Due to unseasonably warm weather in March and parts of April, Spring has sprung early this year. Citywide, cherry blossoms peaked 2-3 weeks early, and pollen allergy sufferers had a hard time. The upside? Apart from the first-ever true Spring Season since i moved here 16 years ago? Our balcony strawberry harvest started a whole month early, and quintupled the yield from 3 years ago. The first two, perfect specimen were served atop egg custard tarts today and got rave reviews. If Sung and i are lucky, we will get to taste some later this week…
On Mother’s Day, i got an extra dose of sleep and woke up to a lovely breakfast with french toast and a bouquet of duct tape roses. The kids had prepared various cute craft projects at school, but were especially proud of the roses they had made with Sung. They taught me how to make one from scratch, and i am amazed at how many they created during their secret craft session … thank you :-x
We spent the sunny day mostly in DUMBO, and finished the evening with a long anticipated first visit to Pok Pok NY, the Thai outpost Andy Ricker opened literally around the corner from us. The kids arrived a bit tired and hungry from all the biking, but held it together nicely. The food lived up to the rave reviews and we will certainly be back soon. Let’s hope the line won’t be so bad once the full summer heat has kicked in…
Last weekend, Arturo introduced us to the mad science of super-sized bubbles. Over the past weeks, he perfected Sterling Johnson’s bubble mix and had a party-sized batch ready to go. He instructed us in building our own wands from sticks and string, and after a little practice, we got the hang of the basics. To their own amazement, the kids were able to create bubbles bigger than themselves! It’s all about timing: the longer the strings stay open, the bigger the bubble gets – but if you wait too long to close the wand, the bubble pops before it can take flight. Long after his own arms got tired, and long after all other kids had turned to other activities, Tobin kept chasing each new bubble with unchanged enthusiasm…
Arturo – thanks for getting us hooked, and thanks for taking a bunch of great pictures :)
Mika had fun dancing after dinner so I decided to film her routine. There’s a little bit of her hip-hop dance class and some other craziness. The highlight is definitely Tobin entering into the scene. [Music: Country Lane by Telekinesis]
Mika and Tobin got a lot of biking in today: Mika rode with me all the way to Prospect Park to her new, temporary swim class location. It’s a steep uphill ride for half of the way (2.4 miles/4 km), but she did super. After her swim class, we met up with Sung and Tobin, who had already finished one full lap around Prospect Park, and Gaang’s family. Now that Tobin and Sahn are in the same preschool class, all four kids are great friends and (ex-)school mates. Mika and Gaang had a blast riding their mountainbikes up and down a grassy hill, and Tobin and Sahn copied them, naturally. 3 bikes, 1 scooter, and 4 monkeys…
Flashback to 2009, when Mika and Gaang had just learned to ride their bikes (at about Tobin’s age)
I took the kids to the new, wildly popular frozen yogurt spot after pickup. Mika and Tobin had already checked it out with Sung last week, but were more than giddy to go again with Mica. I can back up their rave reviews: 16 flavors of self-serve (!) ice cream and sorbet, and a toppings bar the size of our kitchen (with lots of fresh fruit) … that’s kiddie heaven. Of course, we all got brain freeze and i gave my cardigan to the girls to warm up.
A couple months before the end of Tobin’s final year of preschool, i finally got around to something i had on my mind since Mika went to the same school: take the class on an imaginary trip to Germany! I am not sure if the kids still carry “passports” like they used to, but Sabine and i teamed up to represent our homeland … big time. We took the class via slideshow across the country, from north to south. The trip started at the waterfront near Bremerhaven. We took a famous sailboat to Hamburg, and the ICE to Berlin. We went on a short, age appropriate discourse about the Berlin Wall, before we continued our travels via Autobahn through the countryside. The kids got to see many cities, typical landscapes, local foods and traditional clothing. The last part of our trip was dedicated to famous castles, segueing to Grimm’s fairy tales (a well known topic in our audience). All 26 kids stayed focused until the end, and we rewarded them with a silly dance to Germany’s 2011 kid music video sensation “Schnappi“.
Below is a movie version of the slide show. It’s lower in resolution than the Powerpoint file and the colors are a little washed out … but this one has a soundtrack. During our live presentation, we took turns narrating each section and answered numerous questions.
PS: if the airplane in the video looks familiar, it’s because i used a photo of Omi Hiltraud’s birthday travel coupon as a base for the school’s colorful plane.
Last April, we renewed Mika’s U.S. passport. Twelve months later, we are finally getting around to applying for her new German passport as well. German rules and regulations for picture ID’s are different (grey background!), so we shot new portraits today. We would have never been able to use last year’s pictures anyway … look how much she has grown.
Of course, it was near impossible to have her pose with a “neutral facial expression” with Tobin in the same room. I got about two minutes of Mika’s undivided attention, but dozens of blurry outtakes with both kids goofing around.
Sung and Tobin went to the same Touch-A-Truck event i took the kids to last year – and they had a much improved experience. Perhaps it was the cooler weather? Or all parents who got frustrated last year decided not to attend? The crowds were less crazy, the lines considerably shorter and Tobin actually got to touch some trucks. He got to wear the police officer’s hat, make a speaker announcement, try on the heavy firefighter’s hat, ‘operate’ and drive the garbage truck, take a break on the cement mixer, and have an all around great time.
Mika’s 2nd grade class is among the lucky few to participate in a special dance collaboration with the STREB kids program. They have been working on a dance routine as part of their P.E., and got to go on an additional field trip to the STREB studio in Williamsburg. They met the founder of the program, Elizabeth Streb, and explored the equipment in small groups: throwing their bodies up against soft mats, jumping on the trampoline, being hoisted waaaaay up on a moving beam, and jumping off high stacks of soft mats in various falling techniques.
Then, they were treated to a full rehearsal of the STREB performers. The first clip is from the warmup exercises, when the kids see a person jump from the third level of the scaffolding for the first time … and scream their heads off. The second clip is part of a run-through of the entire piece. The performers have been working on it for a year and a half…
Another exciting field trip for Tobin and his friends: multi-talented teacher Mr. John took the class into his Williamsburg recording studio to work on their annual graduation CD. Can you imagine 25 preschoolers invading a sound stage … ? They did a great job, but the sound technician is going to apply his magic as well. Can’t wait to hear the results!
