“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.”

Lillia: This week you and your friend Anya attended Harry Pottery camp at Keene State College! One of our goals for the summer was to help you find activities that would provide the opportunity to meet like-minded folks your own age. Between theatre camp last week, and Harry Potter this week, I think we’ve come to the conclusion that you are, in fact, not alone in the world! You and your fellow Potterheads had a great time making potions, playing Quidditch, and making Harry Potter-related crafts (like the cute owl in this picture). Honestly, the first time I arrived to pick you up I had to chuckle a little because it was like walking into a room full of Lillias. You’ve also developed a wonderful friendship with Anya, which has been such a gift. Now that your camps are over, you’ll have some time to relax and hopefully do a lot of swimming at the town pool in the weeks to come.

Zane: This week you spent a lot of time driving back and forth to Keene for Lillia’s camp. You’re a real trouper and you don’t seem to mind the chaos, but I do wish I had arranged for you to do some of your own activities this summer, especially the camps at the Walpole Village School. They were all booked for the week by the time I got around to realizing it might be a good idea to sign you up! Still, we did get to do some swimming at the town pool, and you took walks at lunch time with me and Daddy. You are such a big boy now, you never want to ride in the stroller (and, of course, I would never force you to). My favorite Zane conversation of the week happened while you were playing soccer with Daddy in the front yard. Daddy said, “Zane, pass me the ball! We’ll be a team!” to which you replied, “My feet are my team!” and you proceeded to run away with the ball. What a silly boy you are, Zane!

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.”

Lillia: We just returned home from the Walpole Players Senior Theatre Camp’s performance of “The Pirate Queen”, which is the culmination of the last two weeks of learning and practice. I have to say that I was very impressed — with you, of course, but also with all of the other performers — it’s not easy to pull off something like this in just ten afternoons. I really appreciated that none of you took yourselves too seriously, and yet the play was genuinely entertaining and many of the performers were very natural and believable in their roles. As “Officer Woodthorpe” you had one of the main speaking roles (17 lines total, in two acts) and you did magnificently. I do hope you continue your theatre adventures as you are, in fact, quite a good actress and I can tell that you really enjoy it. Bravo, Lillia!

(A few more pictures of the play can be viewed HERE.)

Zane: This week you spent two whole days at camp! As I wrote last week, you are a very busy boy, and it takes a lot to keep you entertained. By Monday afternoon of this week I was just plain exhausted, and so I contacted your preschool to see if they had any openings in their summer camp program. We were lucky and they had a Tuesday/Thursday spot still available, so I signed you up right then and there. Of course, it later dawned on me that you might not be ready to be away from home for seven straight hours (or, maybe it was me who was not ready?) but, you did great! You got to play with other kids, which was the biggest selling point, plus you did some fun arts & crafts, played outside, had lunch with your friends, and you even napped on Thursday afternoon (which you haven’t done in ages). I’m so happy we were able to find a way to channel some of that wonderful Zane energy.

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.”

Lillia: This week you started theatre camp here in Walpole. You tried this camp once before, the first summer we lived here and right before you started first grade, but you had, frankly, an awful time. It wasn’t the fault of the instructors at all — you simply didn’t know any of the kids, and you were also much more fearful of new situations back then. If I recall correctly, you spent most of the time there pretending to be a dog (a fairly common coping mechanism). This time around you seem very excited, and now that you’ve been in school with all of these kids for five years (yes, it’s been five years!) you know everyone very well. You seem to be having a great time so far, and I can’t wait to see your final performance next week!

Zane: This week we’ve been spending a lot of time at the town pool, which you really seem to enjoy. Your sister is at camp, and so the afternoons are a bit empty without her. We tried walking around the pond, but the trails are horribly overgrown with briars and itchy plants and we couldn’t get very far. We also went to play group at your preschool on Thursday. You enjoyed it, for the most part, but none of your best pals were there. You are so full of energy and so outgoing — you always want to know “what we’re going to do for fun.” My temperament is very much the opposite so it’s quite exhausting for me to keep up with you! Still, it’s probably good for me, and it certainly keeps things interesting.

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.”
photo by Damian Wilson

Lillia & Zane are on vacation this week!