Pride

Cleo is the first to head to the Pride march, in her adorable little rainbow top and hat. She’s meeting school friends there, because one of the three of us had to be a social butterfly, and it sure as heck wasn’t Cyril or me.

Mom and Dad are staying home. They said “we’re too old to do this now, honey”. So their plan is staying home drinking cosmos.

I have to admit, their plans don’t look too bad either.

They might even be happy to be rid of us for the day. I feel like this is going to be quite the flirtatious day for them.

All ready for Pride! I went all out. I don’t go all out for any occasion. But this a special day for the twins, and I’ll be spending it with them, so it’s a special day for me.

So all the colors of the rainbow go on my clothes.

Cyril is living the rainbow in spirit, too. He even agreed to go outside without his usual fifteen layers of sunscreen. He ain’t living without the cap and the sunglasses though.

I did manage to get a hold of his cap and put it on backward.

Cleo’s the first to get back in the late afternoon. We all had a great time at the March, with the music and the dancing, and the friendly crowd. Cleo’s elated.

She isn’t elated for long, though. Or is she?

People have an interesting way of celebrating Pride Day around this neighborhood.

Pride Day Morning

Sun dawns on Newcrest, and Pride Day. We’re all up and active by 6AM, ready to celebrate all day.

By “all”, I mean, of course, all but Loladorada. She’s sleeping upstairs in my parents’ bedroom, probably grateful that dad’s snoring has stopped when he woke up.

For the occasion, mom makes pancakes soaked in syrup for us to attack. I’m still busy getting ready for the day, and by the time I finally reach the table, my siblings have already destroyed them, but you know. I still love them.

Mom also makes fresh smoothies.

Cleo is the first to get to the dining room, so she sets the table.

Look at them, not waiting for me.

I’m pretty sure it’s ultimately the smell of freshly baked food that wakes Loladorada up.

Rainy Afternoon

We’re halfway through summer already. The weather forecast says we can still expect the last remnants of a heatwave — but today the sky is gray, overcast, and going outside doesn’t really feel all that inviting. We’re looking forward for end-of-summer activities. We’re celebrating Pride Day soon, and we’ve decorated the house accordingly. It’s a whole plan!

Mom has exhumed some very old decorations from boxes upstairs. She says it’s almost as if she was seeing them for the first time; but now that she knows she’s there, she’s got a head full of ideas to give our home the seasonal makeovers she deserves.

Great-Grandma (who I usually call Gram for short), drops by in the early afternoon. She and Mom spend some time talking.

The twins make the most of the lazy day by watching an adventure movie together.

It’s Cleo’s turn to do the laundry chores. They’re a bit overdue, so she braces the humid heat to go and put it out to dry. Nounou is quite happy to drink from the puddles, for some reason only a cat could understand I guess.

Just as she’s headed outside for her daily run, a storm breaks out!

She’s a trooper though, and she still goes running.

Dad’s less of a trooper. He comes home from work to the thunderstorm and rushes inside.

RIP the laundry trying to dry on the clothesline.

I’m ready for Pride Day tomorrow.

Cyril’s First Date

Cyril’s made friend with one of his classmates. More than friends, really. With my advice, he gathered up the courage to ask her out — and also thanks to my advice, if I do say so myself, she said yes.

He doesn’t want to tell Mom or Dad about it, though. Only me and his twin.

But his twin doesn’t have a driver’s permit, so I’m the one to drive him to the Brindleton Bay lounge. Incidentally, I’m also the one to help with the entry price, as his allowance may be generous but it’s not quite enough.

Unfortunately, something goes wrong rather early on.

They’ve barely touched their (non-alcoholic) drinks when Cyril says something wrong.

The embarrassment is too much to take.

Thankfully, I’m not very far.

It’s okay, little bro, I’ll take you back home.

But not before thanking the bartender for making sure the drinks had no alcohol in them, and generally looking over the kids when I couldn’t show myself.

He’s a rather nice character. I don’t want to stay too long, but Cyril’s not-girlfriend has already gone anyway. A few more minutes don’t hurt, and he’s listening to the pianist play inside anyway.

Family

Life as a big family is always full of little acts of love and familiarity. It starts at breakfast — though I mostly do my own thing in the poolhouse, I always walk to the family dining room for meals. We banter, and complain about Loladorada and Nounou jumping around on the counters and tables, though really we think they’re adorable.

At breakfast, Mom usually does the cooking. She’s getting better at it, and she also needs less sleep than the rest of us. Sometimes she also packs the twins’ lunch for school. At noon, no one is at home but Dad and me, so it’s either a quick meal for the both of us, or leftovers, whenever we’re hungry. Then in the evening, it’s either up to Dad or me to maked dinner.

Today was Caprese salad for dinner. Not meaty enough to warrant Lola’s interest.

Mom’s a cheerful one.

And she’s always ready to help the twins with homework, whatever time of the day it is.

Laundry with the cats.

Over twenty years after their wedding, mom and dad are still very much in love.

Among Family

Hello there!

I’m Hannah. My mom probably told you all about me already, but you know how it is, with parents and children. She’s known me since before I was born, but she only knows what she sees of me.

With the recent celebration of my twentieth birthday, I officially became the reigning heir of the Stewarts family. Ha, I mean the family leader.

It’s a historical title more than anything. With Stewarts running around the whole region, from the cold Brindleton Bay piers to the Oasis Springs sandy dunes, this is a title that hasn’t meant a lot in a long time. I can hardly gather a whole family around for dinner now. I do inherit most of the family’s fortune, but it’s not like my many cousins are poor.

So what does it mean to be the fourteenth heir of such a huge family?

In my case, it means I was surrounded by family from the day I was born. I’ve been cradled and held by my grandmothers; I can have a chat with my great-grandma any day I want. My mother’s cousins are my aunts. So it’s no wonder family is important to me.

I’m close to my parents, even close to my younger siblings, the two mischevious twins. I remember the day they were born, and I love seeing them grow up. I want to help them grow up, and share everything I know and love with them. So I’m sticking around the family home in Newcrest, until they’re also old enough to move out on their own. The five of us, there’s not a single day that goes by when we’re not having a blast.

The Heir

There we go: the day dawns on my daughter’s last day as a teen — or her first day as an adult.

Hugo and I have been working on her cake since Hugo came home this morning, after a night spent at the office.

We’ve outdone ourselves, not only does the cake look edible, it’s actually really pretty to look at.

Happy Birthday, baby!

And there you go..

Hannah’s an adult.

We have a great day as a family, all of us celebrating around the table. Hannah is not quite ready to leave the house yet. Unlike me at her age, she’s not longing for independence. She knows she’s already independent enough — what she wants is to stay close to us, and more importantly, her siblings.

We’re fine with that. Ironically for people who couldn’t get out of their parents’ house fast enough, we’re not quite ready to let her go yet.

Now that she and I are older, though, I have to hand the title of Stewarts heir over to her. My life is far from over; but hers has just begun.

So this is where I leave you. It’s her turn to guide you through her story.

First Day at the Lab

Here it is, my very first day at the Oasis Springs Laboratory! It feels like they missed a fundamental issue with the idea of wearing full-body coat and protection in the middle of the desert.

The lab is both impressive and, quite frankly, sort of gloomy.

It’s cooler on the inside though, both literally and figuratively. Quickly I meet my superior. I’ve had him on the phone before, he’s a peach.

So is his assistant, who I suspect probably has a thing for him, but that’s really none of my business.

I get to play with cool new toys!

And with no one to supervise me, too.

It’s a blast!

Around lunch break, I get a bit of exercise on the machines upstairs, and I get greeted by a man in an odd haircut who says he’s been assigned to be my lab partner.

He doesn’t look all that bright, though.

And he keeps following me around.

Luckily, you need to be alone to use a microscope.

I’m having a blast at this new job, and I haven’t even discovered what this weird, egg-shaped machine does!

Hannah’s Prom

Hannah’s Prom Night is very different from mine.

First of all, magical garden themes are out of fashion. Her promotion’s theme is “in the middle of the night”, whatever that means.

But it’s not just that. I went to my prom with a solid group of five of my friends, one of them the long-term boyfriend I would end up marrying;

Hannah… Hannah walked into these doors alone. Not that it bothered her, but for me, the contrast was stark.

That being said, I was also at the event, sneaking around the corners, officially for chaperoning purposes, unofficially because I’m nosy like that.

The dress code was fancy, but they were pretty lax with actually enforcing it — some people here just didn’t care enough to actually make an effort. Hannah low-key admired that.

Nolan was also a chaperone, and Hannah spent most of her evening talking to him.

Because as it turned out, when she tried talking to other people…

There were misunderstandings…

And bad experiences.

We didn’t linger very long.

On the car ride home I try to comfort Hannah, but she reassures me — she couldn’t be happier now that this is all over.

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