Birthday Boy

23 Comments

Schulte Family

Lowe turns nine. Healthy, smart, fun, strong, adventurous, caring, and truly the best little brother (and son) anyone could ever ask for. I’m obviously biased, but when Ali and I thought about how we wanted to raise our kids—on boats and motorhomes seeing the world—he is everything we envisioned they would become if we did things right. So, while I’m sad to see him turning nine and continuing to grow up—at what feels like a doubling of speed every year—it also brings a ton of joy and happiness, and excitement at seeing what he has in store for the future (not what the future has in store for him).

Birthday Boy 9

Rico smells like a pigsty, quite literally, but that doesn’t keep anyone from loving him up all day long. He’s taken to spending about 20 hours a day on the boat. On Lowe’s birthday last year we had Chavo—the Guatmelan street dog that followed Lowe home, and he later got adopted out to the U.S.—and this year we’ve got Rico. We’re a family that has birthday traditions, and it looks like we’ve developed a new one.

Rico Bumfuzzle Boat Kid Climbing Mast Boat Kid up the mast Rico waking up Bro and Sis Presents

Playing the perfectly boat-sized, but unfortunately named, mini cornhole game.

Unfortunately Named Cornhole

This year we blew up some of those big “punching balloons” for Lowe’s birthday and both kids were playing, beating each other up with them, and having a great time. Then they said, “These are awesome, why didn’t we ever have them before?”

Later in the morning Ali had brought up all the blog posts of Lowe’s previous birthdays and we looked through them together and reminisced. And of course, at just about every birthday, in the background would be the big “punching balloons.” I must say, creating Bumfuzzle is one of the best decisions we ever made. Being able to easily look back through the kids’ lives like this is so much fun to do together. Everyone in the family is yelling the whole time, “Oh yeah! I remember that.” We relive those memories together as if they were yesterday.

Lowe likes a handful of different candy, but he’s really not into anything that’s baked. This is about as much cupcake as he ever eats.

This is how you know you’ve gotten the right gift, and surprised him.

 

What, doesn’t every nine-year-old own a machete and a hatchet? Also, yes, we’ve read the Hatchet series of books, and they were awesome.

Schulte Family

It’s not easy finding things to chop up in a city, during a pandemic, but we managed.

Hatchet

His gift from Grandma was a big hit, too, though there was a certain young girl who loved it even more. When they were very little we read a Berenstain Bears book about the “Green-Eyed Monster” and we have always used that term for envy ever since. Ouest told me flat out, “Papa, this is the first time I’ve ever had the green-eyed monster. It’s so bad.” Fortunately, her brother is awesome, and as far as he’s concerned, what’s his is hers.

Hoverboard

We’re going to have to have some lessons on how to sharpen our tools.

Hatchet Boy

Happy Birthday, Lolo.

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23 Comments on “Birthday Boy”

  1. A Bumfuzzle family picture where everyone is looking at the camera, smiling, with eyes open? Amazing.

    Happy birthday, Lowe.

  2. Great family photo! Ouest looks just like Pat and Lowe looks just like Ali. Sweet!

    Happy belated birthday, Lowe!

    1. It’s funny isn’t it. Families and how we combine them, and find ourselves in there too. (and you are not the first to say the same thing.)

  3. Roses are red
    Violets are blue
    It’s not my birthday
    So it must be you
    Nine years of old
    If I may be bold
    Give growing up a whoa
    Happy birthday to you Lowe!

    Safe travels to you all!

  4. Happy Birthday to Lowe. Thanks for sharing these moments. Such sweet simple times. Well done with your kids being satisfied and happy with such few things and sharing them all.

  5. Happy birthday, Lowe!

    Pat and Ali, your words resonate with my wife and me: “…when Ali and I thought about how we wanted to raise our kids … he is everything we envisioned they would become…”. We raised our daughter (from age 11-18) cruising aboard our trawler, and the wonderful young woman she has become was significantly shaped by that 35,000nm adventure. Bravo for choosing the road less traveled for you and your family! And thank you for sharing your experience with all of us.

    Cheers!
    David

    1. Thanks, David. And good on you for doing it with your daughter during those crucial, hard years of many changes. I’m sure it shaped her in such a positive way.

  6. Thank you all our friends from around the world. We are so happy we have shared all these years together.
    17 next week to be exact – wow!

  7. Oh my goodness, how sweet. I never noticed the kid’s accents before. They definitely have Minnesotan accents like you two! Happy bday, Lowe! I remember reading Pat’s post about him being born blue and how scared you guys were. Look how healthy and strong he is now. Your family has always been a beautiful inspiration.

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