Back to the beginning: Our trip to North Carolina

A sailboat ride in the sound!
Amazingly, we saw dolphins,
but the water was too shallow
for them to jump.

Last April, when Covid numbers were quite low, and our family was eagerly anticipating another summer adventure, and Elise, in her own Elise way, suggested North Carolina so she could see where she was born, we booked a trip! Assuming we could be a bit flexible once we got closer to the date.

Turns out, not everything we booked was super flexible. Plus, vaccines happened. Plus, the kids aren't getting any younger. Plus (and I hate to admit this may have factored in, but I think Matt could see the desperation in my eyes), I knew I would never stop working if I didn't leave the house. For a long time. Far away.

So we threw caution and unanswered emails to the wind, invested in some better masks than the ones I could sew, and took our trip.

Good choice? We may never know... seems like it, though.

I like how nearly every event starts really, really early in the morning. And I only just found out from Kalina that this one actually started at 12:04 a.m., when she snapped awake, assumed the clock was wrong, dressed in the bathroom among drowsy and confused cats, and nearly woke her sisters before realizing that, actually, the clock was right after all and slept the rest of the night in her clothes. Hah! It can happen to any of us, right?

Fortunately, we were able to truly start our day at a more normal time, but were heading out the door by about 7:30 in the morning. We were grateful to Grandpa and Marianne for driving us, but I admit, considering we hadn't known for sure even a week in advance that we were actually going to make the trip, I still didn't quite believe it would actually happen. It became more real when they drove away, and we were left at the airport with only our suitcases and other odd items we wanted to bring along (an empty cooler, a fishing rod).

And what an empty airport it was! Security was waiting for us for a change! And the flight had quite a few empty seats! In fact, the only hitch was that Naomi had developed a fear of flying since our last airplane ride. Even the Takeoff M&Ms (yes, they're a thing now in our family, harkening back to Kalina's first flight at age nearly 4) didn't help. Naomi cowered close to me while Elise talked plankton with Matt behind us and Kalina listened in, amused. 

What ended up working for Naomi was simply losing herself in her book (a hand-me-down dolphin book from Elise) so she almost forgot she was on an airplane. I swear this girl is more like me every day. Flying never became easy for Naomi, but she managed to sit with her sisters on our second flight while Matt and I kicked back in front of them. Elise: "I'm not a very good comforter, I'm not sure this is a good idea." They all survived.

Amazingly, our flights were on time, our rental van was ready, our hotel room hadn't been given away, and we did, in fact, find ourselves in a beachfront hotel by about 9:20 that night. Ready to drop, but equally ready to wake up to a beach day the next day. The only thing that didn't seem to work was the bluetooth in the van, so the girls had to listen to us reminisce about our early days in North Carolina for a large portion of the journey. They bore it well: after all, we were taking them to the beach.

First thing the next morning, after Matt did a grocery run that left me eerily uncomfortable because I  hadn't done it (and it was missing some of the things I'd had on my mental list--can he not read my mind?!?), Elise opened an early birthday present, as she'd requested: a new, intact net and a beach aquarium, both of which have become a near-yearly tradition since they actually do seem to wear out. 

And then beach!!! The beach makes everyone happy: Matt for the fishing, Naomi for the sand, Elise for the water and critters, Kalina for pretty much all of it (and shells!), and me because occasionally someone will take a long walk along it with me. 

In the afternoon, and after my own somewhat harrowing Wal-Mart run, everyone cleaned up so we could head out for a large highlight of the trip: a sailboat ride Matt had lined up! Naomi, in accordance with her distrust of any vehicle that isn't a car/van, was hoisted onto the boat rather reluctantly--but that all cleared up as soon as she found out she could go into the cabin and pet a friendly dog and cat the whole time. To each her own. Elise, on the other hand, amused herself simply by proving how much of a natural she was on a boat, even after only a few minutes! She also tried to spend time in the highest and lowest positions she could get to. Fortunately, the boat owner didn't freak out about our monkey child, and reassured us that in many places, the water was actually only a few feet deep.

Kalina, not being a very extreme person, enjoyed the beautiful water, clouds, sunset, breeze, etc., and simply had a lovely time. Not as good as Elise's, Elise would want to remind everyone. But still a lovely time. Just not as good as Elise's. ;)

The next day, I annoyed pretty much everyone by insisting that we visit the Wright Brothers' Memorial (it's right across the street and we could see the tower from our hotel window, for goodness sake!) and the Atlantic's largest sand dune state park, just down the road a little, instead of spending another day entirely on the beach. Sorry (not sorry).

The coolest thing was that we got to use Elise's 4th-grade national parks pass one last time, as we arrived on August 30, which still counted as her 4th-grade year. (We tried to use it on August 31, but there was no entry fee into the historic site we visited. Bummer.)

Actually, the giant memorial was also pretty cool. Even better, we all thought, was the flight path that was marked out with large stone memorials. Kalina ran the whole thing, actually faster than the original flight (she was proud). 

The North Carolina heat was creeping up to the point that the girls started to actually believe my stories about how hot North Carolina can get in the summer, and the time was nearly 11:00 when we reached the sand dune. So we took the path that looked like it might offer tiny bits of shade, watching hang-gliders take lessons along the way, and made our way down to a little cove for some wading. Matt hates sand and just wanted to fish (but was a good sport anyway), but the girls all agreed it had been a good idea to come. 

We didn't spend long, and were heading back around 11:30 or so, ignoring a directional sign since we were both pretty sure the trail curved farther left, and we knew a less optimal trail wound around to the right. Soon the footprints ahead of us began to look older and more weathered, and the signs we had expected to see had not appeared. We guessed too far left, apparently.

Technically, we didn't know where we were, the sun was only getting hotter, shade was scarce, we were surrounded by sand, there were no people, and our water would run out within the next hour or less if we all continued to drink it, which we needed to. Not really an optimal situation if you look at it that way.

Fortunately, however, we could backtrack if we needed to (although that sounded like an arduous, hot option at this point), we knew there were a few buildings and trees farther to our left, and if we just walked right we'd eventually hit a trail. Plus our phones still had signals, so....

So our adventure was right-sized when, with our phones, we quickly determined that a rough trail up ahead would take us back to our parking lot. We took the trail and made it back to the parking lot. 

A real flounder! Two
eyes on the same side
and all!

And back to the beach! Matt enjoyed the best beach fishing he's ever had, catching several varieties of fish, and the girls and I went looking for sea turtle nests (carefully roped off by park rangers, but still exciting!). That evening, after a long, long beach walk, we did find a sea turtle nest that they had just finished excavating (bummer!), and that had been laid on Kalina's birthday!

The next day could possibly be considered the highlight of my homeschool career so far, as we were able to visit the super-cool historic site within a few weeks of reading that chapter in our history book (within a series that covers history from hunter-gatherers to modern times over the course of 4 years, no less!). Compare it to getting a football signed by the winning Super-Bowl quarterback for your home-town team. 

A replica of the ship that sailed
to Roanoke Island. Fun for 30
minutes. Not for like 2 months.

The weather was hot, and either covid or end-of-season reductions had closed some of the fun kids' activities at the Roanoke Island living-history park, so my elation was kept in check. However, thanks to some fantastic interpreters, one of whom eloquently, and at great length, warned us of the trepidations of trying to bring the nail he'd blacksmithed for us back home in our carryon luggage, we greatly enjoyed our visit. We each got a chance to turn chair posts, shave wood, and stand in the stocks (the kids opted out), plus spend some time on a replica ship that felt waaayyyy too small to carry the 100 people it apparently did. And canons. 

We followed this up with a mediocre seafood lunch, and then a visit to the actual Roanoke Island site, with an informative tour, during which we all nearly melted. We were ready to move on.

A hot, humid, steep
climb in a mask!

Bodie Island
Lighthouse!

This time, moving on meant heading south on Hatteras National Seashore to our next location. We began with a pre-arranged climb up the Bodie Island lighthouse. We'd had to order tickets first thing in the morning (like, I set my alarm). Elise desperately wanted to climb it (surprise!), Kalina was fairly willing to be convinced, and we ordered one adult ticket as well, that I knew would go to Matt most likely because although I was pushing the lighthouse climb (how often do you get to climb a lighthouse, honestly?), I get really shaky with heights. Then Naomi astonished us all by saying she wanted to try it, so I booked an extra 2 tickets, because if there was even a chance a climb could happen, I wanted to enable it, and purchasing a ticket was the only way to even go inside.

As soon as Naomi actually looked up at the towering spiral of stairs, however, her courage failed her--especially when we were told only one person could climb each flight of steps at a time. I convinced her to climb about half a flight, then I climbed a flight, and then we headed back outside, where a nice ranger gave Naomi a junior ranger booklet, which she enjoyed far more than a lighthouse climb. It had a word search, after all.

This actually worked out really well, because Kalina scoffs at junior ranger booklets, and Elise does as well, though not as loudly. So although Naomi completed a couple when she was really too young (when her sisters weren't scoffing), she had yet to complete a booklet while being the right age to enjoy it. Sometimes it's nice to get Naomi away from her sisters for a bit...

We unfortunately missed seeing Matt and the girls at the top of the lighthouse (I guess they didn't think to wave?), but were happy to share stories once they'd made it back to solid ground again. The biggest surprise was how much Kalina enjoyed an activity she'd had to be talked into. We all already knew Elise would have fun. This ended up being such a highlight of our trip, totally worth the early wakeup (and the donation of two virtually unused tickets!).

Next, we made the trip down the skinny, less densely inhabited, windblown island to the spot near the tip where we'd be staying for the next four nights. The room was beautiful (think mini-apartment!), and soon we were all out on the beach finding the best shells of the trip, and catching a fish or two. Elise verified that the hotel was, indeed, mere steps from the beach, just as the advertisement promised. (Actually, she verified that it was exactly one jump from the steps to the sand.) 

We also verified that several kittens lived on the premises! Kalina enjoyed watching as one kitten stalked a littermate, while another brother or sister stalked it. We noted that on a beach, the world is your litterbox. 

In this wilder part of the island, we found a lot more sea turtle nests! On a walk one evening, we were able to speak with a couple who were watching the nest to keep it safe from all types of dangers, since it was getting close to hatching. We thoroughly enjoyed learning from them...until the skies opened and rain poured down, sending us on a 10-minute, harrowing run back to our hotel. Eek!

Our favorite sea turtle nest.

We checked back on the turtles each night and each morning, always making sure to fill all the ghost crab holes with sand to help keep the crabs too busy to catch turtles. The evening after it rained, we decided not to stick around as long, watching the sky. It didn't rain that evening--but the baby sea turtles hatched just 30 minutes or so after we'd been there, as we found out the next day. Ouch!!! I remember asking Kalina if we should turn back and just go check back one more time on the turtles, but trying to convince myself there was absolutely no chance, and we were crazy for considering it. Turns out, I wasn't crazy, and next time I will probably be more likely to convince Matt to stay and risk another drenching. (To be honest, though, our clothes took nearly 2 days to dry, so....)

To finish out the sea turtle saga, the following night was our last one, and we stayed until the couple watching the nest left, just in case more baby turtles would follow, as they often do. No luck. We still learned a ton and enjoyed being caught up in the excitement of it all. 

Elise loved riding the waves!

Over the next couple days, the weather varied from, at first, quite hot, to, by the end of the week, quite chilly! We enjoyed some lovely beach time, and the older girls became braver in the water and on the boogie board. Elise got completely drenched by waves at least once, but she was totally fine with that. Kalina and Naomi built some pretty cool structures in the sand, we gathered tons more shells, and we even flew a kite. Along the beach, we found a puffer fish (past rescuing), jellyfish, and plenty of crabs.

We liked this ice-cream store,
but the heat made the cones
really drippy. Like, really,
really drippy.

Off the beach (because we did leave, sometimes a bit too much for Matt's liking--but there's so much to see in the area!), we visited the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, spent a rainy and very chilly morning in a pretty cool shipwreck museum, stocked up at the grocery store, visited a toy/candy store where Naomi found a souvenir, and visited one of the typical beach shops, where we bought a second boogie board that ended up being our only one, as apparently our first one had blown away in the night. Bummer! In the room, Naomi diligently worked on her junior ranger book, and we enjoyed a few meals in front of the TV--a complete novelty to us.

On our last day, we took the ferry to Ocracoke Island, a pretty exciting trip. Because it's a ferry. I'd heard that the shells on a particular beach near Ocracoke were nearly so plentiful that "a perfect conch could wash up right at your feet." Matt, reluctant to leave his fishing pole, mocked the ad that told me this, but the girls and I convinced him to go with us anyway. Thank goodness, because there's no way I wanted to drive onto a ferry... :)

Matt was right--although each girl found a special shell, our haul was overall disappointing Trying to keep moving so that we'd be able to get back to the hotel in decent time for more swimming later that afternoon, we only stayed for 20 minutes or so. We weren't in our swimming gear anyway.

The pony pen was a bit disappointing (why are the "wild ponies" cooped up in a pen???), but Matt had found an amazing restaurant right on the dock--the best in outdoor dining! They actually were serving 3 different foods on the older girls' seafood bucket list: calamari, shrimp, and crab cakes. So we ordered them all, ate approximately half, and spent way too much. But totally got what we came for.

Afterward, we went to go get Naomi's junior ranger badge, as she'd completed all the necessary requirements and was quite proud/fulfilled. Unfortunately, the only park ranger was leaving for lunch, but she very kindly did the whole junior ranger thing with Naomi, and Naomi wore her badge for weeks afterward, creating small, but unfixable, holes in all her summer dresses. Fortunately, she'll be too tall for most of them next summer, anyway.

Our last stop was a hike (so, not really a stop) out to the location of Blackbeard's last stand. We liked it for the cool hermit crabs and water to play in.

The last morning, we took a long walk on the beach before reluctantly heading inland to our kayak tour of and Alligator River trail. Nobody wanted to leave, and let the powerful serenity of unspoiled beach recede with the waves. Fortunately, the waves had one last gift for us. A perfect conch washed up nearly at our feet, just as the advertisement had promised could happen. I was gratified to see that Matt was the one to find it. Hah! He got to claim the perfect conch, and I got the last laugh. It now sits proudly on our mantle, except for when the girls are holding it up to their ears. 

Sad to leave such a nice spot, we picked up some breakfast ice cream on the way out of town. In cups this time, not cones. We also stopped at a sound-side inlet to try to find some cool microorganisms and plankton for Elise to view in her pocket microscope. She found one cool little guy, but not the hoards of crab larvae she was really hoping for.

Our adventures certainly weren't over, because the kayak tour turned out to be incredibly awesome. Winding through narrow water trails and spotting a couple gators was pretty cool, but the best part was when, paraphrasing Kalina, "I was paddling at the front of the group, and a big strong guy started paddling up towards me, looking like he wanted to pass me. I just kept going. Eventually he got really interested in a tree off to the side and dropped back to look at it." Probably for a whole host of reasons, Kalina and Elise were better paddlers than most of the rest of the group. Yay! Naomi survived, by the way. She's becoming a good sport (or at least a really resigned one).

We then drove the rest of the way to Raleigh/Durham, and pulled into Matt's aunt and uncle's house for a quick visit (unfortunately, Aunt Ruth, and cousin Lynn and her family were at the beach). The girls were a bit nervous about meeting Uncle Peter for the first time in their memories, but within 30 seconds he'd charmed them all with his gregarious personality, funny stories, and kind and hilarious insights. We didn't want to leave, but knew we had a big day the next day and figured we would probably want to have slept. 

In a sad turn of events, Elise dropped a bag of shells she was bringing home and most of them broke. In an Elise-like about-face, however, she decided some of the pieces could be glued together to make a sea turtle, so that's good.

In the morning, we packed everything tightly (and more securely) to be ready for our flight, and set out to do the best we could at showing the girls Durham. Of the sites we wanted to see, Duke Gardens was the only one that was open, didn't need advance reservations at an inconvenient time, didn't cost a fortune for the short time we'd be able to spend, and provided some nostalgia. Seriously, like the only one. 

The gardens were appropriately beautiful, and I had fun telling Kalina a few of the things she used to do there (chase the geese and ducks, hang out on a bridge, etc.). We greatly missed the giant lily pads, but did enjoy taking the path up to Duke's campus to see the cathedral, and reminiscing a bit more about the time we spent in Durham.

There were so many places we wanted to eat at for lunch, so we turned to the most convenient option: the Mellow Mushroom in the tobacco warehouse district, which was pretty cool since the area's transformation began when we lived in Durham. We loved the pizza, too. Ironically, we hardly ever spent time in the tobacco district when we lived in Durham, and had eaten much more frequently at a number of other restaurants, but, whatever. The store we wanted to look into was closed, so we just did a quick lap and headed south to our old home, driving past a historic church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached once.

Elise seemed very concerned that we'd zoom past our house and she'd blink and miss it, but with our tiny, twisty neighborhood, that would've been nearly impossible. The house was still cute (although yellow now!), and Matt was interested to see that no one had fixed the front steps, which had needed fixing even when we lived there. 

But how much would Kalina remember? She had told of us a few memories at our house. Not too surprisingly, though, it looked quite different to her, even the mailbox area she seemed to remember fairly well. I was hoping we'd jog a few more memories, but we simply didn't.

Next, we drove to an old favorite park, where we unloaded the contents of the rest of our cooler since we couldn't bring it on the airplane. We walked a bit around Woodlake, just for old time's sake. And then it was time to depart. There's a lot more we could've done, but we wouldn't have traded our time at the beach.

Heading home was sad, and most of us questioned at least once whether we should just move back to North Carolina. I'm guessing we'll all be back someday... and this time we're totally stalking a sea turtle nest until it hatches.

Kalina's sand structure!

We did see sea turtles!

We had trouble getting good selfies! This is the
only really good one.

Naomi was feeling silly. But at least she was
smiling!

Elise = 11

Possibly Elise's biggest
surprise: the Plankton book
she's been rechecking out
from the library since early
summer. Less expensive than
$200, even!

After warning me this would happen for more than a year, Elise finally turned 11! Go Elise!

Her party ideas were vast: "I want all of my friends to go camping together," "I want all of my friends to go on a trail ride," "I want all of my friends to do glass fusion at a pottery place." These were all big asks. Fortunately, Elise is actually a reasonable person, so we settled on pizza, a campfire, and a night hike in our backyard and on our trails. Totally doable.

She couldn't sleep the night before, which is nothing new, but did manage to get back to sleep after waking at 5:12 (she said). She's really growing up! The kitties came in to wish her a happy birthday, and very shortly, Elise had pinned on the Birthday Girl button and was  digging into the special cereal she wanted to try: Lucky Charms Marshmallow Clusters. And then Naomi's present, which I had admittedly underestimated: a cuddly stuffed moose that she adored, still being a huge fan of soft things and especially against her cheek.

Sometimes I feel like birthdays rocket off to a start. Very shortly, we were all playing a board game Uncle Tom had given her, and digging into a cross-stich kit from Aunt Nancy. Then Elise opened a scooter, and Kalina and I sent everyone off for a ride while we prepared her present--a "treasure hunt" complete with clues. 

Which worked marvelously! Elise pulled her final clue out of the minnow trap that had been lowered into the stream, and found... a giant water bear stuffed animal! If you don't know about water bears, you need to Google them now. Elise was delighted--especially since it's actually a pretty cute little guy.

Somewhere along the way, Elise also opened some Bertie Botts Every-Flavor Beans from Kalina/Harry Potter. She weathered "vomit" pretty well (Naomi cried when it got stuck in her tooth--but I have to give her credit for trying it! I was astonished, after licking my miniscule portion, that they hadn't somehow managed to make it taste good. Nope, not good at all. Ergh.), and actually enjoyed the light-blue "soap" bean. Later, she accidentally tried "earthworm," which was definitely not as tasty as the "cherry" she was going for. Lots of laughs, and a few good flavors (watermelon, blueberry, sausage, etc.).

After the now-traditional lunch of Matt's chocolate-pancakes with whipped cream and sprinkles (I suppose if you can call Lucky Charms breakfast, you can call chocolate-chip pancakes lunch??), we Zoomed with Grandma and Grandpa and discussed all things Elise, including our recent trip. She opened a few more gifts, including a cookbook, an aquascope, and a beautiful plankton book she'd had from the library since mid-summer, and that had cost $200 when we looked it up on Amazon. Fortunately, we found it a good bit cheaper thanks to diligent re-checking, and Elise now owns her own copy. Which she still pours over even though she seems to have it mostly memorized. Elise enjoyed showing Grandma and Grandpa some of her most favorite critters.

One of the many expressions
of Elise

The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying presents and getting ready for the crowd of Nature Club friends, plus a random new neighbor we're really excited about, that would be descending on our house.

And what a fun evening! Pizza and a shell-painting craft got everyone warmed up, and then we divided into teams for a scavenger hunt along the trail. Which somehow, fortunately, we wrangled into a tie.... After that, flashlights, a campfire, "Smoreos," (although most girls opted for traditional smores), and night games finished out an amazing evening. The girls have super fun friends, and the evening couldn't have been more beautiful. Best of all: Elise actually ate enough Oreos and Smoreos that she felt a bit sick. I feel like that's a win, in its own way.

Another amazing year for Elise! She's actually grown (we were wondering there for a while!), she's expanded her world into the micro-world, made new friends, and read her first Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet--which she finished while I was still trying to remember whether it's appropriate for youngsters). 

Elise has been loving every minute of being 10, except for the minutes in which she's doing math, practicing music, doing chores, singing in front of people (or dreading that event), visiting the dentist, and occasionally squabbling with Naomi. All the rest have been pretty great. And seriously those are pretty much it.

She's still a sweet, fun, talkative, easygoing and enthusiastic girl, and is channeling all those positive traits into her various pursuits. She loves her leadership positions with AHG ("It's so much more fun when you get to make the decisions!" and her role as "the adventurous one" in our family (their label, not mine). She tries really hard to get along well with people, and it usually works out for her. 

But then there's math. She's just fine at math but, well, it's just hard to finish something you so strongly dislike. Right? She enjoys easy one-digit long division (but NOT 2-digit or 3-digit), factoring into primes, any math that seems to have a purpose, and a new math game I bought to help improve her outlook, but that's her limit and, frankly, she's often been just a bear during math time. And not the snuggly furry kind. (Although a few new developments have made math go much more smoothly lately.... I'm still holding my breath to see if we've turned a corner, though.)

She perks right up, however, when given a complex writing assignment or freedom to "do her plankton book"--a super-fun curriculum I bought her over the summer--and readily forgives me for any math I've forced upon her. If she held grudges, I'm not sure we'd ever be on speaking terms.

Fortunately, she always seems ready to give people another chance, which gives her an advantage in the world of middle children.

It's nearly impossible to chat with Elise nowadays and not hear about various types of plankton, or her plan to create a unicorn using a few types of DNA. She now knows she wants to be some sort of a microbiologist when she grows up, or possibly a park ranger studying sea turtles. I think it's safe to say that water+life are in her professional future.

Elise embarks on the
treasure hunt created
by Kalina!

In fact she nearly cried when Matt tried to talk her out of grad school (as he does everyone he meets who's considering it). I had to reassure her later that we would happily help her make the best decision when the time comes, and besides, she'll be like 22 by then so.... She perked right up.

Elise also continues to enjoy theater, and voice lessons (but not voice practice!), hugs, pets, anything outdoors, and a little writing club she has with a few friends. She's dug into some great books this year, from Romeo and Juliet to The Hound of the Baskervilles, Anne of Green Gables, and Little Women. And loves them. Oh, and she still adores sugar, a little too much....

While not the cleanest person in the house, she at least does recognize the need for the occasional tidying up, possibly thanks to Kalina, who's a total pro. Recently, her desk went from unusable to quite lovely, so I know there's hope. When the girls is motivated, she achieves her goals. 

The end of the treasure hunt!

Elise is super sweet with Naomi on their good days, with a lot less squabbling than there had been for a while, and they've logged a lot of hours working on shows, drawing comic books, making up stories, and playing at the creek.

She has a great memory and enjoys telling us things she used to think when she was little, which also has the advantage of triggering Naomi's memory as well. She can rollerblade, play a little tennis, take care of poison dart frogs and other pets, bake/cook pretty well, sew nice things on a sewing machine, make friends with almost anyone (as long as they're nice, and at least slightly interested in nature), coordinate an outfit, 

The prize from the treasure
hunt: a stuffed water bear!

She wants to be taken seriously, and usually is, but still gets those crazy ideas that sound so very plausible to her, but make the rest of us smile. She's still Elise, for sure.

May she always be!

Eight is Great!

 Naomi had super exciting plans for her birthday! Like unicorns! And cake! And presents! Woohoo!

Apparently, a little too exciting--at 11:30 the night before, she was still awake, and stressed about still being awake, setting a family record for sleeplessness on the eve of a big day. I don't think even Elise has made it that late due to sheer excitement. Sheesh. (The thunderstorm that set in at about 11:10 didn't help.)

This happened only because Matt and I were watching a movie. Fortunately, Kalina let us know around 11:00 that everyone was still awake. Um, thank you? 

I told them all in no uncertain terms, but tempering my words with kindness, or at least confusing them because I sounded sugary sweet and yet very firm at the same time (because Naomi can sense the tension and then has even more trouble falling asleep because "you're mad at me"), that no one may wake up any sisters in the morning, despite it being a birthday.

I questioned why I'd put so much time into all the preparations when everyone was just going to be melting down anyway. Except, to give my kids credit, they actually do really well (eerily well, sometimes) on way too little sleep. 

For a while, I sat beside my 7-year-old, silently willing her to just fall asleep, before she dismissed me, letting me know she wasn't actually super scared of the storm anymore. I guess she's growing up after all (although in truth, none of my kids has been super scared of storms at night--or at least, they haven't let me know until just recently).

Despite my honey-drenched words of warning the night before, at 7:30 on Naomi's birthday, the children were all wide awake. Awake enough, in fact, to startle Matt and I out of our slumber by blowing birthday horns upon entering our room. Matt, not able to rocket into the festive spirit quite that quickly, only just managed to avoid ruining the morning by saying things he'd regret later. I only thought them, and squeezed out a disoriented "Happy birthday Sweetie!" that probably sounded anything but cheery, but was at least present. Usually the roles are reversed nowadays: the parents up and the kids sleeping in. But not on a birthday, no matter how late we were all up the night before!

All that to say, Naomi was pretty psyched about her special day!

Breaking about 10 years of birthday tradition, I required everyone to have a bowl of healthy cereal before diving into the Chocolate Lucky Charms "birthday cereal." "We can't have both sugar for breakfast and a poor night of sleep," I insisted. The guilty parties put up very little fuss, and grabbed the Cheerios without a fight. And then a present or two.

Naomi had been guessing presents (and coming up with last-minute new ideas) all week. And her first one was, as predicted, a stuffed animal and a book, both from Elise. She also opened up a lot of Playmobil this year, being super excited about it at the moment, and unicorn-themed items, like a unicorn stapler with rainbow tape for her brand-new desk.

The day before, we'd found a cake--a Wal-Mart one, with pink frosting and yellow shell borders that we knew we could doctor up a little. Sure enough, Naomi had the great idea of adding frosting "clouds," and placing stuffed unicorns (and a friendly dragon) in them. Plus a candy Happy Birthday. Plus unicorn sprinkles. And voila! A magical unicorn cake. I love home-making birthday cakes and I also love picking them up and checking them off the list. This felt like the best of both worlds and definitely not a cop-out. 

The morning was broken up only by a few presents and from the high-maintenance baby hummingbird we were caring for temporarily (long story!). Naomi played, the older sisters created a joyful environment, and I finished prepping for her impending birthday party. 

After a delicious lunch of Daddy's chocolate chip pancakes (a new tradition?), we video chatted with Grandma and Grandpa. We enjoyed catching up, and Naomi enjoyed showing off all her new gifts. Like, all of them.

Then it was about time for her mini-party! Naomi's 3 friends arrived amid neighbors mowing lawns and cutting down trees--not exactly a festive atmosphere when you have to shout and make sure no debris hits you. We ended up indoors for craft time (painting squishies) and a few games (pin the tail on the unicorn and outdoors again for a donut pinata). The pinata was the best I'd ever seen, actually spraying candy (and the non-candy items I insisted on, too) for each of at least 6-7 hits, and not needing a golf club and a grown-up to break it in the first place. I'd been unrealistically nervous about the pinata (and Naomi's expectations for things to happen over which she might have no control--like being the one to break it open), and was relieved that it ended so well. 

Since Naomi only had 3 guests, they each got to customize their own cupcake (frosting flavor and mini-plastic-unicorn-decoration color). I realized I also had mythical creature frosted animal crackers, and fortunately, this amount of treat actually filled the girls, even the one who literally devoured a 4-day-old corn muffin the last time she visited because she's always, always very hungry (yes, her parents feed her). 

I then hurried the lagging guests through painting the rest of their squishies, as Naomi had one last activity she was very passionate about: staging a play.

It was late in the game (i.e., two days before) that I realized not only did she actually really want to perform this play she'd been formulating, but that the stakes were going to be high. But, despite lots of pressure; lack of sleep; a guest for whom, as I had to explain to Naomi, acting in a play would be akin to Naomi touching worms, a simile she could begrudgingly relate to; and a severe time shortage thanks to all the other fun we'd been having, the girls managed to perform something. There may have been a mini meltdown that we managed to divert. In the end, the play happened and it was cute, it was sweet, and it covered many, of the story elements Naomi had wanted to include. She did a great job of formulating it so that people could be any character they wanted, making everyone (I think) happy--even the girl who ended up just helping out backstage (much to her relief--I learned later from her mom she'd been worried about the play all week!). Kalina goodnaturedly accepted being volunteered to be a stand-in, and Elise, who'd naturally been planning to perform all along, helped fill out the character list. Thank goodness for birthday girl sisters, who are always the heroes of all of the birthdays in our house.

The guests left and we crashed for a few moments before getting the house ready for birthday dinner with Grandpa and Marianne! I enjoy Saturday birthdays because you pretty much only have to clean your house once to do all the celebrating, but it really is a whirlwind.

For dinner, Naomi chose the traditional Jason's Deli, and then we dug into the cake, which was quite special for all the toppings. She's still a little nervous about birthday candles (fire!) so she shied away at first, but got them all blown out after a couple tries.

Naomi showed Grandpa and Marianne all the gifts, and then opened a few more. She was all ready to dig in and start putting things together, when bedtime happened. This was a tragic event, because it meant that the birthday was over. Really over. I agree, Naomi, it felt like it went too fast! Just like the last 8 years!

Naomi, at 8, is a sweetie who enjoys being young, but shows some sure signs of growing up, too! She can read just about anything, but often prefers a stack of picture books. She's equally at home discussing the Underground Railroad and the aftermath of the Civil War as she is making up imaginary dragons. She does her own hair, but insists on pigtails. 

Naomi still cares for and names all her stuffed animals, and many other animals, as well, her most popular being Oreo, Smores, Midnight, and Marshmallow (as it turns out, most animals are either black and white, various shades of brown and white, just black, or just white. The gray ones kinda stump her.).

She's intimidated by the idea of riding a bike, but flies on a scooter. She's pushing herself to swim underwater (and is totally getting it, one paddle at a time!), and I've watched her shoot baskets (at a slightly lower hoop, but still--considering she gets zero practice, not bad!). She doesn't really enjoy piano unless she's good at the piece, in which case she likes to sing along (and is asking to switch to voice lessons...we'll see).

And she's still very sensitive at the table, although she voluntarily licked a tomato this year and she's agreed to try to get used to spaghetti. We're determined to work more on it and ease her out of some of her anxiety Her favorite foods are all the sugary ones, and her least favorite is, assuredly, meat. 

Naomi can entertain herself for hours with craft supplies, and has trouble seeing a recyclable without thinking, "Hey, I bet I could make ______ out of that!" She's considering being an art teacher when she grows up, but mostly just wants to be a mommy. Which she practices for by befriending all the little girls who are younger than her, and keeping track of all those stuffed animals. I think she'd be totally fine with 30+ kids.

Naomi is much more of a trooper than most people would want to give her credit for, having hiked for miles over rough terrain, only about the first 30 minutes of which she enjoyed, and only complaining in earnest when I was about ready to as well. She constantly has to keep up with her sisters in this way, which is probably why she cried real tears when we suggested another Colorado vacation instead of our planned beach one. She'll take sand any day (she loves it).

Sometimes she surprises me with her knowledge--for instance, she had somehow internalized that plants and animals have different types of cells from one of the conversations I'd had over her head with Kalina and Elise. She put it on a poster she was making about animals. And then there's math and spelling... don't let the pigtails fool you--she's clearly not to be underestimated.

Naomi was the very first of all my children (not adjusted for age!) to figure out:

1. If you get all your schoolwork done before lunch, you have an entire afternoon of free time ahead of you.

2. How to swim underwater without getting water up her nose, and without face-mask goggles (although it's not a mastered skill yet, she's just made it further than either sister).

She recently managed to clip all her fingernails by herself (not sure what age this is supposed to happen, but she was good enough at it that I'm pretty sure we were overdue), and can sound out melodies on the piano, take care of some laundry, and take care of the bunny 100% by herself (she's super proud of this, and can also get him to cuddle up next to her).

Of the things she dislikes, worms, mentions of death in books, anything "human body" (blood, broken bones, major organs), most foods, and competitive games top the list. I can't blame her on a lot of these.

Despite her disgust at all things medical, she loves having loose teeth and, paradoxically, grossing me out with them, which she does quite well. She always leaves a nice note for the tooth fairy, with lots of questions.

It's beginning to be clear that the poor girl suffers from some real anxieties, but she does actually work on conquering them. Sometimes she ventures upstairs all by herself, she always calms down fairly quickly after being placed into a boat against her will, and, again, she licked a tomato. 

Naomi gets a huge kick out of puns and jokes, and enjoys making up her own. "All you do is find a word that sounds like another, or has the same meaning. Then, it's easy!" Showing even better taste, she adores the original Winnie the Pooh stories. Because they're amazing, and she knows it. And they really give her the giggles. She doesn't, however, like to be surprised by endings, especially if there's any suspense, and will happily read the last page/chapter before restarting the book from the beginning. Just to make sure there are no nasty surprises.

She's the most ticklish person I know, and Kalina's mastered the ability to "tickle" her from across the room, with Naomi begging her to stop. She still insists on dresses, although occasionally wears a skirt and shirt. The dresses are always cute, though, and she even has a dark blue one she saves for outdoor activities at which she might get messy. She's prepared. But she bemoans the fact that every place offering t-shirts (art camp, AHG) don't also make dresses. 

Most of the time, Naomi is happy to do her own thing, or play with her sisters, or complete a good worksheet (she loves worksheets, although she can't really admit it around her sisters). She loves word finds, codes, fortune tellers, and drawing lessons, plus any good book or little animal setup.

Naomi enjoys her friends and craves playdates, even when they've had to be outside due to covid. Fortunately, her two besties live quite close and their parents also highly support outdoor playdates, covid or no, so she barely suffered at all during the past year and a half. 

Naomi's a little sweetie, and we're all just delighted to celebrate her!