We slept in a little more this morning and hit the road toward our campsite. We hiked to the Yellowstone River after seeing Tower Falls and then made our way to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The falls were pretty cool, and we hiked down to the very top of the lower falls. We were literally right on top of it. The drive to the campground was beautiful through the mountains. We saw more bison. We got our campsite set up and had dinner on the lake. Another great day.
Category: June 2026
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June 14
We were up before dawn to make it into Yellowstone. It is a pretty amazing place. We walked around Mammoth Hot Springs, drove through the Lamar Valley, saw some bison, pronghorn deer, a coyote, and Billy and Christina saw a bear. We went for a five-mile hike that just about killed everyone for some reason – everyone finished the hike hating life and hating each other. I personally enjoyed it and was in a decent mood at the end other than dealing with all of the attitude around me. Oh, but we saw an otter in one of the ponds we walked past, so that was cool. Good first day.
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June 13
We made it to Bozeman. Up at 4:30am and spent the day flying. I was happy that everything went smoothly, from the Uber to security to the flights being on time, smooth connections, no problem with the car rental… nice lunch at a saloon where we learned that soda is pop here. The mountains are beautiful!
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June 12
I think we’re all set for our trip tomorrow. Took Christina to dance and it was fucking hot in the car. Thank goodness it’s only a 45-minute class. We had Renna’s white pizza for dinner, which is always a treat. I think Jackson suspects something.
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June 11
I took part of the day off to run a bunch of errands ahead of our trip – post office to mail a birthday gift to Hailey, bank to get cash for Thomas, gym for the run I didn’t do this morning. It feels weird to do these things in ADVANCE and not at the last minute. Is this what being organized feels like?
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June 10
It’s another marathon Wednesday. Therapy, dance, NAMI, work, all happening at exactly the same time. One more NAMI class and then I think things will get easier. I’m realizing that the kids really need something to do with themselves this summer. Robin is walking around in a clouded funk, barely speaking to anyone except in grunts. Christina sort of listlessly drifts between her room and the TV, also having nothing to say. It’s even boring ME. Today Christina did bake cookies – even tried a new recipe, which came out great. I wish I could think of a project for them, but you know how sometimes you’re so bored that even fun things sound boring? That’s where they are right now. I just want to snap them out of it because you know what I would do if I had the whole summer free? EVERYTHING. Every goddamn thing. These kids suck.
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June 9
I wasn’t feeling well most of the day. I suspect some kind of mild kidney issue, but who knows. It hurt to breathe at certain points of the day. Whatever it was seems to have resolved itself, though. Right around the same time that Robin noticed this rainbow on our way back from the gas station to buy Twizzlers. Coincidence?
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June 8
Nothing too special about today. Work, made dinner (grilled chicken cutlets with black olives and feta cheese, plated on the platter I painted with Christina a couple weeks ago), took Christina to dance, watched the Yankees and Knicks. I made a milkshake after dinner, but I put too much milk in it. Not that it tasted bad, just not very thick. And that’s about it.
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June 7
The girls and I went to SeaWorld today. It was a much better day than the last time we came. We got to feed sharks, which sounds a lot cooler than it was. The fish we threw sort of floated to the bottom and most of the sharks could care less. It was fun throwing around dead fish, though. We got to go on the new Expedition Odyssey ride, and that was fun. It was so hot – over 90 today – but that’s June in Florida. Next time we’ll do the flume rides and let the orcas splash us.
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June 6
I laid the first layer of gravel for the patio. It may not be thick enough and it’s definitely not level, but I put down a pallet’s worth, so it’s not nothing. I also tried to level out all the dirt piles in the big depression in our yard. I think I did about a B job on it. It’s a little nuts that all that patio dirt still doesn’t make that area flat. But… it’s better, so yay. Two birds with one stone and all that. It’s starting to look like something.
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June 5
Christina had her dance recital and it went really well. I had thought she was in the back for all her dances and was upset about it, but it turns out that I just suck at picking her out with a camera. I took over 600 photos at the dress rehearsal and she was barely visible in all of them. After watching the performance, there were lots of opportunities for me to take pictures of her in the front. Apparently I have some work to do when it comes to dance photography. We went out to eat with Rosina and Dion afterwards – it means so much that they come all the way from Daytona for these things, especially on a work day. I hope Christina is proud.
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June 4
Robin had her tumbling class and was invited to join the advanced class, which apparently is empty except for her. I think she likes the sense of recognition she’s getting from the coaches. It’s so nice to be at a gym that reinforces her instead of tearing her down. She also made white chicken chili for dinner, which was delicious. Not a bad day for Robin.
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June 3
Long, busy day with a lot of meetings and a lot of talking. I had four hours of training calls at work and then a 2 1/2 hour NAMI meeting afterwards. Also this morning Robin came with me to the gym. I haven’t been in weeks, so it was nice to be there and also nice to share the time with her. She hated every second but finished smiling. I’ll take it.
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June 2
Today was recital dress rehearsal marathon day. We left the house at 1:45 and didn’t get home until 9:20. Long afternoon. Luckily after a few years, I know to go prepared, so it was tolerable. I played with my new camera so much that I used up the battery by the time they were halfway through. I even have two spare batteries, but I left them at home because I never expected I’d use one up like that! Now I know. I’ll have to look at the photos on my laptop tomorrow or Thursday to see how it did. The photos looked a little blurry in the low light, but I’m hoping some came out ok. I had fun playing around – I just wish I had more shots of Christina’s dances and not everyone else’s.
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June 1
Robin finished this Lego project tonight that we bought when we were in New York over spring break. It was a long labor of love and parts of it were tedious with all the little tiny pieces that had to go together perfectly. But she really did it herself – I only had to help twice (three times if you count the $13 replacement piece I bought for her). I’m impressed! And proud. It’s a really cool piece, lots of moving, working parts. Nicely done.
Year in Photos 