I am not sure what the purpose of “Wacky Wednesday” was*, but Mika insisted that she needed to dress her wacky best for school today. She mismatched as many pattern as she could find, including her socks, and topped off the look with novelty glasses and last year’s custom bunny berets for “Funky Hair Style Day”

*Update: this was our 3rd-graders celebrating the end of this season’s standardized tests

After a few weeks of postpones dates, we finally made it up to Garrison for a day of fun with Team ArandaLee. Thanks to Doris’ inside connections to a local CSA farm, the kids could play with baby goats to their hearts content (we were the only visitors). They also got to feed cows, sheep, and horses. The 3-week old chicks weren’t yellow anymore, but still very cute and exciting to pet under Doris’ expert guidance. Back at the hive, it was time to make some basic 1970s European childhood experiences: we built our own bows and arrows. The older kids helped strip the bark off of the fresh wood (yes, with real knives), and everybody got to practice on Arturo’s impromptu’s target … even the smallest warriors.

The family of one of Mika’s best friends adopted a rescue kitty a week ago. The little guy was named “Mo”, short for motor, because his is constantly running (=purring). Un-believably cute!

In preparation for their first unit on writing “How To…” books, Tobin’s class got assigned to jot down topics they could write about. The kids were instructed to walk around their home and identify simple tasks related to each room. In the kitchen, Tobin knows “how to make a sandwich”. In the bathroom, he knows “how to brush my teeth”. Actually, he wanted to write that he knows “how to poop”, but didn’t have the courage to follow through…

Dear Joe, we hope you had a great day? The kids and their Perrys are sending warmest birthday wishes from sunny Brooklyn to sunny California! xoxo

The mother of one of Mika’s class mates sent me this picture today. She chaperoned their field trip a couple of weeks ago, and the girls were begging her for candy while waiting for the train. She managed to convince those sad faces that “it wouldn’t be fair to buy candy just for the four of them”, so they got none at all. But perhaps we should enroll them in drama class?

Uncle Joe was able to stop by for a brief visit on Sunday, bringing the grandparents along for an afternoon of games, laughter, and good food. Tobin was still under the weather with a light fever from Friday, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by the pictures. He had so much fun! Thanks for stopping by – especially to Halmoni and Harabogi who drove all the way back home the same night.

Mika and Gaang had one of the most inspiring afternoons to date: they were lucky participants in an AIGA-sponsored teen workshop and built their very own generative art machines! Thanks to an insider friend, we had been notified that the age requirement got lowered to eight years, and pounced at the chance to play with LittleBits and lots of arts and crafts supplies. Gaang got his “Spiral Bot” up and running in no time. Mika first experimented with markers, but later settled on a messier medium: styrofoam balls and paint. Her “C. Robot” walked itself in circles around the canvas and Mika quickly figured out that she could squeeze the paints directly in his path for best results. The cherry on top: all kids got to take home their own LittleBits sets, and Tobin immediately started experimenting with his own circuits.

Thanks again, Carla, for the fantastic opportunity, and for letting me shoot with your camera when my battery died 5 minutes into the event.

Bring Your Own Baby Brother

Nara brought her baby brother (and her parents) over for a relaxed afternoon of Lego tinkering and dinner in Brooklyn. The great thing about our kids’ age: they can take care of guests quite well, especially if they are as sweet as Nara. We didn’t see the three big kids until dinner, so baby Otto got full attention for his adorable baby frowns and smiles.

Today, we are revisiting another milestone: The 100th Day of School. Mika celebrated it three years ago with her Kindergarten class, and now it was Tobin’s turn to glue 100 objects onto the chart and experience three digits’ worth of letter beads spread out in front of him.

A couple of days ago, one of the many film sets around this neighborhood proved to be well worth the visit: a fireball explosion (!), launched from a flame thrower on Union Street, a mere two blocks from our house (!), during reasonable hours (6:00-8:00pm!). What more can we ask for? With almost no wait, the kids got to see a lot of action close up. Better yet: the crowd was light due to a brief sprinkle of rain, so they had a unobstructed view on the cold war era action set…

Tobin loves to build contraptions with his Snap Circuits so much, that he started sketching imaginary circuits on paper. He brought this elaborate invention home from school, where he had worked on it during “choice time”. The machine runs on four AA batteries (red), has two sound speakers, various switches, miles of wiring, and a flame thrower (3-d popup). I am pretty sure his teachers had no idea what the sketch was about…