April 2024 Newsletter
Hi all,
April was something of a hectic month for us—which is the main reason the newsletter is so late. The other reason is that, while Kevin ended up doing all the writing this month, he wanted Athennia to sign off on some of the more sensitive details before publication (which we just didn't have time to get around to doing right away).
But, we're good to go now; and so, here's the scoop: All of April's ups and downs in all their spectacular glory...
Starin' at the Sun
Who knew an earthquake would be perhaps the least interesting thing this month?
On the other hand, we all knew the eclipse would be a lackluster experience: We can't have so much as a meteor shower around here without the top brass at NASA going, "Alright, boys; you know the drill: Them PA folks are gonna try to watch the sky tonight; so, go ahead and seed them rain clouds right quick so they can't see nuthin!" (That's totally how NASA people speak.)
But Athennia and Kevin got to go on a cat-food caper and try their hand at being thugs, at least :)
Routine Maintenance
We narrowly avoided war with our apartment complex's maintenance guys; Lou and Taylor have been narrowly avoiding war with each other for nearly two years now; and some guy driving a white cuboid did not avoid war with a tough little pole.
Also, someone put a bunch of Skittles on the boulevard, Kevin and Athennia became plumbers for half an hour, Elton John made an appearance, and we went into Trenton after dark and (barely) lived to tell the tale.
Reassessment
Athennia's mom had a close call and ended up in the hospital just in the nick of time to stay alive; but then, the rest of the family came back into the fold and struck full force as well... leading to a painful epiphany of sorts.
Meanwhile, we had some random adventures as Riley had three days' of PSSAs down in Philadelphia-lite again; and then, to top off a week from hell, our Check-Engine light went on :)
Reconnecting...
But at least we closed out the month trending mostly positive!
Riley reconnected with her birth father Bradley for the first time since she was three, and that went better than any of us had probably envisioned.
Then we ate and drank ourselves stupid and tried not to get got at our friend Orlando's (Athennia's best friend Emily's boyfriend) birthday party.
Also, we got to see Kevin's family; Riley hung out with her l'il cuz Liv; and we're confident that even this decidedly-light round of cat pics will be more than enough for you to get your fix ;)
At this point we're counting down the days until Taylor graduates high school and Riley finishes seventh grade in just a few weeks. And, even though the "Kutztown property" plan is officially dead in the water, our dream of finding a place is definitely not; so we're very much still looking into other avenues for getting the heck out of Morrisville as soon as possible :)
Cheers,
Kevin & Athennia & Riley & Taylor