Growing Up with Alexander

Alexander's First Protest and Ice Planet Video

2012-02-11T17:48:00.001-08:00

There was a protest by the Carnegie Museum today against proposed funding cuts for public schools. Alexander's first protest! "Educate me, before I'm History!". There were about a dozen parents from Alexander's school For the most part, Alexander just threw snowballs with the other kids. It is depressing, though: for Alexander's school, the threat is to lose the science teacher and math teacher and to combine three classes in each of fourth and fifth grade (with a total of 75 or so students per grade) into two classes (hence with 35+ students per class).

Afterward, Alexander spent some time preparing a play about super heros. I think this is how Stanley Kubrick started.

First Piano Recital

2012-02-06T05:49:00.000-08:00

Alexander had his first piano recital today. It went very well! He played "Woodpecker", "Quiet Evening" and (with his teacher) "Over & Over".

Christmas Greetings 2011

2011-12-24T11:49:00.001-08:00

Alexander has made a Christmas video and brings Christmas greetings (in two languages!).

Fall again

2011-11-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

Weather has been somewhat variable here: beautiful days, snow, windy, cold, hot. Today was cool but a perfect fall day. Just the day to rake a few leaves and then jump in them.

Halloween 2011 (for real)

2011-10-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

On Halloween itself, there was a party at school (I'm not sure if they are continuing with the "Fall Festival" doubletalk) where there were a good number of Harry Potters. I think ours was the best!

Later, Alexander did go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, but it was a cold, drizzley evening, so he was about the only one. So he got a ton of candy!

Halloween 2011

2011-10-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

Halloween is always big at the Trick/Weyers house. This year, Alexander invited about a hundred kids to come over for a pre-halloween party. About 200 parents came over too! All the kids knew who Ilona and I were (it is based on the iphone game "Angry Birds"); only about 1/3 of the parents had any idea. Alexander was Harry Potter this year.

Mosque in Cordoba

2011-07-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

One, perhaps the, highlight in Cordoba is the mosque, the third largest in the wold and the largest in the West. This is an enormous building with roughly 1000 pillars supporting it. In the middle of it is a very large Catholic cathedral ("Where should we put the cathedral? I don't know, how about aisle 5?") which is still dwarfed by the mosque around it.

Padoba

2011-07-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

After the spectacular paradors in Cuenca and Alarcon, we thud back to reality at a small hotel in Padoba. Nice enough hotel in a great location (though getting here involved driving down incredibly narrow roads that look like pedestrian sidewalks more than car-worthy thoroughfares). But the decorating of our room, at least, was "Elderly Aunt" and both felt and smelt musty.

Cardoba has an amazing history as the Moorish capital in the period 800-1300 or so. It was also a center of Jewish life until the expulsion of the Jews in 1492. So there is great history here. Coming with that are hordes of tourists, and some amazingly cheesy tourist shops.

Alarcon

2011-07-04T05:56:00.000-07:00

Our next parador was a real treat: Alarcon. This parador is set in an eighth-century Arab castle. Very luckily, we were upgraded to the "Don Juan Manuel Suite" which is at the top of the tower and includes exclusive access to the turrets and top of the tower. We could walk all around the tower and have tourists point up wondering how we got access. The room was fantastic, with nook for Alexander (and another for the Mickeys).

The town itself is also pretty incredible, with the town and castle appearing out of the rolling hills.

Trip to Spain: Cuenca

2011-07-03T05:22:00.000-07:00

Mike is to give a one hour talk in Barcelona. Naturally this leads to a three week vacation in Spain. We flew in to Madrid arriving early July 1.

Our first stop is Cuenca, about a two hour drive from Madrid. The parador (a government run collection of luxury hotels) is an old monastery, attached to the town by a very high, very narrow, very old bridge. Mike in particular found it difficult to walk over the bridge, and even Ilona had some issues. Alexander, of course, had no problems running down, bouncing off of railings.

Beautiful monastery and beautiful town.

Alexander's Birthday Party (Finally)

2011-06-26T05:06:00.000-07:00

Alexander's birthday is May 20 but we finally got around to having his party today. The main issue was the back yard which has been under construction all spring. It is not done, but the party must go on!

The party had a pirate theme, and had lots of kids. Some of the activities included "Giant Ball Soccer" (a bit a disaster: the kids are bigger now and used their strength to bowl over other kids), an extensive scavenger hunt, a "pop the balloon" game and, the traditional finale: pelt Mike with water balloons until he whimpers like a girl.

Beautiful day, and lots of people around.

Construction continues

2011-06-23T04:56:00.000-07:00

We are redoing our back yard (the retaining wall was collapsing and one thing led to another). Here's a delivery of some decorative rocks for borders and the play area along with a view of our back porch.

Lego Kidsfest

2011-06-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I searched around for a "Lego Kidsfest" that Alexander and I could go to. Amazingly, there was one planned for Pittsburgh, and we went to it yesterday. It was held in the Convention Center in one of their huge halls. There were tons of things for kids (and adults!) to do. It being father's day weekend, there seemed to be an awful lot of fathers with their kids. Lots of room, though, so it was easy to wander through. The only line was for the shop, which didn't make a lot of sense to me since everything there could be bought online. Despite that, we waited in line for 15 minutes so Alexander could buy some fresh Lego.

Highlights included

"Creation Nation": a large area outlined with a map of the US. Kids picked up a square and built a building or tower (or sign, or peoplescape, or...) which was then added to the country. Alexander and his friend Garrett built a pyramid, which was place on the US/Mexico border, presumably to deter illegal immigration.
A "Mystery Mosaic", where kids filled in a medium square with 1x1 color squares according to a given pattern. This is then put up on a wall, where a large picture emerges.
The "Model Museum", full of amazing, full sized lego models, including Batman, the Harry Potter kids and Hagrid, multiple Star Wars characters and more
The "Brick Pile", where kids got to lay in a huge pile of lego (think Scrooge McDuck lying in a pile of money). That reminded me of Alexander's room at times.

Lots of fun. For those willing to spend more hours, there were also building lessons (I got Alexander the "Master Builder Course" as my Father's Day present to him), competitions, and much more.

I am not sure we needed extra help in encouraging Alexander's Lego addiction, but this certainly did it.

Getting restarted

2011-06-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

It has been a year since I updated Alexander's blog. Once you get behind, the effort needed to catch up just gets more and more overwhelming. Rather than add to the backlog, I'm going to restart, and fill in the "missing year" in bits and pieces.

Alexander, Space Cop

2010-07-09T07:34:00.000-07:00

Next up in the summer camps: art at the Pittsburgh Arts Center, including a never-before-seen play entitled "The Story of the Different Solar System", starring Alexander as "Space Cop". The story was a bit complicated, but everyone seemed to end up happy (particularly since it involved lollipops).

It is all Just Ducky!

2010-07-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

Mike is in Chicago with The Boys, so Ilona and Alexander had an outing on their own. Seemed like a great time for a Ducky tour, and Alexander even got a chance to do some of the driving. Then a bit of time in the various fountains.

Quick Skills Soccer Camp

2010-06-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

Spoke too quickly about the end of soccer. It is now time for some summer camps. First up: Soccer camp! I am not sure his skills improved much, but he did burn a lot of energy over the week.

End of the soccer season

2010-06-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

Soccer is over for another season. Rainy day, but there was pizza and world cup soccer at the pavilion. The ice cream truck and trophies made for a perfect day!

At the Farm

2010-06-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

It is not clear that Alexander is learning anything at school these days. Today they went to a farm (which also had a duck pond and a playground). I think my Uncle Jake would have wondered at the "farm". Certainly he would have had the kids doing much more work and a lot less throwing rocks at the pond.

Soccer Playing

2010-06-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

Alexander has a great time playing soccer, and he does look snazzy in those socks!

End of School Year Party

2010-06-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

Linden had their end of school year party today. There were bouncy castles, food trucks, games, face painting, and (best of all) the chance to dump a bucket of water on the teachers.

Aftermath of Rain Storm

2010-06-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

Part of a large tree in our backyard was broken off by the torrential rain and wind yesterday. Fortunately no harm was done to the our back stairs (which have to be taken down anyway: it might have been better if could have collected insurance). The tree guys were out right away and we split the cost with our neighbor Mary.

Shielding in the Rain!

2010-06-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

There was a tremendous rainstorm today. Naturally, Alexander had to go out to play in it. Fortunately he had a shield for protection. But after a few minutes, it seemed better to just play away.

Walk in Frick Park

2010-05-31T12:23:00.000-07:00

Mike and Alexander went for a walk in Frick Park today. It was nice and muddy! Alexander chose to wear a crown again.

Alexander shows off the house and new lego

2010-05-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

In cinema verite style!

School Outing to Zoo

2010-05-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

Now that school is winding down for the year, they are looking for "educational" things to do with the kids. Today it was an outing to the zoo. I think in cases like this that the bars are for the protection of the animals, not the kids. Ilona went along to help try to keep a bit of order.

Alexander's Sixth Birthday Party

2010-05-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

In a fit of insanity, we decided to do another "backyard" birthday party. The theme was "Medieval Party" so Alexander could wear his King outfit and Mike could dress up as a jester again.

The party began with a game involving pushing huge blowup balls about. The rules were kinda unclear, but that didn't really matter: the point was to push huge blowup balls about.

We then popped balloons with prizes inside. It is a bit easier to give a sharp stick to a six year old than the four year olds of two years ago. They are showing much more coordination.

The finale was the "Pelting of Alexander's Father with Water Balloons" which is always a big hit!

Meanwhile, the mothers sat around drinking wine until we finally had to kick everyone out an hour past the scheduled end.

Overall, a great party! But never again!

Dad's Day at School

2010-05-21T11:32:00.000-07:00

Today was "Dad's (or Other Positive Male Role Model) Day at School". We began with a video with the subtext "It doesn't matter that you've been in jail, your kid can still look up to you", followed by folding us into kids seats.

Mrs Livingston has a magical way with both kids and Dads (and OPMRM).

Happy 6th and Concert at School

2010-05-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

Alexander turned six today. He's growing up. The party is in a few days, but he got some gifts today that Mickey helped open.

Meanwhile, at school there was a concert. I am not sure why all the little girls are flashing gang signs during the school picture. I think Alexander will grow up with a very interesting and diverse set of kids!

Finally, it appears that Alexander and his locker-mate Mia have found something growing in their locker.

CMU Graduation

2010-05-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

CMU had its graduation today. I don't think Alexander believes I am a professor just because I have some robes. That's OK: I don't believe he is a king just because he wears a crown all the time!

Gemini Theater Gala Event

2010-05-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Gemini Theater is one group we really like to support. Alexander enjoys their classes and we all enjoy their plays. Every year they have a big fundraising gala. This year, the Gala was scheduled during the Snowmageddon so it had to be delayed. Today was the day for the big event, held at the Fox Chapel Country Club.

They had a huge turnout with 200 people at each of the two seatings. The theme was "Medieval Ball" so every girl came as a princess. Boys came as knights, pirates, batman, whatever. Alexander had multiple dates with him: a school classmate and the daughters of one of Mike's colleagues. The actors seemed to have a lot of fun hamming it up in their roles, and there was a great variety of games and things to do. Since the servers would bring beer and wine to the adults, it was a very civilized way to spend the afternoon.

This is a small collection of the 149 pictures we took today!

Alexander plays defense

2010-04-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

Alexander is getting better at soccer. Here he is during a game making a good defensive play (right at the end of the clip: Alexander's team is in brown).

Calling Dr. Alexander!

2010-04-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Today Alexander's Gemini Theater class put on their final presentation. Since the kids write the script, it tends to be a little ... disjointed. Today, the plot seemed to involve a bunch of sick animals cured by Dr. Alexander. I hope their insurance can cover everything!

For the real keeners, you can check out the Youtube video:

Environmental Day at Frick Park

2010-04-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Frick Park had its Environmental Day yesterday, so the day was spent planting flowers, climbing walls and fishing for giant cardboard fish.

Little Mermaid at Gemini Theater

2010-04-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

Gemini Theater had its gala opening for Little Mermaid tonight. Lots of little girls, but Alexander was one of few boys. For a theater without much of a budget, they do a great job with the costumes and with the entertainment for the kids.

Mike's Birthday and Soccer Practice

2010-04-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

It is tax day, so it is also Mike's birthday. Alexander did the wrapping this time, so he got to use all the miscellaneous junk he has collected "for projects". I didn't really get Pringles for my birthday: it is just part of the wrapping.

Alexander had soccer practice tonight. He is getting better!

Time to go home

2010-04-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

After a busy three days in New York, it is time to go home. So it is goodbye to the stuffed dogs at our fancy hotel and back onto a small plane to go home. Even Alexander was tired by the time we made it back.

Another Day in the Big Apple

2010-04-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

After such a busy day, today was a little calmer. We visited one of Mike's friends in Brooklyn after which Alexander and Ilona had a chance to see some of the street life and some of the playgrounds.

The evening ended with the Blue Man Group show, which was fantastic.

Big (Apple) Day for Alexander (Part 2)

2010-04-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

While the helicopter tour would be enough for most, Ilona and Alexander continued on a whirlwind tour of New York (compliments of a hop-on/hop-off bus). So, Alexander had a hot dog, saw some old ships, visited Rockefeller Plaza, toured Central Park, watched some break dancers, toured FAO Swarz and generally owned New York.

That night, the three of us saw a magical Lion King production. It brought tears to the eye (at least to Mike's eye).

Big (Apple) Day for Alexander (Part 1)

2010-04-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

Mike is off meeting with colleagues and giving a talk, so Ilona and Alexander are off for a big day in New York. Starting things off: a helicopter trip! Even the well-traveled Mickies were impressed with the views.

Off to the Big Apple

2010-04-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

Mike is giving a talk at New York University so this seems like a good time for a family trip. We flew into New York, and after collecting the Mickies, we took a cab to our fancy hotel (the Soho Grand) where Alexander had a fancy drink to match. Evening was with our friends the Zin's, ending up in the Washington Square Hotel.

Raking leaves in .. Spring?

2010-03-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

Our neighbors have a very annoying tree that drops its leaves in the spring instead of the fall the way self-respecting trees do. So we get to do the "rake leaves and jump in leaf pile thing" twice a year. But afterward, our lavender garden looks pretty sharp!

Sir Alexander Provides Beer Security

2010-03-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

Alexander decided to dress as a knight today. He is five years old, so he doesn't need a reason.

Later, Mike went to a local microbrewery who were celebrating another year in business by selling some pricey barleywine beers (going for up to $45/bottle, with this year's batch being a mere $18/bottle). With prices like that, it was clear that security was needed. Fortunately, Alexander was there to provide it.

Meanwhile, the snow is slowly releasing us from its grip.

More Gemini Theater!

2010-03-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Pinocchio at the Gemini Theater, in a very well done production. Naturally Sir Alex got autographs from the cast.

100 days

2010-03-02T08:52:00.000-08:00

Alexander has now had school for 100 days. They did a special celebration at school based on the number 100. They wrote out one googol (a one with 100 zeros: interesting that Google thinks "googol" is a misspelling), they built a centipede out of 100 circles; the figure out how many hands it takes for 100 fingers; and they got 100 jellybeans and 1 ice cream (100 licks?) each. Ilona also brought in our sextant, as something that is 100 years old (it is a bit older, but doesn't look a day over 100).

After all the snow days, I can't believe they finally got day 100 in!

Fasching

2010-02-24T08:15:00.000-08:00

Alexander's school celebrated Fasching today (it was scheduled for a couple weeks ago, but the snow got in the way). Fasching is essentially the same as Mardi Gras: typically there are elaborate parades and people dress up funny and do strange things. At Linden, they decided to combine this by having the kids make up "Fasching Floaties": decorated shoe boxes they could where on their heads like parade floats. They were also to dress "funny": hot Halloween costumes, but things like putting shirts on backwards were encouraged.

Ilona and Alexander went all out for this one. It was suggested that the floatee should be based on a children's story, so they decided on a sword-in-the-stone, St. George and the Dragon motif. A couple pounds of stucco, creative painting, and a careful choice of dragon led to a very impressive floatee. For good measure, Ilona made five more floatees for kids in the class without one (at the end, about half the kids made floatees).

Alexander dressed up in his tux (which fit when he was 3, but is a little short now)along with mosse slippers while Ilona dressed up ... exactly as Mike dressed for his first day of classes this year. I'm not sure why this counts as "funny", but Ilona thought it was hilarious.

At school, the kids paraded around, showing off their floatees and looked adorable doing so.

Monster Jam!

2010-02-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

The city slowly creeps back into activity after the storm two weeks ago. Today was the first day Alexander did not have a two-hour delay at school: final score was 6 days of classes canceled and three days of two-hour delays.

We finished off this evening by going to Monster Jam, a monster truck show. We had tickets to the Tepper School box at the arena, so Alexander and Mike were hosts to a variety of PhD students. Alexander brought along his friend Garrett (Garrett's father Chris also came along). The show starred "Grave Digger" along with seven other big wheeled trucks. Garrett and Alexander had a great time! Mike and Chris enjoyed the buffet and beers (and the trucks at least a little bit).

Cleaning out the toys

2010-02-14T11:26:00.000-08:00

As we enter the second week of city-wide paralysis, Ilona and Alexander decided to work at creating a bit of space in Alexander's bedroom by finding toys to donate. Of course, before toys could be donated, they had to be played with one final time (followed by tearful promises to really, really play with the baby toys, and how they really don't need to be donated after all and there really was lots of space for new toys).

Finally Getting Serious About Snow

2010-02-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

The city is finally getting serious about snow removal. Effective? No. But definitely serious. They decided to set up a staging area across the street from us, so we now have the best parking in the entire city.

More snow fun!

2010-02-08T11:12:00.000-08:00

School was canceled today (it would turn out that Alexander's school was canceled for the week while both Carnegie Mellon and the Carnegie Museum would be closed through Wednesday: the city had great trouble handling the snow).

Today Alexander had his friend Garrett over. They romped in the snow and then built a gingerbread house. The day day ended with some complicated story involving each and every one of Alexander's stuffed animals scattered throughout the house.

Helping find the car

2010-02-06T23:40:00.000-08:00

Alexander tried to be helpful in digging out the car, but we spent most of our time digging him out!

A Beautiful Snow Day

2010-02-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

We got about 20 inches of snow last night, making it the fourth biggest snowstorm in Pittsburgh history. It was a glorious morning, since there was not much wind, so the snow lay deep over every surface. Pittsburgh was shutdown (which we regretted a bit: the Gemini Theater had planned their big fundraiser today and had to reschedule) and our street remained impassible for the entire day.

Alexander had a great time romping in the snow before declaring it a good day for computer games. Mike managed to show his mad Winnipeg driving skills before getting the subaru stuck in the driveway. Ilona took great pictures of all the amazing scenes around us.

There was no question that nothing could be done today: that made it a magical day.

Dr. Scott Meets Alexander

2010-01-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

One of Alexander's favorite shows is "Dinosaur Train". Hey, a cartoon that combines dinosaurs with trains: how could it go wrong? In this show, a child T-Rex has been adopted by a family of Pteranodons. They visit other dinosaurs by going on, you guessed it, a train.

The show takes its science pretty seriously (as seriously as a show with talking T-Rex kids playing with Pteranodons can), and they have a real-live paleontologist help with the science and say a few words after each show. "Dr. Scott" (Scott Sampson) is quite a hit with the post-toddler, pre-tween set, in addition to being a research paleontologist. Today he gave a talk at the Carnegie that Ilona and Alexander went to. The line for autographs was very long, but Ilona and Alexander just went back to her office, figuring Scott would drop after the signing. Sure enough he did, and Alexander got to have a minute or two on his own with Scott.

Beauty and the Beast

2010-01-22T09:54:00.000-08:00

This month's production at Gemini Children's Theater is Beauty and the Beast. We went to one of their special productions where they begin with activities for the kids. Alexander got a (non-permanent) dragon put on his arm, then played with the rest of the kids (and some of the actors). The play was very well done, as is normal for Gemini. Afterwards "Sir Alexander" got autographs from the cast. Who knows? Maybe someday some of these people will be famous!

More Snow!

2010-01-09T09:43:00.000-08:00

We have been getting pretty consistent snow for the past week or so. Today we went across the street to the cemetery. The three of us romped around (and did some sledding) for a couple of hours until Mike and Ilona got too cold.

Looks like we will have to get our gutters checked out (and avoid standing under them until the thaw).

Sledding

2010-01-05T09:20:00.000-08:00

Alexander often goes to a park near us called Frick Park. The playground there has a long blue slide (it has featured in this blog before), so it is known as Blue Slide Park. In the wintertime, the valley near Blue Slide Park is a popular sledding area. We have had a nice amount of snow, so we went out to the park today. Alexander had a great time sledding! There is a tree at the bottom of the hill that acts like a magnet, attracting all the sleds in the area. But with all the snow, it is easy to stop: just get off the main track and sink into the powder.

(Sadly, a few days after this, some spoilsports from the City put up "No Sledding" signs. A guess that tree had one too many victims.)

Mount Smiley

2010-01-03T09:33:00.000-08:00

Ilona has worked for a day on a mountain on Alexander's play table for his various lego and dinosaurs. Lots of boxes and stucco, followed by enough spray paint to make a graffiti artist envious has resulted in a very impressive, and solid, diorama.

Alexander has also put together his first lego "all by himself": a quite complicated bulldozer.

Due to the paint fumes, Alexander slept with Mike and Ilona. No prize for guessing which side of the bed Mike sleeps on.

Mike's Lego

2010-01-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

Alexander is not the only one to get lego for Christmas. Mike got a "Winter Toy Store" with a ton of pieces. After a couple of marathon sessions, he got it all together. Together with Alexander's Lego Advent Calendar, we now have quite a nice Christmas scene in lego.

Nice way to start the New Year!

Snowball fight!

2009-12-29T09:14:00.000-08:00

We've had some very nice snow over the past few days. This requires a lot of shoveling. Someday this will be Alexander's chore, but right now, he most enjoys just romping through the snow. Sometimes snowball fights break out.

A Toast to the Painter

2009-12-28T09:12:00.000-08:00

After all the excitement of the past few days, sometimes it is nice to just relax and so some painting. Of course, with a talent of Alexander's magnitude, the results of his work will be the highlight of the dinner.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T08:55:00.000-08:00

Alexander was so tired from the previous days' travels that he slept in until 10, but then he was up and running. It was a great selection of presents for him, including a bunny costume. There is nothing like putting together lego in a bunny costume.

Between Christmas in Winnipeg two days ago and Christmas today, Alexander is hoping that we will start having Christmas every couple of days.

Getting ready for Christmas

2009-12-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

We traveled back to Pittsburgh yesterday, so today was the day for Christmas preparations. This included baking cookies for Santa, putting up the tree, and general house decorating. It was a bit hectic, but it all came together in the end, even allowing a little reading time.

Christmas Gettogether in Winnipeg

2009-12-22T08:40:00.000-08:00

We got together at Grandpa's place with Uncle Jean, Aunt Janice and cousins Mathieu and Janelle, exchanging stockings and presents. Alexander got a really good haul, though we might need a new suitcase to bring it all back.

Street Hockey and Boys Party

2009-12-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

There is a group of Mike's friends who have been together 30 to 35 years. Every year, they get together for a Christmas party, and the less wimpy of them play street hockey. It was ten years ago that a neighbor came out and mentioned how slow we are getting. There is still some movement, but there seems to be an agreement to keep the running to a minimum.

Alexander was part of this year's game, at least until he got too cold. He enjoyed the after-game party a lot more since there were some kids his own age to race around with.

Visit to Grandma

2009-12-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

First on the agenda in Winnipeg is a trip out to see the grave of Mike's Mom. Not much snow in the area, though it was cold by Pittsburgh standards. There are a dozen or so relatives buried in this cemetery, so we wandered around looking at the various headstones. Alexander enjoyed hanging out with his Grandfather and throwing snowballs. The cemetery looks a bit forlorn this time of year (check out Alexander looking like he is lost in the tundra) but it is a nice spot when the weather gets nice.

Off to Winnipeg

2009-12-18T08:16:00.000-08:00

We are heading for Winnipeg for a week or so before Christmas. The Pittsburgh Airport has a magnificent T-Rex set up, courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Christmas Concert

2009-12-18T08:06:00.000-08:00

Alexander's school (Linden) had their "Christmas/Hannakah/Kwanzaa/Winter" concert today. Every class (from K-2) sang separately, so the hardest part was keeping the kids organized before their turn. Ilona worked behind the scenes with Mrs. Livingston to keep the kids lined up. Alexander's class sang the ABC Song and Mozart's ABC, followed by a Christmas rap. They were adorable, of course! And, thanks to YouTube, you can see them yourselves:

Visit to Phipps and Santa

2009-12-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

Time for our annual visit to Santa: the real Santa who is at Phipps Botanic Garden. It is extremely pleasant to visit Santa there: little or no lines, a chatty Santa, and beautiful surroundings. The people at Phipps have really done a great job in enhancing their plants with works of art, generally in glass. There is also a train setup, and cookies to decorate.

Alexander gave Santa his note, and Santa thanked him for including the prices, so he knew how much to spend.

Note to Santa

2009-12-12T09:47:00.000-08:00

For the first time, Alexander could do his own note to Santa. It did involves some cutting and pasting, but the work is his own. He might be disappointed when Santa brings him socks and underwear.

Christmas Tree Shopping

2009-12-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

Every year, we buy a Christmas tree at the local Catholic church (St. Bede's). Today was Christmas tree shopping day (the guys at St. Bedes work hard to sell their trees as quickly as they can so they can go back to the Steelers games). We found a beaut.

I am not sure why Alexander is dressed as a street urchin. Worked for him, though!

Pecan Pie Baking

2009-11-23T09:41:00.000-08:00

Alexander is getting to be quite the cook! Must be the outfit.

Mike gone again, reading, and new clothes

2009-11-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

Mike is off again (Barcelona this time: he does seem to be hitting some nice warm places!). Alexander has some new clothes for winter: stripes seem to be in.

Alexander is also beginning to read. But he does like an audience.

Outing at school

2009-11-15T09:27:00.000-08:00

Periodically, they get the kids out of school to inflict themselves upon the neighborhood. Ilona volunteered to help out on today's outing. They visited the fire station (with police cars), library, ice cream store, and hair salon. Ilona definitely needed an adult beverage after that outing.

Leaf Raking

2009-11-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Despite lots of raking by Grandpa when he was here, there are still lots of leaves to be handled. Fortunately, this gives great opportunity for burying parents. Eventually all the leaves got raked up, though it took a little longer this way.

Halloween

2009-10-31T08:42:00.000-07:00

Halloween is always special at our house. This year was even more special since Mike's Dad was visiting. Alexander always loves to see Grandpa, and even had a costume picked out for him. Since Alexander was going to be a king, the rest of us had supporting roles. Ilona was the knight-protector, Grandpa was the "grandking", and Mike was the ... jester. Talk about typecasting!

The first task for the evening was to fight the giant spider in the front yard (little spiders are crawling out the eggs (the eggs are a normal part of our decor). Then a bit of trick-or-treating, followed by some friends and neighbors over for drinks and snacks (that is Alexander's friend Garrett as a vampire).

Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Bedtime Stories

2009-10-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Tonight was another play at the Gemini's Children Theater: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Grandpa (who is visiting for the week), Mike, Ilona, and Alexander all headed out to that, with Ilona and Alexander in costume. Lots of fun, with great costumes (though perhaps less chance for hilarity than some of the other productions). Alexander, as always, was eager for autographs at the end.

Grandpa read Alexander his bedtime story. He didn't even need help getting into or out of the reading cave!

Mike is back

2009-10-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

Mike is back from the short trip to Venice. He came back with a snazzy chef's outfit for Alexander. The most amazing thing is that the name was put in by hand: no computer system spelling out his name.

New Desk and Mike in Venice

2009-10-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

Since Alexander is now a school child, he needs a work desk. So the study, formerly home to Ilona and Mike, now holds three of us. Creating a desk for Alexander had Ilona pulling out the circular saw on the legs (the desk's of course) to get things just right. He likes his desk very much, and looks very studious at it.

Meanwhile Mike is in Venice for a few days. Ilona and Alexander were in Venice a couple of years ago, so Mike is the last one of the family to make it there. Absurdly beautiful but a few too many tourists and a bit of a feel of a museum piece.

Mike is back

2009-10-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

It being a recycling week, Mike was out of town (in San Diego for an INFORMS conference). But he got back in time for Ilona's culinary specialty: lamb chops with cheese (and courgettes and potatoes). Delicious!

Aladdin at Gemini Theater

2009-10-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

We really enjoy Gemini Children's Theater. We go often enough (and give a bit of money) that they always recognize "Sir Alex" there (and thank him in the program for his support). This week, they did Aladdin. Ilona took Alexander and his friend Garrett, and they had a great time! From the looks of some of the pictures, Mike would have enjoyed the production too.

Mrs Livingston

2009-10-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

Alexander's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Livingston, is a saint. She has a wonderful way with the kids. She is also not hesitant about getting parents into the classroom. Ilona is now a classroom Mom, so she helps out a couple times a week, doing things like teaching science ("What is a tree? Is bamboo a tree?") and helping with German (since this is a "German-language magnet", though that is hard to tell.

Ilona is Back!

2009-09-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

Ilona has been gone for 10 days, first to see her sister in London England (Elke and her friend flew in from Germany for a couple of days) then at a meeting of the Paleontological Society in Bristol, England. Mike met his goals of neither losing Alexander nor having him contract scurvy. Now if only Alexander can not vividly repeat the goings-on in some of the computer games ....

Alexander gave Ilona a bear in a bunny costume to carry and remember him by. Naturally, Ilona took pictures of the bear throughout her trip, including with a very patient mounted policeman.

Neighbors and Car Washing

2009-09-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

Joe and Angela are great neighbors, but I'm not sure about having Alexander wash their car. I think there is a bit of Tom Sawyer in Joe!

Renovating the Study and a bit of Soccer

2009-09-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

Now that the kitchen is done, it is time to tackle some of the other rooms. Ilona has laboriously removed some of the paint around the sill of a window in the study and is about to start painting there. Alexander got to the paint first, and found a suitable canvas for his creativity.

After that, time for some soccer with Assistant Coach Gabby.

First Day of School

2009-09-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

Alexander is, believe it or not, starting kindergarten. He is going to a school near us, the Linden School, which is a public school but is a "magnet" school, so it gets students from all around the city. The school happens to have a "German" theme, though that was not the main attraction to us.

Ilona put together a "Schultuete" (or "School Cone"). Normally this would contain school supplies with a toy or two, but Linden does not ask parents to buy any supplies, so this Tuete was filled with goodies.

We then drove Alexander down to the school (it is about a half mile away: too close for a bus pickup) where he bravely stood in the line for his class. Then Mrs. Livingston, his teacher, came by, and Alexander's school career began.

Alexander's Art Exhibit and End of Summer Party

2009-09-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

Alexander has spent much of this summer in art and science camps. He has come back with a tremendous array of projects. Today we held an exhibit for him at our house, and invited the neighbors to view his ouevre. We bribed them with wine, beer, and grilled food, of course. It was raining off and on, so we had the party inside, and had about twenty people over. It was a great success! Surprisingly, though, no one bought anything: perhaps our starting price of $1000/item was a little high.

Kitchen is done and harvesting

2009-09-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

At long last, our kitchen is now complete. The painting was done over the past few days, and Mike and Ilona put on the finishing touches. While it was certainly not worth the time and hassle, the kitchen did come out looking very nice.

Meanwhile the harvesting continues to go well. There are so many tomatoes that Alexander has brought out the heavy equipment to handle them.

First Dynamo Soccer Practice

2009-09-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

Dynamo soccer practice has begun. There are about seven five-year-olds on Alexander's team (the "Purple Dragons", named after a stuffed animal Alexander brought along). I had thought the issue would be that too many kids would mob around the soccer ball. The real problem is getting them to pay attention to the ball at all! But the coaches are great, and Alexander seems to be enjoying it a lot so far. It helps that his friend Garret is on the team also.

We practice once a week (Thursday nights) and play once a week (on the weekend, with the schedule courtesy of yours truly).

Summer activities and harvest

2009-08-31T08:07:00.000-07:00

Now that the summer programs have stopped, and school has not yet begun, there is more time to hang around the house. Here Alexander and the neighborhood kids are painting some boxes.

Meanwhile, we seem to avoided the tomato blight, since the harvest is pretty good!

Start of Soccer!

2009-08-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

Alexander will be playing soccer this year, as part of Dynamo Soccer. His team is the "Purple" team so naturally we had to go out and get some purple socks, soccer ball, etc. We'll start with some playing across the street but it will be great to get him some "real" training in the league.

Playing in the Water

2009-08-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

One of the local shopping areas around here has a set of water jets for the kids to run through. Alexander could be there for hours, particularly if he has a hat to fill with water.

Gemini Theater Summer Production

2009-08-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

Alexander spent mornings this week at the Gemini Theater in an acting class. Today was their big performance! Alexander was a "Baby Bunny" and did a great job.

Montana Trip

2009-07-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

We have returned from a wonderful, exciting, tiring, and complicated trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. The primary reason for heading out was to let Ilona work with Mary Dawson in revisiting an area that Mary studied decades ago. Of course, having Alexander do some camping out and white-water rafting was also an enticement.

Logistics got a little complicated. Ilona drove out on her own in the museum's big Suburban (which involved Mike flying back from Europe a day early) while Mike and Alexander (along with Mary) flew out a few days later. Alexander gave Ilona a stuffed dog so she would not be lonely during her four day drive, and Ilona had great fun taking pictures of the dog and sending it back for Alexander to see.

Once Mike, Mary, and Alexander arrived, it was off to the little-populated North Fork of the Flathead river. We camped at a little camping ground right by the river. There was a primitive toilet (there was also a pump with running water, but we didn't note that until we were leaving after a few nights) but no other amenities. But Ilona's colleague (a geologist who would guide the raft and take part in the digs) had his parents with him in an RV, so that provided the base camp.

On our first day, we took the raft up river and rafted back. While the water wasn't terrifically rough, it was clear Ilona and I would have flipped the raft in a few minutes if left to our own devices. Fortunately, the guide was very good: "Three strokes forward" pause...pause "Two strokes back" and we were through the roughest parts. After some rafting, the paleontologists found a place they wanted to explore, so we beached at the side and they went off digging while Mike and Alexander splashed in the water and lazed about.

We camped that night by the river in a stunning location. The next day, the paleontologists (Ilona, Mary, and some others) went off to redo what they did before in more detail while Alexander and Mike drove around the area, seeing the sights, and swimming in the lakes. One highlight was the "town" of Polebridge, which was nothing but the most amazing general store, restaurant, and bar, all miles north of where the electric lines stopped.

The third day we moved back to town, and then went off to a very isolated campground at Kintla Lake. There, we had a wonderful scene: a decade or so ago, the camp ranger had found a fossil horse's jaw in the area, which turned out to be an important find. This jaw ended up at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. As we were getting set up in Kintla Lake, the current ranger came by to check things out. As we were talking, Mary Dawson came up, looked at the ranger and said "Did you find the jaw?". He looked at her and said "Are you Mary?" Sure enough, the same ranger was still on the job (at 89 years old, he is the oldest active ranger in the system).

We spent a couple of nights in Whitefish, which is a lovely little western town.

Then it was time for Mike and Alexander to fly back while Ilona and Mary drove back, picking up some fossil collections on the way. Four days later, we were all back home together.

Off to Montana

2009-07-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

Ilona is off driving to Montana in the Carnegie Museum's Suburban. In a fairly complicated trip, Mike and Alexander will meet her at Glacier National Park in a few days, along with paleontological curator Mary Dawson, for some fossil hunting, rafting, camping, and other activities.

Tough to fit the Suburban into the photo!

Day at the Museum

2009-07-09T18:30:00.000-07:00

Alexander often visits his friend Garrett on Wednesdays. Today, Ilona took the two of them to the museum and gave them a view from behind the scenes. Amazing stuff!

This was followed by some time on the local carousel, and some blue slushy. It doesn't get better than that!

Mike in Europe

2009-07-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

Mike has popped off to Europe for a week or so. I started in Kaldenkirchen, Ilona's home town, where I visited sister Elke and cousins Helmut and Karin. I wish I had learned more German! Then off to Bonn (where Ilona and I met 20 years ago) and Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, Alexander in Pittsburgh got stung by about a dozen yellow-jackets. Doesn't look like he is allergic to them!

More Camping

2009-06-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

This was our second day of camping. We spent much of the day with a canoe exploring the lake. Along the lakeshore was great: very peaceful. Crossing the lake was a bit terrifying since there were all these boats and jetskiers zipping back and forth. I think next time we will go to a place that has some sort of horsepower limit.

This evening was the real point of our trip: an auction in a town nearby. The items from a few households was being auctioned off. From the looks of it, these people were absolute packrats: the local gym was full of their stuff. The auction was interesting in its own right. There were systems for auctioning off boxes of stuff that quickly worked its way through the real junk. We then reached some of the good stuff.

I won't go into details about the disastrous outcome. Suffice it to say, when a table and chairs that you thought would go for about $1000 is going for $50, bid!. Worry about how you will get it home later. Even some very nice cake platters and boxes of other stuff cannot make up for missing out such a deal. I suspect it will be a long time before Ilona lets me live this down.

Camping Outing

2009-06-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

We are out for a couple of days camping at Raystown Lake. This is an unusual "lake" since it is about 30 miles long and about 500 feet wide. It was formed by some dams by the Army Corps of Engineers. It is a beautiful area, and we had a very nice, wooded campsite. There are feeding stations at the lake for the fish, so there are huge catfish that hang around there and swarm, strongly enough that I worried for Alexander's safety! That evening, we made some S'mores around the campfire and it was all very peaceful.

Playing in Mud

2009-06-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

There is a spot at the end of the driveway that doesn't drain well, so there is always mud in the area. Just the thing for an active boy to play in!

Renovations coming to an end

2009-06-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

After all the trials and tribulations with our kitchen, we treated ourselves to some new dining room furniture. The table is a gorgeous piece of wood (though heavy enough that I am not sure Ilona and I can now move it) and the sideboard is equally nice. Next up: refinishing the walls.

Alexander, on the other hand, seems a little funny!