To celebrate the last day of school, we went out to dinner last Friday.  It was… an interesting experience.

First, we picked a restaurant that we haven’t been frequenting as of late, but we knew would have something for everyone.  It was one of our local diner-style restaurants, where breakfast is served all day long.  Since the boys love breakfast foods, I figured this would be a winner.

Well, after we convinced Rerun that their pancakes would be excellent, he agreed to it.

But when we got there, we discovered that there was a limit of 5 people to a table.  And we are a family of 6… who actually live together in the same house.  Everyone agreed that this was supremely dumb, but this is the current county regulation.

So the Webmaster and I sat with the little boys, and Ane and Tad got their own table.

It ended up working out okay.  Rerun was SOLD on his stack of pancakes, and ate them with ketchup.  (Please don’t ask; we can’t explain him.)  Thumper managed one pancake, but Tad (who devoured a full-size waffle with syrup, two scrambled eggs, and two sausage links) eagerly finished off his brother’s leftover pancakes.

Note to self: next time, find Tad an all-you-can-eat buffet.

We made quite the weekend out of it!

On Saturday, we had as many family as we could outside in our backyard for a Father’s Day barbecue!  This meant Grandma and Gichan, Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa, Ressis and Oddball and their kids, and Auntie and JW.  We haven’t all been together in the same place since…. Christmas, I think.

A good time and a good meal was had by all, and the kids did very well together!

And then we spent Sunday – Father’s Day itself – pretty laid-back and quiet, though the Webmaster got some presents and we ordered curbside takeout from one of his favorite restaurants.  Oh, and we got a good picture of him and the kids together.

Notice that the Webmaster’s hair is nice and trimmed up?  Our salon is FINALLY open again, and he got his hair cut!

WE MADE IT, PEOPLE.

The last projects were turned in yesterday afternoon, and today was merely a formality as the boys all had one last Zoom meeting (or in Tad’s case, two of them).  Then I immediately got asked, “so, when are we getting our summer books?”

I love tradition.  They might not have had an actual last day of school, but they can have their summer books.

I’m so proud of them.  No one had any clue that this is how the school year would end, but here we are.  We are DONE.

Now, if only the school district can figure out what it’s doing for this coming fall….

I’m not crying.  I’M NOT CRYING.

But yeah, this is an emotional day.  Tad was supremely nervous when he started middle school.  Three years later, there is no party, or assembly ceremony, or anything but a banner in a local park, a certificate, and some cupcakes.  He doesn’t even have a yearbook yet.

Still, Tad has finished eighth grade, and he will go on to high school next year.

HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE???