This weblog tracks my kids’ early years. Each entry is a snapshot from their childhood.
Please pardon any type-o’s, misstatements, or factual irregularities. This blog is written by an often dazed dad, normally after 11 pm when he should really be in bed if he had any sense. Even the basic quick edit is not a regular practice here.
We rounded out the holiday season by doing Peppermint Parkway at the Circuit of the Americas. Driving the MINI Electric on the Formula 1 track (even at 25 mph 😆) was amazing. The best part was trading off songs with the kids. I started with The Distance by Cake (obvious choice for the race track), Molly called in Getaway Car by TS, Siri jumped in with Video Games by Lana Del Rey, and Claire kicked in a Lana’s Let The Light In.
She’s killing me at Phase 10; down by 95 points with this hand. 😭 #cardgame #phase10 #familytime #family #kids #auatin #texas #atx #shotoniphone #mcgkids
When I started writing this blog lo those many years ago, I told myself “I’ll keep writing ’til they turn 18.” Well, now Claire is 18, so I guess I’m done, right? Not quite. Molly still has a few more years before she’s 18.
Nonetheless, to celebrate Claire’s 18th birthday, and since this blog probably won’t live online forever (I mean, at some point, credit cards do expire), I decided to get Claire’s portion of the bog printed as a book that she can take with her.
I assumed this book would come out to a like a 200-page paperback. But no, my friend. Claire’s book is 850-page tome (and I don’t use that word lightly). Actually, according to the printer, it literally needed to be a three-book series.
Clairey, you make me proud every day. It’s hard to even scratch the surface on how kind, funny, and interesting you are – but here are three volumes on the subject.;-) – Dad
So Claire’s childhood is now officially a trilogy in ranks with The Hunger Games. Okay, maybe having your childhood likened to a violent, impoverished, dystopian civilization is not what we want here.
Let’s go with the original Happy Potter trilogy. I guess she has four more books, at least, in her series.
Our Clairey is now an officially a legal person of her own. She can now vote, open her own checking account, join the army, serve on a jury, purchase a lottery ticket, get her own pet, rent an apartment, give blood, all the things. She has a lot of options now.
I told her she’s more than welcome to continue to stay at my house. The first rent payment is due on December 1. 😉 (Kidding! For now.)
We had a great family birthday with her her whole family, including all her living grandparents, and enjoyed all-you-can-eat meat at K BBQ.
Clairey got her official driver’s license today! 🥳🎉.
After all the driving classes, tests, practice, etc. the final hurdle was getting Claire an to the actual Texas DMV that had an opening to take her.
Claire’s mom “drove” most of the driver’s license process (so to speak). With all the Austin DMV locations booked way out, Kit literally drove Claire to Columbus on a Thanksgiving-week day off to finish this process.
And kudos to Claire’s grandma for doing the bulk of the driving practice.
Many thanks to them both and congrats to Claire! 👏
With Claire finishing up high school and heading to college next year, the holidays are feeling especially nostalgic. Sure, we’ll see her over the holidays after she goes to college, but it won’t be the same as now. 😭
With that in mind, our first holiday-style foray this season was the classic Creek Show, which feels like a mini pre-Christmas light event downtown and warmup for the madness of Trail of Lights.
Actually, their mom got the tickets but gave them to use since she was sick. Thank you, Kit!
Molly is an unabashed Tex-Mex connoisseur. And funnily enough, and quite understandably, she does not like melted cheese. Some people who are not familiar with Tex-Mex may find that to be a contradiction, but Molly knows better.
Her favorite food of any kind currently is chicken fajitas – pass on the cheese.
We’ve been low-level looking for the best chicken fajitas in town, and at the moment the leader of the pack is El Mercdo on South First. So good to get that steamy plate on a cold, cozy day.
Molly is in 8th grade, but after some walks on the campus of a certain neighborhood college, aka UT Austin, she is pretty sure where she wants to go to college.
“I like the vibe,” is her explanation. And she’s keeping her grades up.
We’ve been going on walks all around UT when we can. We’ll walk from West Campus to the football stadium, from the “Hi, how are you?” sign to Hyde Park. We always stop for pizza. The Dollar Slice Club was our initial go-to spot for pizza near campus, but our favorite new spot is Roppolo’s.
Today we checked out the student union, and came across the perfect activity for her: Swiftie Night! I offered to drop her off, but she, being mature, insisted that it’s for actual UT students and not local middle schoolers. Fine, wait a few years then, you dedicated Swiftie. 😉
McG Kids 