly not busy! We were able to stand right in front of tanks without feeling at all rushed. I was so thrilled we got to see the otters being fed, but the highlight was petting the sting rays:

Issa and Allison bonded with a tailless ray named Valentine. We had lunch on the patio overlooking the lake and the skyline:

And we loved the coral reef and shark exhibit:

We took a break in the afternoon to watch the Lorax and rest up for the big night!

Issa had made us friendship bracelets to trade at the concert:

Issa was thrilled it was cold enough to wear her Taylor cardigan, and Allison wore THE tights of the night:

I was in my folklore era and stupid excited:

Getting to our seats was nutso, but Shannon thought to grab this picture from inside Soldier Field:

And the concert:

I am still searching for the words. It was hands down the best concert I've ever been to. The music was phenomenal, but every detail of the show had been thought through as a whole production. The stage was more like a screen, changing with every song. Her costumes were incredible, and the choreo was amazing. She performed for over three hours, and even during the quick changes something was happening on stage. For one, they converted Seven to a spoken word poem and had a true modern dance piece set to it. Our secret songs were the first live performance of Hits Different and a piano version of The Moment I Knew--both great songs! Each person had a light up bracelet that was programed to the music, so the whole stadium became part of the set. During the Ten Minute Version, the lights in the stadium marked the seasons in a way that I will never be able to accurately describe. 

That picture is the one I took all night. Watching that moon rise over the stadium, singing with thousands of people, and watching an artist that is so genuine and real is truly an experience. 

The whole weekend is one giant core memory.

 

Fun Surprises

Brad and I went to see 1776 last night:

I loved it! There were no males in the cast, and I appreciated how they modernized the show, which does an amazing job of complicating the founding fathers. Brad was not as sold, but we still had a good time together!

I also finished book 15 this morning:

This book picks up where Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein leave off. The two worlds and characters merge in a way that should not work but absolutely does. I will likely read this one again sometime!