The Red Balloon

In preparation for a Dave show, hopefully soon in our future, we brought Dyleva out to see Yonder Mountain String Band at Canalside.  It was not crowded in the grassy areas around the stage, and  the ninos found like a personal time out/mosh pit.
  
http://www.yondermountain.com/

We really had a lovely time, relaxing and listening the the live music on a beautiful night.  But the highlight of my night occurred while we were waiting in line for the porta-potty bathrooms, getting ready to leave.  

JERRY!!! He lives!

He sleeps.

Behind a chain link fence, Dylan spotted a red balloon.  He went up to it and tried to get it.  Obviously he couldn't pull it through the chain-links, or underneath the fence, but he tried.  And as he pulled, he let go and the balloon landed further away, out of his reach.  

After witnessing his efforts to get it, like SEVEN different people got out of the bathroom line to try and get the balloon and pump it into the air to push it over the top of the fence.  

I was incredibly touched by the efforts of strangers, working pretty hard to make my little boy happy.  I mean, sweaty hippies were rolling on the cement to grab the stinking balloon.  It was refreshing to witness unprompted acts of kindness.

Eventually, an employee went behind the fence and emerged with two balloons, one for Dylan and one for Eva.  It was quite a scene.  

Magic

We began our day with magic. 
During Mommy School, 
Dyleva was identifying the vowel sounds (in Spanish, of course) when they asked if they could play with their slime. 

So I laid out the cards, named the vowel sound, and told them to slime it!

Imagine my surprise when they pulled the slime off the card, the letter came with it! It actually removed the marker off the card.....

And if that morning's magic wasn't enough, we journeyed to the Central Library to watch Charlie and Checker's magic show.  



It was so cute, and had the kids cracking up!  The first volunteer was one of my students that happened to be there with her summer camp.  Its okay...she was one that I liked : )
My little Shaytara.



Those crazy magicians had some neat tricks and props that highly entertained the audience!

Mommy Summer Camp!

Yes!  The first day of summer vacation!  We are so excited and ambitious to begin!  Today we began with a quick session of Mommy school, and then I gave Dyleva a choice of three places to visit.  They both chose the Carousel Museum. 


When we arrived we were surprised to find that an anonymous donor, a North Tonawanda business, was paying for all entrance fees today.  It was so cool, and nicer than we had expected. 


The niños rode the rides, seriously, how much more could they spin?  We walked through the museum, and then headed for lunch.  How did we manage to dodge the raindrops?







We had a picnic at Grandma Candy's park, after realizing that most people still have to work.  It was quite fitting that I brought my daughter with a broken arm to play on the jungle gym.  It is North Tonawanda after all.  Nobody even looked twice. 

On the way home, Eva asked if all the people from the park, were from the island.

"What island?" I asked, very confused.

"The Island of Tonawanda."  She must have been talking to her daddy.

"I don't know Eva.  Tonawanda is a city, not an island.  I guess most people are from there."

"But Mommy," she continued, "They all look the same as me, have the same skin....."

Good lord Eva.  What has your Daddy been telling you about the 'pod?'  (Jeff's nickname for NT).

Eva going down slide.

*****

Okay, and this is totally off color but I have to include it because I can't stop laughing.  Bad Mommy.

So we are sitting down to dinner as a family tonight.  I prepared BBQ spare ribs, with potatoes and brócoli. 

Out of nowhere, Dylan looks down at his potatoes cut up on his plate, looks at me straight- faced and says, "What the fuck are these things?"

We almost lost it.  Have no idea what brought it on.  My son's first F-Word.  I was so surprised, thank god I didn't laugh. 

So we looked at him and said, "Eat your fucking potatoes."  : )

Art, art, food.

Every year we grace the Allentown Art Festival with our presence. 

I don't know why.  I enjoy it but I can't afford anything and the kids are bored stiff. 

"I want some popcorn! No I want
a slushie.  I'm cold!  Dylan is touching
me! Mommy, I'm thirsty!  Can I have
some lemonade?  I don't have room.

So we played the hair game.  We made predictions of how many different hair colors we would see. 

We were not disappointed.  Lots of pink, but we also saw blue, green, purple, red, and orange.  Dyleva was more excited about crowd watching than looking at art. 

I think we really go for the food.  This year the niños had shiskabobs, chocolate-covered, skewed strawberries and bananas with marshmellows. 

El Yeso

Monkey Bars.

She had just figured out how to do them.  Upper-body strength, swinging her lower body....CRASH.

Eva was distraught as we took her to get her arm x-rayed.  She cried.  She sobbed.  She whimpered.

And then they told her she could have a pink cast.  Un yeso rosado.  All was well with the world. 



Made by friends at Doodlebugs

We were relieved for 1. that it wouldn't include the elbow, and 2. it is "waterproof."




Eva immediately became the focus of attention.  She was loving the spotlight.  People were calling.  Stopping by bringing her presents.  Fussing over her. 

Let's see, Eva's birthday, kindergarten graduation, dance recital, and now broken wrist. 

Dylan would like to remind everyone that there is another child in the house. 
 

MUD

Yesterday I began singing Eva's song from last year, "Kindergarten,Kindergarten" which is sung to the tune of Frank Sinatra's New York New York.  

"Mommy! Stop singing that!" Eva yelled.

Apparently we are too cool for kindergarten now that we are almost in first grade.

Yesterday we celebrated Eva's Moving Up Day, packaged into a family fun day.  I continue to be impressed with Eva's teacher.  This woman also has two small children of her own at home, but man she has got it together.  The work and organization that went into this production was amazing.  

When we arrived, Eva guided us to our seats.  They students performed about 6 songs, but in between each student read a full page paper they had written about their family.   Yes, KINDERGARTENERS!

Next, her teacher put together a beautiful slide show of the children reflecting on a photo of a favorite family memory.  

Next the students presented Their teacher with a gift. She was very touched.  

Then..we took the party outside.  We played a game of Freeze Tag with the parents and children in a big field.  Next, we had relay races between the parents and their child.  I think its safe to say the parents got their butt kicked!  I have a pretty entertaining video of Jeff skipping against Eva!

The day ended with popsicles and playing in the park.  It was a lot of fun!

Eva's Superheroes

There has been a great presence of superheros in our house recently.  We have  been reading about them, building them out of legos, and drawing them.  So Eva, who looks for any opportunity to use the ipad, has been using observational drawing to create her representation of the superhero.  Here is some of her art.