The Logan Family

Month: June 2023

  • Off to Visit Grandma Sue

    This is a big year, because a few months ago, Grandma Sue turned 90. This is my mom’s mom, who grew up in Virginia.

    My mom and her sisters did a short visit to see her right around her birthday, and they had a great visit. Aunt Sherry from Missouri, And Margie from Waco, and my mom, of course from North Carolina.

    Instead of getting all the cousins together to celebrate that weekend, she asked that we come visit throughout the year. Of the 8 grandchildren, most have been by to visit her in Waco. This past week, I spent 4 days down there and had a lot of fun just sitting with her, and learning her stories from her childhood in the great depression in Virginia.

    The flight to Waco was easy- Greensboro to Dallas, and Dallas to Waco. This time, instead of renting a car in Dallas and driving almost 2 hours down, I flew right into Waco, and took a 20 minute Uber to her house. After all of the waiting on the runway, it would have been quicker to drive to Waco 🙁

    It was shockingly hot- here is an image from the car dashboard. Yes, it reads 107 degrees

    Grandma Sue shared stories about how her dad helped build some of the buildings on Virginia Tech’s campus. And how her grandfather fought in the civil war. It may be hard to believe, but then she already went and did the legwork, and something like this turns up:

    That same man, Bob Miles, courier for Robert E Lee, met the president:

    Kinda wild?

    And how Grandma and her 4 sisters helped build the house that they lived in by collecting stones out of the river.

    “It was kinda fun, daddy turned it into a game really”.

    We talked about her husbands, and how she is looking forward to meeting Jesus. We talked about the fun things- like when she and my Grandpa Kelly ran away together to get married. And the sad things- lots of family tragedy over the years. It was a sweet, sweet visit.

    It was neat to see all of the tables, chairs, the cuckoo clock, and the grandfather clock from as long as I could remember, all in her beautiful home. Im proud of her for still living on her own. She is a tough lady.

    This particular painting has always stood out. My mom painted it when she was pregnant with Matt, and it is one of those things that has the power to stop people in their tracks. Some people don’t feel comfortable being in the same room with it. But to me, it is an image I remember seeing since I was a kid, and it is still special to me for some reason I cant quite put my finger on.

    We got to indulge in a Dove Bar as a treat at the end of the day. And visit my aunt Margie, and my cousin Melissa as well. Margie just finished re-doing her kitchen, and it looks great:

    Also, one of my goals while visiting Texas was this:

    I didn’t get an extra burger for grandma (Sorry about that!) but it was delicious.

    Next week

    There is a chance I can convince Taylor to be a guest-contrbutor to the blog next week. Stay tuned!

  • Fathers Day 2023

    Fathers Day 2023

    It was a little…different this year.

    The day before fathers day, we went to a wedding (actually, just the reception) in Charlotte. It was a lot of fun, as one of Taylor’s co-workers got married. Only a few of her co workers would be there: her boss, the CFO, and two others that I didn’t get a chance to talk to.

    It was at a brewery that was rented out for the occasion. Here is the first dance:

    The wedding was a blast. A big reason for making the 90 minute drive was because Taylor’s boss,Dave, has a daughter exactly Rosie’s age, and they had a lot of fun together.

    Here is the crew of “Airheads”, that Taylor works with at Aiir:

    So what does this have to do with father’s day?

    The wedding was great, but Rosie was a bit more deflated than usual. She didn’t want to go play as much, and was looking super tired. By the drive back:

    To clarify: Rosie NEVER sleeps in the car.

    The next day (Father’s day) the thermometer, at its highest, was 103.9 degrees. Rosie, who LOVES to celebrate Father’s day, Mothers day, Valentines Day, etc. was devastated. “Sorry I ruined father’s day”, she kept saying (she did not ruin fathers day).

    We did have to change our brunch plans with Taylor’s family though: Taylor went with Mercy to spend time with her dad, and I stayed at home with Rosie and enjoyed a bit of quiet time, and watched online church. Honestly, it was a great, quiet morning. 10/10. Highly recommend.

    Is that it?

    In recent years, for things like Father’s Day and Mother’s day, and sometimes Birthdays, we have taken after Taylor’s parents in one way: We buy our own gifts sometimes. This isn’t all the time. But if there is a certain gift that Taylor knows I will not do her justice with, she will get it herself. This includes clothes, shoes, etc.

    This year, I did the same. For a while, I have tossed around the idea of a nintendo switch for the noble reason of bonding with Rosie over some video games. The reason is because I had heard that Nintendo 64 games, Super Nintendo, and others were available on the Switch. All that I wanted to do was play Mario Kart, because it is an easy game to play.

    For better context, I haven’t played video games since middle school, and I am 38 now.

    So, I was browsing on Ebay, because this falls in the category of “perfect things to buy on ebay”, and came upon one for $189 from a pawn shop in Ohio. There are a couple version of the switch: lite (handheld only), regular, and Oled (bigger screen). I wanted the regular, because it can be played on the tv screen, so made a low-ball offer, and the seller accepted: $159. Normally they go for $299.

    So, in addition to staying home for Father’s day with a sick Rosie, we got to play Mario Kart, and all was right in the universe (I won).

    Also this week

    Rosie’s dance company had a special end-of-year awards ceremony, and Rosie took home the “Rookie of the year” award for “coming in and making friends, and going above and beyond with a new team”.

    The awards seemed like a big to-do, and it is always cool when Rosie gets to do something with Dance, because she knows her cousins will be there:

    Also, this is a funny, candid moment Taylor caught on video this week. Just before we grilled our steaks for father’s day, the girls were waiting outside. Rosie was told not to get too close to Mercy, so as not to get her sick, and Mercy was trying her hardest to get Rosie to engage:

  • Swimming and Summer

    Swimming and Summer

    Rosie’s End of Year Party

    Rosie just finished second grade, and we decided to throw an end-of-schoolyear bash for her and some of her friends from school. The party did not disappoint.

    Above is an image of the dads from the party. Taylor had the idea of a photo-booth, and it was a blast.

    Why throw an end-of-year party? Good question. She didn’t graduate, thats for sure- and there were a lot of graduation parties around the area during this time of year.

    Rosie and our neighbor/Rosies bestie, Sydney, on their walk on the last day of school.

    I think because Rosie’s first year of kindergarten was 2020 when things were locked down and we weren’t allowed to go into the school, and do all of the traditional things where there was a chance to meet Rosie’s friends and other parents. We should have been having get togethers all along, but there haven’t been many opportunities, so Taylor and I (mostly Taylor, let’s be honest), wanted to have an excuse to meet everyone from around the neighborhood.

    Rosie and Taylor spent some time putting together THE ULTIMATE DANCE PARTY MIX. And these kids were WILD. They werent disrespectful, and they didn’t break anything (that is me sounding like an old man just now), but they were a wild bunch together.

    The kids self-organized into a pre-planned wedding as well. This was planned and organized the last week of school.

    The happy couple.

    The selfie-spot was a hit as well:

    Also, instead of a large, water-themed bounce house that would produce messy kids that would track mud into the house (I vetoed the idea), there was an option for a smaller bounce-house for the littler kids.

    Our next door neighbor, Jimmy, came over with this three year old to try out the bouncy house.

    It was not successful.

    But he got it up and running again. 🙂

    Maybe this will be an annual thing? Its hard to think how we can host many more people than what showed up this year, but it was pretty fun.

    Swim Team

    Rosie does dance, and in the summer, for her age group, there is a 6 week city-wide swim league (is league the right word?). Each of the neighborhood pools have a team. Each week, they compete against another pool: Sherwood, the Friendly Frogs, Bur-mil, and others.

    These meets are a mad-house. It seems like there are over 100 swimmers between the two teams. And each swimmer has a family of 1-2 or more people attending with them. And the competitions start at 5 (be there early), and end whenever they are complete (around 10:30 or so). It is a LONG day.

    BUT, Rosie is getting more into it.

    Above Rosie is slow off the start, but still eeks out a win in the 25 meter breaststroke, in the lance closest to the camera.

    Rosie also did the freestyle (above, closest lane) and the backstroke. It is cool how in the videos above, she was neck-and-neck with her bestie, Sydney.

    Other things.

    After the party, and before assessing the damage and cleaning everything, we took a breakfast break for pancakes at Tex and Shirleys. Its funny to see Rosie living some of the exact things I lived as a kid, when I went to tex-and-shirleys with my dad 30+ years ago.

    Breakfast was good. Mercy smiles a lot, until you ask her to, like the image above.

    During the school day, her daycare uses an app and can send us photos of her throughout the day. We see her do things like play on the playground, play with her friends, etc.

    This image stood out this week as a reminder that Mercy is a little different than her peers.

    It reminded both of us of this image:

    Thats it for now. If you made it this far, take a moment and share: What are your plans for the summer? Do you have anything exciting planned?

  • Dance dad, mancala, and prayer

    Dance dad, mancala, and prayer

    Dance Dad

    This past weekend was Rosie’s dance recital. She has been working hard on these dances all year, and they look AWESOME now, compared with their first performances in the beginning of the year. So proud of her.

    Rosie’s performance of “80’s Mercedes”

    Her dance company is the new kid on the block. It was started by a single mom during the pandemic. And, because Rosie’s big cousins go there, the decision to attend Infinite Dance was an easy one.

    Rosie’s other dance, “Wings”:

    Like always, Taylor was a champ at getting her ready for the recital: doing rosie’s hair, and makeup is no easy task. But, Rosie looked great, and it was a little weird seeing her all grown up, but I am proud of her.

    And it meant a lot to Rosie to have her family show up.

    Cici is so proud to see her grand daughters dance:

    Honestly, dance wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without seeing her big cousins there. In between the two parts of the recital, we got to get a quick, super-early dinner together; our first choice wasn’t opened yet, but this chipotle really hit the spot.

    Also, as a side note, congrats to Lila on graduating from 8th grade! Her school had a beautiful, catholic-mass and ceremony for the event. I didnt get many pictures of the event, but did want to give a shout out to Amelia for being such an awesome big cousin, and hanging with Mercy outside during some of the event. Mercy and Amelia have really bonded over the past several months and it is so special to see.

    Mancala you say?

    Do any of you remember Mancala? It is that coffee-table game you have likely seen all over the place, but never knew the name of it.

    It usually is a game that exists on a coffee table, and never actually gets played. Unless you are Rosie Logan and Chad Lynam.

    It really is a fun game. Last night (Sunday) we went to our favorite brewery place called Oden, and met with our long time friends Chad and Rachel. Rosie brought her Mancala along, looking for a challenge, and “Uncle Chad” stepped up. Why uncle? Well, he has been around for around 25 years (hard to say exactly). Was a college roomate. And groomsman. So, Rosie has only known her as “uncle chad” because he is like a brother to me.

    And of course it was amazing to see Rosie explain the game:

    Word was that Chad squeaked out a win.

    It was fun, but we missed seeing Uncle Houston last night. Maybe next time?

    Prayer

    Taylor and I have really enjoyed the church we have called home for about 8 years now. I won’t go into the details about the church here, but Taylor and I are both involved in different ways. She is on the vestry, which is like the “board” of the Church; and I am on the prayer team.

    The prayer team does two things: Pray for people on Sunday mornings, and pray over the weekly prayer list.

    Weekly, reading over the two page list, written in very small font, of things to pray for in the congregation, is just a sobering experience. It is a list shared in confidence, so details can’t be shared here, but the pain that people in our church body are experiencing is so palpable. There are people recovering from cancer, have widespread cancer, some have lost newborns, surgeries, family-deaths, finances, bacterial infections that require hospitalization, etc. It is so sad. There is so much brokenness, and so much sadness that people carry around.

    Why am I sharing this? Because the joys that are shared in this blog are not something I deserve. Things could change at any minute. However, they are things that I celebrate now: family, fun, and failures. Life is good at the moment. It will change at some point. The prayer list, for me, is a sobering reminder of how precious these memories are.