Zoinks.

Remember that time when my college daughter mentioned a guy who asked her out on a date
and said that he used to live in our stake in Virginia
and did I remember his parents
and remember how I did what any social media savvy parent would do
and sneakily looked him up on Facebook so I could see who she was talking about
and see whether I recognized his parents
and I might have clicked through a few pictures
and read a few statuses
and then a few hours later I got an email saying he had accepted my friend request
that I must have inadvertently, very unstealthily and clumsily clicked on while Facebook stalking him?

Yeah, that was an embarrassing, whoopsie daisy Mom moment.

(Thankfully L just laughed. I'm going to stealthily unfriend him, though, bless his good sport heart.)

The kids are all right

When we first brought up the possibility of our Australia adventure, the kids' initial responses were pretty characteristic of their personalities.

Lauren: Cool! When do we find out for sure? Can I come? Can I have one of our cars here at university?

Maddy: (in the middle of G's sentence "my company has an opportunity in Australia-"): YES! Let's do it!

Sam: (quiet, measured look on his face): Hmmm. I don't know. I'll have to think about it.

Keep in mind that we have always talked about how great it would be to live abroad as a family. And that we love to travel and have tried to emphasize experiences over things. On top of all that, we have a pretty strong lineage of wanderlust and adventuring. So, while this opportunity came kind of out of the blue, the concept is not too earthshattering for our offspring.

Even so, as we've absorbed the reality of the enormity of this change, of course all of our initial responses have gone through stages of both tempering and leavening. Sam has gradually warmed to the idea and now is enthused and even predicts he'll want to stay through high school. Lauren remains upbeat and inquisitive but I'm sure she has moments when it feels like we'll be far away (I know I do).*  Maddy has had some sad moments of leaving-itis (e.g., student body elections for next year) sprinkled amidst her excitement. She kindly demonstrated the progression of her emotions:

As I told my parents and sibs recently, it definitely feels like that metaphoric roller coaster ride, complete with adrenaline and the occasional leaden lurching stomach. Weeee...oh no no no....weee! But it will be good, all in all. We'll learn a lot, explore new things, and figure out everything else. Mostly we feel upbeat**, encouraged, and calm in the knowledge that no matter what, we have each other. That will stay the same.

. . .

*L posted this about it on her blog.

** How can you not feel upbeat about Australia when you listen to this?

Crikey: A year with two springs

We have some pretty crazy news. It's part of why I've been so radio silent around here; mum was the word and it is nigh to impossible for me to keep these kinds of things to myself. 

We are stunned/anxious/giddy to announce that we are moving to Australia! G has the opportunity to head up legal there for his company and it's just too tempting an adventure for us to turn down*. We'll live in the capital, Canberra, a small city about 3 hours south of Sydney and are signing the final papers this week (so, truth in advertising, it's more like a 98% chance at this point but I can't hold back any longer).  

We definitely have mixed feelings about leaving our good life here: people, neighborhood, & schools we know and love dearly. It feels a bit like we're playing Let's Make a Deal and we have a lovely, known option of our current life revealed by Door #1 and a mysterious, unknown option behind door #2. We say "Chuck, we'll take our chances with Door #2!" and the audience kind of gasps. Time will tell.

At the moment we're mostly focusing on the good parts of this change: Hosting visitors who will have to tarry a good long while after traveling all that way. Having two springs this year. Exploring a part of the world we've not seen. Warm, sunny Christmases. Possible Aussie twangs in our speech. Saying "shrimp on the barbie" and "crikey" and "g'day mates." Taking up surfing (a bit of a stretch, since we're an hour inland).  No US presidential election commercials on tv. Oh, and two words: Hugh Jackman.

As you can imagine, our heads are spinning a bit at this point. My lists keep multiplying and having lists of their own. This is what we've figured out so far: G will head there in early June and we'll join him by September. He'll come home in between to help with the move and we'll visit family&friends in the west. Or such is the ideal plan at this point, subject to the tinkerings and hammerings life is sure to contribute to it. 

More soon, mates.

. . .

*You might remember that we thought we might go a few years ago. This time 'round they approached G about it and the process moved (mercifully) quite quickly in the last few weeks. 

Down to the Cod

The kids had spring break last week so we took an extended weekend and headed to the Cape (or, as my 17-year-old self called it, The Cod. I'm so sophisticated.). We lucked out with glorious weather despite a forecast of rain and spent those days doing what we wanted when we wanted: whalewatching (squinting way in the distance off the beach, see those plumes of water?), bike riding, beach combing, napping, reading, talking, watching movies, and eating well. Reeeeal well. Practically perfect, save for a missing Lauren. And we won't mention how one of us broke a bed, and someone threw a rock at someone else, and a few other moments.

p.s. The light on the Cape is breathtaking. Something about all that light-reflecting water casts a magic glow over the whole thing. Someday I'd like to paint it. First I have to learn how.

An absurd little bird

...is popping up to say cuckoo. Cuckoo! Cuckoo! This is me dipping my toe back into the blogging pond. Helloooooo! Anyone out there?

I've missed this, missed you.

The Sound of Music is in the air around here ever since Sam began his role as Friedrich, the oldest von Trapp boy, for his middle school musical not long ago. He rocked it. Plus, he was a true team player and all around good sport*.  Here are a few selected moments for the grandparents and others who asked. Please excuse the iphone video quality (and if only I had turned the camera the right way...).

Oh, and I want to give a shout out to Madi, our Maria, who was amazing.
Hard to believe that's a 13-year-old girl singing those notes. 

Listen carefully for a Friedrich solo at the end:

My mom and aunts loaned many of the dirndls shown here. Thank you!
Another Friedrich solo here:* 

*First, they gave him the high notes, which is not necessarily thrilling news for a 13-year-old boy. Sam has a pretty low speaking voice but he has a terrific ear and falsetto so they made him gave him the opportunity to use it. The director said that his favorite part of the whole play was when Sam did the octave jump for: Good night! (you can hear my chuckle and scattered applause on that last video if you listen closely).

Good sport item #2: They rented the sailor costumes from a theater and when they arrived one of the boys' outfits was too small for both of the boys. By a few years. Since the other (younger) boy was a little bigger width-wise, Sam got stuck with the small one. You'll see. There are some Winnie-the-Pooh moments.

Good sport item #3: Take a look at the play clothes made from curtains. They made floral suspenders and pinned them to their shirts. Tightly. He was, however, delighted that he escaped wearing lederhosen. You've got to draw the line somewhere.