Rainy Morning

Jack debuted as an actor this week in the senior-directed one act play “Our Place.” He had a lot of fun in this new theatrical setting – learning lines, taking direction, costumes fitting, make-up, everything! He did a great job and had a lot of fun with the process.

Those pokemon are back in vogue at the Mason household. I briefly played Pokopia (too immersive and work-like for me). Jack is back into card collecting. He practices driving by going to different stores checking stock. He was super psyched when he got two packs from Barnes & Noble. I had to wait for him to calm down so he could focus on driving on I70 for the first time afterward. Then at home he had Sam film an unboxing (“unpacking?” “reveal?”) video.

It paid off 😂

This weekend Ben took him out again and he got a couple more packs. Ben bought him a special box set that he has wait for his birthday to open. Teenagers – so weird. It’s like having a child and an adult at the same time.

I was flabbergasted when Twice announced their world tour stops and Denver was on the list! We never get big-name groups! Ben is a total Twice fan, a “Once” and I told him we HAVE to go. Not only that, our friends the Walkers have daughter who is also a Once. We tempted them with a Denver visit and they took the bait! We had a great time catching up – our kids have grown so much! The concert was fantastic. Daehyun and Chaeyoung were out on health leave, but the other seven delivered. Of course Jihyo stole the show! She’s sincerely the best. I’m glad Momo was there too, since she is Opal’s favorite member.

I had a total blast. It was so fun to see our old friends and hear about life nowadays. It was so weird seeing a concert in my own town – no uber or hotel! Staying up way too late on a Tuesday night! 😂 Totally worth it.

Betty turned 80 years old this year! We came over for the weekend to celebrate. We had great food and a chocolate cake. She and the boys played the newest engrossing game, Pokopia. Of course, we got to visit with the Waterhouses and Sulei too.

Jack is a busy dude! At the same time as Big Fish he had a concert for Chamber orchestra. Here are some pictures from that show and unwinding afterward.

Then he also performed twice with the school’s choir at a special concert downtown. I didn’t attend, but a friend kindly sent video, and the school insta shared some photos:

Jack went on a school trip to California over spring break. The performing arts (theater, choir, orchestra, band) were all invited for a trip to Hollywood to see Beetlejuice with a Q&A session, to Universal Studios, and to Disneyland, including a learning session at the Disney Academy. He had a total blast. I don’t have much to say, I’m just going to dump in some of his photos. Sorry these are in reverse order!

And here are Jack’s instagram posts (some overlap in photos):

For the SECOND musical of the year, Jack performed in the pit orchestra for Big Fish. He was bummed to be back in the “black pit” but he still had a great time.

Here’s some day-to-day photos from the first quarter of the year. (Yeah, as you can tell I’ve been super slacked about posting. My shift put me on day call so I’m trying to use this bonus time to catch-up).

It feels like there’s always something breaking or something I want improved about the house. At least this toilet leak was a one-day job. Then I opened up our bathroom exhaust fan. There’s a flapper valve that taps whenever wind blows over the top and the noise was driving me crazy all year. It took a long time to figure out how to gain access to the flapper, then it was fairly easy fix to add padding. Another long time to wrestle everything back in place, and ta-da! Silent bathroom!

The last project here was a longtime dream. Our living room is so dark, even with 5 lamps illuminating it. I can’t embroider or knit at night because I can’t see! I had an electrician install LED wafer lights and I LOVE it. I planned to do the drywall repair myself, having learned some basics after our basement repair and the kitchen wall disaster. I didn’t do a very good job. I should have spent time leveling all the pieces, instead of assuming I could mud and paper them to blend in. I’m fairly unhappy with it and might scrape it off one day if it for a do-over. But after two days of work (mostly waiting for things to dry between layers) I wanted to move on. Good enough.

Sam participated in his school’s Science Fair as a seventh grader. He wanted to study the best regions to pet cats. We solicited many friends and family to gather data for his research. I helped with with the study design and Ben help with the graphs. He put together a fantastic project board and did a great job presenting at the fair. The science teachers gave him great feedback during the fair. Days later he was surprised to receive an award for “winning” the fair! Way to go, Sam!!