We are moving to Bordeaux after Calico’s school term ends… so we drove there to check out neighborhoods and have some fun. We toured the school he is going to be at next year, ate a lot of delicious food, and walked around a lot of neighborhoods! It is a really cool city!

The only bummer is I got a head cold the day after taking Calico to the beach (we dug a fun hole in the ground). So, I only got one bike ride in for the entire two weeks. Oh well, I am looking forward to more rides once we get settled.

We went to an illusion museum, which Calico loved!

And somewhat crazily, we are buying a house…

I had arranged for us to see some houses and apartments to get a feel for the market. We knew that in a year, we were likely going to be looking to buy but had planned on renting (a really tough rental market, though). We walked into the 3rd house we were looking at and just loved it. It is close to Calico’s school, a giant park, and the perfect distance from the city center. We made an offer on Easter Saturday weekend, and now we are doing the paperwork. Hopefully, we can pick up the keys in early June! Fun!!

It is HUGE compared to the very small apartment we are renting right now. It has a wonderful outdoor area (although small), and the kitchen is well done. And we are excited as it has a huge 3rd floor bedroom for guests when they visit. I can’t wait to move in, especially as I am going to buy a record player we’ve been saving for!!!

As it warms up, I am trying to do more weekend adventures with Calico (and I am trying to do a better job in Winter to get us both excited about suiting up and going outside). We went on a nearby trail ride I found on All Trails, did some climbing, saw a snake, and talked. It was fantastic!

Happy birthday, Calico!

This year was intense for Calico. He started 1st grade on February 1st and 2nd after summer break. He didn’t know Portuguese and had to learn a language this year. He is almost fluent and just missing some vocabulary now. Plus, he is learning to read in two languages! Huge props to his fantastic teacher and the tremendous support she has given him (and us).

There were many tough times as he had to learn how to deal with bullies and the intensity of school. He is doing great now, and I am proud of him. Seeing his friends and classmates’ enormous impact on him is wild. He is really into Pokemon and Sonic right now. For Christmas, he got a bunch of Ash outfits.

I feel so lucky for my time with my son before he started school. This is an abrupt change for our little family.

The poor little guy is sick for his birthday. Up all last night with a fever of 104 :(. I think he slept most of the day and feels terrible. His fever is down a bit today, but just laying on the couch. Ouch!

My dad and Marian are visiting us in Portugal over Christmas, Calico’s Birthday, and New Year’s. It has been fantastic to have them here, and we have taken a pretty relaxed pace with some wandering around Viseu, some day trips, and enjoying the holidays. Fun times!!! We even managed a trip to the beach with some good weather a few days before Christmas. And then the Douro Rivery Valley a few days after.

I cooked a roast for Christmas Eve, and it turned out pretty good. I did a bit of red wine in the bottom and used a Dutch cast iron pan.

Congrats to us on making it to 9 years!!! We both feel that things are much smoother in day-to-day operations (which is a good feeling to have).

We are going out to eat at our favorite restaurant shortly, and with grandparents in town, we have some free babysitters, which is nice! We are hoping to do something extraordinary for our 10th anniversary.

I want to give Calico the will, space, and energy to figure out himself and his life. If he has these things, it is much easier to create a meaningful life.

Will

The inner drive to dig into himself and figure out his shit so he can go in the direction he wants.

I want to make sure he doesn’t lose his will to look around, make sure he is in a good place, and if not, figure out why and make changes.

I am not sure how I can help instill this trait. It is something I think about a lot.

At his current age, Lindsey and I try to help him slow down, listen to his emotions as an advisor, think things through with his head, and figure out what he wants to do and why he wants to try that.

Lately, much of that process is spent trying to understand social situations and kids at school. I especially want to ensure he knows he is not a bystander in his own life. That doesn’t mean he always needs to take action, but I want him to know he is allowed to react. That is something I wish I had learned sooner.

Space

Having the freedom to live, think, and figure stuff out.

Energy

The strength and vitality to sustain physical and mental activity.

Space & energy are a big reason why I want to live in Europe.

In Europe, I think my son has a much better chance to have the space and energy to enjoy life, explore life, and figure himself out. And he is around people who also have this chance because, unlike the U.S.A., Europe tries to create this environment for all its citizens.

Europe does a much better job of balancing life and work. They provide real vacation time and real health care and generally try to create a good environment for their citizens (food quality, environmental protections, ability to pursue higher learning, low crime, and general quality of life).

Is Europe perfect?

Fuck no, there are problems with any system.

But they are doing about 100x better than the U.S.A. in this regard. The U.S.A. has given up on trying to improve the lives of its citizens.

Is it possible to achieve a good life in the USA? Sure, but it is much harder given the entire system is working against you. The U.S.A. has created a Hunger Games society that breeds a sick winner-takes-all mindset where the only goal is power and money. I want to live somewhere where people want everyone’s kids to succeed and have good lives.

Viktor Merlin Smiljanic was born on August 14th in Shanghai, China :)!!! I can’t wait to meet him and see Nick and Isidora! Great name :)

Nick and Isidora are doing great and made it home today from the hospital.

Summer break is a new experience for us (since this is Calico’s first year in school).

Generally, we like to travel for a month, but this is the first year we have done it over the summer in peak time. We spent July in Issigeac, France. It is a small medieval village in the Dordogne (see marker below of map).

We got a good deal on an Airbnb with a big discount since we stayed an entire month. It didn’t have AC, but it didn’t get too hot, and we had plenty of fans. The weather in France was remarkably cool, given the rest of Europe was under a massive heatwave.

Mom and Tony visited for over two weeks, which was amazing! We had a lot of fun :)

I turned 42 on July 20th, and it was terrific to have Lindsey, Calico, Mom, and Tony there. That is the first time in quite some time :). We ate Indian food in a nearby town. And, randomly, one of my favorite cousins was on a trip nearby, so we got to have lunch with him and his fantastic family toward the end of the trip.

We went camping near El Barco, Spain, this last weekend and it was beautiful!

It was a pretty rainy weekend but with plenty of sunshine as well. We had a very fun Friday night in town at a wonderful little bar before heading back to our tent (Lindsey was in the house on the riverside property we rented). Calico played soccer with some local kids in the square while Lindsey and I had a few glasses of wine. We tried to go hiking on Saturday but got hit with some heavy rain and thunder and had to jog down the mountain quickly :).

Calico and I slept in the tent both nights despite a little rain. And we managed to make cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and smores. Next time I need to bring a better metal grill top as it made the hamburgers pretty difficult with the one they had.

Good times :)!

The Welch-Bolen brothers have united for the first time since Christmas 2018!!! Watch out world :)!

Here we are in front of the red carpet in Cannes, France :)

I got to visit with Nick for ten days, and it was fantastic (he lives in Shanghai, and with Covid, that was a pretty impossible visit either way). We even managed a swim on Friday!

He is in the movie industry and was on a team that won this year’s 48-hour film contest in Shanghai. They then got picked by the global 48-hour film contest as one of the best short films worldwide and were given free tickets to Cannes to do a screening in the short-film corner. They are here to network and hopefully line up funding for a feature-length horror film they are working to make (if you know Nicolas Cage, they feel he would be perfect for the lead).

It has been a big adjustment to have Calico in school, as we can only travel when he is on break :).

So for his spring break, we drove to Valencia on April 1st for two weeks (about 7.5 hours away)!

Calico got sick before we left, so much so that we delayed our drive a few days. He was having high fever and nightmares at night. We were both pretty tired from the long nights. This first year with him in school has been challenging with what he brings home.

I started feeling low energy and got sick for a day, but then I felt better. I did a full workout on Monday but then went and got a massage on Tuesday morning, which broke me. I think being face down for 45 min just destroyed my sinuses. I was sick for nine days with sinus crap; it sucked (somehow, it got in my right eye). And even after that, it took me a few more days to shake it thoroughly. I need to see a specialist about my sinuses as something is wrong with them (it is almost the only thing I ever get sick from). I have also been working too much and shot. I need to rebalance, but it is hard as Shepherd is in a critical phase.

Luckily Calico and Lindsey were fine and visited with our friends there.

And luckily, I was improved by the time Rose, Steve, and Evie came to visit. It was so much fun to have them stay with us, and I hope we can do it again soon. Evie is adorable, and we had a blast showing them our favorite city in the world. Calico adores Evie, and it is a happiness to see them both interact (he is also pretty fond of Rose and Steve, he made about a million things for them before they arrived, even a cardboard bar nook so he could serve Steve beer, lol). Lindsey enjoys entertaining, and it felt like we had several Viking feasts.

Many of these photos are credited to Steve, as he knows WTF he is doing with a camera :)

We spent Lindsey’s birthday weekend at an old Portuguese fishing cabin on the coast. We had a fire, we grilled and had a really good time. The weather wasn’t quite what we were hoping, but we had way more sunshine than we expected. Watching Calico play on the beach, dunes, and tide ponds is so much fun.

Calico’s first day of real school was today! He was excited and Lindsey and I both walked him there and picked him up :)

He is still processing it, as it is a bit of a shock. And they are jumping right into cursive which is new for him. I wish him luck :)

My mom and stepdad visited for Christmas! We had a blast! I wish they could have stayed longer, as it went by too quickly. It didn’t help that I hit some health bumps and was pretty exhausted the last week.

What did we get up to?

• Went on a food tour around Valencia (and a little history).
• Went on an amazing tour outside of Valencia to do some wine tastings, olive oil tastings, and a little history.
• Took Calico to his first Circus (lion king one)! He was so excited! It was so much fun to watch him as he hasn’t seen many live-action things on a stage.
• Ate some delicious Paella on the beach.
• Calico’s birthday party (with some friends here in Valencia).

It was fun to introduce them to Valencia, our fav city in the world :)

We spent 9 days in Dublin visiting Rose, Steve, and Evie (over Thanksgiving week). I haven’t seen Rose and Steven since 2017, which is a small travesty as they are some of my favorite people in the world.

It was so good to see them. I really liked this board game they had (they always have good games). The only bummer is I caught a cold that got into my sinuses the day I left. That took 5 days to shake and really hurt my energy levels. I had hoped to see a few things in Dublin, given it is one of my favorite cities in the world, but with the cold, I didn’t manage anything past seeing my old office and some delicious Thai food.

I cooked the Turkey and did the spatchcock method. It turned out well (glad I didn’t screw that up). Lindsey, Rose, and Steve made so much fantastic food (and Lindsey found “diamond-encrusted” canned cranberry sauce for my nostalgia). Lindsey made amazing pecan, pumpkin pie, and her world-famous vanilla mascarpone whip creme. It was an amazing feast.

I hope to see Rose, Steve, and Evie again soon. It had been too long between visits. And I bet Evie is walking by the time we see her next! This was my first time flying since the end of 2019.

I am looking forward to seeing my mom and stepdad next month for Christmas. The last time I saw them was in 2019 (before our move to Europe and Covid).