Lots of Connection

Connestee Falls

• Another great trip down to the mountains of North Carolina. 
• We left on a Sunday and stopped in Blacksburg, VA. We ventured off the highway and had some nice adventure on back roads!
• We picked up Zach’s new bike, and visited a co-housing community in Blacksburg. Very cool. 
• Back on the road, we enjoyed lunch at Cabo Fish Tacos
• The week was filled with lots of time to catch up with my aunt, uncle, cousin and her daughter. 
• We made meals together, sat on the screened porch, and swam in the lake. 
• Zach and his cousin, Mary Pepper (both 7) had a blast together. Not only do they get along really well, but they’re on a very similar schedule, so it was almost non-stop playing! 
• They howled and spent a lot of time in closets, played hide and seek, played cards, made bracelets, visited the park, played in the water at the lake and pool, enjoyed popsicles and ice cream, and movie night.
• The family also enjoyed picking berries, Taco Wednesday, a tour of the golf course by golf cart, and my birthday celebration with two trips of tubing (with whitewater sections!), lunch at Mama Bear’s food truck, and hummingbird cupcakes. 
• Frank and I easily worked part-time during the week thanks to Meredith and Bettie, and I enjoyed cool breezes and a lake view most of my working hours. 

Zach of Note

• Finished up school and headed to camp with Theo in his group. Tom, Aidan, Fintan and more
• Soccer details
• At camp introduced to games like truth or dare and asking “How do you spell cup,” for kid humor fun
• Zach had a lot of fun with my robe for a few days. Tee hee! He wanted to wear it all the time.
• Bridge from 1st - 2nd grade workbook has been working out very well!
• Play dates with Thomas, which really helped me out a couple of Mondays!

Zach’s Health

He’s been very well! 

Sleep Update 

• It’s still summer solstice time, and he’s up early. 
• He still likes to sleep with me as many nights as possible. We go with Fri and Sat, mostly.
• Frank sits with him to fall asleep and he comes in to sleep with me during the night…

School

He finished out the year and he’s now a 2nd grader! 

Emotions/Empathy Corner

Zach completed his values, and we can now talk about our values as a family. Spoiler alert: fun, adventure, being independent, family time, and helping others are high on the list

Zach's Words and Music

• Listening to DWK and Spy School
• Reading Inspector Flytrap, Ranger, Zach and Zoe, and History Smasher about the Titanic; we went back to some classics: Lulu and Ana and Andrew
• Jokes at camp and finding the joke book
• We got a Little Library by our playground. Fun!
• Mom shared her dulcimer with Zach

Family Fun

• Dinner out at Ted’s Bulletin
• Watched Dive Club, Malibu Rescue, and tried Dr. Oakley: Yukon Vet
• Returned to the Inbestigators and MC2
• Listened to The Metropolitans on the way down south

Susan and Zach

• Uno
• Meadowlark
• Elemental with Auntie Em
• Clinking coffee mugs and ice cream outings

Frank and Zach

• Udvar Hazy
• The pool and the Water Mine
• Legos
• Also ice cream outings

Good Food

• Fancy lunch at Barboursville Vineyards
• French toast casserole
• Pesto
• Sour cherries
• Vegan Caesar tahini
• The best strawberries and cherries we’ve had in years
• Jam cookies from Christmas (We got them out of Auntie Em’s freezer!)
• An amazing grilled cheese with tomatoes and basil
• Baba ganouesh and Emily’s herbed beans
• Paneer with veggies

Connection

• So much! 
• Regular catch ups with Emily and Paige 
• From early June, starting with Lewes, we saw Kate; Julia and birthday party for Zach; the family at Emily’s for Father’s Day; Kathleen and Brian; Emily and Andrew; Mary Kay and Hance; Zach and Frank with Michael, Leah, and family; visit to Connestee Falls and extended family time. It’s been impressive
• Zach and I also met up with neighbors at the farmer’s market every weekend in June
• Ran into some former GoCanvasers at the farmer’s market and on walks
• Evening with Katie and some goodies to KSV
• Coffee with Rae
• Checked in with Yvette on her birthday
• A stop in Woodstock for dinner with Mom and Dad
• Collecting stories week-by-week from Mom and Dad

Frank & Susan

Walks and a dinner out! After dinner 30-second hugs

Fun and Not So Fun Stuff (Personal and Professional)

Personal Fun

Birthday - It was nice to be away from Reston on my birthday and to take the day off. Thanks for all the fun gifts and baked goods! 

Watching

• Never Have I Ever
• Heartland
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• The Summer I Turned Pretty

Reading

• Becoming Nicole
• Seven Days in June
• Robert E. Lee and Me
• Keeping You a Secret

Listening

• Parenting podcasts - Dr. Becky has been helpful
• Coaching for Leaders
• HBR Ideacast
• Grief resources and Find Your Safe Harbor
• The cure for anything is salt: sweat, tears, the sea by Isak Dinesen

Health Corner

• Colonoscopy scheduling saga
• Pink eye in early May and more eye congestion in early June and it continued into July

Personal 

Not So Fun

• Mary Ella’s death and funeral service
• Continued and final goodbye to Jenna and family
• Poor air quality days because of Canadian forest fires

Professional

• Leadership Institute closed out with Leaders Listen to Understand and started up with Leaders Demonstrate Courage
• Culture of Continuous Feedback campaign
• Leapsome continued and was draining and we’ve successfully launched
• Supporting product training for a high profile customer. No bueno. Lots of late evening meetings as we were training with team members in Australia!

What’s on my mind/Insights

Gratitude has been going strong, but I'm not keeping my notes on comfort w/ discomfort, doing something out of routine, and laughter. Definitely something I'd like to get back to.