When I told a friend about our Madison trip I commented that the girls’ week reminded me of one I would have as a kid. Without camp to go to, they did a lot of relaxing, hanging out and playing games. And our get-aways were fun and mellow, too, and included going downtown, to the Splash Pad (a tradition dating back to 2010), and out for ice cream and pie. Oh, and we even visited the National Mustard Museum!

-M

After coming to the the U.S. from Scotland, my great-great grandfather built a farm in Dane, Wisconsin (located about 25 miles north of Madison) in 1856. My grandfather grew up there, as did my mom, and the farm is still in our family — but, amazingly, the girls had never been before last week!

My uncle hosted a family reunion during our visit, and I was so excited to show the girls the farm and introduce them to some aunts, uncles and cousins they had never before met. And watching them ride on tractors and run around the grass where my sister, cousins and I ran around as children was beyond special…

-M

We spent all of last week in (mostly) sunny Madison. The girls spent tons of time with Grandma, Grandpa and Sandy (lots of photos coming), and of course we made our annual trek to the Memorial Union downtown. To me, nothing says summer like sitting near Lake Mendota!

-M

On the last morning of school Zoe asked me, “Shouldn’t we get Mila a present?” Avery was going to her friend’s birthday party right after pick-up and I had forgotten to wrap one; I would have sent Avery off without a gift if Zoe hadn’t reminded me. A morning or two earlier, Zoe looked at the calendar on her tablet and announced, “Avery has a dentist appointment this afternoon.” (Me: “Uh, she does?”) And just last week, as we about to leave for an overnight in Sonoma, Zoe asked, “Did we pack Hippo and finger blanket?” (We hadn’t, and those are must-haves for each girl at bedtime.)

These are just a few examples of life with Zoe, who sometimes reminds me of a little adult. And while I want her to be a carefree kid, not a little Mommy, life is pretty busy and I’ll take any extra help I can get!

-M

As we’ve done in the past, we signed up to “turtle sit” Yertle, the second-grade pet, over the summer. We had him for one week, and the girls were particularly excited to walk him on our deck.

-M

Each spring, during a prayer service that the first-graders lead for the school, the first-grade parents get to formally present a prayer book cover and say a few words to their kids. One of the things I told Avery during hers was that I hope she never loses her ability to appreciate, and find beauty, in the little things in life.

Flash forward to a few weeks ago, when we were at Great America. Avery found a leaf on the ground, as she does, and promptly put it in my purse to save. “I always think of what you said at tefilah when I do that,” she told me with a smile. I was touched that what I said obviously stuck with her, and I told her I couldn’t believe she remembered! “It was only a year ago, Mommy,” she responded with a little shake of her head.

-M

Zoe’s week off was capped with an art class at the mall on Friday, but I don’t think anything could beat her Thursday, when she went to her dad’s work and had lunch at their favorite dim sum place. (Shhh, don’t tell Avery.)

-M

While her sister is at coding camp, Zoe chose to take a break this week. After hanging out at home on Monday and celebrating the 4th on Tuesday, she came to my work on Wednesday. There, she promptly made a to-do list and set up a little office near mine, and we grabbed lunch and posed on some Stanford-red chairs.

-M

As mentioned below, we escaped the (foggy, cool) city and headed to Sonoma for the 4th. After staying overnight and splashing around our hotel pool, we got dressed up and headed to the parade – marking our third year in a row there. I’m liking this tradition…

-M

We’re heading out, in pursuit of some sunny skies. Enjoy your holiday!

-M

A few more details, now, on Avery at eight…

Personality: As mentioned in previous posts, she’s got a big one. At school she’s still mild-mannered and unlikely to get super silly outside of recess, but at home she’s always running bouncing around, dancing, talking loudly, telling jokes and – yeh – sometimes being sassy. She likes teasing people (especially me!), and she likes bathroom humor. (Under the teasing-me umbrella, one of her favorite things to do is take off her dirty socks and leave them scattered throughout the house. She knows I don’t think like it and, hence, thinks it’s hilarious.) She’s also known as our little diva: She tends to be very dramatic about things, with three phrases we hear very often – “That’s not fair!” “You’re so rude!” and “I’m hun-gry” – often said in an exaggerated or whiney voice. We also hear “Real-ly?” accompanied by an eye roll more than I like! But, still: She’s a sweet kid who is caring and compassionate. When one of her teammates got hurt during a soccer game this spring, for example, Avery was the first one to rush over to her, put her arms around the girl and start to comfort her. I got a lump in my throat when I saw that (I was much prouder than if she had made a goal!), but that’s pretty typical of her.

Interests: Like when she was seven, she loves playing pretend (as I type this she’s downstairs playing school with Zoe), as well as Barbies and Lego Friends. Though she has been lukewarm about taking a class, she really enjoys dancing and putting on performances. (I’d love to be able to show photos or videos, but more often than not she performs without clothes on – something she finds hilarious to do.) Over the past few months, she has been very into Hamilton music (as has the rest of the family), and her favorite thing to watch is H2O, a show on Netflix about mermaids. She likes reading more than she used to; in the spring she discovered the Owl Diaries and she also really likes the Heidi Hecklebeck series. She also seems very interested in computer programming; she enjoyed working with Scratch during technology class at school, and we actually signed her up for a coding camp next week.

School life: Second grade was a big success for Avery, especially since she had an amazing teacher. Though she’s likely to describe school as “just okay” (and she never gets sad about vacation days), she does seem to really enjoy it – and she considers math her favorite subject. And as for friends, she has a little crew (see her recent birthday picture) and seems happy in that department.

Other stuff: She’s 53 inches and wears a size 2 shoe. She had her first crush this year and was very open about talking about it with us; one night at bedtime I asked what she was going to think about as she tried to get to sleep and she answered, “Marrying X.” (She also talks about his hair and how cute he is on a regular basis.) Speaking of bedtime, we have a new routine over the last few months where she asks us to “check on her” every few minutes until she’s asleep. “Don’t forget!” she’ll call out in her sweet voice. (As if we could ever forget her!)

-M

While Avery was at a birthday party one afternoon, Zoe and I skipped over to a nearby public library where – in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Harry Potter books – they were holding a potions class. For 45 minutes Zoe measured, stirred, mixed together ingredients like vinegar and corn starch and watched her creations turn colors and bubble over. Her final assessment was that the event was fun but “more for younger kids;” she, in turn, took home the potion recipes and re-created them with Avery the next day.

-M