Egg Hunt

Happy Easter!

a few pictures from our annual egg hunt at the Greenwich Club

Accidental Poetry

We were recently treated to a poetry lesson by one of the Dad's in our Friday group. He is a literature professor at Brown and offered to lead the kids (big and little) in a short introduction. Since not all the kids can read and write he used a novel approach - accidental poetry. 

He started with a discussion of poetry, read a couple, and then showed them a few poems with different formatting. Then he talked a little about accidental or found art and let them create their own accidental poems. 

Each child took a few words that had been cut from magazines and newspapers and taped them to a paper in whatever format they wanted. The kids were instructed to not choose their words but to just take a random handful. Some of the results were funny, some nonsensical, and some were fantastic. But no matter what the kids came up with they all had lots of fun with the process!

Julia's poetry

Ben's poetry

Heard in Our Car

On our way home from a playdate today (Good Friday) Julia asked why there were so many people out and about. I explained that for many people it's a religious holiday and therefore they are off of work or school. We then got into a discussion of work versus vacation days which ended with this exchange:

me: so some people take today as a vacation day
Benj: like Daddy
me: No, Daddy is working today
Benj: But sometimes vacation is when you go off by yourself
me: Well maybe, but we usually spend our vacations together
Benj: No, Daddy does that a lot
me: Does what a lot?
Benj: Takes a vacation
me: when? Daddy doesn't usually go away by himself
Benj: when he goes off by himself... everyday... like today.
me (not getting it yet): no Daddy's working today
Benj: yes but he's by himself, it's his vacation day! All his other, regular days, like Saturdays, he spends with us.

hmmmm.... not sure what Andrew's opinion of that is!

New Adventures - Bike Fun

The piles of snow around here have made it impossible for the kids to get out and ride their bikes but last week we found a solution to that problem - an indoor bike and skate park! And it's only 5 minutes from our house!

I had been a little hesitant to take the kids because I wasn't sure exactly how well suited it would be for younger kids but after hearing rave reviews from friends we decided to check it out. Boy am I glad we did! It is a fantastic place with wonderful staff and an enormous amount of space for the kids to play, ride, and learn new tricks (literally!). 

I left with both kids begging to go back and then talking about it constantly this past week. So today we went back. This time both kids were more comfortable and started trying out some new skills on the ramps. Benj has been practicing on his balance at home over the past couple of days and can now race down our driveway:

(I'm sure I'm going to have a heart attack one of these days!)

So after just a few minutes today he was riding confidently up and down the ramps on the street course. Julia got some tips from the fabulous instructor and was soon doing the same! Both kids were super proud of themselves for being able to keep up with the "big kids."

There is also a ramp they can slide down and a foam pit to jump in so when they need a break from riding there's a lot to keep them busy!

At the top of sliding ramp!

Destination Imagination!!

Julia has spent most of her Fridays this year with a group of 7 other kids participating in a program called Destination Imagination. This is a worldwide program which focuses on child-led exploration and creation in the areas science, art, and technology. The organization puts forth challenges which the children can choose from and then the kids spend several months preparing for that challenge.

Julia's group named themselves "Wild Animals Run" and their challenge was to create an animal mish-mash, a new animal that has features from two other animals. They had to determine what the animal looked like, which features it took from each of it's original animals, and tell a story about how the animal was created and what environment it lives in.

The kids have been working on this since last September and last weekend they presented their story at our state tournament. Their creation was a perecheetah - a mish-mash of a peregrine falcon and a cheetah! They did a fantastic job with their play. The story that they developed was about a land (Land No Name) that is populated by animals (including a bunny - Julia!) and is visited by both good and bad wizards. The bad wizard creates a tornado to destroy the animals world and the good wizards create tornados to stop her. These tornados cause the peregrine falcon and cheetah to get mixed up and the perecheetah is created! So imaginative!

It was wonderful to see all the kids participate and have such a great time showing off their own creations and story. They were all super excited and proud of themselves and are already looking forward to next year!

The Many Faces of Benjamin

It's difficult to get a picture of Benj with a straight face these days.

Julia in March

a couple recent favorites