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Asher entered Berkeley Montessori school in September
2003, but with
confidence; he
liked his teacher Denise and was raring to go. Still, he continues to enjoy playing at
home (the
creative and destructive impulses are finely balanced), and likes the
family’s new grandmother clock (a close-up). He also likes going wine-tasting in
Napa, especially wineries with art
(like Hall).
The sprog continues to love
the Bay Area. Here he is on a
gorgeous day playing at China
beach with
his mother. He also enjoyed
Oakland Fairyland, which had a good puppet-show,
a great pirate ship
and a bouncing
castle. He’s also been on a field-trip
to an apple orchard to see Americana,
and got to get
on a helicopter. But he
wasn’t into the Halloween
costume party at school.
Asher’s first trip to New England included a wonderful time
at the Montshire Science Museum
in Norwich
Vermont, breakfast
at Lou’s in Hanover New Hampshire, and flying a plane at
Logan airport in Boston.
Asher’s traveled to Europe in November 2003; the
trip involved a fun weekend in Amsterdam, which included fun at the Ship
Museum with
Dad and especially
Mom (it got a little
kinky at times),
and a great
visit to the
Amsterdam, a recreated sailing
ship. After an hour with some
new toys, Asher got to spend another afternoon
in the fabulous
Nemo Museum.
He also
had a very successful
day at the
Antwerp zoo. A train trip to the beauty
of ancient
Bruges on
a gorgeous winter day was another highlight, but not the beauty of
modern Brussels.
Asher likes East Asia
a lot, and avoided much of the 2003 Winter by traveling to Singapore to play
mini-golf and draw pictures at
the Monetary Authority. He also
made his first trip to Indonesia with
his mother and
father. He hung out at Ria Bintan to play cards,
swim with his
dad (a lot
of fun; here’s
the afterglow) and allow his mother to enjoy
the beach. He also spent a week
in Penang,
where he was introduced to Hainan chicken, and enjoyed the romantic simple
life of unspoiled
Georgetown. He visited a tropical fruit
farm in the hills, where he found a coconut,
found that Mimosa
are shy, and learned about
tropical fruit (which are good to
eat) from
a good teacher. He got a hand-made
cricket which
impressed Mom but not Dad. He spent another day on a boat-trip to
Monkey Beach, where he learned
to fish (his
first catch!), and enjoyed a tropical beach
where he dug
for treasure and saw lots of monkeys,
before enjoying
a rough trip home. Asher also enjoyed
a trip to the Malaysian
tropical butterfly farm (Asher liked to
use binoculars, necessary or not), and saw lots of
dragonflies too. The Georgetown
botanical gardens were fun, except for the Orchidarium (a self-imposed timeout which later turned into
an enjoyable
visit to see the flowers). Mostly though he enjoyed
learning to swim
in the pool.
Asher has visited the Hornet with
two uncles and an aunt, and enjoyed the many delights of Legoland (rides and especially racing). He also loves the San Diego zoo. Still, he’s very happy at
school. Here are three
action scenes
from his first
Winter sing. He also loves to
read! It’s also
fun to take a bath, here with his friend Jake, an aircraft carrier (almost
full size), boats, books, … Asher loves to enjoy the sights of
San Francisco, including the Pampanito (submarine), and the Jeremiah
O’Brian (a liberty ship
he visited with
his uncle). He’s also been
on the Hornet
(an aircraft carrier), a trip made with three silly shorn
brothers. Asher dictated
his first stories in February 2004.
In March
his new castle bed arrived; it’s awesome, as is his entire
room.
Here’s a
shot of the sprog at a charity auction (his
parents are splitting two outfits; a tuxedo and a beach outfit).
Asher’s 2004 Spring break was spent in Italy. He had a rough and
tumble lunch in a Roman street (successful for both sides),
and enjoyed playing
Crazy 8s in a café. His dad showed
him the Vatican from the Quirinale; here was his
impression up close. He’s
been to the
Pantheon, the
Trebi, the forum, the Palatine,
and the
Coliseum. In Milan, he walked on the
roof of the Duomo, investigated bugs
in a playground, hung out in
“the mall” (as he calls it), visited the Sforza castle, and loved the awesome da Vinci science museum. He also enjoyed
eating with his parents. As always, he did
what he does best on the plane home.
In mid-April, Asher has enjoyed a trip to the zoo
with his classmates (fooling around on
the monkey bars was fun). But he still
enjoys the simple pleasures provided by Pixar
(and his dad’s head).
Asher’s fourth Spring in France involved
side-trips to the Nemo Science Museum, Beaune
(where he bought
his mother a sunflower, discovered beauty,
visited the
Hotel Dieu, hung out at the
well), and the Abbey Fontenay (at the forge,
the cloisters,
and the
fishpond). He was also very pleased to
acquire the Euro-look in situ,
and hang out
with Max and Trish in Frankfurt (also good for
watery playgrounds). He returned
to Morm’s haunts in Budapest, visited the
Castle, saw
the city (cute!), enjoyed the
statues and
the views, Asher also had an
awesome boat-trip on the Danube (high-quality
version). But mostly he enjoyed
(cute!) Paris, sometimes
with his friend Jake Lyons (at Vincenes: cute!), especially sailing his boat
in the round
pond at
the Tuileries, playing with new
friends, and visiting the awesome Conservatoire
National des Arts et Métiers. He
has also found
the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe,
checked out
the gargoyles at Notre-Dame, hung out with
Julie and Marc Flandreau, visited Vincennes,
hung out at
Concorde, jumped
at the Tuileries, and discovered La Defense and its esplanade. This was also the trip where Asher first
discovered Art; here
he is messing
around one
beautiful evening at an outdoor sculpture
garden on
the Seine.
Asher spent a
week in July 2004 with his cousins Denny and Ella in Ontario (here at a
diner in Port Hope). He swam with Dad,
climbed with
Ella, enjoyed
his bowling alley birthday cake, and played mini-golf
in his own way. The biggest discovery was the
water-fight: easy
with Ella, more
difficult with Uncle Dave (he lost).
In August 2004, Asher enjoyed Singapore
for the third time. He got to spend
time in Bintan, Indonesia where he tried the
trapeze at
a circus school and flew like a bird; he also enjoyed
walking on
the balance beam. He also
enjoyed the Singapore
Zoo, and the
waterfall at Jurong Bird Park, where he saw lots of flamingos
(but
doesn’t look like one). He
also visited beautiful
Bali, where he liked swimming in a
Balinese pool with goddesses
(Balinese and American) and
three levels. He also swam in
the most
spectacularly beautiful pool ever (at
the Grand
Hyatt at Nusa Dua, a gorgeous hotel with tremendous vegetation
and many
bridges), including
a great waterslide (parents allowed). He also visited rice paddies with his dad (a revealing
experience!), enjoyed some Balinese dance,
imitated a
statue, saw
a volcano with
his mother, visited
a water-temple with his mother
(here’s
the sacred spring), and took a fine photograph
of his mom (described by the guide as having a body “like a
Coca-Cola bottle”).
Asher’s last trip before entering kindergarten was
to Pt. Reyes
for a hike to
the divide meadow with his mom (before
camping with his friend Jake).
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