Something New To Look Forward To

This is the year.

It’s finally time to go on a family vacation.

I know that other families with young children go on vacations all the time, whether it’s a road trip to Disney or a plane trip to a Sandals resort. That wasn’t the right choice for us, though — that wasn’t how we thought of vacations. We were used to exploring, letting fate guide our experiences — things like finding our way back to our hotel in Tokyo via the subway system, or walking 45 minutes (one way) from Waikiki to an anime/toy store on Waialae (granted, that was a poor idea), or going snorkeling or parasailing for the first time.

Parasail Closeup

Continue reading

Lunch with Mom on his 100th Day of Kindergarten

I had to pick him up before lunch on his 100th day of school for a doctor’s appointment, which led to a trip to the lab, after which we stopped for lunch at a place that used to be a lot speedier for dine-in service than it is now. As a result, he missed both gym and music class… but he was excited to eat lunch with me, anyway.

Right after I snapped this “Hey, Connor” pic, he gave me a grin and a thumbs-up that I failed to capture. So it goes.

Yes, he is wearing a homemade 100 Pikachus iron-on t-shirt, fabricated by Yours Truly.

Tell Me All Your Thoughts On God

“Hey, Mom,” Connor (age 6) asked, as we ate lunch at the kitchen table last week. “What’s ‘religion’?”

I wondered where he learned the word, and where this was going, but I answered him as best I could.

“Religion is what a person believes about how the world was made and where we come from. Some people believe that a god created the earth, and some people believe it was science.” (“Science” is the umbrella term I tend to use with him for natural law, physics, astronomy, electricity, etc.)

“We believe that there is One God,” he said in that tone of voice I knew well — the same tone of voice I used to use when I would say, “We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” I suspected that he’d actually absorbed some of the religious sidebars at his old preschool, after all.

“Actually,” I interjected, “Your Dad and I believe that the world was made from science. Who believes that there is One God?” I was trying to figure out where he got this phrase.

He paused. “All my friends,” he answered.  Continue reading