Weeknotes: 06/23/24-06/29/24

This Week:

• It was the last week of my kiddos 5th grade. Monday he had his graduation ceremony, and he won a couple of awards, particularly a creative writing prize. I’m immensely proud of him and all the hard work he’s done in the past six years. On to the new challenges and opportunities of middle school!
• One of the truisms of Oneonta schools is that the last week is basically all half days. This affected me in a number of ways. First, we traded off kids with some other parents last week, and this week, we had a bunch of kiddos at our place on Monday. It was wild and fun to have so many little people in the house.
• Another modification of the week is that we held “Half Day fun” at the Yager Museum. Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, we had games, crafts, activities and snacks for kids K-6. We had a decent turnout, and a good write-up in our local paper.
• Following the shenanigans of Half -Day fun, our family packed up and drove up to Gilbert Lake to spend the back half of the week. It’s a place we have visited many times before, and even though it’s quite close to us, it still feels like a far-away adventure every time we go. We stayed in one of the CCC cabins, and spent our days walking around the lake, swimming, grilling, and lazily reading and playing board games. It was delightful, even on rainy or cloudy days.
  
• Wednesday was also Alanna’s and my wedding anniversary. Though we went out to dinner last week, on the actual day we traded gifts and cards, and spent the evening in front of a roaring fire.
• I took the opportunity to finish reading two books. First was Nick Mamatas' “Sensation”, a Dickian paranoid satire that wanders through a bewildering 21st century, full of conspiracy, impersonal violence, and super-intelligent parasitic insects–Great stuff! The second was “Locklands”, the final book in Robert Jackson Bennett’s Founders trilogy. It served as an exciting ending to an inventive and energetic series.