Happy Fathers' Day, Bill

Sadly, this Father's Day is the first after his passing and while I do miss him, I find solace in the little moments I have with my sons (such as taking Dash to work last Friday) that remind me of my time growing up with my Dad.  I look forward to many more such "parallel" moments and memories as my sons grow.

Sliding Into Kindergarten

A few days ago we attend Dash's "moving up" ceremony, or as they liked to call it, "Sliding into Kindergarten."  We're very proud of our son! He's such a bright kid with a truck-load of character!

Congratulations, Dashiel!

Dashiel's Pre-K #3 at Our Lady of Fatima in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Dash with his teacher, Ms. Vellucci 

Dash with his friends, Angad (left) and Hunter (right)

Dash comes to work

Although Dash has visited Jen's workplace (CBS Radio) a few times, he has never spent any significant time with me at the school I work for (The Hewitt School).  Having him here this morning made me remember being at my dad's office for the first time.  Although I can't remember my age when I walked into Major Market Broadcasters, I do remember him having an bright office with a large window, being wowed by the office supply room and the multi-colored paper they had, and the many flavors of pop cans in the fridge in their office kitchen.  I remember amusing myself with Dad's calculator (it had to be plugged in to work, and gave off a paper-tape read out of the calculations).

While here, today, Dash and I explored a couple of floors.  He wanted to see the science rooms, so we went there.  We couldn't play in the gym, but we went to the library and to the cafeteria where the chef was there and gave Dash a yogurt drink!  We did not get to the office supplies.  Instead of a calculator, he watched Kid Avengers and Rescue Bots on an iPad before mom came (finishing her very early morning shift) to take him home.

I plan on having him back.

For the love of Evan

Sheryl Sandberg was right: 

The person you choose to spend your life with 

is the most important career decision you will make. 

Your life will be significantly harder if you don't have someone who believes in your path as much as you do.

Sheryl has said she and her husband were in a 50/50 partnership.

These words of her's sting even more in recent weeks following the sudden death of her husband.  And the recent death of a stay at home dad in our Queens neighborhood.  The gloom at our local park that followed could be felt with kids missing (not a fun time) and parents who knew this local dad well, spent regular mornings and afternoons with him at drop-off and pick-up.

Life really is short.  And if you don't think I'm not talking to God every time Evan gets on his bike for his commute you're wrong.  I'm hoping we all get to grow old on this earth.  Especially as I see him get recognized for the art he's making.  Check out a mini - how to - documentary on Evan's latest art process using the PIXLR APP.
((raise the volume, it's quite lovely))

http://blog.pixlr.com/post/121198022916/video-the-art-of-mobile-photographer-evan-brown

Dash celebrates turning 5-years-old a little early

We wanted to give Dashiel a chance to blow out candles with his school friends.  He turns 5 July 7th!!!  He won't be returning to Our Lady of Fatima.  We'll have two public school kids the next academic year (and zero in tuition payments-WOOT!WOOT!).

BTW- Jennifer here - his preschool teacher may be the most gorgeous preschool teacher on the planet.  Just saying'.  

Hugo and Horseback Riding

Hugo has been taking horseback riding during school and recently received his certificate of completion for the spring session at Gallop.  This was no easy task for Hugo as he spent many early sessions refusing to participate, overcoming his discomfort or fear of riding.  Jen and I can't be there for these sessions, but luckily one of his teachers was there to take these photos and write this wonderful letter about this particular session.

"Today I went to the last session of Gallop/horseback riding.  Hugo did AMAZING!  There are so many positive things that happened that I needed to email you all.  When we first got to there a student was crying and did not want to go on the horse. Hugo walked over to her rubbed her back and said "it's ok".  He did this completely independently!  Myself and Ms. Soher saw the whole thing and were almost in tears. Then when Hugo got inside he got on the horse with no problem at all.  He followed the instructor's directions very well the whole time.  They practiced walking to the left and right, walking to certain letters in the rink, and walking to certain colored cones.  Hugo independently said "Come on Popcorn let's go!" during one of the exercises. Throughout the last few weeks, Hugo has learned a few commands to give the horse, such as:  "walk on" (to start walking), "whoa back" (to stop), and "trot on" to trot.  While I was inside Hugo was able to give these commands.  At the end of his session he was awarded a certificate and he said "yay first place!".  It was truly great to see how far Hugo has come.  Not only was he great with the horse, but he followed directions extremely well and he commented appropriately throughout the day.  We are all so proud of Hugo!  I also included a Gallop newsletter that I put in his folder.  I will also separately email the pictures :)  Have a great night!"  -Cindy

Ninjutsu Boys

Congratulations to Dash!  He earned his first stripe on his white belt yesterday.  Hugo is also attending Ninjutsu classes but we're finding he's excelling more as the next Spiderman.

Hams

Just photos