Trying to get Whiskey to sit still for a selfie

California!

You know what? I'm not even going to caption these photos. You get the gist. It was great to be with so many family members, great to enjoy the sunshine (and fog) of southern California, and great to create some special memories with our new nuclear family.

Here's to California!

3 Things About Ethan That The Goverment Doesn't Want You to Know

1. He has made his college choice. He will attend Centre College, a small liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. It's a bold choice, most notably because it will be such a radical change from the Upper West Side.

62.5% of Kentuckians voted for Trump. I'd like to say that I don't disparage the entire state of Kentucky for that, but I kind of do. It's less in anger than condescending pity, like when your grandmother gets phished by someone claiming to be a Nigerian prince. You just shake your head and sigh. That's how I feel about the state of Kentucky.

But it was also a bold choice for Centre College to admit Ethan. So kudos to everyone involved. Life should be about stretching one's boundaries.

2. He just completed his semester-long senior project, which consisted of writing an entire 120,000-word novel. He was cranking out ten pages a day for the past three months (does that add up? I'm not going to check). He says the goal wasn't to write a great novel, but simply to write 120,000 words. 

I'm inching along with my own novel, and he blew by me like a '79 Firebird Formula overtaking a '76 Gremlin.

In short, I'm very impressed.

Here he is with his project advisor, after his presentation this week:

3. As of next Wednesday he will be a high school graduate. Which means Jo and I will have no more household members enrolled in the K-12 school system. Which means we need to get more in the pipeline. Pronto. 

But I digress.