Summer's Ending

As we approach the end of another summer, I look back at the last weekend before Labor Day when, my son, my wife and myself brought the grandtwins down to an amusement park down at the Jersey shore. It couldn't have been a more perfect day.

Gotta love the whip!

Daddy keeping an eye on things

Who doesn't like an arcade?

Checking out the carousel art

Road rage?

Just out for a drive

C'mon Dad ... keep up!

Sean loves the slide

So does Lukas

An exciting ride

The favorite of the day ... the roller coaster

Lady Liberty?

Some scary gargoyles

Now it's time to start putting summer behind us. School starts this week and two weeks later summer officially leaves us behind and fall takes the stage - with the twins birthday and Halloween just over the horizon.

Enjoy the cooler weather - it's on its way!

Movin' On Up

A few weeks ago I read a friend's blog in which she was experiencing the rituals of graduation in her new part of the world for the first time. I was thinking about her yesterday as I attended a "graduation" of another type myself.

My grandtwins were moving up from their class of 3 year olds! Naturally it was important to have a proper ceremony to mark this auspicious occasion.

As is proper, the ceremony started with the pledge of allegiance to the flag.

Of course, a few songs by the graduating class to entertain their families followed ...

Sean introduces the next song - in a voice that didn't require the microphone

... and some dancing ...

Lukas getting his groove on

Then comes the presentation of diplomas ...

Lukas appears to think he is heading into a boxing ring

Take your bows now ...

Lukas is proud of his accomplishments, but is ready now to end this and head out into the world.

The proud graduates march out to a traditional recessional ...

... and catch up with their family.

Faces

It's been a while since I have bored shared with you photos of my grandtwins. Like every grandparent and parent I like to take pictures at birthday (and other) parties. Though I have been taking all sorts of photos for about 50 years, when it comes to parties, I tend to revert to pure snapshot mode - and there really is nothing wrong with that except I know I can (and should) make the most of the opportunity to do something more ... at least for some of the shots.

(If you would like to learn more about how these shots ... and shots of other children ... were taken, click here to view Gathered Images.)

This past weekend, was my daughter-in-law’s birthday party, and I had an opportunity to take some photos. Have a look ...

 

And my favorite ... he had just scored the highest he had ever scored on the
Wii basketball game he had been playing ...

I'm Outta Control!!!!

A Snap, A Set and a Song - Birthday

After a wonderful week at Walt Disney World, followed by a few days to recover, it is time to join with Thea for A Snap, A Set and a Song. This week's theme is Birthday.

The Snap

This is pretty good timing for this theme as my twin grandsons just turned three at the beginning of the month.

The Set

This week we have a set of two videos. Each year for their birthday, I create a video of the boys' year just passed. Here are the videos from year one and year two.

The Song

And, naturally, we finish off with this year's video, featuring (appropriately enough) Randy Newman's You've Got a Friend in Me from Toy Story.

A Snap, A Set and A Song - Park

This week I asked Thea (A Snap, A Set and A Song) if she would decide on the theme early in the cycle since as you read this I am at the beginning of a long anticipated vacation. I was away last week and unable to participate so I wanted to get this one done before I went away again. She picked the theme - Park. Immediately my mind went in one direction, as I am currently in a place with four of the most amazing (theme) parks in the world. Yet, Park evokes many definitions, and three came immediately to mind. This post will deal with two of them.

The Snap

This is Willowbrook Park here on Staten Island, one of my favorite places to go to take photos, and relax. This shot was taken as the leaves were just starting to turn at the end of summer.

The Set

Another synonym for "park" is playground. As you see in this set, we often take the grandtwins to Willowbrook Park to see/feed the ducks, or take a walk in the woods. But there is also a playground in the park which they enjoy. Well, they enjoy many playgrounds.

The Song

While we are on the "playground" definition of this week's theme, I will go way back to my own youth. In fact I was five years old when I first heard this song. It was on an album (do you remember those?) of children's songs. I loved that album as a kid and still do ... yes it is on my iPhone!

Déjà Zoo

When my kids were young, we often went to the Bronx Zoo on weekends. It was a place that I had gone when I was a kid and it had just undergone a major redesign/update when my own children were young. We became members of the NY Zoological Society (now the Wildlife Conservation Society) so that we could go to the zoo and the aquarium as often as we wanted.

As youngsters, my children loved and spent a lot of time in the newly opened Children's Zoo and of course I took many pictures of them - in a bird's nest, in a turtle shell, on a spider web, and listening with fenic fox ears.

Now jump ahead to this week. My wife and I had the grandtwins for the day and decided to spend our day with them at the Bronx Zoo. Naturally, one of the first places we took them to (after becoming members for the first time in 22 years) was the children's zoo. It had been more than two decades since we were here last, but it seemed like just yesterday as the memories came flooding back from the moment we approached the entrance. The first thing we saw was the "birds nests" built for children to climb into and have their picture taken. The photograph of my son and daughter in that bird's nest popped into my mind and I could see it clear as day! Unfortunately, a large camp group was there having their turns so rather than wait, we moved on.

As we moved through the magnificent area that is the children's zoo, the memories kept coming and coming. I remember my kids crawling through the prairie dog tunnels and popping their heads up in the children sized holes. And the hollow log which the twins crawled through, over and over and over. With each new area, I mentally pictured my son and daughter playing in that area or spending time watching the animals on display. It was as if time had suspended here and waited for us to return. What two and a half year old wouldn't want to climb - and bounce - on a huge rope spider web? Our grandtwins were no exception. And if you think that grandma and grandpa weren't having as much fun as the boys, think again! Watching them explore and discover - new things at every turn - was a treat for us.

They were fascinated to watch the wallabies hop and stood waiting each time one was standing still - wanting to see it again. And of course, they had to show me that they could jump as well. When they came to the tortoise enclosure they stayed for a long time. These tortoises were so much larger than the one their dad has at home! They stood and watched them and reported to me on their every move. Next they saw the fenic foxes and had a chance to recreate another of the photos that I have of their father - listening to the world through the ears of a fenic fox. (My son would again encounter fenic fixes when he was a zoo volunteer in another zoo during his college days.) Next were the reptiles, and I was a bit concerned since one of the twins used to have nightmares about a snake, but he was fascinated and stared at the snake for quite some time.

Then there are the shots of my kids in the turtle shells - so naturally I had to photograph the grandtwins like that as well ...

Unfortunately, the photos I took of my kids at this age were way back in the non-digital photography era and still sit with thousands of others I took over the years and have not yet digitized. One of the advantages of digital photography is that they are easy to file, store, categorize and have at your fingertips. (But that is the subject of another blog post yet to be written.)

To see more shots of our day at the Bronx Zoo - and the children's zoo - click here.

  

It's Their First Day

Today my grandtwins arrived at their first day of their first experience with summer camp. Just 3 months short of their third birthday, wearing their brand new water shoes, they walked to their room with their parents. The director met them at the door and said to one of them, "Hello Lukas" to which Lukas replied, "I'm two!" They proudly handed him their backpacks and sat down with the other children - never looking back.

That is how their first day in a school type setting started. Right now they are completing their first hour and mommy and daddy have the first of three hours to themselves. The boys have always been around other children so that setting is not new to them. They have taken part in library classroom settings before so that is not new either. While we won't know how the whole first day went until they come home later today, I am expecting that it will have gone well.

The boys are growing up!

Kids and Their Electronics

When I was a kid, the only electronic "toy" we had in the house was a black and white television. I suppose my first electronic toy was a transistor radio that my aunt bought for me for a birthday back in the 1950's.

When my own children were young, video games where just getting started and very few families had them. To be fair, we did have an original Pong and then an Atari 2600 system, but they were strictly for the use of my wife and myself, not the children. They were too busy with a number of bands and playing sports - not to mention spending time with their friends. When he was in college, my son did buy himself a used game system, but he never became addicted to it, and it too soon was gathering dust.

However, today video games are not confined to the television, and you can play them wherever you are thanks to smart phones, and tablets. I have to admit that even my wife and myself take time to play our games on our smart phones when things get a little slow or we are waiting for something, such as in a doctor's waiting room.

But as fun as it is for us, recently we have noticed the many very young children who are routinely playing games on electronic devices, and my grandsons are no exception. For a long time now, they have loved to see pictures or videos on my wife and my phones, but now they are also very adept at playing games on them as well. We have put a number of learning games for children of their age (2 1/2) on our phones and our tablets, and they enjoy playing with them. However, they also like playing some of the games that my wife and I have for our own entertainment ... my apologies to any of my friends who have received a short Words with Friends word that come from one of the boys.

I have learned, however, that when I give them either the phone or the tablet, that it is in my best interest to turn the wi-fi and 3G off since the boys have been known to order a $400 camera (shipped overnight and had to be returned) and a lunchbox (caught before shipping) from my daughter-in-law's tablet, and ordered a new game from my wife's.

Yet, as much as they insist on the electronics, we try to limit the time spent on them or they will want to play with them for hours on end. The television was the electronic babysitter of my youth, but smart phones and tablets seem to be filling that role for today's youngsters. My grandsons are as happy reading or being read to as using the electronic games. They also enjoy playing with physical objects as well. Now with summer right around the corner, it's also possible to get out to the playground, take a walk on the beach, go to the zoo and all of those activities which are so important and that grandparents (and parents of course) love to do with them. These are the traditional activities which they love doing as much as my kids did or we did as kids.

Family Traditions

When I was younger, almost all of my extended family lived in one place - Brooklyn, NY. Because of that there were many times that the families got together and when we did it was a huge group. Very often it happened at the Jewish holidays. Extended family has always been a close knit group in our family.

Today, almost all of us have moved from Brooklyn - some not far, and others over a thousand miles away. Still others are no longer with us at all. Occasionally we still have family get togethers, though they are now smaller than in days gone by.

This past weekend was Mother's Day ... and what did that mean? Yes ... my father's birthday!! My dad is one of those who no longer lives nearby, having moved to Florida full time now, but he is here for a visit and to celebrate his birthday with family. On Saturday, his birthday, we gathered at my brother's house. These get togethers are a also welcome chance for my grandtwins to spend some time with cousins such as my brother's sons, my sister's sons and my cousins and their twins. Sadly, my daughter - one of those who live over a thousand miles away - was not able to join us this day. (Last year at one of our family get togethers I Photoshopped her in to the "official" picture. I behaved myself this time and didn't do that.)

(top: my grandsons, Lukas and Sean - bottom: my nephews, Nathan and Jeffrey)

One family tradition that has come out of these get togethers, is the four generation family portrait. As you can imagine, with five children 3 or under, this can be a challenge. Want to see just how much of a challenge it is? Have a look ...