Back to Maine... For the First Time

Breakfast time on Day 1

Last year a dear friend from Maine left us forever.

The cottage.

After 80-plus years as beachfront headquarters for the Supovitz, Brenner and Shepard families, the cottage bid a fond farewell last fall to make way for a new headquarters.

Through the fall, winter, and spring, the new cottage metamorphosized from a dream to a reality. Although the Brooklyn Shepards have been visiting OOB for more than a decade, this is our first year in our new home.

And boy do we love it!

This year's Maine vacation began on July 31st. We were quick to unload with help from the Imhoff clan who, just as quickly, swept up the girls and took them off to the beach so that we could set the place up with the help of Nana Bev and Papa Art.

Stella and Marni love their new room as decorated by Lisa. Plenty of pink, and purple, and flowers. Our new upstairs master suite is quite cozy too.

Much of the first week was spent with Lisa Stefanoff, Ron, and the rest of the "J-Girls". We spent lots of time at the beach, took a long hike along the coast at Prout's Neck, visited a dairy farm (and a Dairy Queen), and had a blast at York Wild Kingdom.

Stella and Marni were sad to see the J-Girls leave the following Saturday, but cousins Marcy, Mitch, Hannah, and baby Seth arrived the next day and kept the girls very occupied. The girls were especially in love with 2 month old Seth.

On Monday morning I woke up early and flew back to New York. Never a happy time. But beach fun continued without me, and Skype kept us in touch until my return at the end of the week.

And so much for week 1.

Marni at Pineland dairy farm

Playing Labyrinth with Nana Bev 

York's Wild Kingdom with Jessie and Jenna

Lobstah dinner with Ron, Nana, Papa, and Toots

The ladies at Prout's Neck

With the J-Girls at Prout's Neck

Our first construction project

Marni, channeling Grandma Sara

Let the bicycle lessons begin!

Saying goodbye to the Imhoff/Stefanoff gang.

Pancake time.

Lisa and Seth.

With Cousin Becca.

Stella feeding Seth.

Lisa feeding Seth.

Marni's new buddy, Seth. (Courtesy Marcy)

Stella and Marni observe cousins Becca and Daniel practicing cartwheels...

Stella, Marni and the J-Girls hiking at Prout's Neck...

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Fuzzy Wasn't

For whatever reason, I decided to teach the girls the children's poem "Fuzzy Wuzzy". In case you don't know it...

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy, was he?

They mostly got it. Mostly.

Last night, while in the bath, I asked them to give the poem another go.

Marni got the first shot. Her video starts with her trying to cross her eyes. This she accomplished. She didn't do so well with the poem.



Next, Stella got a crack at it. You'll notice that she takes a swipe at Marni's failed attempt, but she fared no better.



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Toothpocalypse: A New Beginning

Well there's one less hillbilly in Brooklyn today.

At about 1:15 this morning I was jolted out of bed by Stella yelling my name. She was standing in the middle of her room. Little did she know that I was right behind her, sleeping in Marni's lower bunk.

Long story. 

Luckily I didn't do a Three Stooges maneuver where I jump up and whack my head.

Stella was standing there, very excited, holding her stubborn front tooth in her hand.

Finally!

She apparently poked it out herself in the middle of the night.

We took it upstairs to show mommy and then bagged it for safety.

I quickly went online and checked the schedule for the Tooth Fairy. Unfortunately, the Fairy passed through our part of Brooklyn at 12:38 and was long gone. So we will have to put the tooth out for financial remuneration tonight.

And if you're keeping score... that's tooth number 7. Nothing on the wiggling horizon right now. Everyone relax!

So They Think They Can Dance

We've been invited to a lot of dance performances lately. But not from Alvin Ailey or the New York City Ballet. Our recent performances come from Stella and Marni, and they are so cute that I can't stand it.

This past weekend Stella heard a song on the car radio and told me she wanted to dance to it. So I bought it on my iPhone and she grabbed the phone from my hand and ran into her bedroom to choreograph.

10 minutes later she came out (outfitted in her "wedding dress") and demanded that everyone assemble on her top bunk for the performance.

Below is a video of the performance (she demanded I record it). So proud!

The other video is of a second performance interrupted (hysterically) by Marni.





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Independence Play

And now for a quick wrap-up of the 4th of July goings ons...

This year we stayed close to home and started the weekend with a trip to our favorite summertime cousins, Joel and Adriane. Pool, dogs, food, fun. This year Stella screwed up a little more courage and began diving into the water. Probably prompted by her ultra-brave cousin, Tyler.

Sunday was spent in New Jersey visiting with co-worker Martha, husband Carlos, and baby Christopher. The weather was a little gloomy, but that didn't stop most from enjoying their great pool, their great food, and their great hospitality. They really know how to throw a party! Co-worker Pradnya's family also joined as did the Stefanoff/Imhoff clan.

Monday, the 4th, was a hot one and we took the girls to visit The Highline for the first time. I gave them maps of the park so they could follow where we were. They found it pretty interesting, but were mostly excited to get to the weird little Rainbow City park that greeted us at the 30th Street end of The Highline. After bouncing around in a giant inflatable mushroom, and some delicious ice cream, we headed home to prepare for a BBQ with Sherri Bubbles, Rick and Laurie.



And there you have it!



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Bunk!

The morning after.

A few months ago it became apparent that, even though they are almost midgets, our children would soon outgrow their toddler beds. So we took a ride out to our favorite kid bed store in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey to see what they had for us.

When we got there the kids did their best Goldilocks impression by trying out every bed in the place. Unlike Goldilocks, they liked every bed they tried.

We eventually settled upon a princess-like bunk bed set. After hearing the price we realized that we would be ready to buy it for them just as they headed off to college. But a surprise tax refund sent me back to the store to make the deal.

Delivery was set for Thursday, and the girls were very excited. They huddled in negotiations and decided that Stella would be on the top and Marni would be below in the "princess castle". The night before delivery I was awoken by Stella who requested that I come and sleep in their room so that she could enjoy her last night in her little bed (rather than her sleep upstairs with us). This, of course, meant that I had to sleep on the floor. But, being a good daddy, that's what I did.

Yesterday we cleaned out their entire room to make way for the new monstrosity. Lisa kept me updated on the installation process with photos, phone calls, and videos. After installation she worked hard to get the room put back together for them.

We decided to make a video recording of their first impressions. Lisa had her camera rolling as they entered the room and the footage speaks for itself.



They spent the rest of the day playing on the bunk beds and excitedly dragged me in there when I got home. They even had neighbors drop by to show them.

As bedtime approached, we had to come up with a new routine. No longer was there a rocking chair in the room (no room for it), and no longer could I lie on the floor between their two beds and hold their hands as they drifted off to sleep.

It was decided that I would hang out "upstairs" with Stella first since she was a little nervous about sleeping up so high. I rested at the end of her bed until she drifted off to sleep. Then I moved down to Marni who was patiently waiting in her "princess castle". After about 10 minutes, she was asleep too.

The foot.

I checked on them throughout the night. Stella never fell off. Occasionally a foot would poke out from the "princess castle" curtain.

Stella came up in the middle of the night to sleep with us, as usual. So she obviously didn't plummet to the ground after forgetting she was in an upper bunk. Marni woke up happy and crazy as usual. So, all is good.

The girls have cooked up a plan to switch beds every 22 days (don't ask). We'll see if that ever happens. But right now it appears that we have two very happy bunk mates.


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Return of the Happy Campers

Less than 24 hours after the end of their school year, the girls were sun-screened, lunch-boxed, and outfitted in their stylish Park Slope Day Camp t-shirts, and... off to camp!

Only minor resistance this year.

A few months ago I reached out to each girls' classmates to see if I could arrange for friends to join them at PSDC, It seems to have worked out.

Stella has best friend Sasha with her from day 1. This has made her adjustment painless.

Marni will have 4 or 5 classmates from PreK joining her, but none the first week. So she's been a little sad, but no major meltdowns.

Just like last year, the girls come home dirty and tired (just like we like them). And, they seem to be having fun.

Although Stella complained that she thought camp was supposed to be fun. I said it was, and she replied that it wasn't fun if she had to learn something. And by something, she meant swimming.

Toothpocalypse

Stella's teeth are fleeing her mouth like rats on a sinking ship. How's that for a tasty metaphor?

For the past couple of weeks there have been three squatter teeth that have refused to vacate her premises. They were so loose that every time she would open her mouth, they would be pointing in totally new and individually different directions.

It was creeping me out!

Stella's front tooth finally gave it up yesterday at school (prompting yet another visit to the school nurse by one of the Shepard kids... 4 out of 4 days so far).

That was tooth 5.

Tooth 6 decided that it couldn't live without its wobbly friend, and later that day at Beansprouts committed suicide by bagel. Sadly, the tooth went the way of the bagel bite and was swallowed.

This has left a rather prominent and not entirely attractive configuration of teeth in this poor girl's mouth. The lone tooth looks like a holdout building refusing to be razed in an urban renewal project.

Stella had an initial fear that the tooth fairy would not compensate her for the missing tooth. But we assured her that the tooth fairy is all knowing and very trusting and that she would receive adequate compensation. And true to form, the tooth fairy laid a nice Hamilton on Stellie.

Now, off to the supermarket to buy some corn on the cob, apples, and caramel candy. Tooth number 7... I'm comin' for ya!

Stepping Up... Marni's Pre-K Graduation

Marni's year of Pre-K began winding down today with the official "Stepping Up" ceremony (otherwise known as "graduation").The proceedings took place in Prospect Park and consisted of a performance by each class, handing out of diplomas, and then a pot-luck picnic.

After bringing Marni to class, we stuck around and then walked with the class up to the park. The kids had some running-around time before they were lined up on a hill to start their singing. Marni's class belted out a spirited version of "Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum" followed by the "Days of The Week Song".

Once they were done wowing us with their singing talents, it was time to hand out the diplomas. And then... time for food and fun.

Marni grazed the various food tables in between running, kicking balls and swinging a bat.

By noon it was all over and most of the kids marched back to PS39 to finish out the remainder of their school day.

Preparing for the performance.

Proud grads holding up their diplomas.

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State of Their Art - June 2011

The annual PS 39 Art Fair was last night.

That's the event the PTA throws where they get your kid to paint or draw something and then sell it back to you. As if you don't have a more than ample supply of their precious treasures already.

Ok. Ok. Yes, it's all for a good cause and it's a lot of fun to walk around the gym and see all the artwork that the kids have come up with.

Actually, it's a good way to compare how you kids' artwork stacks up against the others. To make sure your kids aren't losers.

Ok. Ok. It's all about the fun!

Unfortunately (or, "as it turns out" as Apple would say), the girls and Lisa couldn't actually make it to the Art Fair last night, so it was daddy's responsibility to deal with the extortion event.

Ok! Ok! It raises money for the school!

It was a lot of fun to walk around and see what the different classes are up to. (Each grade paints on the same theme). There was a spectacular painting done by a 2nd grader that I wanted to purchase for myself. (Which brings up the interesting question... can you purchase another kid's art?). I liked what the 3rd grade was up to, but not so much the 4th grade. The 5th grade stuff was pretty good. The Kindergarten theme was adorable.

I also tried to pick out the artwork that each of my kids did from all the others in the class. That never works.

First I found Stella's painting. She did a really great job (if I do say so myself).

Then I searched around for Marni's. Her teacher told me that she spent a lot of time on it and was very particular about every detail. When I heard that she spent a lot of time on it, I began to worry. That usually means that she has taken the time to mix every color together with the end result being that the artwork looks like mud. But I was very pleasantly surprised. I like it! Although I may take it to child psychiatrist to have them evaluate it.

So now, off to find a hammer and nails and a very special spot in the house for our latest masterpieces. Watch out Papa Art!

Marni's masterpiece

Stella's masterpiece

The 2011 PS 39 Dance Festival

We were first introduced to the PS 39 Dance Festival two years ago when Stella was in Pre-K. Back then, Stella was so shy that her teachers had to create a special role for her so that she's be comfortable enough to perform. And Stella performed magnificently!

Last year Stella shed her shyness and joined her classmates in an adorable performance of "Celebration" and "Footloose".

This year things changed again as Marni joined the PS 39 dance world.

As show day approached, neither girl gave us any clues as to what they were going to perform. This is quite unusual for a pair of girls who can't keep a secret to save their lives. I dropped off both girls at school and scooted across the street to grab a primo seat at Camp Friendship (the school's gym). Only an hour earlier the performance was moved indoors because of the threat of rain.

At just after 9 o'clock the parade of Pre-K munchkins walked into the building. Marni scanned the crowd for us and burst out into a big smile when she saw the large "GO MARNI" sign that Lisa was holding up for her. The teachers got everyone into place and then the performance began.

The kids did a great job during the organized chaos that was their performance. Spins and dips and leaps. Marni's years of dance training were put to good use for the 3 minute spectacular. More big smiles from Marni when it was all over, and then she and her class were lead back to school to make room for the Kindergarten show.

Stella and her class marched in after the kindergarteners finished. The whole class was decked out in custom made yellow t-shirts. Unfortunately, Stella's dance group lined up on the opposite side of the gym. Nowhere near where we were seated. Lisa made a mad dash to the other side of the building just before the performance started in order to record the dance.

When the music started, once again Stella was stellar. She didn't miss a beat to the tune "What Time Is It?" from High School Musical 2. All smiles.

When they finished their number, the 1st graders marched out of the building to make way for the 2nd graders. That's when we took our leave (not meaning any disrespect to the 2nd graders).

We picked up each girl in their classroom where they were coming down off their showbiz highs and took them down the street for a congratulatory treat at Colson's.

But the dancing bug hasn't departed. Almost nightly we get dance performances from each girl (decked out in their finest dresses) to the sounds of the Glee CD. And we get the best front row seats every night.





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Painting Ladies

Usually on Memorial Day weekend the family heads up to OOB to open the cottage for the new season. "Opening" consists of equal parts work and eating fried clams.

This year the traditional takes a slightly new direction with the introduction of Cottage 2.0. Instead of washing the porch screens, the work this year shifted to painting the place.

The painting crew consisted of all of us Brooklyn Shepards, Nana and Papa Shepard, Karen and Glenn, and the Brenner family.

This was out first opportunity to see the inside of the cottage... and we liked what we saw. The girls zoomed around getting a feel for the place and they eventually picked out what will be their new bedroom. Marni even picked out the location of her future bed.

Everyone picked up a brush or roller and quickly got down to business. There was a fried clam break around 1 and by late afternoon it became apparent that this job was going to take a little more time than we expected. Stella and Marni did a great job of keeping themselves busy on a day that was just a little too gloomy to spend on the beach.

We all retired to our hotel rooms at the end of painting day 1 and, after some dinner, headed off to bed to be well rested for the next day of painting.

After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we all headed back to the cottage to resume working.

Unlike Saturday, Sunday ended up being a great beach day and Cousin Janet volunteered to take the girls down to play in the surf and sand. By the end of the day we had most of the first floor painted. As we departed, we fueled up for our trip back to Natick with a stop at Dairy Queen.

We still need to finish painting, and move in the furniture, and buy appliances, and install the tv and cable. But its apparent that this summer is going to be a lot of fun!

The first supper.

Stella The Poet

Stella must have been channeling her inner poet tonight. Without warning or fanfare, Stella whipped up this little number and then performed it for me, Marni and my parents.

Pretty good for a first poem.

In case you can't read the image...

Oh flower

You glow like a star

Oh how much you glow

Do you know that in New York

There is a little girl named Stella

And far away...

Her name is "star"

Field Trip... Two Years Later

In March of 2009 I accompanied Stella and her Pre-K class on a field trip to the Brooklyn Museum. Fast forward two years and now I'm doing the exact same thing with daughter Marni.

How.

Time.

Flies.

Same teachers. Same destination. Even the same museum volunteer to guide us.

This time we had plenty of teachers and parents to assist with the trip. Nine parents and teachers for seventeen kids! Not even a two-to-one ratio.

The night before the trip Marni was a bit apprehensive. The kids had been warned that there were guards in the museum to protect the paintings. I think this scared her a bit and she was worried about being arrested or even shot if she touched something she shouldn't.

One of her classmates was also nervous the night before. They had been warned not to talk to or go anywhere with strangers. And now her classmate was afraid of being kidnapped.

But all nervousness disappeared when they got on the bus. Marni sat herself in the back (a sign of trouble to come in future years) and waited for me to join her. The ride was quick and soon we were standing in the museum, ready to begin. In addition to Marni, I was in charge of Mia.

The kids were well behaved as we walked from location to location. Marni raised her hand and participated with everyone else.

Interestingly, this visit to the museum took a path through a room filled with paintings and sculptures of naked people, just as Stella's had two years earlier.

There were some smirks and titters... from the kids.

By 11:15 it was all over and we got back on the bus for the ride home.

And just like two years ago, the adventure ended with a crying daughter who didn't want their daddy to go off to work.

PS... A little bonus to my morning at P.S. 39 was getting to see Stella playing on the newly created "play street". She was also happy to see dad (and no tears!).

Marni and Astrid discuss art.

Ready to board the bus back to school.

Bonus sighting. Stella playing outside (back to camera in green).

More photos and video here.

Overheard #35

So I asked a group of people at Stella's BBQ, "You know what was the best present that we ever got for Stella?" To which Marni replied... "Marni!".

Stella's 7th Birthday

There were actually at least 4 separate celebrations for Stella's birthday. One in her 1st grade class. One for her after school Beansprouts group. One at our house for a select group of classmates. And one at our house for family and adult friends.

I'm sure that 4 celebrations seemed like a bare minimum to Stella, but for Lisa it may have been enough to send her to the loony bin.

But lets back it up a bit...

Preparation started months ago as we tried to keep up with Stella's ever-changing desires for party theme and guest list. Eventually she settled on a tea party theme and about 3500 guests. We pared the guest list down a bit.

Meanwhile, Stella began to experiment with online shopping. She would put key words and phrases into a web browser in order to find things to buy.

One evening she stumbled across a beautiful, white confirmation dress on Amazon. She printed out the page and brought it and her wallet to me so that I could help her buy the dress. I tried to explain to her that the dress cost over $90, while her wallet contained about $60. I also tried to explain that websites don't take cash. It was touch and go for a while, but I eventually convinced her to abandon her purchasing attempt and let me look into finding an alternate dress as a birthday present.

Now, as Lisa toiled to prepare the 4 birthday celebrations, I needed to find a cheaper white wedding dress.

The perfect dress was finally located at the wonderful Burlington Coat Factory store in Brooklyn.

Stella woke rather slowly on her birthday morning. But as soon as she comprehended that this was her special day she leapt out of bed and ran for the living room.

After tearing through some other presents, she spied an envelope on the table with the number "1" written on it. She opened it and read a little note that instructed her to look in the freezer. A scavenger hunt!

Note number 2 (in the freezer) told her to look in daddy's closet. So off she rocketed, up the stairs, with Marni in tow. She flung the closet door open and there it was... a beautiful, white confirmation wedding dress.

And Marni burst into tears.

But Stella was ecstatic.

She wore the dress all morning and placed it carefully aside, after getting ready for school, so that she could put it on again for her after-school tea party.

Stella's 1st grade celebration went off without a hitch as Lisa dropped by with Popsicles for the class (and teachers). And, again, Marni burst into tears when she was invited into the 1st grade class to help celebrate, but was too afraid to attend.

Then, Lisa brought 45 cupcakes over to Beansprouts for the next celebration.

Finally, I picked up Stella, Marni, and 7 other children from school and brought them back for the grand tea party.

That's where we lost control.

All told, there were about 13 girls and 3 boys at the party. Everyone started running around. The girls quickly formed a "girls club" which the boys, just as quickly, wanted to crash. Tempers flared, feelings were hurt, a couple of eyes were punched.

And that was just me!

We calmed things down and regained control.

Everyone enjoyed the "frost your ice cream cone cupcake" project and the "make your own notebook" project. We stuck a candle in an ice cream cone cupcake, sang Happy Birthday to Stella, and then everyone was off to run around in our parking lot with squirt guns and bubbles.

Finally it was 5:30 and parents came by to pick up their kids. They may have been shell-shocked, but they were all still alive... and Stella had a good time.

Event number 4 was yesterday... a friendly little BBQ with family and friends. My parents and sister came down and we were also joined by the Stefanoff/Imhoff clan, Nana Audrey, and the NJ Hoffmans. Sherri also dropped by later. The festivities culminated with the opening of some fantastic gifts.

So now we bring down the curtain on Stella's 7th birthday extravaganza. No doubt that in a few months discussions will begin on the 8th birthday celebration. It'll be a smaller kid party next year. But as long as Stellie is happy, that works for us.

Home Made... Tooth Number 4

This morning Stella broke from tradition and ejected her 4th tooth at home. A home birth, if you will. None of this "bit into an apple at Beansprouts and this is what happened" nonsense.

She went to sleep last night fretting about her very wobbly and slightly bleeding tooth. Then, precisely at 6 am, she awoke and proclaimed... "My tooth is out!".

Luckily, she didn't swallow it.

Now it awaits placement under her pillow tonight and daddy needs to find some dollar coins. Maybe I should stock up. There's a lot of wobbling going on in that mouth.

Table Dancing

As if I wasn't already worried enough about Stella's desire to wear her bikini everywhere (see here), I now have to deal with Marni's desire to table-dance.

And damn if she's not good at it!



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Scooter Cousins

Mother's Day weekend in Albany gave the cousins plenty of opportunity to practice their scootering skills. The weather was so warm that Stella decided to do her scootering in her bikini. I'm a little worried.



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Ode to Mom

Stella was caught practicing a little ditty meant to be performed for Lisa (and Nanas) on Mother's Day. She came down with an extreme case of shyness on Mother's Day, so this recording of the practice session will just have to do.



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