liam at thirteen

Friends, we have a teenager. This is not a drill.

But you know what? Even though the teenager thing is new for us, there's no teenager I would rather have than Liam. Sure, he's sassy sometimes, and sometimes he's sullen and withdrawn, but the vast majority of the time he's open, engaged, friendly, and curious. Just like when he was a toddler figuring out how to open all the locks on our apartment door and let himself out to roam the building, he still wants to figure out how things work (only now it's on a larger scale). He's been riding his bike to tennis all summer (the courts are across town) and getting more independent by the day. He is tall and strong and bold and bright — everything we could have asked for and more.

I asked Liam if he feels different now that he's a teenager, and he said that he feels the same, except that he is more mature than he used to be. He said that just this morning, Henry was standing in the doorway of his room messing with his fidget spinner really loudly, "and instead of blowing up at him, I just asked him to keep it down because I was sleeping." [Me: Did Henry stop with the noise? Liam: Yeah, but I was already up by then. I just can't go back to sleep once someone wakes me up!] It's a small example, but I've definitely seen his maturity on display in lots of ways lately.

Just like last year, Liam couldn't think of anything he wanted for his birthday this year. When anyone asked him, he would just smile and say, "I'm pretty content with what I've got, thanks!" I continue to be amazed and impressed by this. But unlike last year, he has a pretty big gift to look forward to anyway.

Years ago, we told the boys that 13 is an important age; it marks the turning point between child and young adult. We explained that they'll go through a lot of changes starting around age 13, and that it's the start of a new phase in their lives. To celebrate, we promised that for each 13th birthday, Mike and I would take the birthday boy (but no brothers!) to the destination of his choice (within reason -- believe me, they pushed on this until we firmly told them Lower 48 only) for a long weekend. Liam has chosen Seattle because he wants to go up in the Space Needle and do the underground tour. So early tomorrow morning, we get on a plane and head west to help him start his teenage years with a bang.

It's the start of an era.

Happy birthday, Liam! We love you.

eddie

Another exciting thing happened over the weekend: Bethany and Joe got a new puppy! His name is Eddie, and he is freaking adorable. He's a little more high-strung than Pluto is, though, so this morning, Bethany texted to ask if I had any boys who wanted to spend the day at her house keeping Eddie occupied and wearing him out (not to mention keeping him from pestering his big brother Oliver, who is thus far less than impressed by the new addition). Needless to say, the boys all tripped over themselves to see who could accept the invitation fastest. After an *extremely* peaceful workday, I drove over to pick up some exhausted and dirty boys and check out the new pup. Oliver is white with black spots, and Eddie is gray with black spots, so they make a handsome duo indeed. The boys are in love!

weekend on the fly

We had planned to spend the weekend in Michigan at Barb and Kevin's cottage, but there was a mix-up, and it turned out the cottage was occupied, so we found ourselves with a whole weekend with no plans. I'm sure you will be shocked (where shocked = not even mildly surprised) to know that I keep a list of relatively local places that I'm interested enough to want to visit someday, but not so interested that I MUST. GO. NOW. So I offered up a couple of choices to Mike, and he picked the Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve, which is near Indiana Dunes. He had ulterior motives, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Coffee Creek is basically a little preserved wooded area with a creek and some interesting features like bridges and boardwalks and a variety of terrain types. I really liked exploring, and the weather was pretty much perfect: sunny and on the cool side. We heard birds around us the whole time, but somehow they mostly managed to stay hidden. Not so hidden were the two deer that ran across the path right in front of us! We were all startled and impressed, but probably the deer had some kind of problem because you would think they would avoid three noisy boys at any cost unless they were rabid or something. Luckily we didn't get close enough to find out.

After we were finished exploring, we headed off to do the next thing on our checklist: find Mike's belated Father's Day gift. For a long time now, he has wanted to plant a small tree to block the view of the unsightly gas meter on the front of the house (the gas people use wi-fi now so they don't have to stomp through the flower beds to read the meter anymore), and we told him he could pick one out as his gift from me and the boys. The first nursery we visited was kind of a dud, but at the second, he found exactly what he wanted: a blue maid holly bush that will grow to be 8-10 feet high and about 5 feet wide. It's also a topiary plant, should he decide to get adventurous with his pruning.

Saturday evening we had a surprise drop-in from the Hoopers (yay! we love surprise drop-ins!), and I mentioned to Amelia that I was planning to take Liam kayaking in the morning. She was excited because she has been planning to try it, and she wanted to take Taylor too, but she didn't feel great about going out on her own for their first outing. Clearly, it was meant to be, so early Sunday morning, Liam and I picked them up and headed to Potato Creek. It was so peaceful and quiet on the water, and both Amelia and Taylor took right to it. I'm sure they'll be joining us again soon!

Sunday afternoon, Mike and Max took the park pass and went back to Potato Creek to ride the mountain bike trail. They had a fun if sweaty time until the last mile, when Max wiped out and got some scrapes. He's a tough guy, though, so he was able to finish and get back to the van for some first aid. All in all, a pretty great weekend for one that started out with a big change in plans!

back on the water

Finally! Summer's half over already, and we're just now getting around to our first kayak run of the year. Where is the time going? Anyway, it was a gorgeous afternoon, so we headed for Potato Creek with Bethany and Klaudia. As it turns out, Klaudia is a little more adventurous (and coordinated!) than any of us. She was paddling backward for a while, and she even stood up in the kayak. Meanwhile, Henry got trapped under some trees near the shore, and the other boys raced over to perform a daring rescue. (He wasn't in any danger, just got caught in some seaweed.) All in all, a perfect way to spend some time.

sweet peace

Have I mentioned that my sainted mother (yes, you read that right, both those words in the same sentence!) has been taking one of the boys each week for an overnight at her house? They LOVE being there. They get to run around outside to their hearts' content, and go down to Bethany's house and play with Oliver and help with the other animals, and hang out with Yami. Jack, of course, is a huge draw too. The whole deal really has saved my sanity so far this summer, because amazingly, with one boy gone (no matter which boy is gone), the other two suddenly get along like they've been best friends every day of their lives. Strange but true.

This morning, Max sent me a selfie from the farm. He and Jack have been cuddled on the couch for hours, hanging out and watching some TV. Could they be any more adorable? I think not.

hot hot hot

Friends, it's been HOT and MUGGY around here lately, but we didn't let a little heatstroke keep us from venturing out Thursday afternoon to take Avalon and Jack to Taltree for their first-ever visit. We stopped for lunch on the way, and since Jack was asleep in his car seat, we got it to go and took it with us. We ate in the musical garden while the kids played the instruments. After that, we explored the children's adventure garden for a while and checked out all the animals. Jack was less than impressed, but I guess that's what happens when you live with your own personal petting zoo.

After that, we took a walk along the Heron Trail, where they had a series of fairy houses set up. The houses were really neat, all made from natural or recycled materials, and the boys all had fun exploring them. Jack was stuck to Max like an adorable little burr (as usual), and cried every time Max was out of his line of sight.

Our final stop of the afternoon was a visit to the train garden (yay!), where the boys tried to complete a scavenger hunt. They got about halfway through before they decided that it was just too freaking hot to finish. (They were right. We were all red in the face and drenched in sweat. Yuck.) Along the way, I found Waldo, but all three of my boys gave me identical looks of puzzlement: "Who the heck is Waldo?" Okay then!

ah, summer

Summer break's in full swing, and these boys have been loving it. Last night we met Laura, Jimmy, Gracie, and Elly at Price's Pond, and the cousins had a great time proving they could swim all the way across (at least Liam, Max, and Jimmy), playing chicken, and doing cannonballs off the end of the pier. You may remember that Price's used to be a members-only park, but last year it was donated to the city to become part of the park department. Last year we had to buy a pass, but this year I hear there's no admission fee ... but no lifeguards either. That should make things interesting.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that our town leaders aren't used to being given big land gifts that need to be maintained, so they're trying to figure out the best way to handle things. Interesting note: I'm not sure exactly when Centennial Park, the town's main park, was established (though I'm guessing based on the name it was either 1951, 100 years after Plymouth was incorporated as a town, or 1973, 100 years after it was officially designated as a city; either way, it was before my time), but I can tell you that Magnetic Park/Bird Park has been around since the 1930s. I can also tell you that for years it had a bird sanctuary with pheasants and peacocks and even a vulture, because my grandpa used to visit it all the time when he was a kid. I just tried to look that up online to verify, but all I can find is that the park is officially called Magnetic Park because the water in the wishing well supposedly has magnetic properties because it has a high concentration of iron. Hmmm, definitely something to ask Gramps about next time I see him.

Anyway, now that you've all joined me on that completely pointless but (I'm sure) thoroughly fascinating tangent, all this is to say that summer is fun, Price's Pond is a gem, and the boys like swimming. The end.

UPDATE: Gramps reports that the water in the wishing well does indeed have a high concentration of iron, and that further, it was believed to have healthful qualities. He said his father used to tell him that the water there was the best and healthiest, and that they drank it all the time. But then he said, "We ignored the squiggly stringy bits, but those mostly stayed at the bottom anyway. But if the area flooded, which it was prone to since the river was right there, we had to give it a few days to settle down before we took a drink again." There is just way too much to unpack there, so I'm not even going to try. I will tell you, though, that my Uncle Mark also remembers both drinking from the well and the squiggly stringy bits. So there you have it. Whatever "it" is.