Twelve

 Can you believe it?  The baby who started this whole blog... he's twelve. In a blink, a fleeting breath of time, we are here.
Seems like only yesterday, holding this baby Jack in my arms, not quite sure what to do with him or what to expect from my new life as a mom...

 Remember this handsome little devil, 18 months of handsome, that perfect hair and dimple and his funny little mispronounced words, his love for diggers and trucks and sticks and motorcycles...

 Or this little boy, ornery and bright and funny and charming, hesitant to try new things but so ready to learn it all...

 And now, twelve.  So many feelings for a mom, here on the edge of the teenage years.  There's barely a trace of my little boy in this lanky, strong young man... and yet he's exactly the same.  In the eyes, the dimple, the set of those still smooth (for just a little bit longer!) sweet, soft cheeks.   Glimpses of the future are there, too, in his humor and in his emerging kindness and maturity.  At twelve, we've put behind us almost all of the tantrums and breakdowns and anxiety that plagued my beautiful little boy.  Almost like a light switch, he's better able to handle life, evening out as he grows into himself.  Sometimes I miss that tiny boy of mine so much it hurts, and I long to hold his little soft body in my arms again, to stay up nights and never complain, to let him nurse as long as he wants and never even try to put him down to do other things because it just went so fast.  Everyone said it would and I didn't believe them.  Couldn't believe them, there in the trenches with all those moments that weren't picture perfect, that were messy and exhausting and ridiculously hard and ridiculously boring.  But it went so fast!  And here we are at twelve and there is no going back.  Only trying to hold on to THIS moment with my son as he travels down this one-way road to adulthood...

Twelve is...

Kindness and a soft heart for animals, always...

Twelve is...silliness and risk-taking and great long arms and legs every which way....

Twelve is sometimes easy! Charming smiles and mature humor and the ability to be a real help every now and then... off set by a strong desire to a. antagonize his sister and b. play minecraft at all possible moments, and the tendency to fly off the handle when confronted about these things.  Twelve is sometimes not easy at all...

 Twelve is... taller than me!  By a great deal.

Twelve is smart and capable and often moody and reticent.  Twelve avoids the camera and blocks out the world with headphones... and chats companionably at family dinners, too. A bundle of contradictions as always, my boy...

We celebrated this year in the "drawn out" fashion, starting with a quick visit with Auntie Bec, who was in town for a wedding.

 Also the Greek Fest, which brings back memories of nervous anticipation every year, seeing the banner go up and wondering if we'd have our baby by the time of the festival.  Well, not that first year!  I hobbled through the flea market like a very pregnant hippo.  But here we are!   We've got our baby... and he orders his own gyro.

Some beach time and a little dog festival and Lake Farmpark  on Jack's last weekend of eleven...

 .. and a nice family celebration to mark the real deal.  Jack chose "breakfast for dinner" for our meal and had a nice time being spoiled with new wireless earbuds and a great deal of cash (the only thing he asked for!).  This boy is a pre-teen for sure.

 Then, fast forward two weeks!  We had our first "off site" party this year and its a change for us to have to take a booking schedule into account when organizing for a birthday!  The best date ended up being September 7th... but our afternoon at Shaker Rocks was worth the wait! 

I have to say, there's a lot to be said for an off-site party.  The photo below shows the extent of my party prep, with the addition of some pizza and chips to feed the crew.  And that's all I had to do!  No cleaning, before or after, and trained professionals were on hand to entertain the kids.  Can't lose!

 The kids had a fabulous time.  Even Jack, who'd not done this kind of climbing before, but jumped in with enthusiasm and handled adversity like, well, a twelve year old.  I couldn't get over the way he tried again and again to tackle and conquer one particular path up the wall... not giving up til he did it. 

 Proud of this kid.

 The whole group of boys were pretty fun to hang out with.  Nice kids.  I am so grateful that twelve, for Jack, comes with good friends who I genuinely like. 

 Twelve is going to be fun, I think.

Home Again, and the end of summer...

We arrived home from Michigan with just 4 days to spare before the (extremely early!) start of school. Those 4 days included a weekend and because we are who we are,  that meant doing ALL the things for fun, in addition to getting ready for the school year.

First order of business:  Orientation for 7th grade for this kid.

We were excited to see the newly renovated Rox Middle building and we were not disappointed.  Apparently construction crews had only just cleared out about two hours before we all arrived.  Nothing like working under pressure for those poor teachers and administrators!  But all seemed in good order, and our boy, after opening his new locker on the first try (really the most important thing) felt relaxed and confident about his start.  A real change of pace from last year's anxiety, that's for sure!

Next up:  Tigersharks movie night at the pool.  It would be one of our last visits of the season so we soaked up conversations with neighbors while the kids splashed in the twilight.  Years ago, when our littles were actually little, I would hear other Cleveland Heights parents and neighborhood friends (many of whom grew up here!) wax poetical about Cumberland Pool.  At that time, I was a little confused by the effusive love.  It seemed like a rather rectangular, rather ordinary, rather old pool to me.   But now,  a decade down this road of parenting and of living in the Heights, I'm beginning to see what they were talking about.

The magic of Cumberland has far less to do with the actual pool, or even the pretty cool historic structures, than the people you see on every visit, the way you watch the kids grow up together in the blue of the water, the way the trees are a backdrop for conversations and emerging friendships,  the traditions that grow on repetition and annual events.  Turns out there really is some magic in this place.

There's some magic at Euclid Beach, too.  Had to spend some time there, of course.

And had to fit in a visit with the tiny kittens our neighbor is fostering.  This girl may end up getting a kitten someday if it makes her smile like this.

You know what else makes her smile?  Time with her bestie.  We took a few extra kiddos along for our final trip to Waldameer, and these two girls had the best time together.  They'll be at different schools this year so we are working on ways to help them preserve the friendship they've developed.  This is totally the age to start those life-long friendships and I will do everything I can to help my girl have that.

Incidentally, Water World at Waldameer was pretty fun.  Those are Nat's legs you see shooting out at high velocity from the orange slide.  It was entertaining to watch each person come  out, stand up, and laugh a little in astonished joy.

We also really enjoyed the coasters on this visit, with all of us riding the Ravine Flyer II at least twice.

Here we are on the Ferris wheel, completely roasted.  For a few hours in the afternoon we doubted the wisdom of our decision to visit Waldameer on a weekend.  Temps were high and lines were long and we were fried!  But everyone rallied after some lemonade and a visit to McDonalds for air conditioning and burgers, and we ended up just about closing the place down, as per our norm.

Thanks for a great summer, Waldameer!

The rest of the weekend went to soccer, school-clothes shopping, and getting ready for the big first day.

 This season the East Side Kickers have been moved from U12 to U14, thanks to winning the division in the spring.  Playing against 14 year olds will really take care of that winning thing for you, it turns out.  The season thus far has been a series of bruising defeats, but our boy has had a chance to practice resiliency-- again and again.  Listening to his calm, rational breakdown of a recent game-- "there was a lot we could learn from how they played, they were on their passing game, we'll just need to improve, I got a couple of good plays in, at least..." -- I was just so proud of this young man and how far he has come in his ability to deal with adversity.

And then- blink!  First day of school! The kids started before me this year but I was at my opening meeting and could not see them off.  Luckily Nat was there as always to get them to school, and snap a few pics... Here's Jack, heading to day 1 of 7th grade at Roxboro Middle, still with summer lurking just over his shoulder there, in the form of a rainbow beach towel...

 And Ivy ready to head in to day 1 of 4th grade at Boulevard, in Mrs. Dawson's room...

 We rang out summer with  what seems to be a tradition-- our final trip to Cumberland, where these crazies played off the energy of the first day of school and we all took a deep breath before the year started in earnest...

Summer 2019, you were good to us!  We will miss you...

In Michigan (Day 4-6: Houghton Lake, Higgins Lake and wonderful family time...)

Three days of water and sunshine and family on these two secret, inland Michigan lakes... the perfect way to close out our trip/

Cousin John rented a pontoon boat for our group on Sunday and we proceeded to spend allll day out on Houghton Lake.  It took some careful arrangements and, eventually, an organized written list (guess who was responsible for that?) to arrange our 19 family members into groups of 12 or less, signed up for activities of interest.  I skipped the morning fishing expedition (no fish) but went for both the "tubing with kids" ride and the "adults only happy hour."  Both of which were grand.

The pontoon boat did not have the most powerful engine in the world but it was enough to get some smiles on the faces of all the cousins.  And swimming off the boat was lovely, especially once we finally located the ladder.

This is the iconic photo of our trip.  Right before heading back in.  Nat was in the water with the waterproof camera and told the kids to do one more big jump on his count.  And they obliged! Amazing when things work out like that!

Sent kids home in one car, received a carload of cousins onto the boat, and back out we went for happy hour.

And, the only catch of the day.

Back at the ranch for the evening we had a fabulous cookout meal and then the card games began.

And, compliments of Megan and James' Nintendo Switch, so did the video gaming. For a large part of the evening, Brendan played laying down, with his thumb in his mouth, running his Mario Kart with one thumb... and frequently placing in the top three.  It was hilarious.  Also how do my children have such long legs???

Laura, Paige, Abby and I took it upon ourselves to shake up the patriarchy of fire-starting and get the campfire going ourselves. We got a terrific blaze going, then had a great time talking about college shenanigans with Paige, a sophomore just brimming with the optimism and joy of being 19.  Then Laura got out her guitar and she and Steve played (beautifully) while we sang and we worked up our own improvisational melody, "In Michigan," and kept it rolling as the kids came out for a quick hit of s'mores...  we added a verse of spoken-work about why T-Rex's can't eat roasted marshmallows, at campfires... in Michigan...

Best fire I've been at in a while.  Love those cousins of mine.

Final full day:

Pickle ball (LOTS of pickle ball)...

... and a beach day at Higgins Lake State Park.

 Situated a stone's throw from each other, you'd think Houghton and Higgins would be identical inland lakes.  But Houghton is run-off fed, with the requisite dirt and rock bottom... while Higgins, somehow, is groundwater-fed with a white sand bottom and clear clear water and the most amazing tropical blue color.

 Also incredibly shallow. You had to go PAST the line of boats you see out there to get water past your waist.

 Perfect depth for floating and catching minnows and playing Ultimate and wading and sitting with feet in the sand...

 We rented kayaks and got lunch at the adorable camp store and it was a perfect day.

 Capped it off back at the house with a silly string fight...

 ...sunset...

 ...another campfire...

 ... and more games, of course!

 Including the traditional round of "Questions and Answers" and all the raucous laughter that comes with it.  We were glad the kids were all upstairs in the "kid loft" (a huge space with no less than 8 beds, two couches and a TV.  Jack was ready to move in to that house) and not where they could hear the things we were saying!  I learned a few new slang terms myself this year!

Family photos...

 (Light testing for Nat.  Might as well have fun with it.)

 Love these people.

We stopped on the way home for lunch with Grandma Jan and a tour of her new digs at Friendship Village.  She is gracious and energetic and positive as always and it was wonderful to spend time with her.

So much to love in Michigan.