The End of Act 1

July marks the end of what I am calling the first act of my parenting career. After 4.5+ years of having the kids at the Tel Hi Neighborhood Center, it is time to say goodbye. With Oskar graduating preschool and entering German Kindergarten in August, and said German school offering preschool allowing for one drop off, our time with this wonderful community has come to an end.

And knowing it was our last year, I decided to go all in. I became the PAC chair ensuring I would be fully involved in their school lives for the year. In this role I helped navigate the parents and staff through the reopening during the pandemic, ensured solid communications when discussions in person were no longer an option and I tried to keep the amazing community engaged and connected. 

My efforts culminated this past Thursday at our Family Day at Tel Hi: an afternoon for families to spend time together on the playground, see their kids play with their friends and actually mingle and meet other families at a school sponsored event. We had ice cream, pizza, balloons and music. There were probably more than 100 people over the course of the afternoon and it put a huge smile on my fully masked face knowing we were leaving the community in the same way we found it: thriving.

Oskar and Alva still have four more weeks at school before German school starts, however most of Oskar’s friends will be gone in August, so it feels like the end of an era. But I am also excited to see what comes next, homework and all.

Proud parents at Oskar's Preschool Graduation

As a side note: while nowhere near the size or scale, the afternoon reminded me of the Lafayette School Westival Fundraiser. The annual fundraiser was the premier event of my elementary school: dunk tanks, cake walks, face painting and music and dancing. It was the event to see and be seen at when I was 10 years old. And after seeing the joy at Family Day, I might have a slight itch to maybe do the same thing in the next act.

Treat Yourself 2021 Edition

Fully vaxed and with a pent up demand to socialize, I unintentionally recreated the events of my “treat yourself spring” of 2017.

First up, McKane’s 40^th Birthday celebration in Denver.  With the party on Friday night and Father’s Day on Sunday, I turned to my usual MO and flew in for one night only to celebrate.  With the same honoree and crowd as the wedding, I should have known the event would be over the top:  hosted by some friends at their home in the private golf club community of Cherry Hills, the birthday bash of 80+ guests included a taco food truck, DJ and two open bars serving up specialty cocktails and heavy pours.  I tried my best to step up my game, but the old adage still holds true: you can take the girl out of the city but you can’t take the microphone out of her hand… at least I think that is how it goes.  I may or may not have turned the party into a karaoke bar towards the end of the night and commandeered the playlist to include all of my favorite songs. The night ended with me and Erika’s husband  Karim raiding the hotel’s honor snack bar… and Saturday began with a raging hangover, a night stand covered with a can of pringles, bags of chips, M&Ms, Nutella, goldfish crackers, reese’s peanut butter cups and a half full can of Coors Light.

The following weekend I spent in Sacramento.  Random I know, but it made sense. After both of my close mom friends, Amber and Heather, moved out of the city, we have made an effort to still get together every few months to catch up.  And with Heather’s youngests (yes plural, she has twins) officially 1 years old, I thought it was time for another mom’s night away.  Amber now lives in Truckee and Heather could only manage one night (4 kids aged 5 and under felt like too much to leave with her husband Matt for the entire weekend) we opted for a place in the middle.  I had no idea what to expect, but we booked the Kimpton Sawyer hotel in downtown Sacramento and figured we would find something to do.  Oh, and since I was already going to be up there, I ended up going a night early for a Friday night date night with Ange before Heather and Amber showed up on Saturday morning. 

Sacramento did not disappoint!  But with these ladies, we really could have been anywhere and still had fun. Warm weather, party at the pool, good drinks, good food, great conversations and axe throwing.  It was perfect.   

And finally, while not part of the original Treat Yourself experience of 2017, Martin and I, after 5+ years, finally had a night away from the kids.  Yes, you read that right, we haven’t had a night away together since Oskar was born.  So Saturday morning, we dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa’s and we drove up to Timber Cove for a day of relaxing and a full night sleep.  While Oskar and Alva had the time of their lives at my parents’ house (no joke, they didn’t want to come home with us on Sunday), Martin and I lived it up: we had lunch outside in Valley Ford on the drive up, drank a few too many beers on our new patio, picked up take out from Timber Cove Lodge and were in bed by 9pm for an 11 hour stretch of sleep.  We rounded out the weekend with breakfast burritos from Two Fish and then headed home to pick up the kids, who didn’t want to leave.