Here Comes A New Shelmet

This past weekend we visited a couple of local parks. First, we went to Lorimer Park just down the street. Even though there wasn't much wind, Zoe had her heart set on trying to fly her kite. While I wasn't sure that it would work, I was more than happy to make the trip to see if we could get it airborne. It took some work, and it didn't really stay up, but we did manage to kind of, sort of, fly a kite. After that we threw some rocks, and climbed around for a bit, but all of that happened after she went to the bathroom under the bridge. She swore that she only had to pee, but that wasn't quite the case. The picture of her standing and laughing was taken after she was done. Once it got dark, we made our way home for the evening. The next day all three of us went out to Tyler Park. Here there was a lot of swinging done by all members of the family. Some of us went a little higher than the others, but everyone had fun. After the swings, we made our way t...

At Zoe's daycare, there is a coveted position in the class called Shabbat Star. That person gets to be the line leader for the day, as well as a number of other benefits too numerous to mention here. This past Friday was not only Zoe's turn to be Shabbat Star, but it was also the delayed Purim celebration where everyone got to dress up in their costumes. Her choice was her mermaid outfit, complete with flowing, red wig. Here were are during the service and celebration. After the service, we went back to the classroom where she made sure that everyone received a piece of the challah, even me. She also had the magic touch of getting the candles to light. It was great to spend the morning with her on her special day.

It has been five years since Zoe was born, and to celebrate we invited a bunch of friends and family to join us at The Palace to do some roller skating. Before we went there, Zoe wanted to make sure that she knew what to do. She wore her helmet and skates around the house to do a little practice. She kept upright and took her time, so she was ready for the big rink. When we got to The Palace, it was a little early, so we couldn't skate yet. Luckily we brought Olivia with us to the rink, so the two of them got to play some of the games that were available. They were really in to the games that give you tickets. When they played two of them, they hit the jackpot! Once the music came on, the skating began and she was out there doing her thing. I'm not sure how many kids had skated before, but most of them seemed to really enjoy it. Even some of the adults got in on the action. After a while, it was time for pizza and cake. Zoe really liked her troll-topped cake ...

Over the weekend, we all packed in to the car and headed north to Blue Mountain to do some snowtubing. Zoe has never been, and Cheryl was incredibly scared the one time the two of us went, so I was cautiously optimistic that we would all have a good time. Bundled in our layers, we made our way to grab a family tube and head up the hill. We eventually made our way down the mountain and, I'm just not sure Zoe really enjoyed herself. What do you think? I was also able to take some video of a couple trips down the hill. Again, I'm still on the fence as to whether or not Zoe really enjoyed it. Do you think she had any fun? After a number of runs down the hill in the family tube, we decided to make our way over to the single tubes. I'm not certain that the hill was bigger on the individual tube side, but it certainly seemed that way the first time I went down. And our big girl went down all by herself! Overall, the day was a huge success. Everyone had a g...

With daycare closed today, and a light schedule at work, I packed up Zoe in to the car and brought her to work with me. She sprung up from her bed at 5:56am asking, "Daddy, are we going to work today?!" We made it down, with what looked like a week's worth of baggage, to take up residence in one of the meeting rooms for the day. She alternated between drawing, watching videos on a huge screen and wandering around the building. Here are some pictures of her drawing. From top to bottom we have Zoe at the table working on a flower picture for mommy, Zoe wearing a Post-It note that says I smiley face MOM, a rendering of her fish Cinderella in her tank with a castle and some bubbles, the superhero from the cover of 10 Trick-or-Treaters, and finally, my favorite, a picture of mommy holding baby Zoe and angry Joe Pop. Those last two are really wonderful likenesses. The other highlight of the day was the meeting I brought her to where, at the end I asked her, "What d...

Yesterday was a quite a full day. It started off with a little light shopping. We went to Lowe's to pick up some items that would help us finish some projects around the house. While we were there, Zoe fell in love with a snowman. From there we went to Target, because we always need something from Target. Some things we didn't need were new hats, but that didn't stop us from trying on some of the latest fall fashions available. We managed to leave with the black cat hat, but not the flamingo. Oh well. After that we decided to make a quick stop at Sesame Place to do a little trick or treating. They had all of the holiday decorations up and there were a few character sightings. Some went better than others. She wasn't too happy when we go to Oscar, but I suppose that's fitting. After that, I stole Zoe's treat bag and ran off with it, she gave chase with her hair flowing behind her. Once she got it back, she was in no mood to take a selfie with dadd...