Category: Skyler

Happy Birthday, Skyler!

Karen

Our nephew is 13 today and truly, how did that happen? Who is this adult in this picture, piloting a literal airplane?!!

He’s been involved in Civil Air Patrol for a little under a year and has already flown Cessnas and gliders and drones, gone on encampment, and done leadership training. He hasn’t stopped ranking up, either.

CAP is a really great example of this kid knowing what he wants–he wanted to fly planes, so here he is thriving in a cool organization. He’s always been like that, even when he was little and trying to figure out how to keep the iPad all to himself.

He’s alarmingly smart and got his parents’ curiosity: In the course of a Sunday afternoon, he asked Grandpa to explain the difference between analog and digital radio scanners and had Matt tell him how DNS works. He’ll explain things to me that I’ve never even thought about and I always learn something new when we hang out.

He may be flying planes, but I still remember these days:

Happy birthday, Bubbs! You are so loved.

SUP Bros

Karen

or, “Messing About In Boats/Stand-Up Paddleboards”:

I’ve decided it’s “fake summer vacation week” for me, by which I mean I took Monday and Friday off and we’re doing things with our nephew. (Matt has the whole week off; we were going to go on an actual summer vacation but that was before Toby needed insulin every 12 hours.)

Yesterday’s vacation adventure included a rented inflatable stand-up paddleboard and a trip to Lily Lake in the Uintas. I’ve wanted to go see the lilies at close range for about forever, and this time we DID–along with big fish, schools of tiny fish, and a bald eagle looking for fish (!). The SUP was a lot of fun to try out and Skyler was a natural at it–highly recommend it as a water craft in which to mess about.

Now I just have to get through three days of work until Friday’s adventure: The amusement park!

 

Happy Birthday, Skyler

Karen

SOMEONE is ELEVEN tomorrow, which is so much closer to “driving a car” than it was to “toddler,” omg.

I was looking through old pictures for this post and as much as he was a delight as a baby, he’s exponentially more of a delight now as a young adult: Still happy, still scary-smart, still wanting to track everything down to the final “why”…but also gracious and generous and quick to make sure you don’t feel embarrassed or excluded.

I love how that open, waiting look he does has been around since he was little.It kind of sums him up: Direct, patient, ready to let you in on the joke or explain a fact.


Happy birthday, Bubbs! We love you.

Early Easter Brunch

Karen

I probably am too fond of fancy hotels for as much as I say, “Eat the rich!” but they are just so gracious. You are polite, the staff is polite, and if you want something and ask nicely it just…happens. Life is easy in a fancy hotel (if you have money, of course, in which case life is probably easy regardless).

Anyway. I’ve been wanting to take my nephew to Easter brunch for two years now and we finally made it happen yesterday. We were a week early but the buffet had pastel macarons and the flowers in the courtyard were blooming and it felt like a proper celebration.

(Can you believe this kid is going to be eleven in a couple weeks?! I cannot.)

Seasonal Activities

Karen

We had some good weather yesterday and hadn’t done anything with our nephew in a while, so we spent an afternoon at a local…Halloween/fall extravaganza? Its official name is “Kuwahara’s Pumpkin Patch & Thriller Park,” it had the production values of your local high school theater class, and it was great.

(In fairness to the production values, I think a lot of it was meant to be seen at night, with people popping out from the pumpkins to scare you, but I liked it during the day.)

As aunt and uncle, we’re contractually obliged to buy Skyler whatever he wants on these outings, and this time he wanted a 42-pound pumpkin. This is why I work out.

Sunday Fun Day

Karen

It was a big day over here at Chez Cat Hair: It was SUNNY and we got a visit from my NEPHEW and we took him to a PARK. A great time.

Kiddo has enviable upper body strength (and also he is closer to a teenager than a little kid now, how did that happen wtf):

Of course I had to join in on the “ninja warrior” playground circuit:

Related, this is the truest thing I’ve seen on the internet:

Happy Birthday, Skyler

Karen

This dude is NINE (!) today!

He is such a delight and SO grown up. He’s an only child so he’s around adults a lot anyway, but he really is a collected, focused little human (who wore a bow tie for our “downtown day”).

He has the brain of an engineer and an artist’s sense of color. He can tell you anything about trains–literally anything, from technical signal workings to when different engines were in service. He’s extremely open-minded about new experiences, which is rare in kids (or even adults) and he’s just fun to be around. I know I’ll always learn something after I talk to him.

He has an iCloud account now and is texting (!) and I treasure the messages I get:

Happy birthday, Skyler! I hope your day is really ixiding.

Big Day!

Karen

We got the first snow in the valley yesterday, but it didn’t affect our plans because we were taking my nephew to the PLANETARIUM on the TRAIN to watch a movie about VOLCANOES (all-caps excitement shared by all).

It was a fantastic day and we ended with a fancy (ish) lunch at Little America, right by the train station.

Also, when did he get so big? I remember when he was about the size of a pumpkin.

Summer Send Off

Karen

My little nephew starts first grade (!) today, so we joined his family and friends for a trip to the amusement park (which hasn’t changed significantly since I was about his age). It was so much fun and our first time joining him–we’ve already made plans for which rides we’ll go on next year.

Staying Low

Karen

Doc was getting over a head cold and I was fighting it off, so it was a low-key weekend. There was even a nap, which was just fine with Toby (that’s his “mama, we’re having a nap together!” face).

The biggest excitement? My nephew turned six (how?!) and we went out for the family party and that astonishing Saturn 5/Skyler 6 cake that my dad engineered for him. What a delightful little person he’s turned out to be–happy birthday, Skyler!