Family Selfie!

Sneaking in one more cuddle time family selfie before Noa turns 16 and Owen heads back to college :-)

At the Carwash...

Noa asked for two thing for their birthday: a fancy camera and a carwash. The latter made a far more entertaining video...

Janis Lynne Keplinger (1947 - 2025)

My aunt Janis passed away while we were at the beach this year. While she had her share of health problems, it still came as a shock. We got word she was taken to intensive care, and Mom was looking into flights to cut the beach trip short to go down to Texas, but but she didn't last the night. At least we were together as family to support each other, Noa even had a long long talk with Mom Mom about grief.

Janis was the middle of three sisters that always fit into those roles – mom the super accomplished firstborn, Duronda the fun outgoing youngest, and Janis the quiet, kind, artistic middle child. Janis was the one Pop Pop said reminded him most of Mom Mom, not because of her personality or resemblance, but because of the way she made him a better person.

I flew down to Austin to be with family for Janis' memorial service. It was a quick trip, flying in Friday morning with just enough time to stop by campus to walk by the Econ department and grab some breakfast tacos before going to the service at 11am. Afterwards, Mom and I went back to stay with Joe & Holly at their new house in New Braunfels. Janis had moved in with them and it was really wonderful to hear about how excited Janis was about the new house and living with Joe & Holly. We're all glad they had that time together.

The memorial itself was lovely. It was good to see Duronda & Don, catch up with Carrie, and spend some time with Joe & Holly. Don spoke first at the service, then Mom shared some wonderful memories of her sister. She even used a quote from Noa to close her eulogy for Janis – "She had a great life and that reminds of the beautiful life ahead of us."

OBX 2025

Sometimes the stars align so that your children's school years don't start until after the discount summer beach rental season starts. And sometimes that alignment also corresponds with a Category 2 hurricane. Still, despite the storms, Grandpa Don not being able to walk much, and some sad family news, we still managed to have a lovely time and a lot of togetherness.

New to this year was each of the kids took over cooking duties for one night (Noa actually took over duties for one night, one brunch and assisted Owen in his night). We also celebrated Owen's 19th birthday which, due to him aging out (and not having a suitable floorspace), did not involve a banner but did involve one of Mom Mom's cakes. 

There was some body boarding before Hurricane Erin and  some skim boarding after. There were games and puzzles and lots of baseball watching (though not that much baseball winning by the Nats). There were fancy dinners out and fancy dinners in. There was a lovely pool with a not so lovely pool deck (which Owen discovered when he cut his foot kicking a beach ball). And there was bocci (which of course Allen won).

But mostly, there was a lot of much needed family time. And the best thing is, we have the same place next year around the same time (but hopefully without a hurricane).

(To see all the pictures, click here.)

The End of the Teens

Owen left for college a few days after his 18th birthday. As a result, we haven't necessarily directly observed a lot of what transpired this past year, but have been privy to the results. College was a bit of an adjustment, especially his first semester when some of his organizational challenges came home to roost (though the class he struggled with most, some variant of Intro to Life, might have been more of an indictment of Allen and my parenting skills). But Owen found his footing and finished his Freshman year thriving at SMCM. 

He joined the Climbing Club and Fencing Team and even became an officer in the Softball Club. He purchased mason jars at CVS and then drove to the shore in order to collect water samples for his Chemistry class. He registered and voted and then talked me down from the ledge when the results came in. He purchased Christmas presents for the whole family. He did his laundry regularly. He formed study groups. And he even came home for his Father's Birthday, for various holidays and Opening Day.

When he came home for the summer (or rather late Spring – St. Mary's gets out early), we found that over the course of two semesters, Owen had become a fully formed adult. He applied for a job and wrote a cover letter and arranged an interview and when he didn't get it, he pivoted to volunteer work at Meeting. He emptied the dishwasher unprompted. He made dinner. He made plans and drove around the monuments at night with friends.

But through it all, he still made time for his family. So while we're sad that he's heading back to St. Mary's soon (or rather soonish – St, Mary's also starts really late), we know that Owen will always come home. Happy birthday, Little Man, we love you so, so much.

1. Life is all about balance.
2. When God closes a door, He opens a window.
3. Some portals are magical. Others are filled with inaccurate scheduling information on Intro to Chemistry classes.
4. You've got a fast car (ok, maybe not that that fast...)
5. Disengage, beat, disengage, lunge.
6. When faced with being a Cassian or a Syril, always be a Cassian.
7. Don't just make a Mario level, make a whole world.
8. Wouldn't pitcher wins be a better stat if each game's outcome was recalculated with league average runs support?
9. You can never have enough parsley (unless it's dry and from Costco).
10. And in the immortal words of the 12th Doctor, I'm not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It's not because it's fun. God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works because it hardly ever does... I DO WHAT I DO BECAUSE IT'S RIGHT! Because it's decent! And above all, it's kind! It's just that... Just kind.

Down East

I intended to do something significant to commemorate Allen's fiftieth birthday, but as the occasion occurred just a few weeks into the new administration and things were going badly (though in retrospect, not as badly as they would go...), I wasn't really up for party planning. So I punted. We went out for a lovely dinner and I reached out to the wives of his closest friends to see if they were interested in a joint birthday trip in the summer to celebrate their spouses' 50ths as well (well, except Nabeel, who as the baby of the group would only be celebrating his 48th). They were interested, but after a few months of throwing out dates and locations (Asheville, pre-flood; Iceland, pre-international incidents; Chicago pre-military threat...), I gave up. And then Megan suggested Maine, a long weekend in August, and made a reservation at a lovely bed and breakfast, and we were back in business. Thank you Megan!

So shortly after returning from Iowa, Allen and I left the kids (I mean, Owen is an adult) and flew off to Kennebunkport, Maine to hang with Nabeel & Megan and Joe & Cate for a collective 50th birthday (or honorary 50th for Nabeel).

Joe & Cate had flown out early for some hiking and more rustic accommodations, and so were kind enough to pick us up from the airport, before we all went out for the first of many lobster rolls.  We then headed to the Captains Collection to check in, play a little bridge and wait for Nabeel & Megan, who were driving up from Boston where Megan was visiting a friend while waiting for Nabeel to arrive from a gaming convention in Indianapolis where he and his sons debuted the new deckbuilding game they had created, and Nabeel stocked up on provisions for the weekend.

Once we were checked in, we headed to the shore to explore before dining at Mabel's Lobster Claw followed by the first night of games for the boys (Dorfromantik). Some people opted for an early walk/jog and coffee the next morning, while others of us took a more leisurely morn followed by breakfast at the hotel (breakfast sandwiches, homemade yogurt, fruit, and various pastries) before we embarked on the Marginal Way cliff walk which culminated in an ice cream break (followed by a boys' Innovation session when we got back to the hotel).

After some naps and several hours of gaming for the boys, we headed to Earth for the official belated (or prospective in the case of Nabeel) birthday dinner. As an added birthday present, the ladies joined in for a round of Oh No, We Crashed! before we left the boys to enjoy Joe's contribution to the fun fest, Deep Regrets.

When planning activities for the trip, Joe had suggested a whale watching expedition, but Allen knowing that I get horribly seas sick (though apparently not as badly as Nabeel) thought the 4 hour excursion to see whales would be rough and instead suggested a 2 hour tour closer to shore on the schooner Eleanor, built by its Captain. We agreed and got a lovely tour of the coast including a siting of the Bush Compound before heading back to land for a late lunch.

After some more nap time (and maybe some Campy Creatures?) we had our last dinner at Chez Rosa before an epic evening of sleep for some of us, and Graft for others.

The next morning we had an early breakfast at the hotel while the gamers got in one last birthday round of Innovation before enjoying Food & Wine's top rated lobster roll and heading back to our respective homes with lots of fun memories, and ironically, no Deep Regrets!

(To see all of our Maine pictures, click here.)

Iowa 2025

Given how our trip to Iowa went last summer, I was a bit anxious about returning this year, particularly with Dad having had a stroke back in April in addition to all of his memory issues. But this year Allen didn't have to travel to Washington mid-visit, Mom willingly went to her doctor's appointment (and got a relatively clean bill of health), and Dad seems to have stabilized a bit, so even though I had to spend most of the visit working on a regulation (though because remote work no longer counts in the government, I still had to take leave) and Allen was on work calls throughout our stay, we were still able to enjoy much of our time in Iowa.

There was Cornfest (Allen narrowly beat Thomas for a third place showing in the corn-eating contest, though likely only because Ethan wasn't able to compete this year), and corn picking, corn shucking, and corn harvesting (which are seperate but related action items). There were family floats in the pond and covered wagon trips. There were visits with distant Gradys and nearby Fawcetts. There were projects that we weren't actually drafted into helping but we did, in the spirit of John, inspect.

Moreover, after two months of Mom and Dad not having a landline (which, since Mom refuses to get a cell phone, meant there was no way to contact her and only limited ways to contact Dad), we finally got them a workaround. Granted, the workaround (which involved using their internet rather than a traditional landline) only worked for a day before their internet provider (who had been providing their landline) decided that transferring the landline meant that we were cancelling internet service which upon following up with them, would take two weeks to reinstall. Fortunately, Allen got ahold of a real person who got actual people to come out that day and get everything back online.

Plus, dad got a haircut (which is hard to do in Iowa City than one might think), we did another Good Will run, and we even managed to get in an early anniversary dinner for Mom and Dad. That plus some amazing Iowa sunsets, made for a lovely visit and a needed reprieve from DC life.

(To see all the Iowa pictures, click here.)