It has been quite some time since I last wrote anything. Life has always been busy, and writing has always been an outlet for me, but when work became all-consuming, it got pushed to the wayside. Now, five months into a new job and with my stress finally starting to deflate, I feel bits and pieces of myself returning. So today, I find myself back at the ol' Arevalo blog.

Family

While most of the country was already well into summer break, our kids didn't finish school until the 26th. This month alone, we had:

Aly

Spring Concert (orchestra, clarinet)
Spring Showcase (school dance: modern and hip hop)
Annual Dance Recital (modern)
NJHS Induction
Countless softball games, where her travel team made it to the semifinals for the first time!

While softball is still her main thing, it was fun to see Aly pick dance back up this year! I also wowed her with my bun-making skills for recital. It feels like just yesterday we were trekking to the Upper East Side three times a week while I did her hair on the subway.

Fynn

Spring Concert (trumpet and Drum Corps)
Countless baseball games for both travel and Little League

Fynn turned the game-winning double play in the semifinals, and his teammates and coaches immediately rushed onto the field and scooped him up. He rode that high for quite a while!

Jackson

2nd Grade Moving-Up Ceremony
Finished his final Coach Pitch season

It's hard to believe Jackson's time at Nishuane Elementary is already coming to an end. He's both nervous and excited to head to Hillside next year! He made huge strides in baseball this season and finished with only one strikeout all year.

Luca

Kindergarten Kabaret
Finished his final Coach Pitch season

I often forget that Luca is (was) "just" in kindergarten. He definitely sees himself as Jackson's equal and, for the most part, does a great job keeping up with all the older kids. For his Kindergarten Kabaret, he danced to Hard Knock Life and was the cutest little orphan.

Anders

Pre-K Showcase
T-ball games

This was what I'm calling The Golden School Year, where all five kids rode a bus and three of the five attended the same school—two things that will never happen again!

That said, Anders has one more year of Pre-K, and the district is moving him from his brothers' school to a new site. He enjoyed T-ball, though for now, he's still more interested in playing in the dirt than playing baseball.

Needless to say, June was our peak busy month! A few things to remember:

Luca came home on the last day of school with a pirate tattoo on his face that didn't come off for an entire week!
Anders and Fynn always holding hands on their morning walks to the bus.
Fynn finding a "deadly" shrew in our backyard.

Books

I feel like I was in quite a reading slump for the first part of the year, but I'll share two books that I've recently enjoyed!

The Many Lives of Mama Love

I listened to this one on audiobook (I've discovered that I really enjoy memoirs on audiobook!), and I blazed through it. It's about a typical suburban PTA mom who becomes addicted to drugs and ends up in prison, all while trying to get clean and find her way back to her children. It was a raw, honest, and engaging look at prison life and our broken system.

Dungeon Crawler Carl

Wow, this was not my typical read. Ron and I started trying to read more books together a few years ago, and this was one I decided to join him on recently. I fully expected to tolerate it at best, but this series has actually pulled me out of my reading slump! I'm flying through these books now.

The premise is wild: an alien apocalypse throws the remaining survivors into a giant dungeon that functions like a video game, where they have to survive increasingly difficult levels while the rest of the galaxy watches for entertainment.

Projects

It's hard to believe, but we've lived in our new house for a year now!

We recently tackled some major house projects, including a complete electrical overhaul (the kids' rooms all have overhead lights now!) and painting several rooms. Choosing paint colors is incredibly stressful, but it was fun bringing Aly and Fynn along to help decide. (We definitely had to redirect Fynn on a few of his color choices!)

We had expected all of this work to be finished last summer, so we never hung anything on the walls. Now, a full year after moving in, we finally have pictures back up, and the house is starting to feel complete.

Aside from the house projects, Ron has been building Raspberry Pis and tinkering with all sorts of neat things that I simply categorize as "code stuff."

Adventure

I'd say this month was pretty light on adventures, given how busy everything else was. We did have visitors for a few days, though—Fynn's best friend from California and his mom flew out to spend some time with us, and we managed to squeeze quite a bit into their visit.

We have a lot planned for the second half of the year, so we're definitely looking forward to some fun months ahead!

Favorites

Bogg Bag

I won a wellness challenge through work and got a Bogg Bag, and wow... I'm obsessed. I take it to every ballgame, the pool, and the beach. I call it my Giant Croc. I know it looks ridiculous, but there's no going back now. Who knows? Maybe I'll even outfit it with some giant Jibbitz. I'm hooked.

Knicks Champions

Letting Aly, Fynn, and Jackson stay up to witness the Knicks win the NBA Championship was truly a special moment!

Homemade Pizza

I've been making homemade pizza for something like 15 years, but I went down a rabbit hole a couple of months ago and have really upped my pizza game. I'm on a quest to recreate New York-style pizza in our regular oven. It's been a labor of love—and one the kids have all greatly appreciated!

Zou Zou's Mediterranean Restaurant

This is one of Ron's and my favorite dinner spots in the city. I'm always amazed by the amount of food you get with the chef's tasting menu!

And that's a wrap on June! On to summer break we go!

The Days We Keep - June 2026