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Asher entered kindergarten at Bentley
School
in September 2004; here’s the
first-day-of-school picture.
One beautiful day in Marin included trips to the Marin
Headlands and Pt. Bonita, Muir Woods to
see the
redwood grove, and playing at
Stinson Beach (defending your
foxhole is key).
Asher loves to
work on models; here he is with two recent ones he built with his dad.
The sprog spent his first school break from kindergarten
beach-combing
in the San
Juan islands with friends, old
(James Landay) and new (Andrew
Landay). He also had a
great time with his new baby-sitters, Hayden and Quinn Meriwether. Meanwhile, the
model-building goes on; here he is with the first three. He also started
to enjoy sparkling apple juice (aka kid’s champagne); Cheers!
Hallowe’en is the family’s favorite holiday.
Here’s the sprog: on parade; in the classroom;
with the
Bentley class of ‘17; and in a class
portrait.
Asher has been to
the ballet to see “Raymonda” performed by the Bolshoi; here he
is with his date. He also likes to
participate in the arts; here he is at MOCHA with his award-winning
potato-head.
Amsterdam
continues to be the most-favored city; here’s the sprog (during his
Thanksgiving break) visiting the Dutch Royal Barge, and also in front of The Amsterdam. The Nemo museum was good for blowing
bubbles and lots more. Asher
also likes mini-Europe in Brussels (correction: he likes it a lot). The
children’s museum in Ixelles also rocks, and there’s
nothing like the Grand Place. Asher met a friend on
the way back to Bruges, where he saw canals
(it’s
one of the many Venices of the North! seriously!) and sculpture. Back in Brussels,
he tucked into
his favorite Belgian dish (he barely
survived the experience).
At home, the
model-building continues; here he is at the construction site of the
2500-piece “Seawolf” submarine.
Asher sang at the Bentley Winter Sing; here he is with
grades K-5 (it’s
cute how boys will be boys).
After a grueling first trimester of school, Asher spent
his first-ever Winter Break in Melbourne,
Australia. He enjoyed
goofing around (a lot) at the wild
architecture of Federation Square. The Melbourne museum
was also beautiful, outside and in. He ate dinner with
his parents on an old tram car, and got into a
woman’s pants for the first time. He’s hung out on the new footbridge
over the Yarra, and enjoyed visiting the
“Polly Woodside” at the Maritime
Museum. The aquarium was also a hit, especially for
people and crocs of the short variety. Breakfast was
always fun; here he is at Café Brown Sugar on Collins St. The Science-Works Museum lent itself to rock-climbing,
excavation,
big ole’
bikes, and general
fun. Christmas day was
spent on St. Kilda’s beach with
kite-boarders. Boxing day
was spent around
the Yarra river, with lunch in an alley
and an art
lesson outside the awesome Ian Potter gallery. The sprog also
set a model-making record; here he is with the output of the first week in
Melbourne (here’s
the impressive total output!). He got to hang out with his great-aunt and
uncle Sue and Ian outside Parliament. At Churchill Island he got to imitate a
peacock and go
on a hike with beautiful sea-views (and good trails),
before visiting
a Koala preserve on Phillips Island (site of a
memorable time-out). The Botanic
Gardens had
great gardens for kids (including a
wading stream) and adults; Asher was
inspired to take this picture. The Melbourne
zoo had lots of Australian animals including an echidna and a wombat;
Asher also started to take photographs: the first was not
so successful; the second was
better. He also enjoyed
tasting in the
beautiful Yarra valley (here’s his
first landscape). On New
Year’s Day he went to see the races at Hanging
Rock and had
fun with
new friends (cute).
Back to Berkeley
for the second trimester. Highlights
at home include a new coat rack,
and completing
the 1400-piece model Nimitz aircraft carrier, here shown with
the 2500-piece Seawolf submarine (the Fall’s
models are here). Asher was also
“student of the week” in late January; among other things, he got to bring
and show his
scrapbook, and have an
“un-birthday” party with his friends. Here he is on a
field-trip to Oakland’s Chinatown. He was also a
medium billy-goat in the “Three Bill Goats Gruff”.
The sprog’s 2005 Winter Break was spent in snowy Quebec
City, above
the icy St. Lawrence. We stayed at the
famous Chateau Frontenac (here was our view), well-located and
comfortable for whipping his mother at cards. We visited many museums, including one at
Place Royal which recreated life in the 17th
century. We also tried
dog-sledding;
this was Asher’s view. Another highlight
was visiting
the ice hotel, which had much sculpture,
space to sit,
and a nice bar. Asher loved spending time
with serious
snow and enjoyed the frequent
snowball fights. The toboggan run
on the
Dufferin Terrace was also a great thrill (repeated
often).
Asher’s
class had a fun April Fool’s Day; many wore their clothes inside-out
and backwards. The next week was
the Spring concert; here he is
hamming it up.
Asher’s Spring break was spent in Madrid. He visited the military museum,
and took pictures (here’s one
he took of his parents having tapas).
He loved visiting
the Palacio Real, where he stood guard
duty, visited the old pharmacy,
liked the stairs,
and played tag
with Mom. He liked the Plaza Mayor
and Puerta del
Sol. Tapas
was always
popular, as was chocolato con
churros at San
Gina. La Castellana was
a pleasant hike, and the Museo Sorolla was
the best discovery of the trip.
Here’s a
cute picture of Asher enjoying a chocolate peanut butter cup from the Bread
Garden.
Here he
is with the (35!) models that he did between September 2004 and April 26. Another recent
local trip was a return to the Hornet; it’s always fun to
wander around
an Essex-Class aircraft carrier. And here’s the picture on the
final day (sniff) of kindergarten.
Immediately after kindergarten finished, Asher returned
to South-East Asia for the first part of the summer. He had fun at
the terrific
Singapore Science
Center. He went again to the Jurong bird-park
to see macaws, flamingos,
and a curious
(and frightening)
pheasant. He also saw many lories (great fun!)
at the fantastic
lory aviary, and fed the
bee-feeders before cooling off
at the wet
playground. Another trip was to
the awesome
Singapore Zoo to see many animals,
including romantic
camels and a
friendly lemur, before another wet playground. The botanic
gardens were awesome. He also
enjoyed Fort
Canning, and a bum-boat river-cruise to
the Merlion. Asher also took a
side-trip to Thailand; he visited Koh
Samui which had beautiful beaches
and a fun pool. He also went to Ria Bintan in Indonesia
for archery,
water-polo,
fun, flying lessons,
the
inescapable daily hour; he also acquired
a distinguished beard and a girlfriend
(Georgia from Brisbane). He also
spent a week
swimming at
the Intercontinental in Jimbaran
Bali, where he
surprised his mother on Canada day with a gourmet's discovery evening, finished a
super-complicated Lego model (for 12-14 year-olds), and enjoyed lunch at Ku dé Ta
in Seminyak.
The second part of the summer started with a trip to
Maine; here is the sprog working and fishing with
“BobbyFlood” (one word).
On to New York, where he had great fun at the Police Museum,
and even more fun test-flying planes at the USS Intrepid
and USS
Growler. He visited the Met to see the Egyptian
exhibits and some sculpture
before having the
inevitable matzoh-ball soup. He also visited the Statue of
Liberty (fun!) and was patriotic on
Liberty Island (a
great view of Verrazano Narrows), also enjoyed Ellis
Island and the
Manhattan skyline. He then went
on to Washington
for camp (with
lots of new friends), fossil-finding
(cute), scooting
with his BobbyFlood, and a visit to the zoo where he saw elephants
being washed and a Przewalski
skull. He also visited the Science
Museum in Baltimore, and Dutch Wonderland
in Lancaster
Pennsylvania where he had a great day
with his
friends Jake and Jessica and rode a horse. Another highlight was a trip to
Udvar-Hazy to see missiles, a Huey helicopter,
the Enola
Gay, a
Gemini capsule, and the Enterprise
space shuttle. He made his first
trip to the Washington Navy Yard to remember the Maine,
man a AAA mount,
man a wheel,
captain the Barry
(here he is in
the weapons room), and try on a helmet
(cute!). He also saw an awesome
16” gun, its ammunition, and its effect
on 26” steel plate. Breaking bread
with Alisa and Steffi Bayoumi
was great fun. The summer ended
with the camping (and rock-throwing)
trip with Jake
and Nicole Lyons.
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