death valley national park

 

While Liam spent spring break in Duck with his friends (funny enough, they rented the same house we rented for Thanksgiving 2024), the rest of us decided to head to the desert. Funny backstory: Initially, Henry was a hard no on going with us. It's hard to blame him for not wanting that much undiluted parent time. But then one day I was telling Max about the trip, and he immediately wanted to come, so we switched our dates around to coincide with his spring break, then went back to Henry and asked if he wanted to miss a few days of school to come with us after all ... and wouldn't you know it, that resulted in a yes.

After a very early morning flight, we arrived in Las Vegas before noon, picked up our rental car, and hit the road, with a stop at Walmart to buy a cooler and food. We were on the lookout for wildflowers, and although the heat had burned off the height of the bloom, we were still treated to an amazing superbloom. At the lower elevations, we saw yellow, white, and purple flowers, and then higher up we were treated to lovely bright oranges. Each day we went to different locations and scouted for flowers along the way. The most amazing display, in my opinion, came on the day that we drove to Ubehebe Crater. On the way there, we saw a hillside entirely covered in bright yellow flowers, and amazingly, there was nobody else even around. Nobody else felt like getting out of the car, so I stood there just taking it in by myself for a while. Truly incredible experience.

But of course, we weren't just there for the flowers. (Lie: We were totally there for the flowers.) We also did other things we loved! Mike and the boys did a long, hot, challenging hike while I rented a bike and went for a very hot, very windy ride. We got up and saw the sunrise every day. Mike and I went out at night to see the stars (So. Many. Stars!). We even drove to the furthest reaches of the park because I saw a place on the map noted as a Joshua tree forest. 

Max and Henry's favorite thing by far (like by a million miles) was going for their first horseback ride. They went at sunset and had an absolute blast, and then spent the rest of the trip arguing whether Moonshine or Mojave was the superior horse. (Brothers gonna brother, am I right?)

Naturally, it wouldn't be a Fort vacation without some kind of infestation. This time around, it was INCHWORMS. Turns out that the conditions that make it so favorable for a superbloom ALSO are favorable to inchworms. Friends, they were dropping from the trees onto our clothes and skin. They were crawling up the drainpipes into the bathtub. They slithered in massive numbers under every door crack and through every crevice. Everyone in the whole hallway had towels shoved under their doors to block them, and every morning when we ventured out of our room, the hall floor was a real horror show. But hey, at least they didn't bite us! 

max is 20!

 Just like that, we've got one teenager and two twenty-somethings!

Max has had a big year. He finished up his freshman year at Purdue, got himself a new major (applied statistics and actuarial science!), spent most of his summer in Detroit doing an internship for Chris, and is now three-quarters of the way through his sophomore year. He's got so much to be proud of, and even more to look forward to.

One thing I adore about Max is the way he shows up for the people he loves. Whether he's cheering Henry on at a race, offering Liam the best possible listening ear (and good advice!), or coming home for the weekend to spend time with Cassidy when she is under the weather, Max is someone to be counted on. He's not flashy or obvious, but he's a solid, steady presence with an innate kindness. He's also hilarious and can and will cut you right down to size with a single sentence, lest you think he's all sweetness and light.

No, our Max is a lot more than that. He loves watching and playing tennis, as well as playing video games on his phone while having long, rambling conversations with Henry. He's the first one in a restaurant to order a dessert the minute he thinks he can get away with it. But he's also the first one to share.

And he's always up for an adventure! I think that of them all, Max is the most like me in that department — he's ready to go to new places and try new things. One of his favorite things to do when we travel (and he does NOT get this from me!) is find the hardest/most dangerous/most gasp-inducing hike and convince Mike to do it with him. Liam and Henry have gone along with varying levels of enthusiasm, but Max has been the true impetus for each one, challenging his dad and brothers to keep up with and making it look easy along the way.

In the car last weekend, as a side note to another conversation we were having, I said something about no longer being the person who knows Max best now that he's making his adult way in the world. But I sure know enough, and I could not be prouder or more excited to find out what happens next.

Happy birthday, Max. We love you so much.

the champion ... again

Would you look at that? After a very long day with a LOT of rain forcing us indoors, Max emerged triumphant once again, becoming only the second Jeffirs to be a two-time winner of a coveted pig. (Kelsey was the first.)

This year, Max was paired with Maria, and they each played to their strengths: Max did the Speed Eraser (flipping a pencil off a table into a cup) and Mr. President (writing down the first and last names of the presidents) events, while Maria did Sticky Table (a marble rolling game) and Time Tables (solving grade-school math problems). It turns out that Max is REALLY good at flipping pencils, and got a whopping 37 of them to land in the cup in one minute. 

This was the first year I have competed for a pig, and poor Kelsey absolutely lost her chance at winning when she got paired with me. I did beat Maria head to head in Sticky Table, but aside from that, Kelsey and I ended up pretty much right in the middle of the pack for the final scores.

Liam also made his triumphant return to Jeffirspalooza after the two of us missed last year on account of him being in the hospital and all. He had a prior engagement in the late afternoon, so he was unable to compete in Pigmania, but he had fun talking to people and catching up.

Max and I also managed to scrounge up a deck of cards and my mom, and we proceeded to play several games of euchre with a cast of players who rotated in and out depending on who was needed for pig competition purposes. Alison flew in from DC for the event, and she brought my pal Julie (I'm claiming Julie too, Al, after she did that bike tour in Boston with me last year!), and they were delightful as always, and willing to join us at the euchre table.

All in all, a fun (if exhausting) palooza this year!

liam is 21

Friends, it's a momentous milestone!

Today we celebrate the 21st birthday of the one who made us parents, the one who blazes his path and challenges the others to blaze their own, the one who by definition holds most of our "firsts" as mom and dad ... the one and only Liam.

There aren't enough words for me to say how far beyond proud I am of this young man. From the minute I saw his face for the very first time (solemn, crabby, confused but interested at being thrust into the world) I have had an unshakeable faith in him, and he has exceeded every hope I could have laid out. That's not to say he doesn't make mistakes, that he's never grumpy or snappish, that we never fight — he is and does all those things, but never with real malice. He isn't always nice, but he's almost always kind.

Life has tested him this past year. It's impossibly hard to discover at 20 that your previously mostly perfectly functioning body can just ... go haywire, with long-lasting consequences. And now, nearly a year since he first got sick, you know what Liam has to say? That he is a LUCKY PERSON. He has a small collection of objects that remind him of this: a blue glass bird, an enamel pin, a voodoo doll in the form of a wise wizard. I don't think he really needs the reminders, though. He carries that luck with him everywhere now.

We can't be with him on his big day, but yesterday we all went together to a baseball game and then out for lunch. We talked and laughed, and he opened many lego sets. And today he is planning to take donuts to his fellow interns in the morning, and they will take him out tonight to celebrate his big day. 

Liam, you are lucky. But more than that, you are the luck. We love you so, so much.

moonlight over the tippy 2025: a story in snaps

 Hi! Did you miss me? It's been crazy busy around here. Work has been absolutely bananapants, and some days I barely have enough time to acknowledge that I have a family, let alone do anything that isn't work work work. BUT last night I broke free, and Mike, Henry, and I went for a 20-mile ride on the Panhandle Pathway. Henry is MUCH faster than me, so he rode ahead and told us he would wait at the SAG stop/halfway point for us. (Mike is also much faster than me, but I guess he likes me more than he likes riding fast.) Henry sent me a few snaps along the way, but when he got to the SAG stop, things started getting really interesting. Follow along with us!

First sign of trouble:

Henry immediately follows that up with this text. He's got a score to settle.

At this point, Mike and I are only about a mile away from the SAG stop, and we pass Henry on his return, pedaling like a madman. I try to get a picture but my phone doesn't want to cooperate. In my defense, it can be tricky to take a decent photo while riding 11 mph. Mike and I arrive at the SAG stop, get a drink and some snacks, and I proceed to talk to the many old people in the vicinity. I tell them about Henry's text, then describe Henry and say how nice it would be if they happened to pass him and say hi. Mike and I take a quick selfie, and I fill Liam and Max in on events as they're transpiring.

(I meant to say look "for" him, not "at" him, but I was in a hurry so I didn't have time to consult an editor.)

The whole ride back, I wait excitedly for this text, which finally comes just as we are crossing the Tippecanoe River.

My response:

We arrive at the finish to find Henry sitting at a picnic table with a bunch of old people. I greet him excitedly with, "Hi Henry! Did you make some new friends?" All the old people cheer and congratulate him on a great ride.

I will note that Henry found the whole thing "fairly funny" and does seem willing to ride with us again this season, so I can say with confidence that no Henrys were harmed during this prank.

a big show for mike's big day

 Mike had a big milestone birthday last night (50!!), and we went out to dinner with Henry to celebrate. Then we kept the celebration going by heading outside to see the northern lights for the third (!!!) time this year from our backyard. Mike came out with me early on, but then he snoozed on the couch, so I mostly enjoyed this spectacle by myself. (Henry flatly refused on the grounds that it was too cold and he could just look at the pictures later.) I wrapped up in a blanket and alternated time outside with some warm-up periods on the heated recliner inside. It wasn't as spectacular as May or maybe even August, but every time I see the lights it's magical to me. And this time we got that interesting red streak. It's known as a stable auroral red (SAR) arc, and it's generated from extreme thermal/kinetic energy in the atmosphere. Neat!