The Curtis Clan - Summer 2015
Summer Solstice to Fall Equinox
A late Father’s Day marked the start of summer, as the Sage tribe came to the Casa Curtis for Imo’s Pizza.
The next evening we started watching the Gilmore Girls with the girls…again. Bethany and Randy first got hooked on the show circa 2004, buying the DVDs to get caught up and watching the last few seasons when they first aired. A few years later, we rewatched them again when Cate and Jane were 3-5, and it was completing going over their heads. They did love the end credit music and did a super cute happy dance each time, frequently asking us to repeat it for them.
|
Jane and Cate doing the Gilmore Girls end credit dance (2008-01) (click image to open film clip)
|
|
There was some pre-teen reticence and eye rolling in taking our recommendation for entertainment this time. After two episodes in, they were begging for a third and much of late evenings of the summer were filled with the rapid-fire, pop culture banter of Lorelei, Rory, Emily and the rest. Seeing the girls reactions to the sophomore good girl Rory having her first romance and their expressions giving aware their parallel dreams was a treat. The show still holds ups well and we went through three seasons before putting on the breaks and pausing for a maturity check as Rory enters college and makes a few bigger bad choices that we had misgivings with sharing with the girls just yet.
Summer Movies were a mixed bag: on the animation front, there was the very forgettable Home with the charming Inside Out at the other end of the spectrum, as PIXAR returned to its regular high form of touching, thoughtful entertainment. For frequency of viewing and listening it was Pitch Perfect with the girls latching on to the original and Pitch Perfect 2, which became the family soundtracks for the summer. Also on DVD, we watched Hunger Games II: Catching Fire after Cate finished reading the book (another clean you room ultimatum). It was later in its release that we caught The Avengers: Age of Ultron at the Keller. The best film viewing experience as a family though was Gaslight at the rehabbed Hi-Pointe (refurbished seats and windows in the bathroom). Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer were fantastic. A great example of a film that the girls loved at the theatre but probably wouldn't have if we watched it at home,
|
Ready to see Inside Out
|
|
At the end of June (26-30), the Pi Beta Phi St. Louis Alumnae Club sent Bethany, as their President along with the Vice-President (With Mary Jane Miller Hotaling.) to Chicago for the annual convention and a long weekend of Pi Phi sisterhood of ?Wine, Silver and Blue fun.
|
Bethany and Maryjane at Pi Phi Convention
|
|
This left Randy to have the joys (?) of schlepping the girls to and from camp for a few days. Friday and Saturday nights, Randy and the girls visited with friends and their children from the Sunday Dinner Group (aka Roommate Dinner) for an annual gathering of the Wash U Microbiology program from the mid-to-late 1990s: Wall XX. After a game of Apple-to-Apples Junior, the girls hit it off with the Lyon boys swapping camp songs, tales and a bit of Truth or Dare, on a harmless scale. It was fun chatting with everyone but not quite the silly fun of our youth that made the first half dozen Wall gatherings so memorable (i.e. alcohol consumption is no longer the focus or even a significant factor in the gatherings the last few years; adulthood and responsibility is overrated).
On Monday, Randy took Jane and Cate for the family’s annual pilgrimage to Six Flags which Bethany was not disappointed to miss. We started the day riding Thunder River five times straight and ending the day by being the last ones on the Log Flume at night. It was a bit bittersweet as the girls’ favorite ride Scooby Doo and the Scary Swamp was replaced but the high tech Justice League: Battle for Metropolis, which had a two+ hour wait due to repeated malfunctions. Cate began experimenting with roller coasters this year particularly after serendipitously meeting her pal Emma with her family at about 6 pm. The two ditched us to ride more coasters (Jane is not a fan, having refused to go on the Screamin’ Eagle for the last decade after doing it once while she was four).
|
Randy, Bugs, Jane and Cate - June 2015
|
|
| Cate and Jane enjoying the Shazam (i.e. Scrambler) |
Jane Emma and Cate on the Tsunami Soaker |
|
|
July
4th July followed our WG traditions of watching the parade in front of the library, albeit with a much reduce candy intake as the cute kid factor has faded the pre-teen set. Afterwards we went to the Burn’s post parade pool party to visit with the neighbors. In the evening, we lit some 4-5 year old fireworks in between a four episode Gilmore Girls binge (we made Cate and Jane reenact their end credits dance to get the 4th episode).
|
Cate and Jane are ready for the 4th of July parade to begin
|
|
Bethany continued her summer home improvement project with repainting the Foyer, with very pleasing results.
|
Repainted Foyer
|
|
Tyler and Mary's Wedding
A mid-July wedding for Cousin Tyler (and Mary) bought a weekend of Sage FFF. On Saturday, the Sage siblings and their spouses did a mini-brewery tour to Urban Chestnut and Schafley, while Amy and Alvan watched the grandkids. That evening Uncle Van set up the Sage Movies Night Under the Stars: The Last Starfighter. The Sunday wedding took place on the beautiful Washington University campus in Graham Chapel. The reception at the Edwardsville VFW was a lot of fun too.
| Sages Siblings at Urban Chestnut |
Sages Siblings at Schafley |
|
|
|
Sages Siblings goofing around at reception photoboth
|
|
| Jane and Cate |
showing off their line dance moves |
|
|
|
Randy and Bethany enjoy a dance
|
|
The following week on Bastille Day, Pat Joyce returned for his third jazz/ragtime concert at Manor Grove for Randy’s mom Nancy, which the girls got to attend this time with school being out.
| Pat Joyce, Nancy Cate and Jane |
Randy serenading the crowd with some Johnny Mercer |
|
|
Later that week, Cate tried to dye her hair red with Kool Aid to minimal effect.
|
Jane applying Kool Aid "dye" to Cate's hair
|
|
Camp Week
The following week was the girls annual week at the Y’s Camp Lakewood. Jane made the step up to the more primitive cabins of East Camp across the dam. These are literally the same cabins Randy had stayed in ~45 year ago when dormitory style cabins with AC and bathrooms were unheard. Cate remained in the cushy comfort of the main camp.
|
Jane and Cate at Camp Lakewood
|
|
The parents enjoyed a stress free week of mature film and food. OK not completely mature as we made a maiden voyage to Quick Trip, getting a couple of Big Q frozen drinks. Bethany was able to get the kids bathroom repainted and updated from the rubber duck decor that adorned it for the last decade.
| RandB have Quick Trip run |
Girls bathroom makeover |
|
|
|
Lonely dogs consoling one another
|
|
Jane becomes a Teenager
Jane officially became a teenager to begin off August as we celebrated with pizza and the family.
|
Jane's a Teenager
|
|
| Jane replacing a light switch |
Jane with Pepper and Gussie among the surpise lillies |
|
|
|
Townie Sages Group Photo for Jane's Birthday
|
|
| Jane's Cake |
Jane ready to see To Kill A Mocking Bird |
|
|
That Friday Randy took day off to take the girls and friend Emma to Six Flags. During the June trip, the girls used their allowance and lawn mowing money to upgrade their tickets to season passes, so a return visit was a bit of a parental obligation. It was fun but less fresh and memorable, as familiarity took away the treat of a single yearly visit.
|
Six Flags - Part 2
|
|
Work “required” Randy to make a trip to Hawaii, although not taking any leave and the 14 + hour trip out, took away any anticipatory joy for going. Still after work, he got to visit the Punchbowl/ National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and on another day the Battleship Missouri on the 70th Anniversary (minus four days) of the signing of the Japanese terms of surrender and the end of WWII. Walking around Waikiki at sun set didn’t suck too much either. Still the overnight redeye return flight in the middle seat lasted 18 hours with unexpected delays in Denver temper enthusiasm for a return.
|
Randy on the Omega of US in WWII (USS Missouri) with the Alpha (USS Arizonia) in the distance
|
|
Bethany's Birthday
Sunday in mid-August was Bethany’s Birthday. As luck would have it, this coincided with our last WGCS outing at the ball game. We celebrated by once again taking the top row at the Cardinal game, giving us shade and allowing the breeze to keep us comfortable on a day of 90+ degrees. The girls enjoyed taking their cousins George and Henry to sing Take Me Out to The Ball Game on the field with their classmates (The cousins’ school required enrollment in the choir to enjoy that perk). This also was the last night of summer vacation (so naturally we continued the B-day celebration by watching more Gilmore Girls).
|
Curti at another Cardinal game
|
|
| Share a Coke with Bethany |
Maria & Elisabeth celebrate Bethany's B-day |
|
|
On Monday, the girls went back to school with Jane starting 7th Grade at Hixson on Team Unity and Cate moving up the stairs to 6th Grade at Steger on Team Atlas. If not common everywhere, at least at Webster, once all the elementary school kids merge (nearly 400 kids), they are then broken down into four smaller teams of nearly one hundred, and then broken down again into four homerooms among their four core curriculum teachers. This puts the kids from WGCS at a bit of a disadvantage in knowing others as there typically only 5-6 kids they know from K- 5th grade on their team of a hundred and about half that are girls, with no guarantees that your BFFs would be with you or how many are in your home room. Cate adjusted pretty well, doing well in the friend lottery and was happy to have lots of new acquaintances from the other schools, she called friends. On the other hand, Jane’s first few days were a bit rough as the friendship lottery did not work out in her favor. Fortunately, a girl she befriended at the YMCA’s Wacky Wizard (Harry Potter themed) camp a couple years earlier invited her to sit with her at lunch and she found her place with a bunch of Harry Potter nerds. She (and her parents), were quite pleased to see her fall in with this group of Hufflepuffs with a Gryffindor and Slythian for good measure. On the teacher side, we were once again very pleased with the Steger teachers with Cate getting Mr. Knobbe, Mr. Lopez, Mr. Rabb and Ms. Finch. Jane at Hixson was a bit of a mixed bagged with super Social Studies and Science teachers (Mr. Fick and Mrs. Oliver) but with Math and English teachers (Slaughter and Hildreth) that were at the end of the careers and not initially to her liking. We hope based on some positives we’ve heard from a few other parents that had these teachers our initial reactions will prove wrong but it doesn’t appear so (not ever teacher is great for every child). The principal at Hixson appears intent on being relatable to the teens at the expense of instilling gravitas and professionalism to the position. Clearly an ambitious sort, hopefully Principal “Stacey” won’t do too much damage.
|
1st Day of 6th and 7th Grades
|
|
A usual, it took a short bit of time to fall back into the rhythms and routine of the school year and perfect the somewhat complex car pool schedules to get the girls there and back, amongst their various after school activities like Girl Scouts, student council and choir for Jane (The 6th graders have a limited number of after school options).
Just a couple days later, Randy’s pal Anthony called him up at lunch and inviting him to join the MO restaurant group in the A-B box at the Cardinal game. A glutton nous night of complimentary beer (A-B’s new Occulto), burgers and brats.
|
Randy and Anthony in the Busch Box
|
|
Six Flags - Part 3
On the last Sunday in August, Randy took the girls to Hurricane Harbor Water Park for the first time, along with a couple of their friends who had season passes to Six Flags (Emma and Constance). Since it was cloudy and gloomy at first, we very much had the place to ourselves (six of the 75 people at noon they told us). We got to ride everything without waiting and the girls wanted to have Dad along when riding a number of the rides like the Tornado so he could schlep the raft to the top of the tower and his body mass made the rafts go higher and faster (first real advantage to a beer belly I can think of). Eventually the sun came out and the park got a bit more crowded but it was still a terrific day. Any bets on how long having Dad around for such days will be OK? Such trips are treated as if they could be my last.
| Constance, Emma, Jane, and Cate with Sylvester |
At Hurricaine Harbor |
|
|
|
At the Missouri Mines State Park with Ella
|
|
This fall Cate’s joined one of the local field hockey club teams (AIM), with weekly practice sessions at the SLUH soccer fields Thursday nights and games on Sunday at the Maryland Heights Sport Port (a massive artificial field complex among the corn fields in the Missouri River flood plain). Fortunately one of her classmates from WGCS also joined (Sophie Gambiani) which helped with carpooling on occasion. The team was filled with a bunch of first timers and they played against girls with some previous experience. Although they got significantly better throughout the season, so did the other teams and they had a rather depressing record of no wins and only 1 goal all season. We hope Cate will play again but she was rather ambivalent afterwards.
|
Cate playing field hockey
|
|
After Labor Day Randy returned to exercising at the YMCA with the start of Jane swim team. It was a change of venue from the closed WG facility to the Mid-County YMCA in Brentwood. This was the YMCA his dad worked at when he was a kid in the 1960s and early 1970s, although with three large additions and major renovations there was very little familiar from back then (most of the original building is the child care facility which is off limits to all non-parents). The new Mid-County “Hammer Head” swim team is much less organized and formal than the previous KWMBY Sailfish team, which will make meets less of an ordeal but also less meaningful.
Over Labor Day Weekend, Randy took his mom Nancy to the St. Louis Jazz Club Jazz Festival at the Westport Doubletree for two afternoons. Having been a long time member and “groupie” she was quite glad to be among friends and have attention lavished on her with a front row seat, including most particularly Steve Lilly of the Red Leher and the Powerhouse Five dedicating a song to “one of most affectionate jazz fans and one of the nicest ladies I’ve know. This one is for Nancy Curtis”. It was a treat to see the joy of musicians doing what they love as evidenced by the short Jewish 78-year-old clarinet player Noel Kaletsky, who quipped after a particularly fast song: “That’s a lot of music out of five old men”. While not as big of a fan, it was easy to enjoy the classic Dixieland Jazz and ragtime over two afternoons. In fall, Randy joined his mother Nancy at Manor Grove to celebrate her 77th Birthday with another Pat Joyce concert with her Jazz Club friends. The STL Jazz Club continued to be a highlight for her and in December, Randy, Jane and Cate rented a van to take her to see the St. Louis Rivermen perform at the Westport Doubletree from 2 to 4:30.
|
Nancy chatting with the band at the STL Jazz Festival
|
|
On the last Thursday of summer, Randy took Jane to the Ethical Society to attend a book signing with noted novel and essayist Jonathon Frazen for his new book: Purity. Franzen attended WG High School a few years before Randy did and besides enjoying his novels Randy was particularly smitten with the tale of Franzen and his pals at WGHS trying to put tires over the flag pole as a Senior prank in his collection of essays of growing up: The Discomfort Zone. We stood in line for 45 minutes and chatted with others in line including his 7th grade English teacher from Hixson Middle School where Jane is at now, which was neat. Franzen appear to enjoy signing The Discomfort Zone and talking about the flagpole prank, as did Randy. Too bad pictures were forbidden for the notoriously camera shy Franzen as I would have liked one (even for his 7th grade teacher was denied the photo op).
|
Randy and Jane at Franzen Booking signing
|
|
The last Saturday of summer, Jane attended her first Fortnightly dance. Fortnightly is a decades old Webster Groves tradition of dance instruction and social education for seventh- and eighth-grade children, held about a half dozen times a year (i.e. cotillion). Fortnightly is a semi-formal dance where they are matched with boys not of their choosing (think dance card) to dance in between social free time that is heavily chaperoned. It borders on being classist, which we generally are against, however, it is useful to have a clue how things operate in “polite” society. For the most part, all the parents “force” the kids to go, with most, being relieved that they can interact with the opposite sex but not because they wanted to but because they had to. So far there has been no lasting damage to Jane.
|
Jane ready for her 1st Fortnightly
|
|