The Latest: The Short & Sweet Version

Highlights

• Walking to school with Zach; this week there were six of us; it was pajama day, and all the kids had at least one stuffie. So cute <3
• Walking to school in general with friends
• Some good stories and we really enjoyed Gordon Korman's Shipwreck, Survival, and Escape books
• Zach and I returned to Northside Social

• Soccer, soccer, and soccer + goalie training with Liam
• Soccer bonding between tournaments, at Loudoun United games, and in Williamsburg
• Quality time with Theo
• Zach’s cooking - he made a fresh tomato sauce

• Remembering the Canadian Rockies in 2013; some amazing photos came through my Shutterfly memories, and I re-read my blog posts, like this one on the Trip Superlatives.
• Clay cafe with Auntie Em and Burke Lake with Grandad
• Visit to Hershey, PA. It was a theme of the summer for us. I went in Aug, and F&Z went to the Park. Then, F&Z went again in Sep with Owen
• Skateboarding - thanks to Aidan for letting us borrow his board to try it out
• Mexican restaurants - Don Seba’s and El Rodeo Mexican & Salvadorian Restaurant in Fredericksburg
• Catching up with Paige
• Band, drums, and chorus for Zach
• Zumba with Auntie Em
• So much good food and Auntie Em's tomatoes!!!
• I’m loving Corsica Wine Bar - went twice with Auntie Em

New, Difficult, and Managed

• The new requirement of homework is a lot of emotional labor and is taking some time to navigate
• Days off school give us more time to do the homework and Zach managed a day on his own
• Back to work and setting boundaries

New Experiences

• Volunteering for a nonprofit that is forming is keeping me busy
• Working on my portfolio has been fun and thinking about new work opportunities. Here's the snazzier version that might not be around after this week.
• Head wraps

Goodbye to Katie’s Dad

Michigan 2025 (July 27-August 16)

Check out all the photos. 

Zach of Note

• Zach took some time to draw cute animals

• He bought and wrote in a journal. As an avid journaler, this was awesome for me! 

• Cooking: grilling, pancakes, and grilled cheeses

• Listening: We all listened to Patina and started Sunny, but it was really strange! We tried a different book, but we didn’t all like it, so we ended up starting Coop Knows the Scoop on our way home

• Allowance conversation and Zach spent $15 on his journal (Mom and Dad chipped in $5/each) and $27 on his water bottle

• Loved Camp Carvela!

Laughter/Fun

• Just saying these words made us all laugh! El Cilantro, Rodrigo’s, Mimi’s, and Whatzat
• The ducks at house #2
• The foxes at house #3

Good Food

• Pond Hill Farm’s pizza, peanut noodles, kale salad
• Excellent homemade beet, strawberry, and hibiscus smoothies, tortillas and eggs, and Peruvian chicken and rice in Charlevoix
• That French Place’s crepes and pastries
• 9 Beans Row’s cinnamon croissant, shakshuka, and pizza
• Vander Farm’s goodies
• St. Ambrose’s fish tacos
• Spanglish and Left Foot Charley
• Tandem Cider’s crepes and homemade sodas
• Mimi’s bean dip, chips, and salsa
• Mudgie’s ice cream sundaes (dirt and tin roof)
• Amazing blueberries and some good blackberries
• We made s’mores; grilled sausages, veggies, and corn; trail mix and blueberry pancakes; and homemade grilled cheeses 
• Fresh Coast Market’s chocolate cappuccino muffin
• Zach loved the food at Camp Carvela and tried pierogies and kielbasa

Highlights

• Pond Hill Farm and St. Ambrose evenings
• Seeking out fantastic baked goods
• Libraries (Harbor Springs, Empire, and Mackinac Island)

• It was still cherry season 
• Time with family at Polecat

• Warm temps made for a lot of good time in the water, especially for Frank & Zach
• Goalie game - trying to get the ball past the goalie
• Paddle baseball
• Juggling for me! 
• Snorkeling over shipwrecks in Lake Huron
• Alpine Slide for F&Z
• Mackinac Island
• Lots of lovely outdoor meals
• Art: sculptures on the Leelanau Trail and in Cheboygan, Michigan Legacy Art Park, and Interlochen

• Paddle boarding on Lake Leelanau and on the Platte River

• A haircut
• Beautiful evenings on Lake Michigan beaches
• Empire Bluffs hike for Susan
• Camp Carvela for Zach

• Mountain biking at Crystal Mountain for Frank

Details of Note

• Leaving early at the beginning and end of the trip
• The woman at Wendy’s - when I asked for a Classic Frostie, she said, “What flavor?” and I said, “The Classic.” She said, “What flavor?” I looked back at the menu and clarified, “Chocolate.” Then I asked if there had originally only been one flavor. Yes, originally, Frostie’s were always chocolate. So, I’m not crazy! 
• We had smoke from the Canadian fires for seven of our 21 days, which was a true bummer. The air quality wasn’t terrible, and it didn’t impact our health, but there was a haze and we couldn’t open up the windows overnight and really enjoy the cool nights. 
• Soccer: LOTS of Team Admin work on vacation for the Loudoun Premier Cup

Summer Higlights & More (June 26-July 26)

 Zach’s Summer Highlights

• Hershey Park x 2

• Lewes with friends - Theo and family

• Juneteenth

• Camp: Day Camp, Sportsters, YMCA Science, Camp GT (and especially Sandy Springs Adventure Park), Camp Carvela

• Savannah Bananas with Auntie Em and Noah

• Loudoun United game with Landon

• 4th of July Fireworks

• The boat! 

• Friends

• Day Camp buddies

• Baylor at Sportsters

• Another Theo and James at the YMCA

• Paddle boarding

• Mom’s birthday - backroads, coffee shop, book store, lunch under a covered porch, giving, Club World Cup, Escape Room, Indian food

• Playdates with James and Adrian

• Cooking: Zucchini tots, apple chips

• Books, jokes, ST Math, magic trick, poker, cards

• Reading & movies: BFG, Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Road Trip, and O11ce about the kids at the sports school - IAD - in Argentina, mainly focusing on soccer

• Ice cream @ Chimney Cake Bakery

• Bowling

Roanoke with Paige

Talking and sharing and connecting in and amongst the below…

• Great scenic drive and podcasts galore

• Lunch at First Watch

• Walk and got lost in Roanoke. Hot!

• Groceries and hanging out at the country house

• A trek back to find ciders! 🙂

• A trip to Buchanan and their sketchy swing bridge crossing the James River

• Lunch and a walk around Peaks of Otter picnic area

• Dinner at the River and the Rail. A limited menu, and it ended up being delicious. 

• Stop for Hagen Daaz ice cream bars

• Walking country roads 

Birthday

An Ideal Day:

• Morning exercise

• A nice leisurely morning with coffee and family conversation

• A trip to a new coffee shop for a second cup of coffee and baked goods

• A stop at a bookstore

• Spice shopping for upcoming cooking endeavors

• Tacos for lunch on a covered porch while it rained

• Home on back roads

• Watched a soccer game with Frank and Zach and enjoyed homemade watermelon coolers - Yum! 

• Played an Escape Room game

• Indian food for dinner

• A walk around the neighborhood before bed

Connection

• Going to the Lake Ann Stingrays swim meet and saw Aidan, Beth, Claire, Theo, Susan, and Lindy. Good times! 

• Loudoun United with Landon and family

• Jess and Angela checked in on me

• Trip to Roanoke with Paige! 

• Hanging out with Auntie Em, esp trip for tea to celebrate Auntie Em’s retirement and out for my birthday to a new restaurant

• Trip to Mom and Dad’s: Emily provided tech support and Susan interviewed on family history

• A second trip to finish up most of the family history questions I had with Mom and Dad

• Dinner and a movie (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day) for the Fordams with the RETJ

• The Zuazo Family - smoothies and hanging out

• Walks with Katie

• Tea with Agathe

• Walks with Leni

• Goodbye to LaFaurie family at Siga’s house - we brought our watermelon coolers, but added in lemonade to the frozen watermelon and blackberries; we also brought pesto, Auntie Em’s sourdough bread, which Siga loved, and roasted chickpeas. Sacha’s speech had me in tears talking about how their French/European friends talked about how superficial Americans would be, but we had embraced them and forged deep bonds. Beautiful and nice to be together with everyone! I left Emily’s sourdough for Siga.

• Talked to Nikki

• Hearts to Liesl and all her pictures from Greece and Turkey

• Chat with Mary Kay

• Chat with Chris and ice cream with Owen and his other grandmother! 

• Potluck lunch and games: Five Minute Dungeon and poker with Kathleen and Brian

• Adrian’s brother actually asked me, “What was middle school like for you?” What a great question! 

• Day with Grandad

Making Memories

Zach of Note

• Rachel shared that Jewelle thinks Zach is a “role model”
• He’s gotten into cooking! 
• Piano recital! 
• Playdates with Theo, Jackson, Tom, and briefly with Lorenzo at the pool before volatile weather
• Enjoys the Flight Simulator game
• Multiple conversations about classmates’ crushes
• Lost: the aerobee, his white GFR game jersey
• Loving Imagine Dragons, getting back into some Matchbox Twenty/Rob Thomas; enjoyed Zach’s 2024 birthday playlist
• Kicking off summer with Reston Camps’ Day Camp and friends, Alexander and Paul
• Getting back into Sudoku

Orthodontics

Still doing an AMAZING job

School

• Zach did well with his behavior with Senora S. I think we heard from her twice in the last quarter. 
• Board game club
• The project on simple and compound machines
• Zach did well on his first SOL tests and even got a perfect score on the Reading SOL! (He learned some good test-taking strategies, and he completed ~5 practice tests before the real test.)
• End of year art show is always fun! 
• The end of school is hard with changes and kids leaving. This year, Zach is losing two friends to other schools, but he has a great core group of 6-7 boys who will stay at LAES. 

Soccer

• Spring season is tough. Disrupted by Spring Break, then tryouts, and then the focus is on next year rather than this year. Practices cancelled for thunderstorms and post-season practices cancelled. All in all, pretty underwhelming. 
• Even more of a challenge this year because of the poor management of GFRSC as a nonprofit, we learned about a lot of concerning activities and ultimately as a nonprofit, they are not following best practices. It took courage, and I spoke out at the Board Meeting.
• The boys had a good season. They were very competitive. 
• Zach was offered a spot on the A team (Blue), and there might be two goalies! 
• Goalie training with Liam is amazing as always! 
• Most of his team (though not Owen) is staying with GFR and moving with Zach (at least for now), but Jenny’s boys are moving teams and Jenn’s son too, so I’ll miss my practice walking buddies! :(
• GFRSC Team manager kudos from Beth, Nivine, and Doug

Susan & Zach

• Don’t forget about Cirque Mechanics!
• Kitchen Showdown
• Fun with hockey cards
• Bowling
• Summer Learning/Activities: 
• Reading The BFG with plans to watch the movie
• Projects are bowling and ice cream shops
• Ongoing piano
• F&Z are running/biking
• Juneteenth event at Sully Historic Park was really cool! 

Frank & Zach

• Bowling!
• RC car fun in Winchester
• The Water Mine
• Hershey Park
• Father’s Day in Lewes

Family Time

• Dinner at Finn Thai
• Mother’s Day trip to Sperryville
• Excursion to Clifton after the Memorial Day tournament
• Loudoun United games as a family
• Fort family dinner in Winchester
• Gin Rummy games
• Watching: 
• You Gotta Believe
• Airbud movies
• Inbestigators

Frank & Susan

Date afternoon time in May while Zach enjoyed board game club at school on Friday afternoons

Connection

• Loudoun United games as a family and with friends: Theo and Teddy, Jewelle, & Erik and Josh & Karen
• A post-soccer breakfast with Owen & Lauren and bowling with Owen & Tim
• Ran into family: Tim, Meaghan, and Nolan in Sperryville
• Hanging out with Auntie Em
• Emily and Andrew’s party - Zach had good conversations with Emily’s uncles, and I got to catch up with Patrick!
• A meet up at Black Ankle with Mary Kay and Hance (post-soccer game in Maryland)
• Memorial Day picnic at Auntie Em’s - yum!
• Went to Teddy’s soccer game
• Dinner and a movie for the Fordams with the RETJ
• Call with Paige
• The Zuazo Family :) <3 and biking and tennis for Zach with them
• Lewes with Kate, Kathleen, and the Zuazo family
• Support from Rachel, Agathe, Sarabeth, Kate, Kathleen, Mary Kay, and Claire about my challenges at work! 
• A walk with Mary! 

Callie: Headed to her first vet appointment in late June!

Good Food 

• Whole Foods sweet and savory 2 Good 2 Go: key lime donuts, roasted sweet potatoes, and more
• Krispy Kreme and Texas Donuts
• Panera’s kitchen sink cookie
• Lunch at Taco Bamba in Falls Church with Zach
• Raza at Mosaic
• Costco’s mushroom ravioli is SO TASTY! Thanks, Auntie Em!
• Auntie Em’s red beans and rice and sour cherry muffins
• Zach’s strawberry cupcakes, blueberry and chocolate pancakes, cheddar biscuits, pineapple whip, chicken quesadillas, and croissant egg-in-the-whole

Personal and Professional (Fun and Not So Fun)

Health

• Poison ivy, and three nymph tick bites! Some of the itchiest mosquito bites I’ve ever gotten in Lewes
• Saville Center check-in - My increased weight training and Darebee exercises paid off in increasing my muscle mass!
• New individual therapist
• Colonoscopy - as always, an anxiety-inducing experience, but it’s over and no polyps!!!

Fun

• Auntie Em’s mama kitty and kittens
• Adventuring in Hershey, PA: coffee, Mexican food, a soft serve sundae, and a nice drive on small roads in Amish country
• Kate and Kathleen represented at the No Kings rally in Rehoboth
• Reading
• Before I Let Go
• The Very Secret Society of irregular Witches
• Cutting for Stone
• Watching
• Walker
• Abbott Elementary 
• Hacks
• North of North - I really enjoyed!
• Forever
• Sally
• Courses
• Lots of LinkedIn Learning courses in May-early June
• Learning How to Learn

Not So Fun (Personal)

Said goodbye to Baxter

Professional: As of June 4, taking a leave of absence from work

Fun

• Leadership Institute, DEIB
• Cultural Awareness and Belonging sessions!
• Liesl and Nikki
• Got feedback from Judie that I got kudos for being a professional development inspiration, and a colleague who is kind of standoffish even said, “I want to be like, Susan.”
• Learned a lot from the IT Leadership program feedback; it seemed harsh, but putting it in the context of cultural differences helped! Also, received praise that I “put my heart and soul” into the program.
• Angela! 

Not So Fun: Privacy, Works Councils, AI Enablement, Comms Plans

Resources/Things to Remember

• Breathing in suffering and breathing out compassion
• Good Inside
• Hug your kid until they let go. 
• Asking Zach, "What can I do to be a better mom?" (Answers were more sweets and screen time, but still...)
• As Americans we don’t take advantage of the support that is available to us. 
• From the Gurdeep Magazine
• When you truly believe in the choices you've made, when you know in your heart that these decisions represent your authentic self, then others' criticisms, judgments, and beliefs should not have the power to shake your emotional well-being or make you feel vulnerable.
• Choose your story's direction with confidence, always remembering that as long as your choices don't harm others, they are valid expressions of your authentic self.