Reed finished his first ever soccer season, having played about 3 minutes total in all the games combined (his choice). He's here in the pink soccer cleats.
Theo and Beckett finished a great season, their third or fourth. They had a great time, improved a lot over the course of the season, and are eager for their next chance to play. Beckett got very into playing goalie, and Theo had a lot of great offensive chances and even a few goals.
After the zoo, we hit up the library for the first time in a long time. It's been closed to browsing all through covid so it was pretty exciting to get in to actually touch the books and pick out new titles. And then we hit up Byrne Dairy for ice cream and Icees.
Memorial Day weekend we were all really pumped to get to spend some time with Nitsan and her family after going 17 months without seeing each other. The kids had always gotten along so well together on our many other visits, but they hadn't seen each other except on FaceTime and had all grown so much so we weren't sure how it would go.
We had no reason to worry. The kids were so excited to be together, and had a blast even though the temperature never got above 50 degrees all weekend and I don't think it ever stopped raining. Our plans for swimming in the pool and playing outdoors were scuttled but the kids enjoyed every minute regardless. We mostly cooked and ate and played "telephone" and watched movies and played video games while the adults talked politics (at an interesting time in Israeli politics) and life. Nitsan found us an awesome rock climbing spot and the kids and menfolk had a great time climbing and doing obstacles for an afternoon.
In 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, we took a hike on my dad's birthday (and Theo and Beckett's birthday) at Hemlock Glen in Morgan State Forest. It was a beautiful spring day and it felt really good to be together at a time when we were being very cautious and not getting together indoors. The hike is beautiful and ends at a lean-to where we had snacks.
This year, to celebrate all the birthdays and honor my dad's memory, we did the same hike. Because school was back in session this year so the boys were in school on their birthday, and the boys had their birthday party the day after, we hiked it on May 23. It was a cool and rainy day so not an ideal hike day but we saw some good wildlife, including lots of red newts and some toads, which Theo was delighted to pick up and investigate. Whenever we see good wildlife it feels like my dad is with us in some way, and makes me feel closer to him.
We planned a ninja nerf gun battle-karate birthday party for the boys. With covid calming down a little here, and the adults all vaccinated, they had a relaxed and fun birthday party at a karate place in Cicero. There was about 45 minutes of nerf gun battle in one room, including parents, and including some part of it in the dark with black lights, then pizza and juice, then a karate lesson, and then cutting the cookie cakes with a giant cantana (sword). It was such a joy to have a semi-normal birthday party with the boys' friends doing fun and interesting stuff, and to see some of the kids' parents there (and seeing them blasting their own kids with nerf guns as well).
