The Curtis Clan - Summer 2016
Summer Solstice to Fall Equinox
The first Friday of Summer, Randy and Bethany went to races: Fairmont Park with the Boyles and the Hills. The Party Paddock offered an all you can eat deep fried appetizers buffet for $13 and $2 beers and well drinks. While $2 cocktails sound enticing, the alcohol content seemed higher in the Bud Light. The best thing you can say about the food was there was more…OK so maybe that isn’t the BEST thing you could say. We were chagrined that we didn’t bet on “Mankind” in the 2nd at 7-2 odds; as “Mankind” came up a winner (than again we didn’t lose any money not betting all night). It was also fun crossing the I-70 “Stan Span” bridge for the first time on the way home.
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Fairmont Park - Party Paddock
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The next night was Sage FFF (Forced Family Fun) with the Indy contingent in for a visit. VanGwenJoe hosted the second movie night under the stars, this time featuring Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which pleased everyone. Another crowd pleasing activity was Uncle Van’s Lightning Reaction game: a four person electric shock musical chair game where that last person to buzz in when the music stops gets zapped. There were 4 levels of “mild” and the cousins/niblings loved it as did the adult kids.
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Concentrating on zapping your cousin
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On Sunday, there was more FFF hanging out at Gramy’s pool followed by a late afternoon at the St Peter Sages to celebrate Cousin Erin’s wedding to Roman that occurred earlier in the month in Anchorage, which was only attended by close family and their Anchorage friends.
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Sage tribe in St. Peters
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July
Celebrating Bethany’s Father Birthday was particularly pleasurable as he was needed as rules judge for some local golf tournament and had to forgo his recent nine-year tradition of shooting a hole of golf for each year of his life. A practice that concerned the entire family as 10 July is arguably one of the hottest days of the year and a good way to get a trip to the hospital (or morgue).
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The grandkids help celebrate Grals Bday
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In mid-July, Randy had a work trip to Philadelphia/mid-New Jersey that allowed him to enjoy the treat of eating at the Wawa gas station for lunch (much better than it sounds). On Thursday after work he did some sightseeing and walking around downtown Philly: visiting the Boathouse Row on the Schuylkill River, the outside of the Philadelphia Art Museum and Rodin Museums which sported fiberglass donkey painted in different State themes in preparation for the Democratic National Convention, a week and a half later. The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall had late summer hours allowing him to visit both. The bell was a Meh! but being in the room, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and adopted gave him goose bumps of patriotic pride.
| Randy at Independance Hall |
Outside Roudin's Gates of Hell (ironic forshadowing of the later part of the evening?) |
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Walking away with the empowering Sprit of ’76 and Brotherly Love, his joy was dashed as the black car where he left his black rental car on 4th Street at Chestnut was not his. The naïve tourist jumped to the conclusion that the rental car was stolen in broad daylight (~7:00 pm in summer). While waiting for Philadelphia’s finest to show up after a 911 call (they never did show), reality seeped in that it was more likely towed despite his having dutifully gotten a parking voucher tab. While on the phone tree hell of the Philadelphia Parking Service (?), a tow truck pulled up and proceeded to hook up the car that took his previous parking spot. Evidently it was a poorly marked spot for an unseen consulate in the vicinity. The wrecker driver confirmed his rental car had been taken to the impound lot and that they did a good business at this location (Randy chose to keep his thoughts to himself about that). Randy had to get his colleague who was out with friends to go with him to the impound lot as her was the actual name on the rental the car for the week. Between the fine, the tow and the cab ride to the Impound lot (next to IKEA), the transgression cost Randy approximately $250. While chagrined, the buoyancy of his earlier patriotic tourism kept his mood up. The other folks at the Impound lot were decidedly less cheery and were more open about sharing their opinion about the Philadelphia Parking Service operations (lots of bullet proof glass for a reason).
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Randy at the Philly Impound lot
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On the Ides of July, the Curti sans Cate (at a sleepover) enjoyed an evening of bargain bin shopping at Old Navy and Barnes and Noble for Star Wars day, winning a book, Bloodlines, during the Bingo where the Curti were 60% of the participants.
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2016-07-15 Barnes and noble Bingo.jpg
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On Saturday, we enjoyed the Burk Family St. Louis Farewell Pool Party hosted by the Burns’ home in the Park. It was nice visiting with neighbors and the Slip and Slide / Kiddie Pool Kickball game on their side lawn was particularly fun.
| Lucy and Bethany sharing stories |
Bethany and the Kennedys by the pool |
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Caroline is up at Kiddy Pool Kick Ball
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| Jane is safe on 1st "base" |
Cate is safe after her slide into 1st |
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On Sunday, it was another visit to Six Flags with the girls and their friend Emma. The really long lines provided clear inspiration for going on Mondays and other less crowded times. A couple weeks later the Hendricks returned the favor by taking the Curtis girls with them.
| Six Flags July - Emma Jane Cate & Bugs |
July Visit 2 - Emma Jane Cate KattieB at Hurricaine Harbor |
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That night the family started to watch the West Wing together, having felt a vacuum left after completing the Gilmore Girls a couple weeks earlier. After a night, the girls were hooked and the parents were glad to have to pause a couple of times each episode to explain what was going on, providing context for the political theme for the episode. A good TV choice.
On Randy’s 53rd B day, we saw a matinee of the new Ghostbusters, on a day that was too hot to do much of anything else. We followed this up with lunch at Denny’s for the gratis Grand Slam breakfast.
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Busting makes me feel good...
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On the last Saturday of July Randy got Jane and Cate to watch True Grit (2010) again (Bethany was out with friends). It’s been about 5 years and they’re at an age to appreciate it not as a Western but as the story of 14 year old Mattie Ross who’s the true focus of the story and not Rooster Cogburn. The misconception is probably a function of John Wayne totally overshadowing Kim Darby (who?) in the 1968 version. Anyway, the girls loved it and it certainly helped that the girl who played Mattie Ross, Haylee Seinfeld, was in Pitch Perfect 2 so they were inclined to like it to begin with. Then again she’s so terrific in the role, how could you not like it. It was fun to see them get outraged at the poster/ DVD cover where she doesn’t get billing (two feminist these girls are). The Coen Brothers version is better in nearly every way, except Jeff Bridges is not JW.
Afterwards it was the book release party at the Novel Neighbor for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Not exactly a new book, as printing the script from the play showing in London. The girls didn’t care and they were excited to be there for the release at midnight. Actually they were instrumental in it happening. Jane was organizing her HP pals to camp out all night on the sidewalk and her parents suggested she consult with the owners of the store to make sure that was OK. They were probably considering it but that appears to have been the tipping point. There were dozens and dozens of kids and their parents and the entire staff of the store was there who did a fine job entertaining folks for an hour and a half before lining up outside to receive their copy.
| Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw |
Curtis in their Hogwarts schoolware |
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Jane and Cate with their copy of the Curse Child at WG's Novel Neighbor
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August
Jane at 14
The night before her birthday, we had a family gathering to celebrate Jane’s 14th birthday. Since hearing the Rio Olympics would start on her birthday, she had been looking forward to throwing a really good party to celebrate both. Scheduling for other things didn’t cooperate though.
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Birthday invite for family party
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Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area Trip
On 5-12 August, Randy, Jane , Cate, four other girls and a troup leader from Girl Scout Troup 1000 went to the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area but it gets its own separate page.
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Three Curti at BWCWA sign
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We spent the Saturday after returning from the BWCWA acclimating to regular life. On Sunday, it was Sage FFF with a gathering for the Colorado Sages at Rosemary’s.
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Jane playing cousin Nanny at Sage FFF
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Monday was the last day of summer vacation, so in the afternoon the Curti made a pilgrimage to History Museum to see the Route 66 in St. Louis exhibit, followed by a trip to Fuddruckers’s with the Colorado Sages and Gramy.
School Starts
Tuesday, August 16, 2016 was the first day of school for Webster Groves with both girls at the same building again: Hixson Middle School, making car pool much easier (yeah!). Jane is in 8th grade on Team Phoenix while Cate is in 7th grade with Team Sequoia. Like in 6th grade, Hixson divides each grade into four “teams” of just under 100 kids, so the school seems less imposing for the students. It only applies to the four core courses of Math, Social Studies, English Language Arts (ELA) and Science. Gym / Discovery alternated days for an hour with the other two school hours being electives. Both Jane and Cate choose French and Orchestra as their electives, which is great but shop and FACS (Family And Consumer Science, i.e. Home Ec.) would have been OK and certainly better than the nearly useless Discovery.
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Jane and Cate ready for the 1st day of 8th and th Grade
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After the girls left for Day 1 of school, the parents went to Denny’s for breakfast celebrating a return to normal routines and Bethany’s birthday. The more regular birthday observation came with our first visit to the Mellow Mushroom in STL, even though it had opened three weeks earlier. MM was packed, we had to wait 40 minutes for a table, and it suffered from inexperience growing pains. Still we were all very pleased for the MM to be in the area, having previously decided it was the best pizza chain outside the city a few years earlier while on travel.
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St. Louis Mellow Mushroom (1/2 Tye Died & 1/2 Holy Shitake)
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Bethany celebrating her Bday with E and Maria
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On the first Saturday after school started, Jane had her delayed 14th birthday party sleep over with a good group of friends with an Olympics theme: Ella, Ada, Pippa, Zoe, Sophie, Alex, Kristen and Cate. The Olympics part of the party involved dividing the girls into three teams of three, to compete at semi-skilled, silly events. We started at the WG Rec Center for a serious of pool events: Swimming 3x25m Relay (timed event); Diving (points for style and skill); Gymnastics (pool handstands, timed /style);Marathon (treading water, called as a three-way tie after 35 minutes and no wavering for the girls treading water); Synchronized Swimming and Bob Sled (team water sliding, form and enthusiasm). Returning to the house for pizza, the events continued with Hockey (balloon hacky); Judo (Boppit); Rhythmic Gymnastics (hula hoop), Balance Beam (Jenga), Curling (Concentration), Wrestling (thumb wrestling); Standing Long Jump (actual jumping); and Figure Skating (Skittle bowl transfer with straws). The girls all had a great time and the scores were exceptionally tight with only one point separating the team scores. Happily, the events also allowed most everyone to really shine in one event during the evening.
| Olympics Party outside the WG Rec Center |
The THRILL of a tready water competition |
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Fall 2016 saw Cate take up fencing at the WG Rec Center which also serves as home to the St. Louis Fencing Club. She took the Beginner’s Class offered by the City before joining the club having forsaken previous failed athletic endeavors marked by failure and indifference (elven by her count of: ballet & tap dancing, tennis, gymnastics, diving, golf, basketball, track, soccer, softball, field hockey, Girls on the Run). Cate also liked to point out that collectively her teams hadn’t won any games since 2nd grade, so is little wonder she decided to shun team sports and choice something that different, didn’t rely on others and that the cool kids hadn’t’ discovered? It didn’t hurt that she got to stab people (or that her Grandfather had done fencing as part of his training with the 1960 US Olympic Pentathlon Team (though such inspiration for running, swimming, shooting and horseback riding didn’t occur, so probably not).
| Cate with all her fencing gear |
Engarde! |
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Enjoying hummas and babaganoush at Festival of Nations
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September
Over part of Labor Day weekend Cate went camping with her friend Emma Hendricks and her family to Giant City State Park a dozen miles south of Carbondale, IL with Randy joining the following day. They hiked a number of the trails including the Giant City Nature Trail and the Devil’s Stand Table.
| Randy and Cate ath the Devil's Standtable |
Cate and the Hendricks at Giant City |
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On the way back, they visited the Boo Rochman Memorial Park, an unexpected tribute to a Dungeon and Dragon fan in Giant City of a free park with an elaborate castle playground and numerous concrete statuary. The whimsical large dragon was exceptionally well done. It’s nice to see when one person/family can make a real difference by doing something outside of the box http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/18783. The drive home along Route 3 from Carbondale was a much better choice than the speedier Interstate.
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Dancing on the head of a whimisical dragon
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During September in a run-up to the Presidential Elections, the WG Public Library presented several politically themed films on Friday: Candidate, All the President’s Men and American President that the family enjoyed.
On Saturday, September 10 the Curti went to Powell Hall watch Harry Potter and the Soccer’s Stone with musical accompaniment by the STL Symphony. A pricey viewing of a film we’ve seen multiple times but seeing the symphony is kind of rare treat of culture that we felt good about.
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BJC ready for the Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone at SLSO
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Gave up on repairing the overpriced POS, PITA Maytag Bravos and bought a new washing machine for $400 even at Lemike’s with a minimal amount of thought or research. Got one with fewer electronics so hopefully returning to General Electric products will bring a return to long term dependability
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Cate ready for her 1st formal Fortnightly dance (which we made her attend and she reportedly hated, like all of her friends too)
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