Franny settles in...

A couple of weeks of Francine.

And We're Back to Being a Dog Family

And we're back to being a dog family 🐶. A wee tiny dog family. Welcome Francine...or just Francie...or Franny. Our large boys are beside themselves.

Rising Up!

 And by Rising Up, I mean more ways than one! Today, Dash and Hugo left for the first day of 9th and 10th grade. Jen and I wish them the best this school year! Especially Dash, as he starts high school at the Baccalaureate School of Global Education—Hugo attends Energy Tech High School. While they are in different schools, they remain in Queens and their campuses are about a half-mile apart. 

Also, if I were to stand between these boys in this photo, you would see that they are both as tall or taller than me. I had a "they grow up so fast" moment this morning. 😀

Dance Hugo!

We had a great time in Myrtle Beach this summer. One of the family highlights is our son dancing poolside before jumping in. To avoid copyright laws on the music he's dancing to, we substituted one of Hugo's own creations: "Three Years." The boy loves electronic dance: his original creations can be found on his SoundCloud account: https://soundcloud.com/hugo-brown-170619895. He goes by the name Cyan Fanatic (which is his favorite color). 

To Myrtle Beach Once Again

For the last few years, this location has been our happy place. Time spent near water. Time to slow down. We're home now, and time to ramp up for school. :)

While we spent most of our time in Myrtle, we did hop down to Charleston to visit my good friend Bill and his family. So great to see them. Here I am holding up a picture taken of him and I at Penn State 30 years ago. 😀 

From the End of July — Visit to Chicago

 I missed putting this in earlier, so I am posting about our trip to Chicago at the end of July to visit Uncle Steve, Aunt Molly, and our nieces Bea and Nora. Most of the photos are from a day spent at the local pool. Good times.

Birthday Waterpark Visit.

Dash wanted a Waterpark excursion with just family. 😄 ....We weren't going to say no. 

Happy Birthday, Dashiel

 Dashiel turned 14 today. And it was, as he wanted, a low-key birthday with just the family.  We started the day with donuts, then went swimming at our go-to Bayside pool. We came home and we had fruit salad with homemade whip cream. Tomorrow, it's water slides at a water park out on Long Island 😀.

Last week's annual "camping" trip

So once a year, I try to take the boys camping in upstate NY (as Jen attends a yoga retreat nearby). This year, we tried a new location near Cooperstown, NY. Here are those photos:

dash graduates from middle school.

Congrats to Dash, who graduated from "IS-141–The Steinway" this afternoon (at storied Carnesecca Areana for those college basketball buffs in the know). And then it was off to celebrate with friends...and clanking spatulas, onion volcanos, shrimp flips, and cracked egg drawings at a local hibachi restaurant. Middle school, over and out ( in about 2 weeks).

Let the Celebration of Dash Begin!

Next week is the graduation, but first comes the prom. We are so proud of this young man! He cleans up well, too. Congratulations to Dash on graduating from middle school. Next year, he will attend the Baccalaureate School of Global Education here in Queens.

Cape Cod Visit

He have a few days of family vacation...so we went to North Truro to take in the bay and beaches.