Pirates and Royals

 I tried to raise my kids the same - at least I think I did - actually I know I did. But here we are. Middle of July and one is a mannerless, bloodthirsty, ukelele playing pirate, and the other - well, needless to say, she needed a few more manners to get through the week.

Smee and Hook

The week of Nika's birthday, Noah was performing as Mr. Smee in a theater production of Peter and the Starcatcher. It's a dream role for him -  he's been obsessed with Smee since he was 2 and a half years old. He was incredible, hilarious, and damn if he didn't figure out how to play the ukelele. (To be fair, one of the younger castmates taught him - a castmate who will be one of Noah's students this fall, so I guess he owes him straight A's now). Most of Noah's July was spent directing camp, then off to rehearsal, then late nights with one of his best friends Hannah (who was also working at camp AND the female lead in the show). They spent the nights script writing for camp, memorizing lines and destroying our stash of sparkling water and chips - and I could not have been happier to have that kind of energy back in the house.

Noah and Hannah - besties since age 6

Kaia, spent the week in an entirely different way.

In August of 2019 Kaia was crowned as one of the Ambassadors for our community. It's the equivalent of being named "Miss Northfield" but there are three people who share the responsibility equally, along with two junior ambassadors. After COVID, the group was asked to stay on for another year, and then an additional two months, since the coronation was being moved to a new date.  At the end of this term, Kaia was asked to continue representing her community by attending the Minneapolis Aquatennial festivities to vie for the title of Queen of The Lakes. Kaia was thrilled, honored, and apparently completely unsuspecting.

Kaia's meet the candidate speech combined info on mental health, her community and her plans for the future all in 45 seconds

The Aquatennial program is a bit more like a Miss Minnesota type of scenario. Communities throughout the state, send a representative to spend a week in Minneapolis. They spend the week with committee members and judges at luncheons, interviews, formal events, parties with dignitaries - they give various public speeches, answer "fishbowl" questions in front of large groups of people, and at the end of the week, two people are crowned Aquatennial Princesses and one is crowned Queen of the Lakes. 

The Queen and sometimes the whole crew, travel the country to promote Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota - including places like - The Rosebowl Parade; San Antonio; Cherry Blossom Festival in Georgia; Winnepeg; the list goes on.

We attended the coronation last week (Noah was unable to go - because he had a show, but had his phone at the ready to check in). 

Prior to the final coronation the MC said the judges were honoring one of the candidates with the Eileen Hafften memorial scholarship. They said it was going to the one candidate who exemplified the qualities of leadership, community service and volunteerism. We lost our minds when they announced Kaia's name. We know she's an incredible human, but to see her recognized for it was beautiful.  Honestly, it's daunting enough to send your kid out into the world to be judged on what type of person they are - and knowing they saw those qualities in her, brought me to tears. We assumed the important part was over.

Then the two Aquatennial princesses were announced, and then . . . 

AND THEN . . . 

They announced the 2023 Queen of the Lakes, from the community of Northfield - Kaia - our sweet, hardworking, loyal and lovable kid was announced Queen of The Lakes. 

Princess Brooklyn, Captain Tammy, Queen Kaia, Commodore Scott, Princess Kezia, and Captain Lisa

She'll embark on what they refer to as a year-long public relations internship for the City of Minneapolis with Commodore Scott, Captains Lisa and Tammy, and Princesses Kezia and Brooklyn. Apparently Kaia was the only one who was surprised. Nika started clapping and just raised her eyebrows at me; Noah texted before the applause even died down - "I knew it"; and when I stopped at the mantle to tell Rico all about it, he just whispered  - "I know - that's our girl."