Virginia Girls Night 2018

Not our best work in the selfie department, but a wonderful weekend night out with ladies I love. Thanks to the men for staying in with the kids. (Not pictured, Kevin out the night before with Cory, Roger, and Brian.)

Ericka, Megan, Janice, Meghan

Virginia Highlands Park 2018

We stayed with Janice, Darren, and Ellie, and Sunday morning we hit the splash park with them and Meghan and Evan. So cute and fun!

With Aunt Janice and cousin Ellie

Some kind of secret missin?

Ellie tempting fate.

 

Evan conducting experiments with the water streams

Joy!

All fun things must end.

Lunch party!

Visiting Meghan, Ben, Nathan, and Evan 2018

Meghan and Ben's family moved back to the US last summer after years of living in Japan and Guam, and while I didn't get to go visit them as fast as I initially intended, I finally got to see them and I was so excited! I have lots to say about this much-awaited visit but it can be summed up as: they are awesome, and I don't want this much time to pass again before seeing them.

Reunited!

Nathan and James playing chess while Evan looks on

Dinner party!

Bestie snuggle

Meghan and Ben hooked us up with Husker gear!

Things My Wife Complains About #32: Packing

When I met my wife, she had one condition: Move me to Nebraska in the next twelve years or I'll find someone who can. I'm ready to deliver, and we move to Omaha this summer. The only problem: packing. Who is going to put all of the things we own, almost all of which we neither like nor need, into boxes? The answer, unfortunately, is she is. While I've been dutifully unpacking my juvenalia, texting pictures of it to my high school and college friends, and then putting that back into the same boxes, she has been depositing the rest of the house into boxes, taping those boxes, and stacking them in our den.

How many blankets do you think we own? The answer is 5,000,000,000,000, after we donated a bunch. My wife, personally, has 36 tank tops (actual number), which is good because Nebraska screams tank top. We also have several million legos of mutually exclusive sizes. Our kids have not been super helpful. Whenever we secretly remove something, they not only find it but also passionately love it, regardless of how long it's been since they played with it. There are stuffed animals they haven't seen in years, which they now treat as siblings. When I donated a stroller that my daughter no longer used, she stood in the door like a child from a Stephen King novel, staring down the person from Craigslist.

My wife, on the whole, has maintained a pretty good attitude. Not even three times a day she says some variation of "I hate everything" or, more convincingly, "I'm burning everything." But she hasn't burned one thing. Instead, she's packed it all into boxes, and after those boxes have been moved, they'll be unpacked, where she'll remember how much she neither needed nor liked the things inside in the first place. Then we'll get a bunch of new stuff.

Possible solutions!
1) Buy new blankets in Omaha.
2) Commute to Nebraska from New York.
3) Make honest and responsible decisions about what we care about and prepare our future accordingly (hard)

How much for 36 tank tops?

Hiking in the Pine Barrens 2018

Since Kevin is finished with the Spring Semester at Stony Brook, we got to go hiking while Miranda was in school on Wednesday.

Pine Barrens!

A little area with shedding Pine trees

Trying to protect against mosquitos

A meadow

Andrew Visits NY 2018

Uncle Andrew visited this weekend. He spent quality time with James and Miranda who bonded easily with him even though he's been in Japan for the last 3 years. Looks like Facetime really worked to keep them in touch. Kevin also took him to a Mets game and they got to celebrate Jon's birthday. Great visit!

 

James, Andrew, and Miranda playing video games

 

Jon, Kevin, and Andrew at the Mets game

Grandma visited too!

Darin's 7th Birthday Party 2018

Darin celebrated his 7th birthday at Tiki Action Park this weekend. James had so much fun with all his friends! Just the best sweetest kids.

Darin, Candace, and Caris. The twinsies are 7!

Darin playing air hockey with James

So much fun!

Vince, Kyle, and James on a "roller coaster"

Spy mission: Make it there and back!

Favorite game

 

Lunch

 

Group pic

Mom besties

Last SBU Graduation 2018

Kevin has worked at SBU since 2008, and this Friday he had his last graduation there. Some of his students asked him for pictures. He has one more summer class, and he's helping his colleagues transition to the new school year without him.

Taylor from his internship

One of Kevin's students, Tia

One of Kevin's students, Allie

Next school year he starts as the Program Coordinator of the MFA in Writing at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He will join the UNO Writer’s Workshop as an Assistant Professor of Fiction. We're moving to Nebraska!

James's White Post Field Trip 2018

White Post Farms Animal Farm and Petting Zoo in Melville NY is a pretty unique petting zoo. They have actual zoo animals! Ms. Gambino's first-grade class went last week.

James is front row on the far left

Meeting a llama

A giraffe!

Zebras

But goats are still super cool too.

Dr. Ash 2018

Ash has a Psychology Doctorate! She's Dr. Ash! We had a nice family dinner the night before. The main event was the doctoral hooding ceremony and better-than-average graduation speech by a former graduate who basically gave us some free group therapy. After the graduation, there was a big reception with all-you-can-eat delicious appetizers, sushi, and dessert. Such a fun weekend!

Dinner with the family. I've been adopted as the middle child.

Ash's PsyD. Crew

It's happening!

That happened.

Dr. Ash!

Congratulations!

Close-up.

Family picture: Mom, Dad, Ash, sister Aneira

Friend picture: me, Ash, and Amara

We also got some drinks after the reception. The party don't stop.

My kiddos visited Ash too.


Miranda "helping" with the puzzle.