May 2017 – Family Highlights

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Highlights

• Mother’s Day… with Dada
• Calan’s month of musical performances
• We take a train ride with Gran and Grandpa

As usual, May is filled with so many things in our family: Mother’s Day, music recitals, the end of a school year, the end of spring basketball, a visit from the Grands and Mama’s birthday. It’s a lot, so when Mother’s Day rolled around, Mama was content to have the boys out of the house. This was her wish, and pretty much entailed the whole day but then a whole-family meet-up back home for dinner. The boys and Dada made a big morning outing together running a bunch of errands (getting gas, shopping at Big Lots, returning some clothes to Kohls, and a stop at Home Depot). We also stopped by Dada’s old workplace (Xircom) and looked at where the outdoor basketball court used to be and then did a little drive around where Dada used to run in the Newbury Park condo days. After coming home for a lunch break and Evan napping, we headed out again. This time, we went geocaching around Camarillo. We looked up, hunted for and found three geocaches. Calan was neutral towards the activity at first, but really got into as we deciphered the clues we found online, and looked for the little surprises hidden in the areas we were searching. We capped our hunting expeditions off by playing in a great park we hadn’t been to in a while. We took our Tee-ball set, soccer ball and Frisbee and played with all of them after touring around the playground equipment. At home, Mama enjoyed her hours of alone time and getting a chance to clean part of the house in peace and quiet.

Something fun we did this month all together as a family (including the Grands) was take our very first Surfliner train ride. Finally, the Amtrak train that we’d watched come and go for years at the train station was ours to board and travel on. The kids loved it. Sitting up high in the upper deck, watching the landscape outside whirl by made for big eyes and wide smiles. We took the train to Ventura, just outside the fairgrounds. The plan was to then catch the next train back shortly after, but it never showed. We had to improvise a bit as we waited much, much longer than anticipated. And during most of the wait, we had no idea when a train would arrive, which we could take back to Camarillo. Customer service with Amtrak was not all that helpful Fortunately, we had some places outside the fairgrounds to explore and could view the beach from one vantage point. We also had plenty of snacks, while Gran and Grandpa made their way to a nearby coffee shop. Eventually, a train came, and we got on back towards home. The wait made this second ride all the more exciting. Aside from being “stranded”, it was just the right length of travel time for the kids and our own energy levels.

Calan

Calan had a big month when it came to recitals. He played in his string group recital with Ms. Diana one weekend. On another weekend, he got the special treat of joining Mama and being a small part of her spring studio recital. He’d practiced long and hard on his Minuet piece and was the first one to perform at the recital, held at a small church in Newbury Park. It was really fun to see him take the piece of music (Minuet in G Major) that he’d more or less taught himself the past few months, plucking it out at home nearly every day, and perform it for others in a recital setting. We were so proud, not just of his work and playing ability but that he took to the performance in a perfectly healthy way. We didn’t make a big deal out of it, supported it as something to do because it’s fun and he just went up there and did it. He said afterwards that as he played for the captive audience he was a little shy, and actually felt frightened while playing, and it caused him to just…smile. He added that he was feeling all kinds of emotions at once, and he didn’t know what to do… so he just kind of smiled as he played. Finally, at the end of the month he performed his solo violin recital (Minuet 3). Gran and Grandpa got to come to this one for the second year in a row. Just as before, he did a great job, making his family so proud.

Aside from his first piano recital performance, Calan had another significant first this month. It’s hard to believe that at over six and half years of age, he’s never had a real play date with a friend at someone’s house. He’d been to Josiah’s house for an hour, but only because they’re right in the neighborhood and their family is well versed on peanut allergies. This particular meet-up was for the afternoon with his friend from his basketball team, Lucas. After some arranging, we decided to have Lucas over. Because Evan is so young, yet old enough to want to join the big kids, Dada basically still had to chaperone the kids’ play time. The boys played in the backyard most of the time, with lots and lots of basketball and football games. Calan had fun showing Lucas his toys. One interesting thing that happened was a little bit of a peer pressure situation that Calan encountered. It was completely harmless, but basically Lucas talked Calan into doing something he would never do by himself. At one point, the older boys were hanging out in Calan’s room. Lucas saw Calan’s Easter candy from last month sitting in his basket. There were chocolates in there that Calan loves, but he knew to ask before eating them any time he wanted one. He’s great like that. But somehow, Lucas talked Calan into them eating several pieces of it without asking. To top it off, they must’ve known it wasn’t right because they tried to hide it. But six-year-olds aren’t the greatest at sneaking things like that, and Dada spotted the evidence of the shenanigans immediately. Again, no harm, no foul but it’s not often we see how another kid can easily influence Calan.

As the school year concluded for Calan he found himself coming into contact with some more new experiences… literally. In particular was his marine biology class. They learned about sea life just as a marine biologist does: hands on. This meant sometimes dissecting little creatures. Calan’s most daring task came when they learned about squid. He was fascinated by them, but having to cut one open on a small plate right in front of you, took some getting used to. Calan also continued his typing practice that he’d picked up this spring and applied it further. He had started a short story a couple months ago, and decided he would be like an author and make it into a much longer book. For a week or so, he worked on it nearly every day. He was really proud to show Grandpa, especially, when he arrived. Calan also went through the process of physically writing a letter, addressing an envelop, placing on the stamp and setting it out for pick-up at the mailbox. It’s not something his generation will do often in his life, but a pen pal letter to his friend Augustine at least shows him what it’s like. A bit more involved than sending an instant text on a smart phone. As for the school year, it was hard to believe that our little “Pickle” finished up first grade when the school year ended. He’s officially getting well into elementary school.