Mother’s Day 2023

Who goes golfing on Mother’s Day? Apparently just us! While everyone was having brunch, we finished what is normally a six-hour round in three-and-a-half hours. This was our 3rd round in five days. It’s great to see Grace at 100% and enjoying herself (as much as you can in gale winds).

Our tradition of spending Mother’s Day with the Moons was disrupted by conflicting sports schedules. Olivia took one for the team and we were able to meet-up as planned at Mastro’s in SF. We were only missing Lucas, who is in Japan on a school trip.

Happy Mother’s Day to Grace, Clara, and our moms!

7 Photos



2023 U of M Ski Trip to Vail

This past weekend was spent with brothers for life in Vail. Although the tradition goes back at least a decade, this was only my second trip. It’s not easy to herd this many cats on a mountain as big as Vail, but we did our best.

It’s easy to see the routine: Loaded Joes, skiing, hot tub, dinner and cards, with some other activities sprinkled in between. There were some high speed crashes, but everyone went home in one piece. As always it was great to reconnect and catch up with each other throughout the trip.

Lamar and I broke our perfect record of losing in Euchre, but one of those wins was against a team who had no idea what they were doing. Allard and Durbin are unbelievably undefeated and couldn’t be less gracious about that fact – worst winners ever.

Thanks to Brad who organized a special dinner in a private room at Elway’s. His only request was that everyone share a toast. I had a conversation last year about learning the importance of never missing an opportunity to let people in your life know what they mean to you. This group already gets it. Many beautiful words were shared to attest to the gratitude we all share for our decades of friendship.

I’m already looking forward to Super Bowl weekend in Vail next year (and every year thereafter).

GO BLUE!

73 Photos



U of M Tahoe Trip to Blaine’s – Winter Edition

Matt invited the west coast crew back up to Lake Tahoe for a ski trip. It’s just as beautiful up there in the winter, just snowier. I rode up with Ben on Thursday evening and Matt and Dukes were already up there.

Friday, we skied Palisades, which was the first time for me in years. Because I last skied there when the kids were very little, I don’t recall the big mountain aspect if this resort. It was a welcome change. We met up with Greg and his friends and skied together after lunch.

On Saturday, we avoided the crowds and skied at Matt’s home mountain of Homewood. This was a first for me. I always thought Heavenly had the best views in Lake Tahoe but I was wrong. Homewood is right on the lake with spectacular views everywhere. It was well groomed and quiet. The plumbing is not modern.

Great weekend away with the boys. Hope we do it again soon. Thanks for having us, Blaine!

27 Photos



Olivia’s Surprise 16th Birthday Party

Olivia hasn’t had very many birthday parties with friends over the years because her birthday lands during the holidays. Her very thoughtful and sweet friends threw her a surprise birthday party. She was in on some discussion for an impromptu party a couple weeks ago, but that never materialized.

On Sunday, while her friend took her to lunch, a bunch of friends came over to the house to decorate and set up. There was enough misdirection that Olivia really had no idea. When she came home, she was truly surprised and overwhelmed.

We can’t thank her friends (and their parents) enough for making this happen. We’re all very fortunate that she has such a kind friend group and we love having them all over. Happy Birthday again, Olivia!

31 Photos



Annual U of M Holiday Party – 2022

The holidays are extra special for our U of M friends this year because the football team is 13-0! The calendar was extra challenging this year to get everyone together and some couples already had a full dance card. One surprise was that Theresa and Matt finally completed their decade-long assessment that the Golden Gate Bridge was indeed safe enough to cross!

Due to schedules, the White Elephant gift exchange was conducted before dinner. I think Theresa was traumatized by the brutality of all of the gifts she lost. This group is ruthless. Jenn and Michael said they had another party to go to, but who knows if they made it after they scored the Viagra (smuggled from London).

The older we get, the earlier this party starts. That said, it went pretty late this year, complete with an impromptu holiday musical concert that sounded so so bad. Thanks, Tam and Ben, for hosting us at their beautiful home.

Happy Holidays and GO BLUE!

30 Photos



The Airborne Toxic Event Secret Show in SF

This is the last show in my 2022 concert series, which turned out to be the most intimate and memorable. While I was cementing my The Airborne Toxic Event superfan status, I joined their fan club. Along with a free t-shirt, members are entitled to admission to one secret show per year, one of which was scheduled in San Francisco on Saturday at the Rickshaw Stop.

This club is so secret that no one in my family would join me. I was resigned to go alone. I think I mentioned it to Eddie and somehow I roped him into going with me. I did all the hard work: signing him up, sending him his t-shirt, and telling him the date. All he did was fly coast-to-coast, golf with me in 40-something-degree constant drizzle, and swipe the bill at Che Fico (highly recommended dining in SF).

The show itself was even better than I expected. This was the smallest venue in which I’ve ever seen a band play. My guess was that there were only about 100 people there. The set included many songs they don’t normally play, and also excluded some favorites.

This was one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen and I don’t know if I’ll ever get to see a show like this again. It was super special to enjoy it with my best man/best friend, who also loves live music even if TATE is new to him. If you ever get a chance to see them live, don’t pass it up.

23 Photos



Harry Styles Concert in Los Angeles

We’re nearing the end of our concert series for 2022, but this is clearly the pinnacle for Olivia, who is slightly obsessed with Harry Styles. We were cool with Olivia wanting to see him on his tour, but it didn’t help that he was only playing a few cities, the nearest being in Los Angeles.

Back in May, Olivia came home from a school trip with a lot of memories and COVID-19. The silver lining of her being home that week was the she could focus all of her time and attention to securing tickets to this concert. She enlisted my help and as each show went on sale, we anxiously logged in to get in the queue. We first ended up with 4 tickets to last Saturday’s show, which thanks to being deep in line and Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing,” we paid an astronomical sum for upper bowl tickets. I was underwhelmed.

A few hours later, we tried again for the next Saturday’s show. While I was again thousands deep, Olivia somehow ended up 2nd in the queue. She was in tears with joy. I was just happy she got 8 General Admissions tickets for a reasonable sum and was now just stressed about who to invite.

In the end, only a couple of Olivia’s friends could attend the show, which was perfect because my car only holds 4 people. After our Olivia Rodrigo GA debacle, Olivia felt we needed to up our GA game and wanted to camp out. I was very hesitant to sign up for that, given an overnight in Inglewood with 3 teens seemed sketchy. Plus, I’m way too old to sleep on pavement. Olivia’s pragmatism prevailed and she decided on her own that it wasn’t worth it.

I picked them up straight from school on Friday and after seven hours, including a stop at Party City for feather boas and candy, we made it to LA. We tried to do a drive-by of the Kia Forum, but Friday’s show was just letting out and it was mayhem. The weather was really nice, so I agreed to go early and try to get wrist bands. We got up at 5:30am and got in line around 6:00am, behind about 600 people crazier people than us. There were people already in line and camping for Tuesday’s show – nuts!

We brought lawn chairs, Snuggies, sign-making supplies and even homework and the time passed surprisingly quickly. By 10:40am, our wristbands were secured. We were numbers 610-613 in line. Olivia’s friends had not really visited LA before, so we went for a well-deserved brunch in Manhattan Beach. Olivia wasn’t very happy that I forced them to take so many pictures after we had all just rolled out of bed and were not camera ready. Too bad.

We only had a couple hours to rest and get ready before heading back to the forum between 3-4pm to get back in line. From then, it was queue after queue until we finally entered the arena just after 6pm. Ben Harper opened  and was great and Harry’s set started promptly at 9pm. We had already been on our feet for 6 hours. I was now ready to sit and admit to shopping for seats on StubHub.

Within about 20-30 seconds of Harry coming on stage, I realized his fandom is something I hadn’t really experienced before. It was deafening (literally – ears still ringing). Olivia wasn’t crying just yet. However, the minute I realized all of this was worth it was when Harry waved to her and she just turned around to me and started sobbing. At 15, I didn’t love anything or anyone that much (because I didn’t discover Kim Basinger until I was 16). Olivia sobbed again in the car when she reviewed the video of Harry waving at her.

The show was actually really fun and the girls all had such a good time, Olivia especially. I will say I am more of a fan, but I’m not necessarily inclined to camp out for him again. Even Olivia conceded it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

We didn’t eat or drink anything for close to 12 hours, so it was time for dinner. It’s been close to 30 years since I had a late night in Manhattan Beach, but The Kettle is still 24-hours so we went there. It was a long, long day of Harry Styles.

I told Olivia I was only invited because they needed me there. She said that wasn’t true – they didn’t need me (oof). The truth is in a few years she’ll be able to do this on her own. I’m glad we got to experience this together and she was truly appreciative.

62 Photos



Lucas’s 14th Birthday

Lucas turned 14 on Tuesday. We’re already missing the little boy in him, but teen Lucas isn’t too bad (most of the time).

We celebrated as a family with dinner and opening cards and presents from family. This weekend, he invited several of his school friends to celebrate with him at Pinstripes and at home.

Happy 14th Birthday, Lucas! We love you!

21 Photos



Halloween 2022

Halloween has always been a big deal in our house and also in our neighborhood, which is very efficient for trick-or-treating. People come from all over. Our usual gathering of families was taken over by Olivia and her friends.

Olivia asked if she could have some people over. Some turned into a dozen or so, most of whom rode the train home with her. It took me two trips to the train station to get them all home. It’s a good thing Grace is back in post-pandemic hosting mode. These kids are welcome any time.

Happy Halloween!

22 Photos



MSU vs. Michigan BBQ

It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine! We’re fortunate to have so many amazing college friends nearby and had a great turnout for today’s game. All smiles today (not always the case). GO BLUE!

5 Photos



© www.graceandjason.com 2023