Dave and Cathy's Family Blog

Here are the June highlights:

• Kids go on a trip with Cathy to Las Vegas and meet the illusionist, Criss Angel
• Lilah plays the role of mother owl in her school play
• Fathers’s Day Sunflower by Lilah with “very little help” from Luke, according to Lilah
• Lilah celebrates her ninth birthday
• The cousins and Lilah’s friend Tory battle it out in a balloon fight
• Kids support dad at the 2009 Breath of Life triathlon — his first race of the season

Lilah

As I was walked into the house, I heard Lilah say, “Luke, I don’t like-like him. I just like him.”

So I asked Lilah what “like-like” meant and without skipping a beat she said, “love.”

I responded, “But the only boy you like-like, is daddy, right.”

“You’re not a boy, dada,” she responded.

These are the small and simple conversations that blow me away and make me realize that my kids are getting older and becoming shrewder in the their understanding of the world and how they fit in it. This month, Lilah also mentioned to Luke that she thought she was more “artistic.” I confirmed to Lilah that she definitely did have an artistic dimension, but that she was also very good at a number of different things — including academics, sports, making friends, etc. — and could do anything she wants to do if she believes in herself. She said she knew that.

Some of her “artsy” qualities were on full display this month as she played the important role of mother owl in her end of year class play, “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears,” built an interesting structure out of cardboard blocks, Lincoln logs, and an assortment of different creatures, and surprised me with some street art in the backyard for Father’s Day, which I call “Sunflower on Pavement.” Below are some pictures of her process which she developed on her own.

For her birthday, Lilah had a skating party where she invited her friends from school. We then had a family get together two weeks later to honor the event again, and two days after that we took Lilah out to Cold Stone’s for some ice cream on the official day of her birthday, June 30. I told Lilah that I didn’t remember getting that many opportunities to celebrate the same birthday when I was younger. She just laughed and grinned.

Luke

Luke and Lilah both got an opportunity to go to Las Vegas and meet the illusionist Criss Angel this month.  Since Cathy is part of the Criss Angel fan club, she gets updates on when he will be making appearances and is also invited to special events where fan club members get to meet Criss and take pictures with him.

The kids liked meeting Criss Angel, but from what they told me (I was not able to go), they enjoyed Circus Circus a whole lot more. Luke loved The Adventure Dome, which is where he and Lilah went on numerous amusement park-type rides. According to Cathy, the kids had a blast because the lines were short, which allowed them to get on rides over and over again.

Luke definitely seems to be in the stage where he relishes being a boy and doing “grown up” boy things. He especially likes hanging out with Sebastian and being his accomplice. During Lilah’s birthday party, Sebastian put Luke in charge of turning the water on and off as Sebastian filled up water balloons for the big water balloon fight. Luke, obliged, and was very happy to do it and help Sebastian team up against the girls in the big fight.

The actual event, was interesting because it didn’t seem to be a free flowing affair like the boys wanted it to be. The boys just wanted to run around, throw balloons, get wet and have fun, but the girls kept making up rules and statements like “you can’t cross this line,” “we need shields,” and “we’re not ready yet,” which slowed everything down. The girls were also more interested in scheming and making fun of the boys with cheers like “girls rule, boys drool, uh huh, uh huh.” In the end, everyone got wet, and thanks to some delicate refereeing by the parents, things did not get too out of control. Not sure we’ll play that game again though (at least not boys against girls).

Breath of Life Triathlon

For the third year in a row, the kids came out to support me in my first triathlon of the season. I had my best race ever and the kids were real troopers as they hung out at the event for nearly 4 hours. This year, I had my fastest time ever, which I had hoped would be enough for a top 3 finish in my age group. Fell a little short as I came in sixth, but that’s okay. What I really enjoy the most about these events is seeing some of the same old faces year after year and catching up with them before and after the race.

One of the highlights this year was visiting with Dawn, one of the kids’ midwives. We found out that Dawn lives right across the street from the beach in which the triathlon is held. She told us she had always wanted a beach house and that last year she followed through on her dream by purchasing a small beach cottage where she intends to live for the rest of her days.

We always get very happy when we see Dawn because she brings back all the wonderful memories of having our kids’s delivered by midwives at the Ventura Birth Center (warning – the website needs work, but the women running the center are top notch in what they do). It’s also nice to know that as long as we stay in this community, we’ll always know just where to find her and there will hopefully be many more opportunities to get together, tell stories and reminisce.

That’s all for now. More next month!