On Tuesday night, the kids and made our way to New York for Thanksgiving. <3

As always, descending on a night flight is an instant lullaby for Sammy.

We slept at Nana and Papa’s house on Tuesday night. It was – not easy, but I’m glad we did it so now we know we can.

On Wednesday am, Amaya and I went grocery shopping for the last of what we needed for Thanksgiving dinner. (Except for what I couldn’t find or forgot to buy lol.) Amaya joined me because she wanted to get gummy candy for Charlie.

Amaya and I picked Chase up as his house bc he only had a half day or school and went to visit Savta and Auntie for lunch. The kids have such a good time looking at all of stuff Savta has. Sooooooo much stuff to see and play with.

Amaya, in Savta’s fuzzy vest.

Dod Shuki came, too!

A decent part of the visit for the kids was spent in Chase’s room playing minecraft together. So. Much. Minecraft.

On Thursday we had an amazing adventure – one that was a first for all of us! We got up early and went into Manhattan to watch the Thanksgiving Parade live. Growing up, our Saba Bob (Nana’s father) worked on the parade so it was tradition to watch and we didn’t have Thanksgiving dinner until he got home. It makes the parade extra special to us and it was a great way to make Thanksgiving Day less about what was missing and, instead, about something fun and new.

On 59th street, before the parade started. We watched the parade on 59th and 6th, facing down 59th street where the parade turns onto 6th. The view was spectacular. And the weather was gorgeous!

Greg, from Diary of a Wimpy Kid – a current Cline kid favorite book series.

Sisters!

The kids loved getting showered with confetti by parade participants.

Look at this view the kids had!

Beautiful weather, even though Sammy looks like he’s ready to climb Everest.

Happy post-parade Steven.

Thursday afternoon, the Goldbergs had dinner plans with Dave’s family so the kids and I had dinner with Gene.

A bedtime visit from a Thanksgiving turkey

On Friday we had a bigger Thanksgiving dinner and, as always, Sammy prepped the turkey and did a super job.

We had turkey, vegetables, Nana’s corn pudding, roasted potatoes and stuffing.

Saturday was our last full day which started with another visit to Savta’s house. This time Charlie was able to join us.

We ended the visit with dinner out with Gene. Steven insisted on a seat where he could see the Michigan State football game. 🙂

We’re home now and it’s been a lazy day. Tonight, I’m going to the movies (Devotion) and Jason is taking the kids out for dinner because our fridge is broken.

Hope you all had a great thanksgiving! It was a harder one for us, but we made it through and made great memories.

*Blog title from Amaya

Everyone was sick this week. Everyone had sick days at home. Steven was home Monday and Wednesday. Sammy was home Thursday. Amaya was home Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Everyone is healthier now but it was a weird week in the house. Lots of coughing and headaches – but no covid.

Resting Bobes reading a Stick Dog book

Even though he didn’t feel well, I think Steven spoke to Sophia for 4 or 5 hours straight. I could hear him upstairs while I was working. Sophia sent me this picture of Steven reading off the digits of pi.

Doing art together

Amaya had fun doing math problems. The Cline kids love math. 🙂

Monday night was the last of session of my 8 week grief workshop. It was a positive experience. I definitely feel less fragile and more able to understand & talk about my grief. My small group is staying in touch, too.

This last day, there was a slide show of all of our loved ones who are gone and we made leaves for a tree.

One of the kids’ Kiwi Co kits is spin art and all three kids used it all week long. It even contains the mess.

On Thursday, when Sammy and Amaya were home together, Uncle Sammy took all of Amaya’s babies to the doctor for their flu shots. These two play really nicely together. I love to see it.

The boys were well by Friday which was great because it was in time for their first friend sleepover. Their friend Ben slept over and it worked out particularly well because they had a half day of school so Ben was able to come over at 2pm and stay until 10am on Saturday. They played (a lot of) minecraft, ate pizza, took sleds out in the yard and watched a Star Wars movie. The boys all had a great time.

Amaya and Sophia made cupcakes for everyone.

We had a lazy Saturday. I went to a 2.5 hr workshop of “Greif and Special Days” and that’s about it for the Clines. Amaya and Steven each also fell asleep on Jason during the day. A very rare event.

We celebrated Chelsey’s 5th birthday. Amaya set up stations that we rotated around. It was very well planned.

The lincoln log station.

They could use typing classes, but the kids have started writing stories and poems on their chromebooks. I love it.

That’s it for this week! On Tuesday we’re off to NY for Thanksgiving.

Have a great week!

*Blog title from Steven

It’s still so difficult to write the blog. I think, maybe, it’s the connection to everything that’s happening – the way life is moving on, and my mom isn’t here to experience it. She loved Steven, Sammy and Amaya so much and it hurts that I can’t share their lives with her. So, for anyone else who reads this, please bear with me. For now, but not forever, there’s no separating my grief from the blog.

I need to back up because I was away last week and missed out on actual Halloween. The weather ended up being our friend. Rain stopped and the weather was warm for October 31st in Michigan. As we’ve done for the past few years, we took our kids to the downtown Northville neighborhoods that go all out for Halloween. Thousands of people, over the top themed houses – Halloween perfection.

Amaya crutched her way through the streets for an hour like a champ and did, in fact, get some extra candy out of it. So many people said, “What a trooper.” 🙂

So many families

On Tuesday morning, early, I flew down to Key Largo for an amazing 6 days/five nights of self care. What I said on Facebook which sums it up: I’m on a self care journey and that included a solo vacation. Last week I spent 5 nights in Key Largo in a perfect secluded spot where I sat and sat and sat and sometimes jet skied. I didn’t look at work emails even once. And, then, after I had days of talking to no one but the beach bartender, the room service guy and the jet ski guy, my wonderful friend Hannah joined me for the weekend – and was so understanding about my need for time to myself. The trip was an amazing and needed reset. My mom would love that I did this for myself.

Here are some photos of the view from my room, the pool, the beach…

I spent hours and hours and hours with this view from under a tiki umbrella

Hannah got this shot of me coming back from a jet ski ride

Hannah <3

The kids lives continued on while I was away…

On Friday, 11/4, the kids went to an event at the New Hope Grief Center – the same place that runs my grief workshop. It was for elementary age kids who’ve experienced a launch. They were all interested in checking it out. A highlight was meeting the Northville mayor.

Photos from dinner out with Jason on Sunday night

There was no school on Tuesday because of election day so, while the boys had a friend over, Amaya and Sophia had quality time.

In the afternoon they went to another event sponsored by the New Hope Grief Center – this one at Stemville.

It was such a nice day that, afterwards, they went to a playground. (The nice weather is g-o-n-e.)

Amaya had a terrible cough this week and stayed home from school on Wednesday and Thursday which meant she got even more cuddle time with Sophia.

Steven hasn’t had a haircut in ages and it was long overdue so I took him to Marni, my curly haircut lady. She loved Steven’s curls and listened to what he wanted which was mostly to cut his bangs so he can see and trim the rest.

On Thursday, Steven made it over the 2nd wall at Ninja. First Cline kid to do it!

Our weekend fun was a visit from Ames! She arrived on Thursday night and stayed until Sunday morning. During her visit she made fast friends with SSA (it’s been a while since Ames has seen them), we saw a live show of a podcast Ames loves in Detroit, I got a consult for a new tattoo and we went out to eat with the kids.

Amaya made tea for Ames in the morning

Ames played at least 4 million games of air hockey, including some with three pucks

Steven cuddles with Daddy

Out for dinner with Ames. We all agree Amaya looks like Charlie here.

Finally, a sleeping sick Steven.

And, look! I did it! Have a great week.