family

Summer Vacation, Day 77: Quite a Coincidence!

/ J. Thorp / 4 Comments

This evening we’re getting our first family photo in ages taken for the church directory (and possible purchase and dissemination). We were talking about how long it had been over supper last night, and it came up that, the last time, four-year-old Trevor was not in the photo. (In fact, he was not yet an agreed-upon eventuality at that moment.)

“Was I still inside Mommy?” asked Trevor.

“Sort of, yeah,” I said.

“When did I get out of Mommy?” he asked.

“June 21, 2004,” said Jodi.

His face broke into a surprised smile. “So when I popped out, it was my birthday?!” he asked.

We all laughed long and loud over this, and Brendan attempted to explain that that’s what a birthday is. It was lost on Trevvy, who could not believe his good fortune, having “popped out” on his birthday.

Jodi laughed loudest, I think – I suspect at the notion that, at 12 pounds, 2 ounces, Trevor “popped” at all!

Summer Vacation, Day 72: Gang’s All Here (Belated)

/ J. Thorp / Leave a comment

Been sleeping on the houseboat with the full moon for a night light. Jill and her kids (plus her boxer) came up to the lake, too, and the boys (minus Trevvy) went fishing. Lots of too-small walleye.

Then Brendan finally hooked something. The pole bent double. The drag whined as line was pulled out against the reel’s wishes Dziadzi was ready with the net, and Gabe and Kyle were cheering him on … and it spit the hook. Oof. We all felt terrible, and Dziadzi shouted something it’s best I don’t repeat here.

Brendan took it in stride. He imagines a massive fish and tells a good story. Dziadzi tells him his great-grandpa caught few fish, but always caught the biggest. He sees himself in that light.

Gabe suspects the fish was “Old Mocker” – the fish who’s been jumping on all sides of the houseboat this entire trip. Gabe imagines a wise and clever fish who, like Moby Dick, can show up in one place and then somewhere else entirely nearly simultaneously.

He called the fish “Old Mocker,” of course, because it continued to mock us each time we set out …

Summer Vacation, Day 70: Gone Fishing (Belated)

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Spent the day at Hardy Dam, and the kids learned a bit more about fishing and camping – namely that, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, you never know what you’re gonna get. Bren, Gabe and I went fishing with Dziadzi early in the morning and caught seven or so small walleye (8 to 13 1/2 inches; minimum to keep ’em is 15). I caught a 22-inch pike (minimum is 24 inches). So, no keepers, and Bren didn’t catch any at all!

Jodi and Busia went to town for groceries (our family changes the entire feeding dynamic at the camp site) and the kids decided to read (Bren = The Silmarillion; Gabe = The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen) or nap through a good part of the afternoon, so Dad and I read (East of Eden continues to be a masterpiece; Dad is reading Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising). When the ladies returned, we took the kids to the beach, but a steady breeze had blown a thick layer of pea-soup muck into the swimming area. The kids played in the sand, instead, and I went with Dad to install two more bunks in the houseboat.

Afterward, all of us set out to go fishing, only to be blown in off the lake by a rapidly advancing storm. We barely got the houseboat docked again before the rain began – the cabin catches a lot of wind! So we went into my folks’ fifth-wheel to eat supper and watch the Olympics. Oh, and we learned that smallmouth bass are quite good to eat – cousin Kyle had left one behind. Not really what we planned, but it all worked out. Amen.

Summer Vacation, Day 53: Good Housekeeping?

/ J. Thorp / 3 Comments

Is it a bad sign when the living rooms are just picked up enough that they don’t look like bedrooms, when the bedrooms are just picked up enough that you can make out a trail from bed to the closet to the door, when kitchen is just clean enough that you’d consider crossing the floor barefoot, and when the bathrooms have no standing water – and the children are gushing about how great the house looks?

We’ve worked all weekend, and it still feels like an uphill battle to Jodi and me. Meanwhile, Brendan is declaring victory: “Now all we gotta do is keep it this way!”

Summer Vacation, Day 41: Birthday Boy!

/ J. Thorp / 2 Comments

Eight years ago yesterday, on her birthday, Jodi had an OB appointment, and the doctor had an announcement – the baby in her belly was bulking up fast and needed to come out. We were a only few days overdue, but all her measurements suggested that whoever was in there seemed content to simply expand. The doctor would induce the next day.

We postponed celebrating her birthday until after Gabe’s birth. He was 11 pounds 11 ounces, dwarfing his big brother’s substantial birth weight of 9-9. (Emma, incidentally, weighed a petite 9-5; Trevor frightened the hospital staff at 12-2.)

He’s eight. I can hardly believe how the time passes. Almost makes me want to run.