Growing Roots

We’re coming up on one year of living in Orlando. The first time we came down last year to see the house as a family was in October, when we observed that our neighbors down the street decorated extensively for Halloween. We’ve since learned they go all out for most holidays. About a month ago, their Halloween decor went up again, bloody sheets and all. It seems like this should make us feel like we’re gaining longevity here, but I’m still stuck on the fact that they have “No trespassing: will be shot” signs on their fence. We’re not trick or treating there.

But yesterday held another reminder that we are slowly settling in here. It was grandparent’s day at our kids’ school. They had one in the spring too, and Erik’s parents happened to be here for it which was fantastic. This time the commute was a bit too long. I attended though, and while some of the moms were setting up and taking down, a couple of the new ones had questions about what to do. I realized that I knew what had happened last time, and while that made me far from an expert, I had something to offer. On top of that, the night before when the kids were making lunches, they said, “Hey, tomorrow’s grandparent’s day. We don’t have to bring as much lunch!” Yes, let’s fill up on donut holes and cheese instead. We know how to do grandparent’s day.

It’s a funny victory to claim, because it wasn’t really anything we did – it was just recognizing that we’re getting there. Life will soon have more traditions and “this is how we do” moments. Each year our confederate neighbors will put up their excessive holiday decor and will remind us that this is home. It feels like roots. Little ones, but roots.

What are you calling victory today?

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Playing Together

Our kids are in that stage between toys and whatever comes next to fill their free time – jobs? Friends? I don’t know. All I know is that Candyland doesn’t entertain them anymore (and I think we’re all a little thankful for that).

It’s hard to know how to occupy our free time well with them when it seems most activities one of us suggests have a 2 or 3 out of 4 approval rate. I have dreams of us being a family that always love spending time together doing wildly creative things, but finding things that all of us consistently want to do feels like trying to find four leaf clovers or the holy grail.

Sometimes, though, it happens. Megan’s been wanting to play a certain game on the trampoline with the whole family for over a week now. She usually suggests doing it immediately after dinner, which causes the adults in the family to preemptively vomit a little just thinking about it. Tonight we gave ourselves a little time to digest and then hopped up there for the game Megan calls “dead man.” It’s basically Marco Polo on the trampoline.

Unfortunately, our son decided he wasn’t into it, so our magical foursome activity looked doomed. A few minutes later, he concluded he was bored enough to join us, and we proceeded to play. In the middle of jumping and laughing and screaming and catching each other, I thought, “This is a victory moment.” It was a sweet time, and I’m thankful for it.

What are you calling victory today?

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Making Memories

Living overseas for over a decade means we’ve missed out on many things, particularly autumn activities, because in all that time we never came back during the fall. Now, we had a great community of expat friends which means that we certainly tried to replicate holidays and traditions we’d had in America, but it was never quite the same.

Now that we’re back, we’re trying to figure out which activities we want to do, and how to do them. One of those is jack o’ lanterns. Pumpkins weren’t very big overseas (or if they were, they were expensive) and when you live in an apartment with people who don’t celebrate Halloween, putting a creepily carved lit pumpkin outside your door is sure to disturb the neighbors.

The kids were thrilled the other day to see huge pumpkins at the store for $4 each (I don’t know if this is cheap. It seemed ridiculously cheap to us). Yesterday, despite being tired from a weekend away, I decided it would be a great time to do this with the kids.

I knew, as every parent knows, that I would probably end up doing the majority of the work. Surprisingly, the kids wanted to clean out the insides of their pumpkins themselves, for the most part. Megan named hers Robert Patrick McKinn, nickname Bobrick McKinn, which is decidedly awesome. We decided to write our family name in Mandarin on them, so that was definitely my job with the knife. We were told later that they won’t last long, which is disappointing, but honestly – we’d happily do it again. We’re making up for lost time!

So that’s my victory for Sunday – making memories with the kids. And not only memories, but ones that build into their connection back to the U.S. I’m almost hoping we’ll have to do more (although I’m guessing they won’t be as keen the second time around).

What are you calling victory today?

Continue ReadingMaking Memories

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