Due to COVID-19, we’ve now celebrated two quaranteen birthdays.

Everything was still locked down when Maggie turned 14 back in April, so she wasn’t able to celebrate with friends at all. We were still determined to get her out of the house, so Clark loaded up the ATV’s and took the kids out to Knik for the first ride of the season. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way the ignition key to his ATV was lost, so the kids couldn’t ride as much or as far as they hoped. Their plans to hit the shooting range were foiled as well due to road conditions. But Maggie still came home with a smile and enjoyed opening her gifts and one of her favorite meals: grilled steak, zucchini, and pasta cooked with garlic and chicken stock. Can’t forget the custom Reese’s ice cream cake, which was a definite hit. (And no, she didn’t eat that entire steak!)

Fourteen meant Maggie was old enough for a debit card and learner’s permit, but she had to wait a bit longer due to COVID. Her patience paid off and she is now the proud owner of both! I cannot believe we have two teen drivers in the house. I also cannot believe we spent four excruciating hours at the DMV for her permit!

Sam was a little luckier, with the world opening up by his June birthday. We let him invite a few friends over for an outdoor party. The boys played basketball and football for five straight hours, and they were absolutely exhausted by the end of the evening. The social distancing was far from perfect, but we are doing our best to balance physical and mental health. The boys only came inside if they needed to use the restroom, which was stocked with plenty of soap, bleach wipes, and paper towels. Towards the end of the evening some longtime family friends crashed the party, bringing Sam gas money and a tower of Pho. (His love of Costco Pho is a little over the top.) The night ended with another homemade ice cream cake – Hershey themed this time!

Sixteen is obviously a rite of passage birthday, and he is over the moon excited about his first car. It’s a 2013 Subaru Legacy with only 67,000 miles. He’s happy with its sportiness, we are happy with its safety, and we needed something with AWD to get up and down our hill in the winter. This checked all the necessary boxes.

This car represents freedom for all of us: mostly Sam of course, but I won’t know what to do with myself when I’m not schlepping him to piano and soccer and cross country and friends’ houses. Clark has been patiently teaching him the rules of the road for over two years now, and I must admit he’s a solid driver.

It turns out the trip from the car seat to the driver’s seat is a pretty quick journey. One day they are tootling around the cul-de-sac in their Power Wheels, and before you know it they are driving real vehicles. This parenting trip is going way too fast!