Currently (or it would be current if it was still May)

Thank you all for your kind words about my grandmother. I miss her dearly, but as with my Grandma Jo, memories of her, both the intangible sparks in my mind, and the tangible ones like wearing her pearls or her mother's wedding ring, keep her close. I know I am so lucky to have had them both for so long.

Despite my last few posts with recaps of Mexico and Egypt, we really do just live in our house in Dallas the vast majority of the time. We moved here almost exactly 3 years ago, which seems crazy. It feels like we've been here so much longer, but then I'm always finding out new things and places near me and I remember oh yeah, I'm still kind of new? We moved into our house in late October, so we haven't hit 3 years here yet, but it does very much feel like home. I love every inch of it and it fits our life and the ages of our children so very well. Let's jump back to May and catch up on all of them.

First of all we have Landon.

He finished out his junior year strong and quietly confident as ever. He's in the top 10 of his class, feels good about all his AP tests, and got himself signed up for a job lifeguarding at the YMCA. James's company actually outfits all the Dallas Y's with their suits, shorts, shirts, and rashguards. James asked if anyone noticed Landon's last name is on all of their clothes. "No, I don't think anyone knows my last name." Probably true. He goes to morning practice at 8 am, then goes to work, then goes to afternoon practice, and then gets home about 8 pm. I miss him.

College recruiting will start in earnest in the fall and we're excited to see where he goes. He definitely wants to swim and has been talking to various coaches since last year.

He also recently decided he was a fisherman. In true Landon fashion he woke up one day and texted me from Academy asking if he could use our credit card to buy a fishing license if he paid me back. He you-tubed how to string up his new pole and headed off to the lake by our house to fish. I have no idea what sparked this hobby, but his pole now lives in his car and he stops at the lake or some stream almost every day. He's gotten some friends to go with him and now this is a thing they all do. I love that for him.

Yesterday morning I dropped him off at the airport at 6 a.m. for a flight to Santa Barbara, California for a swim meet. That backpack contains all he thought he needed for four days, four flights, and a swim meet.

He turns 18 in a couple weeks, which means my blog is already 18 and that really seems crazy. He's an awesome kid- responsible, funny, kind, smart, practical, and a friend to babies and animals. We called him in California at dinner last night and Clarie said, "I don't like that you're not here! You shouldn't go to college." and I feel her.

Speaking of Claire, she finished her freshman year with all A's and we could NOT be more proud.

It was a journey to get there, full of tears and reminders and patience and frustration and slowly increased academic confidence. It was a big year- she settled into a new school, made new friends while still pretty deeply scarred by the disaster that was 8th grade, realized how far behind she was academically (we simply survived 8th grade and that is literally all I can say for it), caught up, learned how to study, found the right balance of medication and worked so hard to implement behaviors to manage her OCD and ADHD, babysat a ton, won the Most Improved award for her club swimming team, and did the dishes every night.

We're very, very proud of her. Even when she steals dresses I just bought for myself and looks better in them than I do.

She turned 15 the day we got back from Mexico, so we did her birthday party the day before we left. She asked for a birthday brunch with swim party and that's exactly what we did! We decorated, cut up a ton of fruit, and I made homemade waffles and my icecream cake she loves so much.

Her friends were so sweet and while I was not invited to attend, it was clear through the windows that they had fun.

We get to start teaching her to drive now and she's already learned all the rules and is constantly correcting my form from the passenger seat which is so fun for me.

On to Cora!

She graduated 5th grade!

This little moppet is now a middle schooler!

Look at her on her first day of elementary.

After 12 years of having at least one Fike in elementary school (but never all 3 at once, sigh), we're a family of only middle school and high schoolers!

There were many end of school festivities, including the awards ceremony and an adorable clap-out where the 5th graders walk the halls of the school and all the current student line the halls to clap them through. Parents get to come and line up outside as they exit and clap too. It was actually very sweet.

The morning of the last day I realized we were maybe the only parents not doing big signs or flowers or something, so James gathered the big kids, who were both home early because of their finals schedule, and they made a poster while I was at work.

They came with us to clap their sister out and it was lovely. I was pregnant with her when Landon started Kindergarten himself. Time is wild.

Cora's having a good summer. We kind of failed to sign her up for anything (#ThirdBaby), but we've cobbled together some friend time, our trips, her swimming practices, and just yesterday found her a horseback riding camp for a few days in July that will be hot as Hades. She can't wait.

She continues to play soccer and swim and can't wait to start track in 7th grade. We applied for our district's magnet middle school that is ranked #1 in the state. She's #1 on the waitlist and I am desperately hoping someone moves before the first day of school (but moves for great wonderful exciting reasons! I wish you all the best family who I hope doesn't go to this school!). If she doesn't get in, she'll go to the same middle school Claire did, which we have feelings about, but much of that experience was rooted in the different children they are and the (terrible) timing of our move for sweet 7th grade Claire, so I'm sure it will be fine. Given her hatred of change and new things, Cora's handling the uncertainty of where she'll go far better than expected.

She's so very smart (scored 100% on her state-required end of year tests that control our public education system in ways I hate, but still seemed impressive), creative, loving, meticulous, extremely forgetful while also somehow forgetting absolutely nothing?, obsessed with animals and documentaries, easily scared by any movie or story where someone or something could be harmed (EXCEPT her graphic animal documentaries, which are somehow totally fine), and a voracious reader. She's absolutely ready for 6th grade and we can't wait to watch her.

On to me!

I had my colonoscopy and upper endoscopy and biopsies. The procedure was fine. The prep is unfun, but not nearly as terrible as I expected, so definitely don't let that come between you and any doctor-recommended testing of your own! I thought going a whole day without eating before the prep would be the worst part, but again, that was fine? Turns out maybe I'm not actually starving like I always feel I am? Not that I'm applying any of those lessons now that I can eat again.

My colon was deemed "beautiful" and I don't need another colonoscopy for 10 years. The biopsies confirmed I do have Celiac, which wasn't surprising, and was actually somewhat grounding to just know for sure. I haven't had anything with gluten since we got the results back and that also hasn't been bad. Do I want a cookie from our office lobby coffee shop? Yes. Is it easy to pass them by? Also yes. All our meals at home have been gluten free, I re-organized and labeled the pantry so I have some gluten-free snack areas, and it's fine.

I'm really excited to see how I feel as my immume system realizes it no longer has a war to fight.

(How long will the pantry stay like this? Days?)

James and I went to dinner to celebrate some news I can share in my next post. I wore an Alicie & Olivia top I got off The Real Real and I love it so much.

Also loved the restaurant, food, and my date.

Speaking of my handsome husband, he has taken the gluten-free cookbooks I ordered and jumped in with both feet.

His business is doing great- lots of new suits at Fike Swim and he's moved to outfitting country club and YMCA teams around the country.

We celebrated him on Father's Day with a brunch out on Saturday (Landon has practice on Sunday morning), bowling with the girls on Sunday afternoon (Landon had to work), and dinner with everyone at home Sunday night.

I always forget how much fun bowling is until we go again. I'm extremely erratic, but James is pretty good and we all have a fun together.

I made this Short Rib Ragu for his dinner and it was SO good. That was when I could still have pasta, so it was a delicious farewell.

And that's about it! Maggie has had double ear infections which has required multiple vet visits and many dollars, but she is, obviously, still perfect.

And that's where we're at! My sister came through town with her girls on Tuesday, which was a blast. Landon is loving California, Claire is babysitting in order to buy a Lululemon jacket she thinks she needs and I do not (not with my money; happy for her to own it with hers!), and Cora has a big swim meet tomorrow. Life is good, Happy Friday to you all.

Mary Jeannine

April 9, 1930 - March 24, 2025

My beloved grandmother passed away in March.

I didn't write about it at the time because I knew we were celebrating her life a few months later, once she was buried with my grandfather, and I wanted to let it sit a little bit. We lost her to dementia a couple of years ago, but because she was still alive, we were locked in an odd state of mourning the woman she was while trying not to actually mourn because we were still visiting the woman was now and it took a little bit to work through that. She deserved her whole life to be remembered, to be celebrated, and I wanted to remember all of it.

I wrote a euology that I delivered at her funeral yesterday in San Antonio and I wanted to share that here. She was simply the most wonderful woman.

She was brave and strong and kind. I miss her so much. I miss both of them so much.

We were so very lucky to have them as long as we did and I know they were both smiling as we gathered together as a family to love, honor, and celebrate our sunshine and the life they both lived.

Honoring my Grandma

Hello everyone, my name is Rebecca, or Reebecca as my Grandma called me, and I’m Mary’s oldest grandchild.

As you likely know, in many ways Grandma left us long before her passing in late March. She developed dementia and increasingly lost her connection to reality and the present day. For a little while, when my grandpa visited her, we could still talk to her on the phone, then it was only visits, and by the end she really didn’t know who we were even when we were there in person, but she always smiled when she heard our voices. Even when her eyes never opened, she smiled. She squeezed our hands. She knew she loved us. And I believe she knew we loved her. I mention her long goodbye because it makes me particularly grateful to be together today to remember her and to fully celebrate her beautiful life, her incredible strength, her endless love, and the uniquely wonderful woman she was.

As you’ll hear a few times today, Grandma was our sunshine. I have never known someone so naturally cheerful or so determinedly optimistic. Happiness was her default setting and she intentionally set it there every day.

I think cheerfulness and optimism can give a misimpression of naivete, of someone who perhaps doesn’t feel or understand the challenges and darkness of the world around them. But my Grandma was deeply grounded in the realities of life. She was no stranger to hardship or trials, and she was one of the strongest women I’ve ever known. Because it is strength that enabled her to face the hardness of the world and choose, over and over, to love, to be grateful, to see the good. She chose every day to wake up and believe, absolutely, that her life was wonderful.

“Everything will work out,” my grandma always said, and when you stubbornly refuse to believe otherwise, when you see blessings in everything, and when you pour hard work, love, and laughter into everything you do, it always does.

My grandma was born in Ironwood, Michigan in 1930, the youngest of three children. Her own grandmother lived with them and the stories of her childhood were filled with affection, love, and music. She graduated from Ironwood High School in 1948 and was honored to be chosen as the Ironwood Snow Queen in 1951. While she loved her home and family, she had a goal of further education and financial independence—largely to help her parents, but also because my grandma was quietly brave and more independent than you might think on first meeting. She worked full-time to support herself while attending Wisconsin State College in Superior, WI. She was rightly proud of her degree in elementary education and began teaching Kindergarten in Manitowoc, WI in 1952.

Set met the love of her life, my Grandpa Glenn, in college at Wisconsin State. They married on November 26, 1955 and moved to San Antonio, TX to start their Air Force life together. They raised four children, living all over the world, and moving a total of 25 times. My Grandma was frequently on her own while my Grandpa was on tour, and I’m in awe of the woman who managed a household and four children in far-flung new places. Every story she told was infused with a happiness that the facts didn’t always match – like having to pack up a house all on her own to move overseas, carefully weighing each item by holding it on a scale to ensure she met the packing limits, to a long-haul flight with 4 young children and without my grandpa, iPads, or comfortable athleisure travel clothing. “Oh yeah, that was tough” she’d say when retelling a story—one I’m certain I’d still be complaining about—with a happy giggle and matter-of-fact “but it all worked out.”

I was blessed to take many trips to see my grandparents growing up – both to their home in San Antonio and to their camper and cabin on Silver Lake. I remember how delighted she always was to see us, how joyfully she received any and all news about my life. I remember shopping trips to the BX, stops at the McDonalds by their house for lunch, and chatting with her from the counter in the kitchen as she made dinner or let me sneak Oreos before dinner.

She was generous and deeply practical. She could keep to a budget like no one else, but she also understood the delight of a little treat. She read the paper every day, kept up on current events, volunteered for numerous charities, was an enthusiastic sports fan, and was deeply devoted to her faith and church. She was a homemaker in the truest sense and a dedicated letter writer. I have so many cards and letters from her. She tracked the birthdays and anniversaries of every child, grandchild, great-grandchild, sibling, niece, nephew, and more, and she would pick out the perfect card for each person and occasion and then fill it with a long hand-written note full of news and love.

She was there, with my grandpa, at every major life event- confirmation, high school graduation, college graduation, wedding, law school graduation, and the day I was sworn into the bar. She adored my children and each of them has a blankie knit by her. My middle, now 15, still has scraps of hers in her room, too fragile to use, but too precious to store away. When she and my grandpa used to drive to Silver Lake in the summer she would stop at my house, visit with my young children, and sing them “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and “You Are My Sunshine,” and tell us how wonderful we all were.

My Grandpa always had a big presence, but Grandma’s was just as strong. Softer perhaps, but with a spine of steel. She was the only person who could out-stubborn my Grandpa and she did it in her quiet way, with a little smile and a glint in her eye. I always wondered if my Grandpa knew that her “well, we’ll see” with a loving pat on his hand when they were at an impasse meant that she was going to do exactly what she wanted. I think he did. She was his other half, and he loved her with everything he had.

She was our sunshine and we miss her so very much. But there’s so much comfort in knowing that she’s with grandpa now, no doubt holding his hand and singing their duet of “You Are My Sunshine” while gazing into each other’s eyes.

I know that right now my grandpa is telling her she’s the best, most beautiful woman in the world, that he’s so lucky to have married her, that the family they built together is so wonderful. And he’s right. He was so lucky and so were we, to have known and been loved by Mary Nordin. And I know she’s looking at him and thinking the same, patting his hand, and at peace knowing everything did indeed, all work out.

Egypt Days 10-12: Sharm el Sheikh and the Red Sea

Now that it's been more than 5 months since we got back from Egypt I thought it would be a good time to finish my recaps!

After being so busy and active and awake SO EARLY every day of the trip in Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan, we were excited to head to Sharm el Sheikh on the coast for 3 days of pure relaxation.

But we had to get up crazy early one more time to make that happen. Our flight from Cairo to Sharm el Sheikh on December 30 took off at 6:15 a.m., which meant we left the hotel at 4 a.m., which meant we were up at 3 a.m. Oy.

It was delayed, of course, and it was the usual chaos to suddenly board the bus that takes you to the plane without warning, but then we were seated and on our way. This would be all of our first time on the continent of Asia. It's such a tiny corner I'm not sure it really counts, but it was still cool to check off two new continents as a family in one trip!

We got to the resort - Barcelo Tiran Sharm - about midday (?), hungry and confused about what time it was. We were able to go get lunch (it was an all-inclusive) and then change in the lobby bathroom to go hang out on the beach. The water was freezing, but that didn't stop my children from getting in immediately anyway.

Sharm el Sheikh was the first place we struggled with the language barrier. Not having a guide anymore, we didn't have our automatic Arabic translator. We also discovered that Russian was by far the most spoken language outside of Arabic as most of the tourists are from Russia (our driver told us 3 direct flights from Moscow land each day at the little Sharm el Sheikh airport). I think it was actually great for the kids (and us!) to be out of our English-speaking comfort zone. There was a lot of pantomining and pointing at the buffets and just kind of rolling with whatever you got.

Landon ordered a mocktail from the beach bar, took a sip, made a face, and told me the juice had gone bad. I took a sip. The juice was fine, it was the vodka I think he didn't like. My sweet baby boy, he'd definitely never had alcohol before 😂. The drinking age is 18 and Landon looks old enough, so this happened about six other times on the trip no matter how much he tried to point to the mocktail version on the menu and say "no alcohol." I enjoyed his cast-offs.

We eventually got our room, which was a 2 bedroom suite that I don't really remember but am sure was nice, and I probably took a nap? (I didn't keep good records of these lazy days). We enjoyed a great dinner and were in bed early. I do remember sleeping very, very well that night.

The next day- New Year's Eve- was truly lazy. We had nothing planned. All meals would be at the giant buffet. There would be a party that night. There was a beach and a scuba shop and a random cat on the beach chairs that Claire adopted immediately.

I was in regular clothes (it was cool out; not cold, but definitely not hot!) while James and Landon did a swim workout, Cora tried to build a sand castle, and Claire played with her new cat.

We decided to try scuba- the water is very shallow so you can do the beginner version. I got licensed in high school but haven't been since I started dating James (he had screwed up ears for many years and couldn't handle the pressure; a few surgeries later and he felt okay trying it, though he was super nervous about blowing his millionth ear drum, but it was fine!), so I was excited for everyone to try it.

The water is SO clear. It's really really beautiful. And in a wet suit I could handle it for at least a short amount of time!

Cora did not like it- she was just too cold- so she hung out on the shore while we waved at fishes and each other for thirty minutes.

That night we got dressed up a bit for the fancy buffet dinner. The staff did such a great job making it festive and the food was great.

We got a table for the New Year's party afterward only to learn it didn't start until like 10 pm which is very much our bedtime. We bought cards at the gift shop and played Uno (CNUNO!), drank fun mocktails, and listened to live music. Then we tapped out at like 9:45 and had no regrets as we crawled in our beds.

New Year's Day dawned bright and beautiful. We had a private boat snorkel tour arranged, so we hopped in our van transfer to get over to the public dock.

The boat was gorgeous- not at all the little motorboat I was expecting- and it was so fun to see the coastline from a different perspective.

Our captain caught a fish and told us we'd eat it with our lunch.

We stopped for a snorkel. The water was so cold, even with our wetsuits, but it was so crystal clear and beautiful that we braved it for a while anyway.

The sea life was plentiful, though I didn't take many pictures- we saw a lot of tropical fish and the colors were gorgeous.

We stopped at an island. By then I was warm and dry again so I stayed on the boat with the girls while Landon and James jumped in the water to swim over.

Beautiful!

We ate lunch on the boat (with our fish!) and it was great and then we were back at the resort for our last few hours in Egypt.

Our travel home would begin with a flight from Sharm el Sheikh to Cairo at 9:45 pm, so we kept our hotel room for the day so we could shower, change, pack, and lounge until we needed to leave. Our van picked us up at 7:15 pm and so began the long journey home.

Sharm to Cairo, Cairo to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Dallas. Claire had a timer going and it was 28 hours, 39 minutes, and 36 seconds before we walked through our front door back in Dallas. Long day (days?), tiny airplane seats, and not enough snacks, but absolutely worth every minute of the travel for the extraordinary adventure we were lucky enough to enjoy.

I can't stress enough how much we loved Egypt.

It was the trip of a lifetime. The history is extraordinary- we thought Italy was old and then we're touching pyramids built more than 6,000 years ago. The weather over Christmas break was absolutely blue-skied cool temped perfection. The people were so friendly, the food was delicious, the accomodations were great... we just truly loved everything. Multiple times during the trip James would just turn to me and go, "can you believe we're doing this?!" and I felt the same.

The scale, the history, just... how could these wonders even exist? How could they have been made and lasted so long? The colors in the Valley of the Kings were so vibrant- I have to repaint rooms in my house every 5 years and yet this paint is over 5,000 years old.

I wondered if the kids would object to the constant history lessons or the pre-5am-wakeup calls, but they didn't! They rolled with it and loved it and still talk about it and I am SO glad we got to do Egypt as a family.

Six months later I just can't believe we were there. What a gift.

All Egypt posts:
Days 1-3: Cairo and the start of the Nile cruise
Day 4: Luxor (Karnack, Luxor Temple, Valley of the Kings)
Day 5: Edfu and Kom Ombo and Nile River
Day 6: Abu Simbel, the High Dam, and Philae Temple
Day 7: Nubian Village, Aswan, back to Cairo
Day 8: The Great Pyramids of Giza and Saqqara
Day 9: Newer Cairo