Y'all Hush: Wrapping Up Summer

Hey y'all -

Here's a few things that have happened over the past week:

1) Laney's transition from preschooler to kindergartener has been remarkably smooth. She gets to ride her scooter to school every day, which she's pretty psyched about. Her old school served an all-organic, mostly-local menu of things like lentil-feta wraps or eggplant curry. Her new school serves chicken fingers and hot dogs, so she's pretty stoked about that, too.

In the afternoons after school, she's drawing pictures of herself with her new friends (always holding hands in matching purple dresses and tiaras) so all seems to be well there.

I know her helmet isn't adjusted correctly in that top photo, leaving her forehead exposed. I also know that risk-averse Laney somehow manages to scooter slower than she walks, riding the brake the whole time. It's all I can do most mornings to refrain from shoving her down the sidewalk. At this point, the helmet is more of a symbolic gesture.

2) I went to Las Vegas last weekend for work - I do a bunch of freelance production work for World Gym. I enjoy going to their events, and it does wonders for my self-esteem to always be the shortest, palest, roundest person in the room.

On my layover in Salt Lake City, I had a glass of malbec at the airport wine bar, and thought how helpful it would have been if the guys I had dated back in my 20s had all come with a similar information matrix. How fabulous it would have been to know in an instant whether my date was bright or brooding, fruity or complex.

I stayed at the Mandalay Bay, and this was the view from my room. There is no one in any of the pools because I took this photo at 6am, and Vegas doesn't wake up 'til noon. It was also already 99 degrees outside.

The night after the convention, I thought I would take a walk on the Strip, just to say I did, but the second I stepped out of the hotel, that wall of heat hit me in the face, and I turned right around and came back inside. The lobby was full of model-types, wearing not so much dresses as strategically-placed Ace bandages. Realizing that I'm 37 and don't enjoy gambling, I went back up to my room and watched "Mad Men' on Netflix. If anyone ever builds a resort for middle-aged moms where the bar is rocking and rolling at 8am, you get to wear your pajama pants anywhere you want, and quiet hours are enforced starting at 9pm, give me a call.

3) Dad and Laney are continuing their aviation studies. They went in the backyard together the other day and hung one of Hagen's toy planes from a zip line and then made this landing strip so they could talk about angles of approach and practice making a perfect landing. My desk is at the top of the stairs, and sometimes this is the kind of stuff I see when I look down:

4) We went to Germanfest in downtown Missoula yesterday, and Hagen did what he can always be counted to do at any party or festival:

To the list of things he's slept through, we can now add a live oom-pah band (your dad calls this "oompah loompah," but he is wrong.) Laney had bavarian pretzels and bratwurst and made a craft at the kids' table.

There was an alphorn player who rocked out on "Carol's Song." I know it was called "Carol's Song" because I'm a huge fan of alphorn music and I own that album on vinyl. Just kidding. I know it was called "Carol's Song" because that dude in the lederhosen and big felt hat said, "The next song is called 'Carol's Song,' because it was written by Carol. Take it away, Carol!"

...Reminded me of when I was little and would stage my own variety show in the living room: "Welcome to the Brooke Lee Show! Starring Brooke Lee! With your host: Brooke Lee!"

While Hagen continued to nap, Laney and I walked down to the river to check out the kayakers.

5) And later that afternoon, there was just enough time before dinner to go to a river spot closer to our house, play in the mud, and throw some rocks.