first beach day {life}

There's always a bit of a learning curve when we first start heading back to the beach each season.

Our minds know what we need, but our winter-sluggish bodies take some time to pull things together. Pack the bag (always with twizzlers for the ride home). Pack the cooler. Find the noodles and the boogie board. Figuring out where to park.

Towles. Chair. Frisbee. Cold water. Snacks. Boogie boards. All set.

The day we went was one of the hottest of the year so far. Even early the sand was nearly too hot to stand on. You had to decide between walking fast to get to the water (or worse, to get back to the car at the end of the day) or going slowly so it didn't kick up over your flip flops.

Once you get there, it's all worth it though.

When Cal and I go alone, I swim a lot with him, or we play paddle ball or throw a frisbee. When he comes with a friend, I bring a book or the latest issue of Vogue.

We get daily reminders that we live in a military town.

They fly low. The guy in this one waved at Cal.

We see dolphins nearly every time we visit the oceanfront. At the end of the summer, Callum and I have a tradition of taking a ride on this boat, which takes dolphin watching trips up and down our coast line.

These cabanas, which are owned by families and have electricity and running water, are passed down through the generations. They're popular for parties, and they remind me of Teri's blog! Wouldn't you love to have one?

We're back here today, you know. I think it's going to be a great summer.

where I live :: the elizabeth river {life}

We are lucky enough to live near water of all sorts. The Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, and here, in these photos, the Elizabeth River.

The Elizabeth River is a roughly 6-mile long tidal estuary along the south end of the Chesapeake Bay. When settlers first arrived at Jamestown, they looked for a harbor to set up trade with the New World and found it here. This river, named for Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James 1, is the largest nautral harbor in the world.

The Elizabeth River launched of much of America's maritime history, including the battle of the great ironclads the Monitor and the Merrimac during the American Civil War. This battle took place where the Elizabeth and Nansemond Rivers meet the James (just past the upper right of the above photo), and the Merrimac was built at the ship yard here. The Elizabeth is now the home to the world's largest naval ship yard and many other maritime concerns. Centuries of use have not treated the Elizabeth well, however. As far back as the 1800s the river had lost much of her tidal wetlands, and much of the industry that made the river and the region so successful and prosperous contributed to a decline in her health. In 1983 the Environmental Protection Agency named the Elizabeth River one of the most polluted areas along the Chesapeake Bay watershed, with portions of the river entirely dead to living organisms.

With a goal of restoring the river, The Elizabeth River Project was founded in 1991. These folks, combining the forces of government and industry, scientists and private citizens, have done some pretty remarkable stuff.

Bald eagles are returning. Oysters are returning. Wetlands are being restored. In one year alone, according to the ERP, port pollution was reduced by 3.4 million pounds and by the year 2000, the Elizabeth River showed the most improving trend for water qualtiy on the Chesapeake Bay!

We've taken to walking or biking down to the river at sunset a couple times a week.

What our neighborhood does not have that I wish it does, is a parkway around the river, with bike and walking paths along the water. Some neighborhoods do have this, but in ours, private homes line the waterfront, with streets dead-ending at the water along the way.

Maybe that's okay though. When we get to the end of the street, there's only water and no where else to go. You have to stop. Watch the lights at the shipyard come on as dusk deepens.

Watch the sun dip lower in the sky. Watch the water lap against the shore.

The river is coming back to life. Sometimes we see dolphins. Fish are always jumping, and birds are always skimming the surface of the water.

As the sun dipped closer to the horizon, these clouds grew pinker and pinker. We never got a storm though. And the dock that you're looking at here, well that's a new dock. When Hurricane Irene hit last fall, the old dock ended up pretty much where I was standing to take this photo. I try to remind myself of that when I regret the few blocks we have to take to get to the water!

Sun is gone. Good night.

monday mash up, June 25

Well, we had a great weekend, how about you? Y'all were so sweet to wish us a great dinner party on Friday night. We had a really lovely time with some new friends. I said to someone that if these were old friends who were coming over, I wouldn't give cooking a meal for friends a second thought, but new friends...then I have to do a little planning. I couldn't plan for a six-hour thunderstorm that dupmed over four inches of rain over us, but who can plan for things like that? Poor Neel had to grill in the shed. But we had fun. I took some pictures, but these were new friends. They're not quite used to my camera in their faces. So no smiling happy people. I can't take pictures of everything, you know! Did you see the trifle on twitter? I'll try to post on that later this week.

By Saturday morning, Cal was on sleepover number three for the week. That boy is tired! So much of weekend, when we weren't scrambling to locate a free canoe (it was already in the dumpster, so no canoe for us) was spent scrambling to recover. Why am I so tired after he stays up until 3 a.m.? He threw the ball in the front yard that morning with a friend who's trying baseball for the first time, but by Saturday afternoon he was crashed out on the sofa watching The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Once he got his second wind, we headed to our friend's pool for a bit (and I keep meaning to tell you Annie, much as I wish it was, sadly, that's not our garden), but for us, Saturday was an early night. Since all my mornings tend to be early, I like early nights!

We had Callum's baseball party on Sunday, and now the season really is over. One mom asked if we weren't all grateful, and I'm not. It's all still so new to us, that it could have gone on for me. Cal too. After the party, Neel and Cal headed straight across the street for a poker party. This cracks me up. Two 12 year olds, two 14 years olds, and a few grown men all playing poker until about 10 on a Sunday night! They played a bit in our backyard on Saturday until we insisted that Callum needed to be tucked into bed. I'm glad to see it. These kids played poker a lot summer before last, and it's nice to see them reinstate the tradition. It gets hot here, really hot, and sometimes playing outside is just not possible. When they play poker, they're not playing video games or locked into the iPods. And, in my book, that's a good thing.

So I did some research on the Disqus thing, and it's just not going to work. That's the bad news. The good news for Squarespace users is that version 6 is coming out (and is usable now, apparently) and it does have threaded comments. Let me say, this whole, "Schedule computer time" is hard when you get absorbed in projects like this. They can get absorbing. So I'll be doing more research on that in the coming weeks. And thank you so much for your comments to Friday's Five Things. Aren't lists great?

Did you guys have a great weekend? We're scheduled for more storms today, and I dearly love thunder storms. And a busy week. I have mixed feelings about those. But some fun will creep in there for sure. Since it's summer, I've been doing our grocery shopping on Mondays and so far I have nothing on my list and no idea what I'm going to cook this week. Hmm. And isn't Violet sweet? That's her favorite spot under my computer when I'm working, but how can it be comfortable?

five things, june 22 edition

1. I think, all things being equal, we had another good week. Cal had a couple of sleepovers (one here and one there), and we went on several bike rides. Getting things crossed off the list. I got into the studio with my camera (and had trouble keeping the props out of my mouth), and I got the business cards ordered. Months and months later, but whew. I had coffee on Wednesday with some gorgeous women. It's so funny. Seeing these women were once part of my every day routine. And coffee or breakfast with them was a ritual that gave structure and meaning to my weeks. I haven't seen some of them for months, and some for years, but it was so lovely to reconnect. We talked about some somber stuff but some inconsequential stuff too. It was easy to slip into the old patterns of laughter and conversation, and easy is so good sometimes.

2. I think I'm thinking about moving over to Disqus for comments. I'd really, really like threaded comments, and so far Squarespace doesn't offer that feature. I've heard great stuff, and I've heard horror stories (like about every comment that was ever left on your blog getting lost forever). Anybody have any experience and care to weigh in?

3. I think that while it was nice to get into the studio, I'm feeling frustrated with my space. It needs a good clean out for sure, but the light isn't the greatest (that's hard to fix), and it's small. So small. The cleanout will help for sure, but I'm not sure what to do about the rest. I know I shouldn't complain. I'm lucky to have a space at all. But if I don't accept that it needs some work, I won't work on it, right?

4. I think I'm really looking forward to a small dinner party we're having tonight. Just another couple, parents of a new friend of Callum's. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you may remember that I love dinners with friends, and I've missed how our life doesn't seem to include them in a more formal way here. In California, we had dinner with friends on Mondays and Fridays every week. It's a different life here. But today we'll get ready, and tonight we'll gather around the table with some new friends. That's a nice thing to look forward to.

5. I think I'm so glad I pulled out Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project to finish reading. That, more than anything has helped set my intention for the summer. She has a blog, if you want to check it out, but several things from the book resonated with me. I'm trying to keep them in mind as I move through the summer. She has some great lists and good practical advice. For starters, she each night she has a ten-minute tidy up before she goes to bed. Too often I drag myself from the sofa up the stairs to my cozy nest without one single glance around. So I've been trying the ten-minute tidy up, and I've been quite enjoying the results. It's nice to come down to a clean house in the morning, and I feel better going to bed too, knowing that the house is more settled. Rubin also has a one-minute rule. If a task takes a minute or less, do it now. These simple rules have helped me a lot this week. So we'll see if I can keep them up.

She also has twelve resolutions, which you can find on her blog. I really like these too. I'd like to try to follow some of hers and add a few of my own.
     Put down my phone.
     Schedule/limit computer time.
     Think about what makes me happy and do that.
     Let it go.
     Stop stalling.
     Strive to be nicer.
     Reach out.

My friends, have a delightful weekend. I'm hoping for lovely meals and cooler temperatures (if that's what you're wishing for!). What is everyone up to?

history man {life}

Neel will always choose history for his favorite way to spend a day, and we're lucky enough to have lots of options around these parts. His pick for Father's Day was Historic Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America.

Lucky for me, his pick for lunch was one of my all-time favorite restaurants. I'd thought it was just me who loved the place (we don't get to go very often, and I think I can remember every single time I've eaten here), but no! Neel loves it too!

Everywhere we go, we try to have mussels now.

And we started with the historic tap water and (some of us) moved straight to the champagne cockails. Good call.

It's a great spot, the Blue Talon Bistro, with Julia Child (although that's Jacques Pepin) always playing above the bar, and if you're ever in the historic triangle of Virginia, I suggest you stop in.

We didn't linger because we wanted to get to Jamestown. The drive (called Colonial Parkway) between the center of Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown only takes between ten and fifteen minutes, but it's so gorgeous, you almost wish it took longer.

I'm going to be really honest here and admit that I'm not real keen on visitor's centers. I get very sleepy in them every.single.time. Most musesums too. I'm okay in art galleries though. Weird. So I yawned while Neel and Callum wandered around the visitors center (and really, Cal wanted to mostly wander around the gift shop), but pretty soon I was able to encourage them outside to the good stuff. You cross a bridge over a marsh to get to the settlement, and wildlife come to greet you.

Once there, the past comes up to greet you.

The church, whose tower you see here, was built in 1639 (that's old for us, folks!), but the foundation of the original church, which dates back to 1617, can be seen under glass below the floor.

The site is still an active dig, and they've uncovered portions of the original fort as well as graves of some of the first inhabitants (including a fourteen-year old boy).

Jamestown, it was a British colony, you know!

And even here, at the first breath of America, other bits of our history creep in.

If I had just landed in America, I would probably want a view like this too.

This is the original road that went around the Jamestown settlement. We followed it down to some more ruins.

When I was a girl, I used to rake the leaves in our backyard into "leaf houses," laying them out like floorplans. That's what these ruins remind me of.

I could look at them for days.

It's symbolic that you cross a bridge to get too and from the settlement. Stepping into and out of time. We took a drive around the island after we left the visitor's center and slipped back into freeway traffic and headed home. And on the way home we watched some jackwagon zip in and out of traffic, tailgaiting one of those big car transporters. And then he totally rearended some poor sap who was probably just driving home from Father's Day like us. I feel bad for the guy who got hit, but for the guy who did the hitting? What a jerk!

summer concert series {life}

We live near a local university and for the last several years an organization has sponsored a concert series on a grassy lawn adjacent to a row of shops behind the school. We thought last year was the final year for these free, family oriented concerts (rumors of a new basketball practice facility intended for the space were floating around), but the lawn remained and the concerts continued.

Saturday's concert, which featured a group called Malt Liquor Sundae, was the first of the summer.

It really is a family affair. People bring beach chairs or blankets and all manner of food and drink from beer and wine to margaritas in John Deer cups.

Babies cling to their mommas before getting brave enough to veture out.

The whole area is fenced in, leaving the kids free to roam (within reason) while the music plays. See that little guy trying to escape?

Of course Neel and Cal took a ball and their gloves, leaving me alone long enough to soak up the scene and the music.

A girl walked past me wearing a shirt that said "Daddy's Little Girl," but the way it was laying on her torso, it looked like "Diddy's little girl!"

At one point there was a woman a few blankets ahead of us bent over her picnic in a skirt too short to be bent over in! As soon as I nodded to my friend Catherine to point it out, the skirted-woman's husband came over and must have told her the same thing because she promptly straightened up! Good man.

Men wandered among the crowd drinking Mickey's Big Mouth, which brought back a host of memories for me. That was our college beer. Appropriate to drink during a concert by Malt Liquor Sundae.

A Lady in Red got up and danced for everyone. Braver woman than I could ever be.

Kids darted in and out and over blankets. Playing and fighting and playing more.

There was face painting.

Malt Liquor Sundae is described on the concert series brochure as playing funk/reggae/rock. Hmmm. That's quite a combo! But you know, they did it all, and pretty seamlessly too. When they played Wagon Wheel, I got tears in my eyes. I'm not a huge concert goer, but live music can do that to me. And it was everything. The sun setting and all those happy families around us. Our friends on the blanket next to us and knowing that we'd run into even more friends (I love small towns.). Summer. Saturday night. Contentment.

Project Summer {life}

Every year we make a lot of plans for our summer. Ever year there's a list. Every year it includes the beach (for me and Callum, at least), and every year we miss crossing a few things off. Last year we didn't do a great job, and this year I'm determined to remedy that. I have a completely different approach to this summer, actually. We have some goals as a family, but I have some goals for myself as well. Some important things I want to work on.

First, the camera.

I've missed my camera. And I have a lot of work I need to do. Oh sure, it's always to hand, but my intention has not always been set the way I want it to be regarding my photography. Part of this means just being more intentional about taking photos, but it also means some hard work on the back end of the business too. Researching new lenses. Clearing out my Lightroom catalogs. Clearing out my studio. Painting back drops. Some pesky business stuff that have been dangling threads. Like ordering Moo cards. Stepping up my game. So focusing on photography and moving toward legitimatizing it as a business is one of my goals for the summer.

 

Then the blog,

I'm not gonna lie. I've been feeling a little "meh" about my blog lately. Don't get me wrong. I love SPL. I love coming here (nearly) every day. This space is incredibly important to me. But I'm restless. Do I need a redesign? Do I need a logo? Do I need a new header? I know I have some housekeeping to do here too. Some clean-up on the back end of things. I want to reconnect with this community and continue to build it. But what I also want to do is reignite the spark I feel for this space. I want to really verbalize my goals for SPL and my blogging life (scary!) and put myself on the path toward reaching those goals. That's another of my goals for the summer. Would anyone like to come and hold my hand?

 

And some homework...

 

So it'll be me doing the studying, not Callum. His middle school has a summer reading project, but that's about it. (Although there might be some math done, let's face it.) I have some work of my own to do. O pointed you toward Noreen's post on executive function last week. She mentioned the book Smart but Scattered that I'll be diving into, and I'll be reading another book Organizing the Disorganized Child as well. As you know middle school is upon us. One of the things that is so key I think is that so many of these skills (time management, organizational skills, task initiation, even estimating how long it'll take to accomplish a project) are learned. And even kids who don't have ADD or learning differences struggle. Even those kids' moms. I struggle in the summers with sitting and reading during the day. I feel I should be cleaning or working or out and doing. I know I need to and want to, but it was hard to picture myself pouring over these books. Saying it out loud made everything make a little more sense. As Neel said, Cal is our most important work. Studying these books isn't me sitting and chilling. It's me tending to our family. And maybe learning a little about myself in the process.

 

And then there was fun.

Oh yeah. We plan to have some fun.

monday mash up, June 18

Hello my lovelies! Welcome to a new week! First, I have to get this out of the way. Our boys lost a heartbreaker in the championship game on Saturday. A heart-breaker. I'll spare you the details (Erin, I'll tweet you if you want.), but they held their heads up and played hard and it just didn't work out. Callum hates that it's over most of all. I do too.

It was, otherwise, a lovely weekend, however. If you follow me on Instagram, (or Twitter for that matter), you might have noticed that I cleaned out our refrigerator on Saturday morning. When we discovered that we had five different kinds of mustard (not to mention the two half-filled jars of sliced Spanish olives), Neel decided that he wanted German sausages for dinner. When we were in California, Neel's immediate mentor was German and we all developed a Christmas Eve tradition of German sausages dipped in different mustards along with a huge bowl of potato salad. It's been a long time since we've done that, but as soon as we moved here, we located a great German deli and restaurant. So Weisswurst, Bratwurst, spaetzle, the first beans from our garden and potato salad for Father's Day Eve dinner. Father's Day Eve? Who celebrates that? Apparently we do. 

Before dinner, we rode bikes with our neighbors up to the kickoff to a summer Saturday concert series that is put on at the university near our house. These concerts are awesome. I'll have a post about them later in the week, but let's just say that it was the perfect way to start off the weekend and the summer.

We did have our Family Planning Meeting, and I'll post about that too. I think we have a lot in store for us, including at least one trip on a plane for my kid, a fact which makes him very excited, and me as well!

Father's Day was, as it should be, Neel's choice. We went to Historic Jamestown. We're lucky to live in a part of the US that gives us easy access to so much of our nation's history. I took tons of pictures so guess what! There's a post coming about that too! Let me say something here about Father's Day. I am lucky in that I was raised my an amazing father (who was raised by an amazing father) and that I married a man who became an amazing father. Neel's dad is an amazing father who sacrificed a great deal for his family. His heart is huge. I am also surrounded by wonderful men every day who are great fathers. My neighbors are great fathers, my friends Mark and Fred are great fathers, Cal's coaches are great fathers and I have many many friends who are great fathers. How lucky am I? How lucky is my son to see a host of men who are role models for him simply by going about their day-to-day lives. I think Father's Day should take place more than once a year. Really, I do.

After Jamestown, we came home, and guess what. Rescued another dog who was wandering the neighborhood. Happy Endings all around. Cal has been in the mood to ride bikes lately and he's outgrown his old bike. We let him try my beach cruiser, and it fits. Fits well enough to rescue wandery doggies. It's so flat here, a beach cruiser is almost a must.

How was everybody's weekend? We never made it to the pool on Friday. Can you believe it was too cool here? So Callum and I went for a run together (how can something be both so miserable and so delightful at the same time?) and made our first farmer's market trip of the season. We jumped into our summer reading and did some Food Network watching. What a kid, I tell you. He wants to cook this summer. I can't wait. We'll get to the beach finally this week too. I can't wait for that either.

five things, june 15th edition

1. I think I'll spend the day here, recovering from the first week of summer vacation. Callum too. One week in, and he already needs a break.

2. I think you have to go and read this post my friend Noreen wrote about executive function. I'm going to be spending a lot of time helping my boy work on honing his own executive function skills (and I don't mean sitting in a big leather chair behind a huge desk with a pen holder and a competent administrative assistant...although he could totally use the competent administrative assistant). Noreen can explain it much better than I, but we'll need executive function to survive middle school. And life.

3. I think I'm beyond thrilled that our boys won their game on Wednesday so we have one more game (the championship!) to play on Saturday!

4. I think I've had a really nice week. Met some lovely people, and got to know some people a little better. Hard to ask for more than that. I can feel our circle getting larger and that feels good.

5. I think I'm already mentally preparing for our Big Family Meeting on Saturday. We have lots of exciting things to talk about and plan for this summer. It's going to be great. Is it summer where you are? What are you guys up to? Heck...what are you up to for the weekend?! xo

keyboard confessional {life}

I must have been inspired by Theresa's cocktail party a week or so ago, because I have a thing or two I want to say. Don't get all excited. It's not that thrilling. And in truth, you've heard a lot of it before. I've made no secret about the fact that this has been a long, cold lonely winter for me. Stresses have pressed against me, and I have not been the wife, friend or mother that I want to be. We all talk about how much to reveal in these spaces of ours, but for a whole host of reasons I'm not comfortable revealing much more than this here. The source of my stresses are important only to me (and maybe Neel!). They're mine, and I hope that you love and trust me enough to be, if not satisfied with such little information, at least understanding of my motivations.

It's summer now. I'm ready to make some changes. For my health-both mine and my family's, and for our happiness too. We'll have a family meeting this weekend and get Project Summer on the books. I have four goals for the summer, four things I want to work on, and at our meeting we'll work on our bucket list for these too-short weeks of sun and sand. So rather than crawl into my cave to lick my wounds, I'm going to try to spread my wings to fly high. I want all of you to come along with me. Oh, and I likely could use a pedicure too, hmmmm?

season's end {life}

Tonight we play what might be our last game of the baseball season. It's tournament time. Win and we go on. Lose, and well...you know. There may be a consolation game, but we can't count on it.

I realize that I may lose a lot of you with this post (except Erin!), but knowing that this blog is written as much for my family as for a larger audience, I could not not mark this significant passage in our boy's life. The end of his first baseball season.

It was good.

It's a fascinating thing to watch your child become a part of something that's separate from you. To watch him stretch and grow. I mentioned last week how impressed we were that he wanted to try baseball at all, when all these kids have been at it for so much longer than he has. And yet there's some relief in being able to say you're the rookie. I know that's been true for us as his parents. "We're new at this. What happens next?" We're constantly asking. We couldn't have met a kinder group of people to sit with in the stands. I should take a picture of them tonight. Maybe I will.

There have been some frustrations. A learning curve like you wouldn't believe. Most of these kids have been at this for five or six years. Cal, for six months. But he's gaining the fundamentals, and getting stronger each game. (And, as you can see, he loves to steal bases. Got lucky with a stand-up steal here.) The goal, for those of you who are new to baseball, is to tag on to each of those bases until you come "home." Home counts as one point. If you get tagged with the ball before you reach the base, well, then you're out. Only three outs before the other team gets a turn to score points.

Also key to baseball is the batting order. Hitters bat based on their ability to make contact with the ball and get on base. The strongest hitters come at the top of the line down into the middle, with the very best batters batting 4th or so. The worse you are, the lower in the line up you go. At the start of the season, Cal was batting ninth out of 12 kids. By the end? He was consistently in the fifth spot.

When their team is up to bat, the kids line the fence, yelling encouragement. "Come on kid, come on kid!"

Half the fun has been watching them gel as a team.

One of the things I admire most about my son is his willingness to try anything. Word got out at some point this season that he wanted to try to pitch, and people, let me tell you, pitching is hard. Your team is there to back you up on defense, but it is really you versus the batter. And you are standing alone on the mound. We've seen pitchers cry this season. I honestly don't know how their moms handle it! But Cal, even knowing the pressure, wanted to try. He almost had a chance earlier this year, and when it didn't pan out, well, it wasn't pretty. His coach mentioned to us at practice that he might be pitching at this last game of the regular season, and Neel and I held our breath. 

And there he was at the start of the second inning, warming up on the mound.

One of Cal's coaches saw me taking pictures and told me to come to the dugout (that's where the boys hang out during the game) to get some better shots. I'm so glad he did! It was so fun to hear his coaches holler suggestions out to the mound, to really coach him as he went. And I could see the changes immediately.

And you know what? He did pretty well. Two walks (those are bad). A ground-out that he fielded himself (that's good!), and two strike-outs (that's really good!)! As soon as I swallowed the lump in my throat, I almost wanted him to pitch again!

Saturday's game was great, and about more than just Cal. Our kids started out behind against a great team and a tough pitcher. One of our guys (the one pretending to punch Cal in the photo above) is a phenomenal batter and pitcher himself. His dad has promised him $100 if he hits a homerun this year. (Baseball lesson #42: a homerun is when the batter hits the ball [usually] out of the field so that he can run all three bases to home and score a point. If there are runners on base, they score too.) As he walked to the plate for his last at bat, he says to his dad to go get some money. Someone in the stands (it may have been me, a-hem) yells, "Time to make your dad pay!" First pitch, first hit. Taps the fence and bounces over.

Did I mention that there were runners on all three bases? Four runs scored. That's called a Grand Slam, my friends. It'll probably be the only and best one I see in my whole life.

Ah, me. And now it's over. Uncomfortable bleacher seats, snack bar duty. Freezing cold and blistering heat. Running from homework to practice to shower to bed, a couple times a week. Angry, frustrated kid. Elated, over the moon kid. Batting practice, fielding practice. Build them up, try and keep them humble. It'll never be like this again. And I can't finish this post without saying something about his coaches. When your child is playing sports, you hope that you're blessed with good coaches. Men (or women) who get the sport and get your kid. Who know when to encourage and when to ride them a little harder and when to tease out a smile. Cal's had good coaches in the past and some bad ones too. These two men who coached his team this year were some of the best I've ever seen. Coaching is a labor of love, for sure, and an often thankless one. What they did for our boy and the whole team is pretty spectacular in my book. It was a wonderful introduction to baseball for our boy, and I have a hard time imagining it'll ever get better than this. Anyway, we'll do a camp and some clinics this summer, but now it's over. Until we start again next fall.

be a bulldog {life}

Well, we did it. He did it. It was lovely. I spent a good part of the week worrying about when to arrive. We wanted good seats, you know. The gym opened at 10, an hour before the ceremony, and when we got there at 9:45 the line was already out the door. Still, we were about 8 rows back (and on the aisle, which was what I wanted for taking pictures). The chairs were darned uncomfortable, so we got up and moved around and chatted with people a lot to pass the time. Cal said the waiting was long for him too. A friend he hadn't mentioned much all year invited him to spend the night this week, and when we asked him about it Cal said, "Oh we were always friends, but we really got close after standing in line next to each other for FIVE HOURS."

It was fun to watch the room fill up. The entire Lower School comes to the 6th Grade Graduation, so it's quite an event. As we crept toward 11, the room was packed.

Right at 11, the kids started processing in...to Pomp and Circumstance, of course! That's Cal's homeroom teacher on the left there. Best part of his year. Cal kept his eyes down like that the whole time, and that surprised me. He's a pretty confident kid. Turns out, his best bud tackled him after their class picture that morning (and before the ceremony), and Cal had grass stains on both his knees. We couldn't see a thing, but he was worried.

The girls wore white dresses and the boys wore ties and blazers. Some in that Southern summer staple of seersucker, but Cal went with another Southern staple, blue blazer and khaki pants. They sat boy-girl-boy-girl in alphabetical order. They practiced standing up and sitting down by rows all week, and that's the Lower School director is standing in front; she's a delight!

"Will the second row please stand up?"

And it's official! Cal gets his "diploma" from the headmaster, shakes his hand and says, "Thank you very much." The smile of relief on his face is vast!

Once all the kids are through (and they sat down in tandem), we gave them a well-deserved standing ovation. Sixth grade is hard. They deserve some praise.

The headmaster of Cal's school is a wonderful and witty speaker (and a mean three-point shooter to boot). He noted that just a week earlier the real graduates, the class of 2012, sat in that very room as they prepared to leave this school forever. Dang. Six short, short years from now. He spoke again, once all the diplomas were handed out, and likened himself to Hoover Dam, holding back the tide of summer. We all chuckled at the truth of that comment (you could practically see the kids straining to push themselves out of their seats!), and then he paused and said, "It reminds me of Keats..." Now that got the real laugh! Couldn't you just picture yourself as a 12 year old kid, fresh out of lower school, and your headmaster wants to talk about Keats? His point was valid though, and it's one I often make. One of life's best pleasures is the pleasure of anticipation. I couldn't agree more.

What happened after that was a whirlwind. We lost Cal at the reception, but managed to snap a shot of him and his homeroom teacher. We ran him home and slammed some lunch in him before getting him to the 6th grade pool party. After the 6th grade pool party was baseball practice, and finally, finally home again.

He had a chat with his far-away grandparents, and finally, finally, this...

What he'd been waiting on all day.

Everybody chipped in, grandparents and parents alike, and gave this boy his wildest dream (even more than a phone?). Happy camper. He'd sleep with it if he could.

And then we had a party.

The tenor of this event changed considerably from when I first conceived it, but I'm trying to learn how to be flexible. Bottom line is that Callum felt celebrated and some of our favorite people were there with us. That's all that really matters, right?

Fried chicken, corn hole and iTunes gift cards. Who could ask for more?

One of the things we love about Callum's school is its emphasis on the whole child. They care as much about developing a kid's character as they do their academic skills. This can be a challenging concept for a 12 year old boy who is still managing to figure out how to control his impulsiveness all the while juggling predicate nominatives and pre-algebra. Cal's headmaster said to those kids at graduation (aside from emphasizing reading for at least an hour a day), "Be a Bulldog." That's a concept they can get. He knows what it means to "be a bulldog." To have honor and commitment and respect for himself and others. As long as he continues to strive to be a bulldog, who wouldn't be proud?