Monthly Archives: June 2019

All’s Well

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We’re creeping up on the busiest time of summer, when we hit a slew of our favorite outdoor activities just as the temperature ramps up to smoldering (and hopefully without any rain).

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First on the agenda is our first visit to Shakespeare on the Green. It was the evening that almost wasn’t, as the National Weather Service was predicting an 80% chance of rain during the show all the way up until a few hours before it started. I fortunately hedged my bets and saved us a spot on the green. A handful of our friends joined us for a relatively pleasant (and perfectly dry) evening. As usual, we got to play a bit of dress-up and share some food and drink together before the show started. This evening’s program was All’s Well that Ends Well, played entirely by a female cast this time around. I was only vaguely familiar with the plot of the play before it started, but it was fairly easy to follow, even with the gender-bent cast.

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Saturday was my brother Nathan’s birthday, so my dad grilled up burgers for lunch and we even had a “7-up” cake to celebrate. Hannah and Aaron both decorated some cards, and we played a game or two after lunch. (Dad also wanted to play some old movies of his, but his ancient movie projector decided not to cooperate.)

Then that evening, our friends Kody and Jenny hosted a “deck party” up at their house in Bennington. Kody had some pork tacos for everyone, and we got to eat outside with a handful of our friends and their kids. Aaron had Hannah played some made-up games with hula hoops and had a particularly good time chasing bubble around. There were more thunderstorms in the area, but we were fortunate enough to remain dry the whole evening once again.

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I decided to take Monday off for a delightful kid-free day of cleaning the garage. I also wound up mowing three lawns in the space of a few days — my dad’s, Jack’s, and our own. Jack actually cooked up some barbecue pork chops and shrimp for dinner, which we ate with the kids out on the back deck after I gave the lawn a trim.

This is the kids’ last week of Summer School, so Vivian and I have been making the most of it — particularly having a breakfast or two together without the need for babysitters. On Wednesday, we went to First Watch here in Bellevue, and then on Friday hit Burger King, just for the heck of it. It’ll be nice not having to shove the kids out the door every day for school, but it’s also been nice to have some quiet days for cleaning up the house as well.

Next stop: Memorial Park Concert and the Fourth of July!

Father’s Day and Long Goodbyes

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We’re still recovering from our a crazy week juggling both VBS and Aaron’s birthday, but we couldn’t slow down long before running right into Father’s Day weekend.

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I told Vivian all I wanted to do for Father’s Day was “as little as possible,” and I got to enjoy that for the most part. I still wound up mowing my parents’ lawn on Saturday morning, and I also brought along ingredients for a Father’s Day lunch of burgers and fries. My dad warmed up his smoker and used his own special rub on them, which seemed to turn out quite well. I added some grilled mushrooms and cheese to the mix. Our plan was to go through one of my dad’s old trunks downstairs, but he was a bit beat afterward and we wound up playing a game and then tinkering with his YouTube page instead.

Then on Father’s Day, I got a couple lovely cards from Hannah and Aaron. I had some alone time burning calories at the Kroc Center and filling them right back up again at Don and Millie’s. Vivian invited her dad over for dinner and made prime rib for us, with loaded baked potatoes, asparagus, and shrimp salad. She also had some berry cobbler for dessert, which we had after herding the kids off to bed. Then she had some presents for me, which included a jar of Mister C’s spaghetti sauce and some tools for my bike, which I hope I’ll be riding to work more often soon.

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In the midst of all this, we had to say goodbye to a pair of classic Omaha restaurants closing within the week. First was Gerda’s, a German restaurant of over 40 years. I’d eaten there with Vivian before and more recently with my dad, having schnitzel and spaetzle and German sausage as well as pastries from the bakery. The original owner died last year, however, and new government regulations made it financially unfeasible for the restaurant to remain opened any longer.

Second was Amato’s, the Italian diner-style restaurant down in the Aksarben neighborhood, which has been operating even longer. I first heard about them from Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” which aired an episode with them in 2009. I’ve loved their homemade sausage and ricotta pancakes and had the chance to eat there a number of times, their location just down the street from where I work being super-convenient. Vivian I had breakfast there one last time on Tuesday, and I got to have polpetti for the first time (and maybe not the last if I get it to go this week).

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The hardest goodbye, however, was to our dear Honda Civic. We’ve had it for about a decade now, and it was the car that first took Hannah and Aaron home from the hospital since they were born. Even after being totaled in late 2017, I’d still been able to drive it on a regular basis, unwilling to part ways until the “wheels came off.” Well, after a year and a half it’s finally time to say goodbye. Bought my brother’s Corolla have been enjoying driving a car with new tires, smooth-riding suspension, and functioning heat and air conditioning for a while.

Our kids had turned our Civic into a makeshift playhouse for themselves in the meantime, but now that the car is gone, I hope they can find a place in their heart for this new member of our vehicular family.

Gaffigan, a governor, and Aaron turns five

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We’ve had a busy, busy week here in Omaha mixing work and fun and family all together — with a little bit of gorgeous weather along with it.

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First up was Unite, a huge event held by the Archdiocese of Omaha. The Pope Paul VI Institute, where I work, was one of about a dozen organizations invited to showcase their work to several thousand Catholics who came to participate at the Qwest/CenturyLink/CHI Center in worship, mass, and fun. Our booth was the result of six months of planning, with graphics and banners and eight keynote speakers at our corner of the concourse. I was on hand to take loads of pictures for several hours, so I definitely got my “steps” for the day.

As a reward, Vivian and I got to see a performance by Jim Gaffigan in the afternoon. We’d seen several of Gaffigan’s routines on Netflix previously and were well versed in his food-related humor (specifically Hotpockets). I was also aware he was a Catholic, which was likely part of the reason he was recruited as the “draw” for this event. His set included a few jokes specific to Omaha, including comments on the Runza (and how its name tells you what it gives you). We got seats fairly close tot he front, and I was even able to smuggle in my camera to get a few halfway-decent snapshots for the blog.

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Then on Sunday after church we had a birthday party for Aaron with some friends at Elmwood Park. The weather went from mid-90s to 70 literally overnight, so the weather couldn’t have been more perfect for playing on swings, slides, and sand toys during the afternoon, getting a little exercise before getting sugared up.

A bunch of Aaron’s little friends were able to join us, as were mom and dad and Uncles Nathan and Jonny. Donna and Vivian had prepared a birthday cake decorated with characters from “True,” Aaron’s current favorite show on Netflix, which we cut into around 3:30 (and even lit candles on for a few seconds). Then Aaron got to open a few presents before calling it a day.

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In the meantime, Wildewood Church is having a week-long VBS with the theme “In the Wild.” Because of Aaron’s birthday (and sheer exhaustion) we weren’t able to attend the opening night. We were able to drop in on Monday, which was a lot of fun. They had some outdoor activities and crafts that parents and kids were invited to participate in, as well as crafts and songs with crazy hand motions that felt more like 80s-style aerobics. They also had a bible story and a snack sandwiched in the middle. I wasn’t entirely sure if we’d have the energy to participate with all the other stuff going on this week, but the kids seemed to have a lot of fun, and Vivian and I wound up crawling on the ground on all fours along with them.

This was actually the first VBS I’d actually attended since I was a kid, and I was amazed at the amount of work and energy the volunteers must have put in to pull it off.

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Then on Tuesday I got to meet Steve Bullock, Democrat Presidential Candidate and Governor of Montana, over my lunch break. His meet-and-greet was held at Barley’s in Council Bluffs, of course, which has become the go-to place for Presidential candidates for reasons I can’t quite understand. He spoke briefly with reporters (and Tom Becka) outside on the sidewalk before speaking to a crowd of a couple dozen inside afterward. He hit a bunch of fairly standard Democrat talking points, such as climate change and “women’s health” (AKA abortion), and he emphasized his work as a lawyer with the IBEW union.

The crowd was largely friendly, and I shook his hand afterward telling him that I hoped whoever becomes President in 2020 can help heal the divide in our country.

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Then that evening we celebrated Aaron’s actual birthday with pizza and presents with the family. I got three large pizzas from Papa Murphy’s for dinner, partly to ensure leftovers for a couple days, and we ate with Pop-Pop, Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Jonny. Then Aaron got to open a few more presents, which included a glowing dinosaur nightlight from Uncle Jonny, a soccer ball from grandma, a cornhole game from Grammy, a marble chute construction set, a singing Baby Shark from Hannah, and a periscope from Grandpa (which Hannah immediately seemed to take possession of).

We also had a second cake, this one being decorated inexplicably with Hannah being eaten by an alligator while Aaron looks on with a shark (I still don’t get it).

We’ll have more fun forthcoming this week, and hopefully I’ll have the chance to catch my breath soon. Maybe for Father’s Day.

Summer schooled

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Summer vacation doesn’t seem like it’ll be happening this year, as we suddenly find ourselves busy every moment of the activity between work, school, and summer activities together (and also some time at the park hunting for mushrooms). Grammy is taking off for a month-long trip to see family in California, so we had her over for one last haircut and then a goodbye dinner with the kids before she left.

In the meantime, both Hannah and Aaron are going to be in summer school full-time for around a month. This is a whole new public school experience for both of them, but we thought it would be a good experience to try something new, at least for a few weeks, to see how it goes. They both seem particularly happy about riding the bus to school, and mommy and daddy have been watching them take off every day this week.

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Then on Tuesday, we spent an evening at Lauritzen Gardens with the Mills. The Bellevue Public Library was hosting a free event showing us a variety of “wicked” plants and letting us plant our own venus flytraps, which was particularly fun. At the same time, an oldies cover band called the Greasers was playing to several hundred gray-haired Boomers who seemed to cover every free space of green in the patio area out back.

Once we were done with our plants, we walked right past and spent an hour or two exploring the gardens, looking at the trains, gnomes, and usual sights such as the children’s garden, the Japanese shrine (and dance hut), and a rose garden in full bloom. It was a quieter night than we’ve ever spent, and it felt very much like we had the gardens to ourselves.

This next week, we’ll have a trifecta of events to bring summer busy-ness to a fever pitch — namely Arch Omaha Unite with Jim Gaffigan on Saturday, Aaron’s birthday, and a week of VBS filling every other spare moment. Maybe when that’s over I’ll have another blog update for you (but not before)!