Going through some great old photos

Me and Marina at Disney World

 We hung out tonight, cooked lasagna and green beans (Marina made the green beans) and then watched Revenge of the Sith. I also spent some time going through some old photos and put them up in the blog.

Abby, Nana and PopPop at Disney

Going to MegaMind in 3D

Note the price goes up as you buy more!

Cold drinks for a cold day

Going through photos

Carved pumpkins with the girls tonight. Abby likes to make her pumpkin "throw up"!

Weekend of Meat!

It was a great weekend! We went to Meatfest (it's exactly what it sounds like). The girls had bacon ice-cream cones, bacon lollipops, played corn-hole and hung out with a whole bunch of my college friends of my kids. Abby took a bunch of pictures with Kathleen's camera. Turns out she's pretty talented (I knew it all along).

We also did a bunch of bike riding practice. We rode up to the forum, had lunch at Chipotle and rode back.

Looney Tunes

9/29/11 - I am on a quest. It's an ongoing quest where I want to expose the girls to funny things from my childhood. I can't imagine my kids growing up not knowing who Bugs Bunny is or having watched the Rabbit of Seville. I got a compilation from NetFlix and it was Rabbit Season (or was it Duck Season?)!

Old Town Norcross

10/11/11 - We went out for Pizza tonight into old town Norcross. We all went to the park afterwards and played on the playground.

Just the three of us

Kathleen was working today so the girls and I made dinner together: dumplings and rice.

Marina and I practiced for her Reconstruction quiz. We learned all about carpet-baggers, scalawags and the Freedman's Bureau.

Abby worked on artwork to represent diversity in the world.

I Want the Volcano!

My mom and dad came through town today. The girls were thrilled and we all went out for dinner at the traditional hibachi restaurant.

The girls never seem to get tired of the hibachi chef tricks. Abby caught the egg in her mouth (she was the only one)! They still love the volcano, the ketchup scare and all the rest. We stopped for frozen yogurt and then relaxed at home and talked

Festivus for the rest of us

Very busy weekend!

The girls had a sleepover with their friends and we all met for a Dim Sum brunch. The girls tried everything and it went well.

We drove downtown and got special doughnuts at Sublime doughnuts and then went to a Sunday in the Park Victorian festival at Oakland Cemetery. There was live music, Irish dancers, corn-dogs, hula hoops, classic cars and more. The girls passed out on the way home. I love it when I wear them out.

Music day

The girls and I made pizza together. The girls chopped and spread all the toppings. We hung out and watched the sing-off along with some performances by Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga.

Wicked Weekend

We went to Wicked at the Fox theatre Friday night!

We all got dressed up and went downtown. Had dinner next door to the Fox and Marina paid for the sweet potato fries (at her request).

Saturday we made bacon and eggs together (I think Marina ate 6 pieces of bacon by herself...she may have baconitis!) and then went to midtown to hang out with some friends. We all went to Chow Baby and then to Morelli's for ice-cream. We tried some crazy flavors like coconut jalepeno, salted caramel and strawberry ginger. We walked around little 5 and browsed in Abbadabba's and the Junkman's daughter. We stayed home for the evening and watched Rio.

Sunday we hung out at home and Marina and I did some things online (like writing this blog!)

Here's Marina: hello this is weird. i do not know what to say. bye-bye

We ended Sunday by going to the park with Baley. We rode bikes, played on the playground, got something from the ice-cream man and went with friends to the dog park.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Kathleen had to travel to Chicago for family funeral. We were sad for her but we made roast chicken together with Kathleen's recipe.

Chick-a-leen:

Wash chicken thoroughly and salt the inside of the chicken
Cut a lemon in half and put lemon halves inside chicken with 6 sprigs of thyme and halved cloves of garlic
Wash and chop vegetables and place in bottom of baking pan (sweet potato, carrots, mushrooms, onion)
Drizzle olive oil on vegetables
Place chicken on top of vegetables
Melt a quarter stick of butter and drizzle over chicken
Salt and pepper the top of the chicken
Bake in a preheated oven at 450 for 1 hour
Cover lightly with foil and bake for one half hour more

While the chicken cooked we made presents for Kathleen's birthday and read some science fiction short stories.

Quiet evening at home

We made dumplings, rice and broccoli tonight and read Isaac Asimov stories while the girls worked on arts and crafts projects.

I quizzed marina on her civil war facts and helped her come up with funny mnemonics to help remember esoteric facts...even I remember them now:

When Abby is 18 she will run away like a fugitive to live free in California and Daddy will be 50. Daddy will call the California government and they will send her back : The 1850 Compromise allowed California into the union as a free state and passed the fugitive slave act which sent escaped slaves back to their owners.

We knew they were coming...

We all baked a cake tonight!

We had a crumb cake mix...they had never seen crumb cake and Abby decided not to eat any, but we all had a good time cracking eggs, mixing batter and baking the cake. It came out awesome and we all loved it... except for Abby :-(

Abby made her own fun and had her own fun with a silly fashion show

Backyard Camping

We had an adventure over labor day weekend... I set up the tent in the backyard for the girls to have a backyard camping trip!

Sabrina Katz came over and the girls had burgers, dogs and corn. The girls collected wood and I built a fire for s'mores. They sat by the fire and then played flashlight tag on the trampoline. It was great watching the lights bounce up and down in the dark and hearing them laughing for hours. I snuck around the house and scared them in the tent (and they got revenge on me in my bedroom later that night).

It eventually got too hot for them and they came inside to sleep. It's the end of the summer and I think we can go on a real camping trip this fall.

We watched the last 2 Harry Potter movies on Saturday and Sunday and Abby went for a play date with her best friend Payton while Kathleen, Marina and I went on a long bike ride around the neighborhood. We almost got lost but Marina toughed it out up and down all the hills.

We made a special breakfast this weekend...Elvis French Toast!

Elvis French Toast:

Mix Peanut Butter and Banana's in bowl thoroughly together in a bowl and spread mixture between two pieces of bread.

Dip sandwiches into traditional french toast batter (eggs, milk, vanilla)

Fry to a golden brown

Curriculum Night Part 2

I joined Marina, Abby and Kathleen for dinner and dessert before running to Curriculum night for Marina. The girls all had fun together and Marina is doing really well at school.

Curriculum night

It was curriculum night at Abby's school. I met with her teacher, volunteered for reading, did the PTA thing while Kathleen and the girls went for a walk with Baley and played Ticket to Ride.

GREAT WEEKEND!!!!

8/19 - 8/21: This weekend was awesome! We watched Harry Potter part 2 on Friday night and ate pizza. Abby and I made breakfast in bed for everyone on Monday. Abby learned how to make eggs and bacon. Saturday, we played a little Catan met some friends for Rise of the Planet of the Apes and dinner at Chow Baby. We closed the night watching Harry Potter 3 with a promise of no TV or movies on Sunday. We had an active day on Sunday including the trampoline and a bike ride to the forum and dunkin donuts. Abby was a trooper on the ride. Marina and I also spent some time doing our inside out coaching and finished our "reality" session.

The quest continues!

8/18/2011 - we finished Harry potter tonight and then started a new Catan game. We introduced a new variant tonight: Fishermen of Catan from Traders and Barbarians. The girls caught on quick and everyone had fun.

Starting the quest!

8/16/2011 - We introduced the girls to the first Harry Potter movie last night.

They loved it! Marina was very surprised at how much she liked it. She's been saying for years how much she did not want to see it. Now she is begging to see the remaining movies!

Game on!

Nice night at home. Kathleen prepared dinner for us as I taught the girls to play Ticket to Ride. We all had a nice evening and are looking forward to spending the weekend together

Thursday is Sunday

We all got sundaes at Brewster's today. The reward for some "hard work" at home.

Abby led the team in making dinner and Marina and I worked on improving her communication skills. We started by having Marina develop some goals for this year and have a next step to develop the plan to achieve the goals. We are working through the "inside-out" coaching methodology to allow Marina more ownership of her goal and plans. I hope it all goes well!

Mo magic

Tues night magic show with Marina went well.



The girls are both really interested in performing and putting on shows. We all had dinner together and we did the usual pool thing as well.

Magical Blockbuster Weekend

Friday night was great! Marina, Abigail, Kathleen and I all went out for pizza, Captain America and frozen yogurt. Several friends joined us (Ken, Chris and Chris' kids). Everyone loved the movie and I am happy that the girls are becoming fans of comic book movies (including Kathleen!). We need to add the classic Superman movies to the netflix list.

We went to the pool on Saturday and Sunday and also practiced some new magic tricks! I bought the girls a couple of magic kits and worked with the girls on some tricks. Some worked well:






some needed some practice:

REWIND: Spring Break 2011

This spring break, we went on an extended road trip down to Florida. We took off on a Friday night and drove non-stop to Disney World. We got a one night hotel in orlando to sleep for a couple of hours and then went to the Carribean Beach Resort at Walt Disney World. We spent the first day at the resort pool where there were water slides, dance lessons and dance contests for the girls.

We spent the whole day there and then went to the boardwalk for dinner. Abby made a pact with me to eat a stuffed grape leaf with no complaints in exchange for 5 trips to the ice cream store where I would not complain about how many toppings she wanted! We watched a crazy number of live performers on the boardwalk (magicians, plate spinners, jugglers, etc) and did two laps round the lake in a surrey with the fringe on top.

The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom with my parents and rode everything! It was Abby's first time on Space Mountain and we rode it at least 10 times! I used the speed pass to everyone's advantage and we went from ride to ride to ride with very little waiting. We did some great classic rides like the Indy cars where the girls drove, Pirates of the Caribbean with an animatronic Jack Sparrow, but some of the old classic rides (country bear jamboree) seem kind of lame to me now and even to the kids :-(

We had a big dinner together at the Polynesian Hotel and then went to bed. Whew!

Last day at WDW, we went to Animal Kingdom in the morning and rode Expedition Everest, Dinosaur! and the Kali River Rapids where we all got soaked! We then hopped parks to Epcot and rode all the virtual reality rides (Mission SPACE!, Soarin and Test Track) 3 times each. We did a couple of old standbys and got dinner at the Turkish Restaurant with the Belly Dancers. I could not persuade either M&A to get up and dance :-(

We left for my parents place that night and got in after midnight. We spent the next days at the pool, went to the beach, got stung by jellyfish, ate ice cream to make it better, played games and watched movies (Splash! and Young Frankenstein). We eventually got home none the worse for wear and nobody got sunburnt!

Coup-fourré

Tonight was a good night! Marina and I went for a bike ride and continued our practicing of riding on the road and also on the trail. We went out to Simpsonwood and worked on going over roots and up hills. We talked about controlling fear and how not panicking on the bike is very important.

Kathleen and Abby made dinner together (salmon, rice and peas). Abby picked, cleaned and chopped fresh basil all by herself and used it to season the rice and the salmon. Over dinner we talked more about fear and used FDR's famous quoter "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" as a way to explain that being scared is OK, the trick is not letting your fear dictate your actions.

We had ice cream for dessert and then played several rounds of Mille Bornes. We switched teams each time and everyone won at least once. We worked on focusing on the game a bunch so that it ran smoothly for everyone.

Dive, dinner, deal!

Abby and I went to the pool again so she could work on her back dive. She loves the pool and really enjoys riding her bike over and back. She's still not tall enough to consistently get started by herself.

Her "crawl" stroke has really progressed this summer and I'm really proud of her.

Marina made a new dish tonight with Kathleen - Chicken and green beans over rice. She loves making new spice combinations (Cinnamon, Basil, Salt and Soy Sauce).

We made special desserts for everyone - Root-beer floats for me and Kathleen and Chocolate/Peanut Butter/Banana Ice cream shakes for the girls.

We played UNO and Mille Bornes tonight. Marina talked smack early and delivered on her early bragging "I am so going to win!". Abby and I cleaned up on Mille Bornes and were near unstoppable.

REWIND: Road Trip!

6.10.11 to 6.22.11 - I took a 2 week road trip with Kathleen, Marina and Abby!

First stop, Washington DC: We stayed with Kathleen's friend Veda and her family. The girls loved Veda's daughter who is 9 years old. We went to the park several times watched movies at night and went out for pizza and frozen yogurt. We met the Eidelkinds at the International Spy Museum in downtown DC. It was great! The girls adopted formal covers, played SPY!, and got souvenir T-shirts. We went to the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We talked all about the founding fathers, American history and the importance of education, freedom, equality, responsibility, honor and tyranny. We did the entire Mall! we walked the full circuit and saw all the monuments (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, MLK (under construction), FDR, Korean War, Vietnam War and a really cool collection of sculptures honoring the US Navy. I split my shorts bending over >:-( and then stopped for ice cream. After the snack we headed out to New Jersey!

New Jersey: We stayed with Kathleen's brother's family in their new house and played with Charlie and Alice non stop!. We went to park to fly kites, went to see David perform and got Mr Softee a couple of times too. After 3 days, we headed up to NY.

NY: We stayed at the Residence Inn where my parents stay for the summer and had a blast. We hung by the pool, read, played games by the pool (Blokus and Scrabble) and in the game room (Ms. Pacman, a driving game and Pinball). We took the girls into the city for a surprise visit with Kathleen's brother Ray and his wife Chris. We all went to the International Photography Museum and saw an exhibit on Eliot Erwitt.

We stopped in China town for soup dumplings, got Gelatto in little italy and walked back to the subway in the pouring rain! The girls like getting wet. Me, not so much. The highlight of the trip was going to see Mama Mia on Broadway (the girls second broadway show!). Next stop Baltimore!


Baltimore: We stayed with my sister and her family for 3 days. Went in the hot tub and pool (the girls keep begging me for a hot tub...I wish!). We went to the park and Marina played tennis with her cousin Haley. I took all the cousins to see super 8 (great movie! the kids all loved it!). We ate stone crabs by the pool, did a big jigsaw puzzle on the kitchen table, played more blokus and scrabble and had slumber parties with all three cousins every night. The girls watched movies during the long drives including Planet of the Apes, Bill and Ted's excellent adventure and Pippi Longstocking.

REWIND: Camping weekend!

6.24.11 to 6.26.11 - I went camping with the girls and Baley to Red Top Mountain this weekend. We went canoeing, cooked over the campfire we built together. We made s'mores, hot dogs and even "ken's swiss spaghetti"! We got there in the rain and had to set everything up while it was pouring. We talked about "being tough" and persevering if you want something. We told tons of very scary ghost stories (Mr Cropsy, The Twinkling Light, The Warewolves, The one-footed lumberjack, and The Dirty Potty!), and I taught the girls how to make them up on the fly by picking one thing or one idea and then just rolling with it stream of consciousness while trying to keep it real.

We went swimming at the beach and borrowed Jeff Fisher's canoe. We went out twice, once by ourselves and once with Ken. Ken came up on the last day with Anna and Ellie and we went for a long canoe ride where we swam in the lake a bunch and even capsized the canoe! We all worked together to get it back upright and had a great adventure!

REWIND: Return from Camp

First, an explanation. REWIND posts are me going back in history and writing about past outings/activities with the girls.

Friday 7/15/2011 - I picked the girls up from summer camp today. We went to Chow Baby on the way home where the girls got to pick out their own dinner ingredients. We got some frozen yogurt, sang camp songs and talked all about the camp experience. Marina mentioned the idea of being "home schooled" for middle school. I wasn't too happy about that :-( We talked about education and how it prepares you for the world and also about how schools with kids help you learn how to relate to others in society.

We all curled up in bed together and watched the princess bride before going to bed. It was a good day!

Backdive!

Saturday 7/16/11 - We made breakfast together, eggs and bacon. We went to see cars 2 at the movies and played games at home (battleship! Marina won!). I went to the pool with Abby, while Marina played with Kathleen and I taught Abby to do a backdive!


Marina and Kathleen made dinner together (cous cous, dumplings and peas). Marina was very proud of her recipe and cooking skills. Cooking is one of her favorite things. Kathleen and I read Inkheart to the girls before bed. Abby loves her new husband (her pillow!)

Go Braves!

Sun 7/17 - I took the girls out to lunch and to the Braves game. We went to the braves history museum, rooted for the Braves and I explained several parts of the game to Marina and Abby (balks, stolen bases, pick offs, run downs, 7th inning stretch, the kiss cam, etc). We had peanuts, soda, and dippin dots (when will the ice cream of the future ever become the ice cream of the present?)


Before the game, we had lunch with my friend, Robin Cahall, and played several games over lunch and after the game (1 up 1 down, going on a picnic, loopdy loop, hangman). Marina made a very clever hangman phrase - "men always talk about sports and taxes". Robin and I both laughed and complemented her for her wit.

About this blog

I've decided to start a journal detailing my activities, conversations and important events with my daughters. Hopefully it will be fun for them as well.