more settling in

Cyndi and I went to Ry's curriculum night Thursday, just after I wrote my last blog. We sat at his desk. He sits by three boys: Nader, Parker and George. It is a very diverse class. They spend most of their day on language skills and arithmetic. The teacher posted one of the children's projects in the hall, which I looked at afterward. They were supposed to complete a sentence beginning, I like to....

I studied Ry's. It was one of only a few that I could read. His printing was neat. It said, I like to Skate Bord. The accompanying drawing showed two skateboarders flying down a half-pipe slope, with big smiles on their faces, their arms outstretched to balance themselves.

We had a bunch of family over last night. Janey and her girls came, too. (Nicki's at UNM, Marleigh was in town from Portland. Even Juliette and Garrick showed up.) Don's mother came, along with Elley, Don, Nick, Lauren, Dorie, Pete and Brendon. The kids ran around the yard outside most of the time, playing tag, playing baseball, climbing the play deck we built with David, and jumping off. Everybody brought a ton of food, salads and bread, wine, dessert, chips, dip, and guacamole. Cyndi made mashed potatoes. The grill was piled with chicken thighs, sweet peppers and hot dogs. It was breezy in the evening, cool and threatened rain. (We had a small deluge earlier while Ry and I were at Costco; and the weather is starting to feel like Balloon Fiesta is just around the corner.) There was a lot of conversation, noisy in our small house. I think everyone enjoyed the get together; something about our small house and the grill and the wine makes it successful when we host everyone.

Ry skateboarded twice this weekend in the early morning, after we pick up some espresso Americano, a kid's hot chocolate with extra whip cream, and a scone. We were the first to arrive Saturday morning. There were some raindrops, but nothing came of it.

Today we may see The Lion King. Tomorrow the boys start soccer practice.