Florida!!

We've got end-of-school-year shows, and a slew of new Ellenville frogs, to report on, but we're going to skip over that for now, because we just came back from a WONDERFUL trip to Naples, Florida with Auntie Liz and Uncle Joseph.

What did we do? And what did we like best? Isabella and Jonathan report (Isabella is reading something she wrote while still in Naples):

Iron Dog

This is a couple weeks overdue, but better late than never.
We saw Iron Man on opening weekend and loved it. Jonathan was inspired to give one of his stuffed animals a new super-hero identity. And while he got the idea of armor from Tony Stark, the theme song is pure Peter Parker:

Memorial Day Weekend 2008

Friday

Went to the Whitney during the wonderful Friday evening "Pay What You Like" deal. Was transported to various places -- bamboo forests, passing spaceships, other dimensions -- by the music of Lucky Dragons. I liked it; Isabella loved it; Jonathan said he hated it but managed to create this piece of contemporary art while listening to it.

Saturday

Turns out even non-drivers like us can consume to our heart's content at what is billed as the largest mall in New Jersey, thanks to a cheap and easy 30-minute bus ride from Port Authority.

Sunday

Best trip to the Bronx Zoo ever. I've been to the Bronx Zoo innumerable times, and while I always love it, almost every time something goes wrong. Sometimes it's way too hot. One time the weather seemed perfect, then suddenly it got cold and we hadn't brought jackets. A few years ago we went while Jonathan was still in a stroller. He fell asleep in the stroller and I discovered that almost every exhibit worth seeing didn't allow strollers. One time the whole trip was cancelled because I had planned to take the 2 train, but it was running local that day and would have taken too long to get there. And so on.

This time everything was perfect. The weather was lovely and remained so all day. We took the subway there and back and it was easy. Despite the crowds, we were able to enjoy a ton of great stuff, especially in the Asia and Jungle World sections. The Bug Carousel was delightful. And they were celebrating the Year of the Frog! What could be better?

30 Rock

It was almost two months ago. It was the weekend, but I had to spend a large chunk of the day working. I wanted us to do something special with the little time we had once the work was done. So, in the late afternoon, we headed off to Rockefeller Center, soaked up lots of Art Deco goodness, then went up to the Top of the Rock to watch the sunset.

Not bad for a last-minute weekend activity.

Meet a Toad

Hi! My name is Jola. I like to go to Florida and go chat with
Mike. He is my lizard friend. We eat candied moths together.
My hobby is playing hide-and-seek. My favorite color is
indigo blue. My favorite food is worms. They taste like chicken
nuggets.

Things I Like To Do

Jonathan tells us:

"I train for chess from my chess program. Then I play the board game. I love to play with my stuffed animals. I like to listen to people. I like to play Zoombinis. I am very good at math. I'm a very good reader. I'm very good at tennis."

MIGHTY TOAD by Isabella

o toad

where did you get your mighty arms and legs

able to knead yourself out of anything?

how did you get your mighty face always looking grumpy?

how do you come to be startled so often and always on the run?

how is it that you don't like water like the frogs?

can you secretly read but not be able to tell us?

have you always been around?

O mighty toad, please answer me!