Posted in Alley life, Beautiful Things, Kid style, Parenting, Queens Life on September 17, 2018| 2 Comments »
Photos shot by E and Z’s dad – as they are every year. These 2 are growing so fast! They are heading into the 7th and 3rd grade, and of course Z is sporting her new cowgirl boots (courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa during their trip to Yellowstone this summer!) Enjoy the start to September everyone ..
Posted in Beautiful Things, Fun in NYC, Kid style, Parenting, tagged acting, children, Desiree Flambeau, Don't Stop Believing play, fun, kids, parenting, proud, summer camp, theater on August 24, 2018| 2 Comments »
Zoe also attended a theater camp this summer, the same group that Ezra enjoyed last year. We were so pleased to hear that she got to act as an ‘old lady’ – as she’s been good at this for years (at age 2 she use to pretend she was a librarian with glasses and a cane!) Not only did Zoe get to color her hair silver gray for every show, but she also had 41 lines to memorize and an ‘imaginary dog named muffin’. Best of all, she added an English accent to her character’s traits (and kept it up for the whole show!) Kudos Zoe!
Posted in Beautiful Things, Fun in NYC, Kid style, Parenting, tagged acting, children, James and The Giant Peach, kids, NYC, summer camp, theater district, theater for kids, Times Square, Wes Anderson, Wingspan Theater on August 22, 2018| 2 Comments »
Ezra and Zoe both took part in theater camp this summer (Zoe’s post soon to come..!)
Ezra had to audition for this Wingspan program. He went into a casting call in the spring; drumming and singing ‘You Know I’m No Good’ by Amy Winehouse and wowing the crowd. When he was accepted, we were so proud but also excited to see what new Manhattan “acting kids” Ezra would get to know.
They were a fun and kind crew, and – as it turns out – so thoroughly jazzed about theater that they do this kind of thing all year ’round. For Ezra and I it was fun to catch the E train to Times Square every morning to get him to the theater district (although my feet wore out quickly with the arduous commute, it’s pretty rare that a kid goes to camp in Times Square every day!) For Ezra, it was exposure to more creative middle school-aged kids, who don’t mock each other for wanting to sing and dance.
‘Dancing’ – it turns out – is the hardest thing Ezra had to do. He can sing, he can drum, he can act… but all that dancing nearly broke him. In a sense he was happy to rise to the challenge but it was challenging for him to stick with it in the beginning of the summer.
The end result was this delicious little rendition of ‘James and the Giant Peach’ – a favorite Roald Dahl book brought to life on the stage with some fun singing and dancing. I love the very ‘Wes Anderson’ costumes and props, and in the end Ezra got a glimpse of theater life on the great White Way. I’m proud of him for seeing it through – and next year he claims he wants “race car or drumming camp”.
Posted in Beautiful Things, Cooking, Cornwall, Food Adventures, Holidays, Kid style, Parenting, tagged beach, country, dog twin, growing up, kids, rescue dogs, schnauzer, summer vacation, summertime, teens, terrier, tweens on July 27, 2018| 1 Comment »
I’m kind of overwhelmed with how quickly the kids are growing. I don’t know if I’ve ever written that before – but especially now that Ezra approaches age 12 in August: there seems to be so much more responsibility coming around the bend. He’s already talking about High Schools to apply to, and we are running into his friends moving around on their own on the NYC subway system. (I am close to letting him get to Time’s Square for camp each day on his own, but just cannot bring myself to it yet. It’s great to have theater camp there, but it’s also a known fact that all the strangest New Yorkers are walking around that area of town – in case you are ever acting as tourist there and wondering about this..)
When we went to the beach on 4th July, the kids made dinner for us, and then cleaned up the house before we left. I’m shocked to see that even all the ‘toddlers on the lake’ in Cornwall are suddenly seeming like teenagers !
Even Zoe moves around on her own lately. We gave her a few dollars for the Cornwall rummage sale and let her roam freely to shop for a few hours with a friend. She found a very excellent twin version of Louie for just a dollar!
clean up and cooking fish tacos at the beach: 
grown kids on the lake! 
This little guy will probably need us longer than our kids do;
Posted in Kid style, Parenting, Queens Life, tagged dancing, Kid's Chat Show, local talent, music fest for kids, NYC, Queens college, Queens Kid's Music Festival, rap, rock, summer fun on July 26, 2018| 1 Comment »
We’ve been combing the city for gigs where the band can play, and where Zoe enjoys herself at the same time. Enter the Queens Kid’s Music Festival! So much kid talent packed into one event, and Ezra met some great talk show hosts that may very well use his musical talent on their show some day… more to come!
Posted in Alley life, Beautiful Things, Crafting, Kid style, Parenting, Queens Life, tagged boredom leads to creation, chalk, children, drawing, fun for kids, graffiti, kids, summer fun, summer vacation, summertime on July 10, 2018| 1 Comment »
What does Zoe do when Ezra is away at camp by day and she’s bored? Get creative of course!
and of course when Ezra got home, he also had to contribute:
Posted in Beautiful Things, Fun in NYC, Kid style, Parenting, Queens Life, tagged Battle of the Bands, E3, kids and music, kids who rock, Kids' band, parenting, Queens college, Queens Library, street performing on July 6, 2018| 2 Comments »
Well this was their biggest performance to date… in a theater that holds 2000 and about 500 people arrived. They were the youngest band there (most others approaching college age or older) and they were really solid! I was so proud. Better yet, Ezra was lit up like a Christmas tree for the rest of the day after being on such a big stay with a crowd: he loved it! I don’t know where these kids get their fearlessness from. Not me!
(see his street performing below, and other E3 practices and performances by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCha8hq9mndSIvQiKoaZRnUg)
and check out E doing some street performing in Washington Square Park! He’s got fans:
