We’ve been away from Zoe before (a trip to Hawaii, a two-night overnight at school, and countless sleepovers) but never have we had no interactive communication with her for this long of a stretch. It’s hard for me, honestly (I really miss her), and all three of us have been anxiously awaiting her first letter.

The letter finally came yesterday! She had written it on her second afternoon there (last Thursday), and she shared her first impressions of camp – which thankfully, are positive! She spent her first day doing bonding activities and unpacking, and she said she’s made a lot of friends. She’s in a cabin with five other 6th and 7th graders, as well as three counselors; she really likes her head counselor, whose name is Sarah. For avodah (work), she’s on kitchen duty: doing set up and clean up for breakfast. And in another communication the camp director said she had taken to helping the younger campers – for example, showing them how to stack their dishes and where to put them after dinner. (Sounds like Zoe!)

I can’t wait to hear more…

-M

Zoe has been ready to go to sleep-away camp for, well, years – but we finally made it happen this summer. We signed her up for a 17-day session at Camp Gilboa, the sister camp to the one that her dad and uncles went to when they were little, and she headed to Big Bear Lake on Wed.

Q flew her (and several other kids from Northern California) down in the morning, and he reported that she was a-okay when they said their good-byes. We haven’t gotten a letter from her or seen any photos of her on the camp blog just yet – but we’re pretty confident she’s having a good time!

-M

A few photos from our recent excursion to Cornerstone, a beautiful outdoor market/garden area in Sonoma… Even Maddie, who posed nicely for a pic on her Instagram, loved it!

-M

Have you heard of Gram Café? It’s a Japanese chain that specializes in fluffy, souffle-like pancakes – and the first one in the U.S. recently opened up by our house. One night earlier this month we got tickets (yes, tickets are required because they routinely sell out of the pancakes), waited for a while and then enjoyed them. The verdict? Pricey, but worth the wait (at least once).

-M

My sister and I bought a memorial bench for our parents this spring, and the four of us saw it for the first time during our visit. The bench is placed in the nature preserve adjacent to their backyard and can be seen from their porch – and along with their names, it contains eight simple words.

Always in our thoughts, forever in our hearts.

-M

Whenever we’re in Madison during the summer, a visit to the UW Union and adjacent Lake Mendota is a must-do. (In the winter, not so much.) This time around we not only spent a warm Sunday afternoon running around the campus but we also spent the next day actually on the lake. Q was the captain of our rented pontoon boat, and Sandy and Cas brought a special guest on board: Bruno! (He even swam a little, to the delight of the girls.)

-M

Three summers ago, my uncle started an annual tradition of hosting a family reunion/picnic at the farm that he, my mom and their two sisters grew up on. (Luckily, my parents were there for that first one.) We made sure that our trip coincided with this year’s reunion – and, so, out to the farm we went a few days after we arrived. It was a little too cool to swim, like we did last year, but the girls once again played with cousins (they had a lot of fun with my cousin Ken’s little boy), ran around the farm and drove some tractors.

“I’m a city girl, not a country girl,” Avery had told us as we were driving through the country and commenting on how rural things were – but you wouldn’t have known it as she happily drove two tractors up and down the driveway. She loved it!

-M

Part of the reason we were so busy during our trip to Madison was because we had two family reunions to attend. First up: The reunion on my dad’s side, where more than two dozen of us met up in nearby (and touristy) Wisconsin Dells. We stayed in Dirty Dancing-like cabins at a resort a few miles from town, swam and hung out a water park, explored downtown, celebrated the 4th of July with two nights of fireworks and sparklers, and had many meals together. (The second-to-last pic is from a classic Dells restaurant – Paul Bunyan’s Cook Chanty – that I went to as a kid with my parents.) It was the quintessential Wisconsin summer get-away!

-M

We just got back from a week-long trip to Madison. It wasn’t really a relaxing trip – we were constantly on the go – but it certainly was a fun one! Here, a few photos from our first few days, which included lots of cousin, Bruno, Sandy and pie time. (One of Zoe’s favorite foods in the world is the strawberry-rhubarb pie at Hubbard Avenue Diner, and of course we had to go there.)

-M

I didn’t do one of these for Avery last year, but the milestone of turning ten means an update is in order.

As anyone who knows her can attest to (and as I’ve said here before), Avery is quite the character. She’s sweet, well-mannered and quiet at school but in her personal life she’s funny, sassy and a little wild. Her teachers are always surprised when we call her our wild child but she really is.

Avery is always making us laugh – sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. As I explained just the other day, it’s not that she tells traditional jokes; it’s usually her teasing comments, responses to questions, or commentary on things around her that make us smile. (Occasionally her witty remarks do cross the line, though, and we’ve had our fair share of discussion about talking back.) I often say I’m not sure where her personality comes from – but, really, it’s from her dad.

In terms of interests, she’s been into video games for the last couple of years (with Roblox and all the games within it among her favorite things to play), and she also likes playing Barbies or other make-believe games (which her sister will occasionally still play with her), chatting on Google Hangouts (she and a few friends from school created one called “The Cool Kids”), reading graphic novels (which are much preferred to long-form books) and, of course, playing with Maddie. And relatively new things she’s into: fooling around with make-up (which we don’t let her do that often) and making and playing with slime. (Zoe’s super into slime, too.)

The center of her social life remains her best friend, Mila, and I love how sweet and supportive they are with each other. They shower each other with compliments and praise (“You look beautiful in that dress!”), send each other messages full of heart and other love-related emojies and look out for each other at school. There was a several-week period just before school ended where the two of them decided to take a bit of a break: “We’re still best friends, but not BFFs” Avery explained to me (as if it made sense). The break didn’t last long, though, and when I recently inquired whether there was still trouble in paradise she gave me a funny look. “Mommy, that was so long ago,” she said.

Avery does well at school, but she seems to like it more for the social – versus academic – aspect. The big development there is that, starting with Avery’s class, fifth grade is part of the middle school – and Avery is thrilled about it. We had previously told her she would get a phone when she was in middle school, like her sister did, but we really meant sixth grade. Now, Avery’s constantly reminding us that since she’s technically in middle school she should get a phone in the fall – but, as I’ve told her, that issue is up for debate.

Due to the girls’ ages, I guess, we’ve seen quite a bit of fighting between Avery and Zoe over the last few months. They’re still each other’s favorite playmate, and they share many of the same interests (thankfully) but they push each other’s buttons more than ever before. Accusations of unfairness, mild insults and frustrated shrieking are now, sadly, rather common in the house. I have an older sister and know this is all normal (and, frankly, their behavior is probably pretty tame compared to other tweens’) but it can get tiresome.

Despite the occasional fights, Avery has a very sweet, caring side – and we’ve really seen a lot of it over the last year or so. She has been very good to me during the grieving process, often giving me reminders about how Grandma and Grandpa are still with us – just in a different form. (I always thought Zoe was the old soul and deep thinker of the house – but I now think we have two of those.)

Maybe six months after the accident or so, Avery started talking to my parents at night; I’ll be in our bedroom and hear her chatting away, telling them about her day and how much she misses them. Usually it makes her feel good but every once in a while she’ll call me in and say that she’s feeling “emotional.” (I tell her that Grandma and Grandpa wouldn’t want her to be sad and suggest she take a break and talk with them again another time.)

And a related, sweet story to close things out: The other day when walking Maddie, Avery stopped to admire and pick up a white dandelion. I watched her from the window, marveling that she still notices and appreciates flowers (like she did when she was little) and wondering if she knew to blow and make a wish on it. She did – and when I later asked her what she wished for her, she said there were two things. “It won’t come true but the first thing was to see Grandma and Grandpa again,” she quietly said. A classic-Avery grin soon spread across her face: “And then I asked for a phone.”

-M