fialawrence

[fialawrence]

7/26/25

Today we went to SkyZone for Nico’s birthday and it is basically my definition of hell, but I did think the kids looked wildly photogenic while looking at dirt afterward.

[fialawrence]

From 7/18-20/25 Dara comes to town.

[fialawrence]

From 4th of July weekend in Villanova. Larrie swam a lot, made lemonade with Catherine, and learned how to throw a frisbee during the fireworks. Other activities included eating Handel’s ice cream and Italian water ice and many many other things, watching Papa and Catherine scale the walls at a rock climbing gym, painting watercolor birds and reading to Gaga.

Also stumbled on the blast from the past at lower right, when Dad came to see me in Rosemary’s Baby at Yale. 😱

[fialawrence]

From 7/12/25: We’ve been really bad at posting lately! Here’s a fun beach day from a couple weeks ago with our friends Hanul & May and Larrie’s pal Gian.

[fialawrence]

6/8/25: Larrie rides a bike! “I can’t believe it, Daddy.”

[fialawrence]

From 5/16/25: Larrie and her school buddy Charlotte.

Tonight while we were at a friend’s birthday dinner where several kids were on scooters and skateboards, Larrie sidled up to me and said, “Mama, are you brave enough to go out to the car and get my scooter and helmet?”

[fialawrence]

😐

Larrie: I know someone who’s braver than Ruby Bridges.

Me: Who?

Larrie: Obi-Wan Kenobi.

[fialawrence]

3/9/25—We went to a UCLA Gymnastics meet with Larrie’s bestie Olivia (“we are going to get married one day. She is going to carry our baby”), saw the Bruins beat Stanford, went confetti hunting in the stands, and then Larrie took this selfie that Dada photo bombed.

[fialawrence]

3/23/25— The Star Wars journey has begun.

[fialawrence]

3/10/25: “Mama can I run into the house all by myself like a big kid?”

I remember my dad resting his hand on my head when I was a kid and then pushing down and grunting, “Stooop growiiing.” Now I can relate.

Fortunately in this instance, Larrie was stopped at the front door because she refuses to put something down for a single second to turn a knob, so she still needs me!

[fialawrence]

From 3/8/25: A small but still encouraging Women’s March at City Hall on Saturday. The slogan for our sign was Larrie’s idea.

[fialawrence]

From 1/13/25 Larrie made this at school today so on the way home we dropped it off at Station 56, our friendly local firehouse. After many visits, she confidently rings the doorbell and when someone answers strolls inside without waiting for an invitation. The two firefighters who greeted us said they were doing great and didn’t need any donations or supplies. Larrie shared, among other newsworthy tidbits, “Don’t tell the other firefighters, but I’m wearing two pairs of underwear.”

[fialawrence]

From 11/25-11/26/24

Scenes from a quick trip to Idyllwild. We stayed in a cute little cabin and Larrie had a stained glass window in her bedroom. Dan took her to a Korean diner that was so good we all went back the next day. Larrie was obsessed with our server (“my favorite woman in the whole restaurant”), and a nice stranger gave her her first two dollar bill!

Unrelated, tonight I walked in the door: “Hi! What’s up?”

Larrie, sighing evenly: “Well, I’m being mad at Dada.”

[fialawrence]

11/3/24

Larrie fulfills her lifelong dream of riding a horse at old friend Sofia’s 5th birthday party. It is everything she imagined it to be.

[fialawrence]

10/31/24: Scenes from Halloween. The last pic is when we discovered that baby Ellora laughs her head off if you pull a piece of duct tape off the roll. Felt like I’d won the lottery.

[fialawrence]

From 10/27/24: Larrie and Gian carved some pumpkins.

I put the pumpkin seeds on a cookie sheet and left them in the oven (off) to dry out before roasting them to create my all-time favorite seasonal treat, but Dan didn’t know about them, preheated the oven for something else and blackened them all to a crisp. 🙀

[fialawrence]

10/27/24 Larrie and her new kinder friend Naomi get along great but also hate each other’s guts about once every 10 minutes, hence Naomi’s picture: “I DONT LOVE YOU FIA”

They were coloring this series of love/hate notes at Modern Eats, a diner around the corner from our apartment that closed today after 15 solid years of providing reasonably priced, slightly better than mediocre food (and excellent matzoh ball soup) in a family friendly atmosphere. We are devastated.