School's Out for Summer!

So summer is really here.  Yesterday we picked Finn up from a half day of school, and now he's done with first grade and we're on our own.  I had meant to plan a special day to celebrate Finn being finished with school, since we did that last week when Gus finished preschool, but as it turned out, I did not.  When my brother and I were growing up, my parents would always make a big deal at the end of the school year.  We would get to pick out a fancy restaurant and we would all get dressed up and go out to celebrate.  We always chose either Benihana (hopefully everyone has been to one of these and knows the joy of having a shrimp flipped onto your plate from 10 feet away) or Vargo's, a great restaurant in Houston with peacocks and a beautiful garden to stroll around while you wait for dinner.  While we ate, my parents would exclaim over our academic successes and express pride in our general character development and just generally make a big deal out of us.  Those are such nice memories for me, and so I strive to provide similar happy memories and traditions for my own children.  So, even though I did not have anything super-special planned for yesterday, the kids and I did go out for lunch to Finn's favorite restaurant The Olive Tree, but it was a bit of a disaster because there were - surprise - no high chairs, only boosters.  This meant that Ruby was free to stand up and try to grab at anyone's food that looked good to her.  We were all racing to finish our food and get out of the joint, so it wasn't exactly a special moment.  Not too much time for reminiscing on all that Finn learned as I stuffed my sandwich into my mouth with one hand and held Ruby's legs down under the table as she screamed at me to let go so she could get Gus' spaghetti.  The only thing I was saying to the kids between bites was "hurry up and finish so we can get out of here!"

By the time we left, everyone was pretty cranky, so it seemed like a good idea to enforce a little rest period as a sort of restart button on the day.  While Ruby slept peacefully, I could hear the boys (via the baby monitor) wrestling and making noise in their rooms.  Ignoring them, I closed my eyes for a few minutes and fell into a delicious sleep.  A mere 10 minutes later, however, I awoke to hear Ruby crying after being woken up by the wild rumpus in the boys' room.  Rage welled up within me, however unfair, and I ran downstairs to really let everybody have it.  Extreme punishments were handed out, lectures were delivered but not heard, tears were shed, punishments were modified before being lifted altogether, and eventually everyone was happy again.  We ended up going swimming next door and then grilling salmon - another of Finn's favorites, so it was sort of a special day if you take away the middle few hours.  So, day 1 of summer down, many, many more to go!


Bonus video (now that I know how to do it!):

Don't have enough fighting in your own house?  Here is a funny video that Matt took of the boys engaged in their favorite activity - light-saber fighting.  Finn has created a new Star Wars character - "orangy torangy" and he is working on what he calls Episode 12:  The Transport is Finished.  We're not sure how much of a commercial success this will be, but he loves to try to get Gus enact battles in a specific way and then he wants us to film it.  I will almost never do this, but on the weekends Matt sometimes obliges him.  As you can see here, he does take on quite the directorial attitude, although he may also be alienating his talent.  As an older child myself, I feel his frustration over trying to get a younger sibling to do your bidding, but at the same time it makes me crazy to hear their constant arguing when Finn gets mad at Gus for doing it "wrong."  Anyway, I love that Matt captured this little moment in our lives, because it clearly illustrates so many things about us:  1) I look hideous first thing in the morning, 2) Finn is always "acting" as can be seen by his first tantrum directed at the camera, 3) Gus is usually happily doing whatever he wants to do, as seen here when he ignores Finny's direction and tries to stab him in the neck, 4) Matt is a patient parent who will get out the video camera when the kids want to do something like this, and 5) I am not patient in the same way, and often punish everyone when it seems easier than sorting out who is at fault.

(I just watched this video on the blog, and the right half of it seems to be cut off, so you miss seeing Finn's dramatic expressions as he delivers his speeches.  Trust me, you're not missing much!)