"Education....

is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire."
William Butler Yeats

Quote of the Day!

While browsing the Reader's Digest, The Complete Do It Yourself Manual, Gael announces,

"I want to make a house, now that I have the instructions."

First Day of Vacation!

Yves and Lucien are done with their school work, the Cned that needs to be mailed. So we spent the afternoon in the Garden cleaning and planting. It looks wonderful. We planted more impatients to cover the bare spots left by the rabbits. And swept up all the ailanthus debris. It was fun with everyone helping out. Then we all settled in to get dinner on.

Everyone pitched in to dice and organize all the ingredients for Thai wraps. Cilantro, Mint, Crab, lemon (we didn't have lime), jalapeno, toasted coconut, mango, cucumber, carrots, rice vermicelli, ginger, peanut sauce, green onion, red pepper, peanuts and the rice wraps.

Gael has his first wrap ready to go.

Yves the lone survivor, finishing up the last morsels. Camille serenading us.

After dinner, with the sun setting, we went for a wonderful walk by the river toward Chelsea Piers. The park has extended farther north, with planted piers, grass fields and rock garden. We all loved it. Lucien made plans to go back tomorrow when Alexander comes, to fly his remote airplane.

A really lovely walk, after a beautiful day.

Enchanted Island

Tony, Silvie and Thea picked us up in their boat but first we pumped some drinking water. The rain was threatening. But no one was deterred.

Silvie showed us a dragonfly's old larval skin.

Georgia and LeCee have arrived.

We all had so much fun. We stayed much later than planned.

To think that this paradise is only an hour away! Small islands on a lake. A wonderful break from the city. The thunder showers seemed to add to the enchantment.

Thank you, Katie, Tony, Silvie and Thea.

Chocolate letters

The yummy way to read and write!

Wayfinders, the Adventure Game

All four boys ran and played, caught up in their Adventure Game. Gabriel

Gael and Yves

Lucien and Gael

Gabriel

We will allmiss the day in the park with a picnic and friends.

Afterwards we were invited by the Labiners to Sambuca. We had an amazing dinner, family style with a wonderful wheat free menu. A great finish to the day.

Piano Recital

The Piano Recital is here! We all dressed up and went to the Tenri Institute.
Gael and Gabriel really worked on their outfits. Gael put a pen in his pocket like the Doctor from Doctor Who and paper folded in his pocket like Mr Bean does when he is meeting the Queen. then added a flower. Gabriel asked if he could have a tie and jacket. He looked very dapper and so 60's!

Gabriel

Lucien

Corby