Ireland Graduates From Elementary School

I have to hand it to the WPO, they managed to make things festive for those 5th graders in spite of the pandemic. The usual clap out was broadcast- no parents allowed- but they had fantastic banners and the shaved ice truck outside where we could take pictures and celebrate the start of summer.

We happened to be there the same time her boyfriend Nick was so I snapped a photo of them together. They aren't true boyfriend/girlfriend- more intellectual equals not to mention huge Harry Potter fans. 

Ireland was all aglow now that she's moving on to middle school.

She's more than ready to move up and take on some new challenges. Like everyone, she was also more than ready to wrap up a year of distance learning and in-person learning back and forth. It's been an exhausting year for someone who really worries about her grades.

The WPO also put together these adorable Middle School Survival Kits!

It contained a Starburst- to give you a burst of energy when you need it, an eraser- you will make mistakes, but mistakes have the power to turn you into something better than you were before, a gift card for a frozen lemonade- when life gives you lemons, go get yourself a frozen lemonade and slime- when you are stretched too thin, remember, you will get through it. You are capable of much more than you think. 

How cute is that?

Included were also sweet notes of encouragement from all the 5th grade teachers.

 It made ME excited for middle school! 

Bridging, Again!!

Finding a new troop for Ireland was surprisingly easy. Along with myself, a few other moms from her old troop were keen to keep their girls involved in scouting and we all started looking around. This new troop was not only eager to have a few additions, they are super active! They immediately invited the girls to come to an activity to try it out. Ireland had so much fun, she came back saying she absolutely had to join the troop. 

I was in Sarasota when Ireland bridged so I only have these photos Brent snapped.

Ireland's excitement makes me so happy. I know a lot of girls drop out when they go into middle school but there's so much value in Girl Scouts. This new troop seems like a great place for her to continue her journey.

Sarasota

With everyone finally fully vaccinated, my sisters schemed to get together. We settled on Sarasota, Florida because no one had been there before and because a warm beach was much needed after a brutal winter. Every time I drive to O'Hare I pass the radar tower and this song goes through my head:

Because of this scene from Rat Race:

I love the hall of flags!

When I arrived in Tampa, I found Lisa and we got to hang out for a while. It's been years since I've been able to really catch up with her in person. After a little rental car snafu, we grabbed something to eat and then hung out at the Tampa Riverwalk. Honestly I think it was my favorite part of the trip because in those few hours we laughed, cried and just talk, talk, talked. Eventually we met up with Reagan and headed to the AirBnB where Katrina was waiting for us.

Reagan was greeted by a beautiful bouquet from Doug...

...and mini bouquets for each of us! It was the sweetest thing and between the snacks provided by Katrina and the lovely scent of roses, this vacation was off to a fantastic start.

Doug's kind gesture became a running joke. Anytime something good happened, we'd ask Reagan if Doug had rigged it to be that way. Walking to the beach a guy yelled out his window, "You ladies are all BEAUTIFUL" and we asked if Doug had paid him to say that. When we got a table at a restaurant we asked if Doug had called ahead and worked it out for us. So funny.

Whitney and Mom arrived on Saturday mid-morning so Reagan and I decided to take a walk and explore the neighborhood. Katrina vaguely gestured that the beach was just "that way" so we headed in that direction. Turns out it was at least a mile and a half away and Reagan and I had to laugh that it was such a Katrina thing to do.  We found a great Instagramable wall and snapped some photos. 

There wasn't really any beach to go on to- just a small strip that wasn't private or owned by a hotel. I picked up a random coconut to gift Katrina for her excellent directions. She and Lisa were gracious enough to pick us up and we had breakfast before fetching Whitney and Mom from the airport.

By then a lot of us were raring to go to Siesta Beach. Even the car ride was memorable for reasons I can't explain: 

Everyone else stayed on land but Katrina was willing to go into the water with me. She said to avoid accidentally stepping on a stingray I needed to shuffle and that unnerved me a bit. The water was lovely though and extremely salty so it was easy to float in. Katrina struck up a conversation with some strangers (also a very Katrina thing to do) and told them we were polygamist wives. Aye de mi! We headed back to land to catch up with everyone else.

The conversation was centered on Mom. We all have concerns as she and Dad age and it was nice to talk freely. Mom seemed so happy. I love this photo of her:

When Whitney and I went to San Diego, she suggested finding some seashells for the girls and man were those a hit! I decided to hunt for some on this trip as well. 

Whitney was taking a pretty beach photo of Reagan and I couldn't help myself- I threw a bunch of sand at her. From then on sprinkling sand on someone while getting a picture became a thing too. 

Let's talk about that amazing sand for a minute. It was like baby powder! I spent the rest of my time at the beach just like this- playing in the sand like a little girl.

It's the softest, silkiest sand which explains why this is considered one of the best beaches in the US.

Eventually, I did get that beach photo.

Now that I have four daughters, my sisters have become even more important to me. I really hope my girls can grow to love and support each other because when you have a sister in your corner, you have everything.

Love these ladies!

I'm especially glad Whitney got some surf and sand. She needed it.

Back at the AirBnB we played several games but Spot It took was the hands down favorite. Something about the way everyone was yelling out the matching object on their cards was just hilarious and when it came down to Reagan and Lisa, they both started yelling gibberish. I just about fell out of my seat I was laughing so hard.

The next day we had brunch and then spa treatments which were conveniently located just across the street. Whitney managed to crack open that coconut I found and for the first time in my life, I drank fresh coconut water.

We ended the evening with another great dinner.

I love traveling with my sisters. At every meal someone would just pay for the group and we would divide it up afterwards. Everyone was ready with their order the very first time our waiter came to take drink orders. It is a Nielsen hallmark to never send a waiter away to have more time to peruse the menu. When asked where we wanted to go or what we wanted to do, everyone had an answer rather than, "Oh whatever everyone else wants..." Indecisive people make decisions harder for everyone. 

I shared a room with Katrina and introduced her to my Calm app. I love the sleep stories- they really do help me let go of the stress of the day and just sink into sleep in the happiest way. One of the sleep stories was the first chapter of Anne of Green Gables and so I listened to it with Katrina. As we drifted off, I could tell she was enjoying it too, and that made me happy.

After a Sunday morning brunch, we packed and cleaned. On this trip there were some hilarious discussions, some heavy discussions, and some heartbreaking discussions and the ride to the airport was no exception. We parted ways but I got to fly back to Chicago with Whitney and Mom. Whitney had mentioned Liesel has "good feet" when I sent her a video of her lyrical dance and having never taken dance, I didn't know what that meant. She broke down the video for me- sometimes going frame by frame and showed me exactly what she was talking about. 

It's not hard to feel underappreciated as a mother. When I'm away from the girls for a while, I feel sooo cherished when I return. My absence and the lack of all those little things I do that makes up my entire day come into focus and I have to say, I don't think that's a bad thing. I was happy for a break and happy to be home as well. Sarasota was a wonderful little vacation!

Sydney's Besties Fun Night

Sydney definitely may have a career as a party planner ahead of her. She sent out invitations to the "Besties Fun Night" and then gave everyone a schedule- or scedle. Believe you me, she made us stick to that thing. Apparently she also slipped Liesel a note that hudies (aka hoodies) were not allowed and Liesel felt a little targeted.

We even had to have our tickets scanned in for the event.

 

#1- dance party

#2- tea party

This is where it got really good. #3- silly time. This consisted of playing around with different Snapchat filters like Baby Yoda: 

Guess My Age (which is always horribly wrong)

Tears and voice effects:

This one multiplied your image which immediately reminded me of A Chorus Line.

Liesel caught on:

And back to Guess My Age (which is always horribly wrong)

#4 was to stretch and #5 was to play Nertz. I feel like we hang out as a family all the time but this was... different. I'm so glad we were all voluntold to do this because we laughed and laughed and made lots of memories. 

Thanks Sydney. We needed that!

Mother-Daughter Date with Gita

Taking a page out of her sister's book, Gita sent me the following poll to ensure a Mother-Daughter Date:

Who wouldn't want to hang out with this girl? This is her self-description with the letters of her name and it makes me laugh every time I read it.

Initially I had opted to go to Chick-fil-a but they are still closed for indoor dining so we drove down the street to Portillos. We were still dressed up with a little bit of makeup though!

I love the chop chicken salad and Gita loved lining the pasta up on her fork.

Every now and again the light will catch the blue, blue of her eyes and I'm just mesmerized by them.

Just around the corner from us is the home of Grace Kinstler, one of the three finalists on American Idol. Our date happened to fall on the taping of her hometown visit and we noticed her street was blocked off and a huge limo was right outside her home. As we ate our dinner I asked Gita if she wanted to go downtown and see the celebration. Of course Gita was totally game.

Turns out we arrived at about the same time as Grace. The other stops on her hometown visit had gone long so we just parked the car and joined in the festivities. A few people spoke about her, the mayor declared it Grace Kinstler Day and she briefly spoke. We saw the drone taking footage and got to feel all the love in that crowd. It was really cool!

I love how Gita is always up for an adventure. Apparently she enjoyed our little date as well because she mentioned it in her journal (see last question).

Eye of the Beholder

 Can you tell which eye belongs to which girl?

Top to bottom that's: Liesel, Ireland, Brigitta and Sydney. Liesel's eyes are (to borrow a quote from Princess Bride) like the sea after a storm. Ireland and Brigitta have the dark blue inner and outer rim but Brigitta inherited my deep-set eyes with crazy eyebrows that grow right into the lid. Sydney actually has a fair amount of green in her eyes- almost as if we were running out of blue and had to fill in with whatever color was available.

Those are my girls! Similar and yet so different.

Bridging!

With four girls in scouts, we've been to our fair share of bridging ceremonies, but Sydney's takes the cake. I mean, check out this cake:

See how the Daisy cake has a popsicle stick bridge to a pile of Brownies? And the fondant patches? Adorable! As if that isn't enough sugar, the cupcakes were pretty sweet too:

Here are those cute Daisies oohing and aahing over them.

The girls were encouraged to dress up for the occasion and Sydney jumped at the chance to wear this dress that has sat unused in her closet. It looked pretty darn sweet with her Daisy vest I must say! Even with her slip all hanging out. Here she is doing the Girl Scout oath (and yes, with the wrong hand- it should be the right).

The troop leader asked if Liesel, Ireland and Brigitta could wear their vests and help with the ceremony. They were happy to step up. She talked about starting the troop and how she had so many ideas on how they could serve in the community and make a difference. However, a big group of little girls can get chaotic fast and she slowly let go of productivity in favor of letting the girls become good friends throughout the meetings. 

 

Just like that, our little Daisy became a Brownie. This is the first troop that's done the sash rather than the vest.

The troop leader arranged to have a butterfly release. Each girl gently took an envelope and carefully opened it. There was a bit of wind which apparently little butterflies don't like, but eventually they spread their wings and flew.

It's the coolest thing I've ever seen at a bridging ceremony!

As a thank you for helping out, all the girls received a butterfly to release.

Ireland's butterfly was pretty enamored with her- that little one hung out with her for a while.

It seemed like her butterfly was ready to take off but it landed again. Love the expression on her face!

This bridging ceremony took place on an actual bridge. Here are the girls on the far side with their cute sashes.

Brigitta's bridging ceremony isn't for a few more weeks so at this moment, they are both Brownies!

It was especially heartwarming to see the three older girls support their baby sister today.

You can't have a group of little girls without some drama! One of the girls dropped her shoe in the water below the bridge. Last I heard, it was never recovered. 

This is just about one of the cutest things I've ever seen. Another extra little touch from Sydney's amazing leaders! In case you can't read it, it says: Recipe for a Troop 28 Brownie. 1 Cup Love, 1 Cup Warmth, 1 Cup Curiosity (is that ever true!), 1 Cup Honesty, 1 Cup Enthusiasm, Dash of Spice, Sprinkled with lots of energy. Take all of the above ingredients, mix them together and blend into a vivacious West Troop 28 Brownie. Top with a Brownie smile!

Sydney with her amazing leaders!

When it finally came time for dessert, Sydney was thrilled to get the pink petal but Ireland was pretty darn happy with the green one.

Liesel loved her Girl Scout cookie reminding her to be strong.

 I never really thought I'd be a heavy duty scout mom, but during the pandemic Scouts became more important than ever. I'm so grateful for the leaders who have worked tirelessly to expand these girl's horizons, get them involved in the community and help them appreciate this beautiful earth.