June started out rough with a continuation of household illness. We had a dreadfully long stretch of three weeks! Daily life felt like walking through a long dark tunnel...I'm always amazed and gloriously glad when we make it to the other side! Mid-month we flew to Missouri for a 3-part midwest adventure (St. Louis to Jefferson City to Kansas City). It was such a fun family trip and I'm really proud of how well I planned our itinerary -- Blog post coming soon!
Other Highlights:
- NLW reading his first B.O.B. books on his own!
- Hosted PEPs gathering
- Finding a new exercise routine
- Getting better at asking for help -- my sweet neighbor came and did our dishes twice!
- Paying for extra help when necessary :)
- Listening to so many episodes of The Girl Next Door podcast
- Children playing "airplane"
- NLW learning to play Mexican Train (dominoes)
- Pre-vacation shopping spree including new summer hats and backpacks
- Children's first hotel stay!
- Amazing time with family, friends, and colleagues in Missouri <3
Watching | The Right to Read
I heard about this documentary through my work and watched a free online screening on Juneteenth. It was really well done and I'm excited for more people to view it! It was the first time I'd thought of literacy as a civil right and I was inspired to hold schools accountable for how they instruct reading, using evidence-based methods. This podcast discusses the issue in greater detail...I hope to listen soon!
We ate a lot of ice cream while on vacation! Most notably, Central Dairy in Jefferson City and The Flying Cow in Kansas City.
Reading | Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
We jumped full force into Charlotte's Web by listening to two different audiobook versions -- one read by the author and the other with a full cast including Meryl Streep as the narrator. I also started a read-aloud with NLW and we played the 1973 soundtrack during breakfast. Those songs came flooding back into my memory and Mr. Fleece and I both noticed that part of the Main Title (00:25) sounds like Harry Potter! We pressed pause on the story during our vacation and I'm still deciding whether I want to pick it back up given the premise focuses so much on death and dying.
Listening | Intimations by Zadie Smith
I’ve been wanting to pick up something by Zadie Smith for a while now and thought her most recent essay collection would be approachable and quick to get through (~100 pages / 2 hours on audio). The way she emphasized and delivered her essays paired with her accent made for a delightful listen -- definitely recommend on audio! I found myself often wanting to re-listen/rewind to catch some of her wording. This is one I’d be interested in owning/re-reading on the page. I especially liked the opening essay, Peonies with Smith's reflections on writing, femininity, and early pandemic days.
Spraying sunscreen,
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