Well, I haven’t bumped into Coach Dungy in quite a while, but I have been awfully busy.  There are all kinds of bits and pieces of stories I’ve wanted to share with you that certainly don’t fit into newscasts, so here goes nothing.

FISH FILLET FIXATION

   Someone PLEASE help Todd stop himself.  He is suddenly addicted to McD’s Fish sandwiches.  He knows he has a problem. Help him if you can - I’m sure his wife Valarie will thank you too.

TODD AND…. TRISHA CLARA

  My 2 and a half year old daughter is very interested in my work.  (Not so much the news part, I hate to admit, but the fact that I fix my hair and put on makeup and jewelry and fancy shoes every day.) One night before she went to bed I called to talk to her and she asked Todd and I to send a picture - so this is what she got.

     Clara is especially fascinated by the necklaces (”pretty beads!” I wear to work.  Sometimes she puts on her own beads and drags her plastic laptop out, announcing that she is going to work.  You go, girl.

   One night last week I came home wearing a silver necklace.  Clara told me, “Mommy, that’s beautiful!  I will wear it when I’m a grown up and I go to work with Todd.”   

  So now my daughter is after my job, and Todd’s going to have to commit to at least another 20-30 years in this role to make her dream come true.

THE PLAY’S THE THING

       As an admitted theatre geek, I am proud to say my little guy, Calvin, just finished his first play!!  Yes - he was the only boy at acting camp, much to his dismay. (”The girls were kissing me!” he confessed.  Ian’s still trying to convince him that some day he won’t complain about that.)

     By being the only man in the group, he landed two key roles in two little shows they did:  here he’s the prince rescuing Rapunzel from her tower.  I only have shaky home video (shaking because I was choking back laughter) of his other role - the Big Bad Wolf that tried to eat Little Red Riding Hood.  He delivered his lines loud and clear, making a terrifying villain AND a charming prince. 

  WORKING MOM MIRACLE

      By the way, the fact that I was there to see this Tony-worthy performance in person seems miraculous and I must thank my understanding supervisor and Todd for making it possible.  The “show” was held in the mid-afternoon, treacherously close to the 5pm news deadline, yet I got the okay to be there.  It means the world and then some to be able to have a job I love AND be able to be there for my kids at these kinds of important occasions.  I LOVE working with people who get how important that is.

BLACK EXPO EVENT

     Todd and I along with Erika Flye and Derrik Thomas had a chance to stop by a Media Reception held as part of the Black Expo Summer Celebration.  Being in a room full of so many talented journalists and media employees made me appreciate once again how awesome it is to work in such a diverse newsroom within such a diverse city.  It’s inspiring to be surrounded by trailblazers in this industry - kudos to the award recipients, keynote speaker Amos Brown,  and the organizers of a wonderful event! I was honored to be invited.

     LOOK MA, NO TRAINING WHEELS

   It’s official.  As of this weekend I no longer have a little boy I have a big kid.  My husband Ian gets the credit for getting him to conquer this milestone.

Kindergarten starts in less than a month. 

  I must remember to stock up on Kleenex.

MONKEY BUSINESS

George and Clara make quite a pair.

I love this kid’s sense of humor!

     I will add this one to my “sign collection” - ridiculous photos of friends and family members ( and sometimes myself) posing next to odd signs and statues.  I’ve been doing this since I was probably 13 and haven’t gotten sick of it yet.

  JURASSIC KIDS

      Cal and Clara and their lookalike cousin, Jackson, became a family of dinosaurs nesting at the Children’s Museum! 

    My parents brought the little guy down from Chicagoland for a weekend visit so they could beef up my cheering section when I sang the anthem at Saturday’s Indians game!  I’m so glad the rain held off just long enough for an inning of ball (exactly the limit of the 3 kids’ attention spans).   

   My Auntie Corky was also there taking tons of photos, so if she sends them my way I’ll paste them in here.  ( 7-21-08 update: HERE THEY ARE - she sent me no less than 98 photos. Wow.  You can thank me for sharing just these two - the scoreboard, and Clara’s popcorn grin!)

    Seeing all the kids together was really fun. And really exhausting.  Jackson’s feet never stop moving.

 WHO ARE YOU??

   Finally, I’d love to hear from some of you who read but don’t usually comment.  Who are you? where do you live and work? Why do you watch 6news or read our blogs?  Any burning questions?  Really, I’m curious!

Thanks for reading.

Trish

  He was so unassuming, humble and friendly.  I meet a lot of people as a tv journalist, but I have to admit I was a little starstruck.  We talked about our respective trips, family and, of course, the Colts. All I’ll say is he’s feeling good about this year’s team. 

  After we spoke and posed for a picture (Look at my daughter.  It looks like she’s a fan too) I began to think about why he is so successful and is able to connect with his players.  He has a gentle but commanding way about him.  It’s not that you think he’ll yell. If I were on his team, the last thing I would want to do is disappoint coach Dungy.  That would be far worse than any shouting match.

  We have a great team in Indianapolis.  But I have to say it’s the coach who is truly first class!

  What a great idea. 

   As you may have seen in my special report at 7pm Thursday, HVAF is compiling homecoming stories from veterans. They’re searching for stories from those who have come home from service, and from veterans who’ve found their home after homelessness.  It was my privilege to get a chance to meet with two Indiana veterans who have submitted their incredible stories.   I am humbled and awe-struck, and very grateful to have a job that allows me to tell  their stories to a bigger audience. 

    Here’s the info on how veterans or family members can submit homecoming stories to the HVAF “Coming Home” book mentioned in my Thursday special report. 

    I am told if you are not comfortable writing it yourself you are welcome to have someone help you with the writing process.  They will accept submissions at least through the end of the year.  Once the book is published 100% of the proceeds will go to help HVAF continue to help homeless veterans.

There are several ways you can submit pieces: 

Their website is www.hvaf.org

You can email Courtenay Nold  cnold@hvaf.org for more information.

Or you can send your piece to HVAF of Indiana, INc.

Attn: Courtenay Nold

964 N. Pennsylvania St.

Indianapolis, IN 46204

JOSH PETERS BOOK SIGNING

     The young Iraq war medic with the incredible combat story you heard in the 7pm piece will be signing copies of the book he co-wrote along with a fellow soldier. on Saturday.  I could not put the book down.  

    If you’re interested in picking up a copy of Josh Peters’ book, “Not on My Watch: the 21st Century Combat Medic,” he will be at Mudsock Books and Curiosity Shoppe at 116th and Allisonville in Fishers this Sat., July 12, from 11am-noon. 

ANTHEM PLANS

I will certainly be thinking of all the brave veterans and service men and women as I sing the National Anthem at the Indians game this Saturday night. 

   It’s easy for a singer to get caught up in the vocal difficulty of the piece. I know my performance won’t be on par with Whitney Houston or Faith Hill (Todd says just listen to the Carl Lewis version and I’ll feel better!)  I just hope the spirit of the song helps me overcome any nerves.  Game’s at 7 - I hope Kevin’s rainy forecast doesn’t pan out!

More coming soon.

 Trisha

I can’t quite explain or justify my fascination with The Bachelor/ette, so I won’t even try.

The best I can figure is that as someone with quite a lot of responsibility and serious work to get done every day, I crave a frivolous little weekly escape, and in spite of the ridicule of my husband and many co-workers, this habit seems to have stuck. ( I know there are more of you out there - admit it!)

So tonight, I am proud to say - I CALLED IT!!!  Late in the game, granted, but I figured out last week that between Jason, the cute single dad who makes her feel “safe,” and Jesse the free-spirited snowboarder who she finds “exciting,” DeAnna would follow her heart and end up with Jesse (right).

Since I am married to someone who’s occasionally had longer hair, has tattoos, and a non-traditional career (in music), perhaps I sensed her hesitancy to choose someone “safe.”  As sweet and responsible and charming as Jason is, I can see why he isn’t quite exactly her perfect match. She strikes me as someone who’s really independent and confident she can stand on her own two feet - or on someone else’s snowboard - without losing her balance.

Anyhow my intuition helped me win a bet with a co-worker who was a Jason fan (Jennifer R. owes me a Diet Coke!) but I think that’s about it.  Maybe I should be a match maker.

 TODD’S DANCE MOVE

Every once in a while the stress and seriousness of the newsroom erodes, and we have a moment of total childishness.

Tonight, in the midst of one of those conversations too strange to try to explain, Todd busted out his signature dance move.  His one and only dance move.

He insists that no matter how he tries to dance, or what the music is, it comes out the same way.  Fists up near his head, swaying back and forth with a funny expression, with the occasional clap thrown in for good luck - Old school. 

Aren’t you all thankful for my camera phone?

Farewell to Shades

In my last post I mentioned my friend Eric’s tragic loss of the sunglasses he’s had since 1994. This is his last photo witih the beloved specs. Tonight, he shared his tribute:
SHADES OF GLORY
It was my fortune to have worn
The glasses which I now must mourn:

Shades of Glory, ’tis for thee I pine.

Since that night thou didst elope

I find that I can only hope

You rest upon a nobler nose than mine.

You left this world with much to do,

But maybe Ray Charles will fancy you;

(I tell myself you’re in a better place).

I know you would have wished instead

To wrap your frames ’round Bono’s head,

Or e’en to plant yourself on Jack Nicholson’s face.

With twice the power of a tinted monocle, You did dark deeds which I now chronicle And showed the skill to transform day to night.

O ocular guardian, O retinal defender,

O UV warrior, O sunbeam suspender,

While wearing you I never felt too bright!

 
Feel free to pass along condolences - along with your Bachelorette thoughts and dance tips for Todd!

I promise a much more serious entry later this week about a new project I’m working on that will HOPEFULLY help redeem any credibility I’ve lost with tonight’s blog.

Trish

I will start by stating the obvious to any of you who’ve read this blog regularly: I adore my kids.

I consider myself a very attached, involved, doting mom, who genuinely gets a thrill out of things like making spaghetti and meatballs out of play-doh, watching t-ball games where base-runners go the wrong way around, cuddling a kid who’s scared of thunder, and reading “Calvin and Hobbes” for the 999th time.

I’ve wanted to be a mom as long as I could remember, and could not wait to start a family once Ian and I got married 7 years ago.

BUT…

I admit - an occasional afternoon or evening without them…can be nothing short of heavenly.

Just like Saturday night was.

With Ian out of town (teaching at band camp!) and our super-nanny throwing a killer popcorn party for the kids at home, I linked up with 4 ADULT friends for a hilarious and beautiful night out at Symphony on the Prairie.

The two couples I went with (yep - I was the fifth wheel) had never met, but as I suspected, hit it off in a heartbeat.

Dean (a music teacher in Avon and Ian’s college roomate from the University of Illinois) provided comic relief all night, and his wife Adrianna wore a perma-grin.

Here’s a self-portrait of Adrianna and I - love that blue sky!

The other couple, my church friends Eric and Andrea, had been kid-free all weekend thanks to doting grandparents.  I lost count of how many times Andrea stopped to look around with this stunned and blissful look on her face, “I am having…the nicest….weekend!!”

Here’s Eric showing off his favorite pair of sunglasses, which he insists were in style when he first got them.  Here’s what he emailed today after realizing he’s finally LOST these precious relics (much to the delight of Andrea)

Eric: The shades were circa 1994, and yes, sadly, they’ve gone to sunglasses heaven.  I feel almost EXACTLY as Tom Hanks’ character did in “Cast Away” when he lost Wilson.  I’ve been working on a tribute to them (and to what was, according to my best estimate, one of the 25-longest relationships in my life). 

Eric, I say just thank the heavens we had a few final tribute photos of your favorite shades, including this precious photo suitable for framing. Stunning (although I think I’ll stick to my pink and brown ones from now on). I will look forward to reading your tribute once you’ve pulled yourself together enough to write it.

Anyway, looking back on this evening, I can’t remember exactly what was said that was so funny, but I know there were several times when I had to choke back loud cackles, worried I’d be tossed out of the Symphony event by some humorless prairie security guard (probably in period dress).

We sent Ian several phone-photos and messages from our heavenly night, trying to explain why exactly we were having such great fun.  Was it the gorgeous weather? The no-kids factor? The seductive Italian music? The tempting spread of food covering our blanket on the lawn? The witty and wild conversation? The bottles of red and bottles of white that kept getting uncorked? (That seemed a probable answer, but too simple)

I think it was a perfect combination of the right people, in the right place, at the right time, getting a much-needed break from the world of sippy cups, Disney movies and goldfish crackers.

And don’t the kids always look a little more precious when you’ve had a few minutes to miss them?

Fellow parents - I’d love to hear your stories of “escapes” if you care to share!

Thanks for reading -

Trish

It was Tuesday night, June 17, and the Boston Celtics had just defeated the LA Lakers for the NBA championship.  Because the game was televised on RTV 6,  our 11pm newscast actually went on well after midnight.  By the time I left the station, I was tired and eager to get home.

Now since I call myself “Openwheel Wallace” you can assume I like speed.  And on this night, when my bed was calling my name, I, uh, perhaps, maybe, was going just a little too fast.   I saw a police car, in the dark, under an overpass on 465.  I slowed down just a bit but figured there was no way I would get pulled over.  I wasn’t going THAT fast.  WRONG!!!!  I was almost in the far right lane and had managed to slow down to a cool 75 mph but it was too late.  That officer caught up to me in less than 10 seconds and  pulled me over.

He asked where I was coming from and I told him I had just left work.  He said “Work?”  I said “I know it’s late, but I work at RTV 6 and we went on late because of the game.”  He says “Oh yeah.  I just finished watching you.  And great game!”  Yeah right.  I’m happy he enjoyed it.  I must say that he was very friendly and what made him even nicer is that he only gave me a warning.  Whew.

So I continue on my way but because I was pulled over I missed my exit.   I went to another exit, turned around, and drove so slow you could run next to me.  I even thought “I’d better get in the far right lane, the slow lane, just to be extra safe.”  So I did.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, a car comes roaring up behind me, again.  By the time the lights started to flash I said to myself “You’ve got to be kidding?!?!?!  Not again.”  I pull over and wait for another officer.  I rolled down the window and I heard him laughing.   He approaches the window and asks “Did you just get pulled over? Ha Ha Ha.”  “Ah, yes officer, I did.  How did you know?”  He said because the trooper that had pulled me over a few minutes before had gotten on his radio to let his colleagues know he had just stopped Todd Wallace from RTV 6.”  This second officer told me he laughed because he recognized me as he approached.  The first officer had not shared what kind of vehicle I drive.

The second officer said he pulled me over because I didn’t put on my signal light when I went into the right lane.  Picky picky. He also told me that at that hour, they’ll pull just about anyone over because they’re looking for drunk drivers.  We had a laugh and he sent me on my way.

What a night.  Listen, I support our police officers and I’m happy they work to keep our roads and neighborhoods safe.  I just wish they’d “spread the love.”  I had enough for one night! 

  Anyway - huge thanks to all of you who’ve written on the blog or emailed to wish me a speedy recovery.  I’m amazed at how much better I feel now than I did a week ago.  Sorry to disappoint any of you who expected to see me somehow transformed. Nope. Same old nose - just sorer.

   Today my headache is much more tolerable than it was yesterday.  This can make or break your day if you happen to work in a newsroom.  Think lots of loud voices and police scanners, walls lined with TV’s showing a variety of flickering images, rows and rows of people typing furiously on deadlines, phones ringing - not quite where you want to be when a migraine comes knocking!

   BUT - it is good to be back in the loop, back in the routine, and back with my hilarious co-workers. I have missed the snide sarcasm and absurd (if sometimes a little sick) senses of humor that permeate this crew.

MEETING SPONGEBOB

   My kids have been DYING for me to get better to do all the fun stuff they’re used to.  Before you start feeling sorry for them, please realize that they have been MORE than well-entertained over the past 2 weeks by my husband and by their former-cheerleader babysitter, Kelsey, who’s got way more energy and (probably patience too) than I do even on my best days.

   But sometimes, you just want your mom.  I get that.   Today I put on the rally cap and along with our sitter and my friend Kristina and her kids, took them on an outing to City Market to meet his royal highness, SpongeBob Square Pants. Cal was up at the crack of dawn asking me if it was time yet. I told him S.B. was still in bed and he should be too.

      Some kids, like Todd’s little girl Kennedy, are understandably freaked out by costumed characters.  Kristina’s kids didn’t want much to do with this flourescent, pourous, wide-eyed and rectangular dude, and I don’t blame them.  Mine, however, had to be pried away from him when their photo was done. 

    The line was unbelievable (as you see here) and they were moving people through pretty fast.  I have new respect for Sponge Bob - he’s a true movie star.

    After our quickie photo Calvin shook his hand and declared “It feels spongey!”  Clara went back for one last poke to confirm it.

As we were politely ushered away Cal said, “Wait!!! I didn’t get to ask him a question!!! WHY does he like crabby patties???”  It was too late. Our time was up. 

“But - I didn’t get to feel his tie!! I want to feel his tie!”

Thank goodness right then, a musician poured out a HUGE assortment of percussion instruments for the kids to play with.  Calvin tried every one of them (as did most of the kids in our group)

Clara danced wildly with her “best friend” Maeve.

The girls are pretty good at posing for pictures. To save them from embarassment, I won’t show you the ones I attempted to get of the boys.

Maeve’s mom, Kristina and I posed for this self portrait.  When we turned the camera around to see how we looked, the screen didn’t show us our photo.

It said “Change the Batteries.”

We could’ve taken that as an insult, but decided instead that it must mean the two of us were simply too much for the camera to handle.

  To cap off the morning, we walked right past the famous Elvis plaque at the former site of Market Square Arena.  I can’t believe I was the only one who wanted to pose for a photo next to the King. 

Thank you, thank you very much.

Trish

I’ll be off the air for a little while now.  Maybe a week or so.

I wish I were heading to the beach, or maybe mountains, or even just my back yard, but I have much more exciting plans: 

I’m going to get my sinuses drilled.  

I’ve had trouble for the past 15 years, but recently it’s kicked up a few dozen notches to the point where I am constantly either battling a raging sinus infection, or on strong antibiotics.  A CAT scan confirmed, I am a mess.  “You’re a really fascinating case! Very unusual,” my soon-to-be surgeon explained as she showed me my films.

      Isn’t this picture terrifying?  All those sharp things so close to your brain - yikes. While I’m not looking forward to being knocked out, poked, prodded, hollowed out, and then waking up stuffy and swollen, I AM looking forward to finally having “normal” health after this is all done!  

   I have a theory that this will be a piece of cake for me since I’ve given birth to two children (one without any pain meds) AND been through pretty massive surgery before (spinal fusion with Harrington rods for scoliosis when I was 13 - good times as you can imagine.) I’d like to think I’ll be able to handle this without too much whining.  You’ll have to ask my husband, Ian, if this theory pans out.

      And if you’re curious - nope - I’m not having any cosmetic work done while they’re in there.  As imperfect as my nose may be, I’m not up for any alterations.  I’ve gotten pretty used to this profile over the years, and it is what it is. (Although I keep threatening Todd that I’m going to come back with a Michael Jackson nose)  

     So - the world will continue spinning while I lay low for a while with stacks of DVD’s, bags of frozen peas on my face. My patient husband to keep the house running while I recover.  Our tireless sitter will make sure the kids have lots of really fun stuff to do besides climb on Mom, and I know Todd and the rest of the team will hold down the fort at RTV6 just fine.

   One favor to ask - if any of you have had surgery like this, would you mind just telling me the helpful  and nice stuff?? 

Tell me how much better you felt a month or two afterwards.

Or how the pain and stuffiness wasn’t REALLY as bad as you expected.

Or how good ice cream tasted once you could smell again.

I’d really, really appreciate it.

      I promise to update this blog and let everyone know how it went once I’m coherent again.  

BACK TO IOWA

     Before I check out from blog I have a few photos to share from a trip we took last weekend back to see our friends and Ian’s band in Iowa.

    The flooding followed us there - The Nadas were supposed to play in a beautiful amphitheatre on the river but it was underwater.  They moved it into a club downtown Des Moines, and our kids got to come see sound check.  Calvin was thrilled to get to be in a “bar place,” the usually-forbidden venue he hears about when Daddy has a gig that he’s not allowed to come to. (”But I promise I wouldn’t drink any beer!” he has begged in the past.)

  Here’s Cal staring up at his rock idol, Mike from the Nadas, as he plays the Gold Les Paul electric guitar that Cal coveted so much, Santa finally brought him a small version this past Christmas.

  Clara is so smitten with Mike that she couldn’t look him straight in the eye.  She’d get all woozy and shy with tears in her eyes when he came near, then as soon as he left the room she’d babble non-stop about Mike, Mike, Mike, her favorite friend. (God help us if she’s this boy-crazy at age 15) Here she is dancing in circles to his music.

   We snuck in plenty of quick but fun visits with old friends, but Calvin’s biggest memory from the trip will be learning how to do cannonballs in the hotel pool.  (”Can we come back to the hotel tomorrow? Can we come back Monday?  Can we stay here forever?”) 

     Anyway, I’m glad to have had one last hurrah before being a boring, bedridden mom for a little while.  Thanks for reading, and I’m hoping to see you all on the air very soon!

For  now - nighty night.

Trish

  As I write this our storm relief event with the Red Cross is underway, and our collection is around $80,000.  The power of the tornadoes and floods was stunning, and it is our great privilege to offer a way to channel people’s desire to help.   Our telethon from 7:30-8:30 tonight includes some nice surprises, as well as some of the stunning photos and footage of this historic flood.  I hope many of you will have a chance to see it.

    Thanks to everyone who has pledged and donated so far - we’re looking forward to an even greater total by the end of tonight!

 One more thing - we love to hear what’s on YOUR mind, so if you have flood stories or thoughts to share, I hope you will do so here!

-Trisha

There are a few things I’ve been storing up in this crowded head of mine to share here, so although they may seem pretty randomly thrown together, I need to get them out to make space for new stuff.

Better start with Friday night.

STORMS

WOW. Quite a few people have stopped me in the past few days to ask why I “drew the short straw.”  Actually, I stuck my hand up and volunteered to go storm chasing. 

First of all, I really don’t mind getting my hands dirty and feet wet for an interesting story. (More on the feet part a little later) 

   Second, it’s honestly LESS stressful to be out in a vicious storm or running through a tornado-ravaged neighborhood than it is to be in a newsroom during breaking news.  (If you could only have seen all that was going on with my colleagues in the newsroom that night you’d have been right out there in the washout with me given the same choice)

      Once the decision was made, I grabbed my rain coat (which it turns out isn’t quite waterproof) and my jeans, then - whoops - glanced down at my heels.  The rain boots were at home.  Photographer Doug Weathers (appropriately named for the occasion) was nice enough to run me past Walgreens to go “croc-shopping” on our way out to chase the storm.

       We headed west, making it all the way to Crawfordsville and back, seeing nothing worse than lots of lightning and heavy rain.  (Here’s Doug shooting lightning from a Walmart parking lot there) It wasn’t until after 10:30 that we got word about the east side tornado, and headed straight to 38th and Mithoeffer. 

   Doug and I walked, ran, and waded past some pretty unbelievable stuff, as I described in my out-of-breath phone reports, with rain pounding us head on.  Gas pumps yanked out and knocked over, siding wrapped around poles, the roof and side walls completely torn off the apartments, enormous trees down, power lines across the street, and what looked like a mile of flashing lights from fire trucks, ambulances, and law enforcement vehicles. 

    Then, the toughest part - the people.  Some were in tears describing the horror of their roof being ripped off while they huddled in a bathroom.  We saw the shock of the near-death experience on their faces, followed by the shock of the material loss.  I am hopeful that Hoosier hospitality and generosity will help provide necessities for these survivors because they certainly need a ton of support right now. (See our links section on the homepage for how to help.)

At the end of the very long night (even longer for some co-workers like Kevin Gregory and the producers who put together the special newscast Saturday morning) I was incredibly proud to work with such a dedicated, talented, and experienced news team.  If I were sitting at home watching, I’d certainly trust them to give me the right information and not leave me in the dark or confused!

SWORDS

     My 5-year-old son Calvin has had a fascination with Peter Pan for a few years now.  He especially loves to swordfight with his foam sword.  While I’ve explained to him about a million times why it would not be okay if this was a REAL sword, he loves to imagine the scenarios where maybe even squeamish and nervous Mom would be okay with his brandishing a real weapon.  So his favorite fantasy of late has been that he somehow has to bravely use his sword to come to the rescue of our family, fighting off “bad guys.”

       When I saw that the musical was coming to Beef and Boards dinner theatre, I jumped at the chance to take the kids to see Peter Pan on stage!  Ian and I brought the kids, Cal in his Peter Pan costume, Clara in her too-small Tinkerbell dress.  (Here they are posing by Captain Hook’s poster).  They LOVED the show.  And so did I - but actually it was intermission that provided the biggest highlight.

      Clara spent 10 minutes ”flying” like Tinkerbell back and forth across the lobby, hands straight up in the air, fingers spread, little legs pumping clumsily beneath her while all the other guests grinned.

    Cal practiced swordfighting with another little guy. 

Then it happened. 

Just as the lights blinked to tell us to get back to our seats, A REAL PIRATE from the show walked right past us.  Spotting Cal in his Peter Pan getup, the actor jumped into character.

“AARRRGGGHHH!!” He growled, showing Calvin his shiny sword.

Stone faced, my Peter whipped out his foam sword and bravely braced his feet for battle.

I think he could’ve taken him.

SUMMERTIME

    Summer (or at least kids’ summer, which starts whenever school ends) really made a dramatic entrance this year.  Friday we had Cal’s last day of preschool picnic, then a rousing round of nasty weather, then summer-like heat. We went swimming this morning, and as I stood in the sun, I almost couldn’t stop myself from bursting into a very high and operatic version of “Suuuuumertiiiime….and the livin is eeeeeeasy….”

Luckily for my kids I saved it for when I was alone in the car later.

Thank you for taking time to read… I’d love to hear your stories on storms, swords, and summertime!

Trish