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Preparing for a big birthday party. (6/5&6/25)
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Picking out verious orbs for the birthday party.
There were many compliments on the quality of the green-striped
one, as it turned out especially sweet. (6/7/25)
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Lane knows from experience how it is when older
siblings participate, so he's ready to go bop some younger kids on the
head with inflatable Minecraft-style weapons. (6/7/25)
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Mostly,
the kids ran around in the bright sunlight and devastating heat playing
soccer, but occasionally they took breaks... (6/7/25)
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...to eat pizza and threaten each other with the inflatable weapons. (6/7/25)
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After
every kid got three whacks at the creeper, Lee landed a decisive blow
that knocked it free from its wiring, and so they switched to beating
it on the ground. (6/7/25)
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And of course, eventually tearing the creeper apart by hand. (6/7/25)
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As per usual, the wind stopped us from actually lighting the candles. (6/7/25)
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But we still sang and Lee pantomimed blowing them out to great applause. (6/7/25)
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Our high school graduate. (6/9/25)
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We're all so proud. Dare I say... heart so proud. (6/9/25)
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Walking up to the stage. (6/9/25)
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The moment of ascendancy. (6/9/25)
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Tired after spending three hours at his older sibling's graduation ceremony. (6/9/25)
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Something
worth waking back up for: celebratory ice cream sundaes before
Lane heads off to a bizarre all-night party where he wins a ridiculous
number of prizes -- several gift cards and a coffee machine!
(6/9/25)
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In
all the chaos of Lane's graduation, Lee got to stay up until his
birthday started at midnight, so it seemed only appropriate to
acknowledge the moment with a piece of cake and candles that didn't get
blown out by the wind. (6/10/25)
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What's this? Could it be? (6/10/25)
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Why
yes, Lee has received the very item he most wants for his birthday --
the VR set that he learned how to save money for but was still a very,
very long ways from being able to afford. (6/10/25)
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This
is Lee's face now. Seriously, though, it's actually quite
entertaining to watch Lee dance around in VR. (6/10/25)
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Lee thinks this may be the best birthday he's had, which is always what we aim for. (6/10/25)
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We won the Portal adventure, "The Bride's Game," with a minute and a half to spare! (6/10/25)
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Lane points to the mines, and Lee laughs at the very same sort of antics he's been engaging in all evening. (6/10/25)
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We brought the leftover inflatable weapons from Lee's birthday party out to the pool... (6/11/25)
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...and had an epic battle, just like Dr. Seuss's tweetle beetles. (6/11/25)
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"And when when tweetle beetles battle with paddles in a puddle..." (6/11/25)
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"...they call it a tweetle beetle pudle paddle battle." (6/11/25)
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Defying gravity at Defy. (6/12/25)
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Lane says, "I think I'm going to go insane when we finish this book," right as I type the final sentence to Skeleton Cat. (6/12/25)
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Stopping to take pictures of the interesting plants on our walk. (6/17/25)
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Lee
said he felt like he was going upside down while swinging on this
swing, so I took a picture to show it wasn't just a feeling.
(6/17/25)
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We
stayed at the swings for a while, but mostly, this was a rambling walk
that took us past multiple playgrounds. (6/17/25)
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More ways to be upside down. (6/17/25)
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A walk through the rose garden and then along the river at sunset. (6/18/25)
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Avery thinks Lee might do something fun with that ball. (6/19/25)
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Oh, it's so exciting! It's happening! (6/19/25)
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Huh. Somehow the ball is less fun now that Lee has kicked it away. (6/19/25)
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Hiding in the leaves, way up high. (6/19/25)
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Cole
was very worried about Lee on this walk, so we handed his leash off to
Lee, and the two of them ran ahead of the rest of us. (6/20/25)
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Someone
came back downstairs after being put to bed in order to download and
setup an auto-clicker to play his game for him and buy pineapple seeds.
(6/21/25)
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Literally being torn away from his computer. (6/21/25)
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Tickling the little prospective pineapple baron to loosen his grip on the computer. (6/21/25)
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Lane makes the Stardew Valley Pink Cake. (6/22/25)
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Taking a break from an evening bike ride to meet some cats. (6/26/25)
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The cats lived next door to each other and clearly hated each other, but they didn't mind Lee and Lane so much. (6/26/25)
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They've
been practicing biking, so that Lane will be ready to commute to
classes in the fall. This time, they made it all the way to
campus. (6/27/25)
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