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Asher entered first grade at Bentley School
in August 2005; here’s
the first-day-of-school picture.
Asher is now a
Piedmont Panther; half-time is
sometimes more fun than defense.
Asher went to Philadelphia over Columbus day 2005 to beat his
grandmother at cards, see the Liberty
Bell, hang
out at the Second
Bank of the United States, and see Carpenter’s
Hall. But he preferred the Franklin
Institute, which was good for planes, trains, helicopters,
and fountains.
A trip to the San Jose Tech was fun; he enjoyed steering
submarines and going for a
missile ride.
Asher enjoyed going to Seattle
in late October; he went to a pumpkin patch
and a corn
maze with Hayden and John
Meriwether and enjoyed a corn
dog (cute!). The new kitten
was a hit; as was the
Science-Fiction museum. Mini-golf
with Quinn
was another high-point; Seattle
Center
for whales
and bumper
cars rocked.
The Hallowe’en
parade was great; here’s the
class portrait. Another fun
activity at Bentley was the Fall play.
Another Thanksgiving; another trip to Europe. This year Asher visited the City Museum in
Amsterdam (lots
of fun! especially
the portraits), the Nemo Science
museum (he
and his mom enjoyed themselves) . The best way to
eat mussels is with Highlights at
Chez Leon. The Sprog’s
favorite
is Mini-Europe,
always a
thrill. The Cinquantenaire provided a military museum and a nice café
(as well as great shows on cars, the Trans-Siberian and Art Nouveau); the
children’s museum in Ixelles provided a cooking class; the Atelier de la Truffe Noire provided
awesome food; Technopolis is another great science
museum; Brussels
provided ammunition for a snow-ball fight.
Asher requested a return to Tokyo for his winter break
and spent two weeks in late December eating Tempura in
Shinjuku, hanging
at the Sony building, visiting a Ramen
museum in Yokahama, seeing a Gundam
show in Ueno (where he also
visited a shrine), seeing the Tokyo
Millenario, and experiencing the
Tokyo Forum. The Museum of Emerging
Technology was
a highlight, as was the spectacular Space
Science museum
in Yokahama. He visited the Imperial
Palace, saw its keep,
and a fir tree. He had a great time visiting the Senso-ji shrine in Asakusa. He also visited
Shinagawa,
and enjoyed
the Meiji
shrine and
beautiful gardens. Asher also discovered the
beautiful quiet
Hatomori-jinja
shrine.
Asher’s
grandma Phyllis visited in January and helped him to play piano.
Asher’s first 2006 excursion was his (fourth) trip
to Yosemite. He stayed in the Ahwahnee where he learned
sock-fighting, and went for a late-night walk
to enjoy the snowfall. He loved to play in the
snow and wrestle
(here he is:
armed and dangerous). Hiking with his
mom was fun, to Yosemite Falls
(lower only),
up Tenaya
Creek to Mirror
lake and across
the meadows.
Asher celebrated
his half-birthday at the Lawrence Hall of Science, where he and his
friends took a class in “Slime.” Cute picture!
On a beautiful
February Sunday, Asher walked the Tomales Bay
trail at Pt.
Reyes. Another expedition to
Marin included a trip to the Bay
Area discovery museum where the Sprog dressed up like a
ray, raced
fish, used
a wave generator, then went hiking at Pt
Bonita with his parents and enjoyed a snack
at the lighthouse. Another
February hike took place at beautiful Ańo
Nuevo, where he got to see lots of elephant
seals up
close. Compare the
faces; who’s cuter?
For his Winter break, Asher flew to
Florida and got to visit the
Kennedy Space Center (nice rocket
garden!) where he saw the
“Explorer” inside and out.
Here’s one recent model
project, another,
and yet
another. The most recent
portrait on his chair. The family
recently visited the Winchester
mystery house. Asher also
visited the Bay Area model in
March.
In late March, Asher visited
TrainTown with
his mother before visiting Schug
winery and then
going to
Cline winery
where he
had a giggling
fit on the veranda (very cute).
Spring break was spent in Hong Kong which offered great views, the History
museum, the
completely awesome
Hong Kong Science Museum,
the Museum of
Coastal
Defense, a
playground at
the Peak, dim
sum, and great
street scenes. We stayed in a hotel with great window
seats, where
Asher liked
to put in his daily hour of work
(a long and cute sequence of shots); good for chess
too. He also enjoyed
Stanley and the
fountain at
Hong Kong Park.
Asher graduated
from first grade, and immediately went to Paris. He enjoyed an
awesome
playground at Les Halles
and immediately started to sail his new boat at both the Tuileries and
Luxembourg
gardens. La Villette is
always fun with a new friend (especially for
Dad); the Conciergerie
is also cool (also romantic; here’s a
picture he took). The Sprog jokes
that a king (now sculpted in the Cluny) has a tall kingdom, but not such a
wide kingdom (quite funny at the time). The Luxembourg
playground remains
a hit, especially
the rope swing. Ste. Chapelle was
good for practicing photography; here’s a
picture he took at Denfert-Rochereau in the catacombs.. He also took a trip to Beaune where he
played cards at the Jardin des
Remparts, visited the wine museum,
Notre Dame, and the Hotel Dieu;
it ended with a
side-trip to Chateauneuf, and a candle-lit tour
of Vaux-le-Vicomte. Still,
there’s always time for the daily hour (tattoos were a
frequent reward). He visited the
Ecole Mitliare with his friends Jake and Nicole Lyons (Sprog took this
picture); he also sailed his boat
with Jake, and drove a car
(cute!). The Tuileries has a great
playground for messing around, the best nautical
pond, and bumper
cars; we
often took the Metro there. One
night he went
to Café Marly with his family
. Asher was doorman
of the trip (sometimes a challenger).
The morning coffee was pastries from Stohrer while
Sprog ran his car at Ste. Eustache (fun!); he
also ran it at Parc
Monceau, and the bridge to the
Orangerie to see Monet and other art (with his parents). He also visited the Eiffel Tower,
the Jewish
museum (he took this picture), the Andre Citroen
park, to see butterflies at the Bois de Vincennes
(he learned to
look cool), the Pompidou
(yes, this is art), la Villette,
the Arc de Triomphe
(and here’s
a cute picture of him at a picture show at the Luxembourg and another inside),
. Still, it was tough to leave rue Montorgeuil.
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