Nature Nurtured

Olivia and the other students of their summer nature class are taught to care for their friends of the natural world. On this day, they learned about the varieties and importance of flowers. The kids spent the last fifteen minutes of class buzzing like bees around the grounds of the nature center in curious and careful pursuit of the flowers they'd just studied.

Wall-Mannered

Olivia shows us that she'll climb toward outer space in search of adventure.

Able in a China Shop

We'd signed Olivia up for a calligraphy class at a local nonprofit organization that is committed to supporting area families who have adopted children from China. Beni first found out about the group quite randomly nearly three years ago—she’d dropped in their business during a chocolate-themed tour of downtown businesses, at which time she coughed up her e-mail address for a piece of cake.

They send her all sorts of information regarding Chinese adoptions, but also a calendar of events they hold at their headquarters. Based on the positive experience Olivia and Beni had while participating in their Chinese New Year celebration back in February, we decided to try our hand—rather Olivia's hand—at the art of brush and black ink.

Our burgeoning artist proved to be a quick study: she was able to produce a boscage of bamboo shortly after receiving instructions from the teacher.

Kicks Some Grass

By the last days of soccer class, the instructors are tired of instructing and the kids are tired of being instructed, and so they tied down and pulled up their bootstraps to get to work playing what’s known around the world as the Beautiful Game. Olivia got tapped for goalie duty in the first half, a role she cherished for its frequent breaks from the action, but Ronaldinho-inha did show some flairs of interestedness and skill on the other end of the field when she was forced to roam the pitch as a field player in the second half.

Read Meat(balls)

Our town’s library runs a summer reading program for the lil’ ones. The kids can earn weekly prizes—coupons for DVD rentals, ice cream cones, personal pizzas, and the like—on their way to the grand prize—their very own book—at the end of the session. This year’s book selection was fairly extensive, but Olivia locked in on one book in particular upon spotting it.

Our meatless munchkin picked up the classic “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” a book which she told me she’d first heard a “long, long time ago” in preschool. Well, she must have wanted to make up for lost time because she had me read it to her at least five or six times over the course of this day, including once during our playtime at the park.

Jogging Her Memory

I was loathe to have Olivia participate in our local running club’s fun run­—see here and here as to why­—but ultimately ran counter to my intuition by taking her to the race site this evening. I figured it was a new year and that there was no way she’d pull off the trifecta. As you can see, she happily scampered around the track this time and even let her old man join in on the fun (run).

Women in Trees

I never watched an episode of the now-cancelled TV show “Men in Trees,” but I do know it starred Anne Heche playing a character whose first name was the same as Olivia’s middle name.

Olivia plays herself in "Man vs. Child," a show about us trying to survive parenthood. In this episode, we find our adventure seeker up in a tree as her nervous parents try to figure out how she got up there and when she might fall. (Spoiler alert: She doesn't fall. In fact, she convinces her mother to pose with her for a picture.)

Crash into Me

Tradition dictates that during water breaks at soccer practice, Olivia runs over to where Beni and I are sitting to playfully run one of us over­—usually me—before rehydrating and heading back out to the pitch.

At the end of class this evening, I just assumed that my having the camera out to capture her gleeful expression would indicate to her that she was to mow down her mother, but as you might guess from the extreme close-up I was able to capture, my assumption was off base.

The above shot was taken the moment before Olivia collided into me like a free safety teeing off on an unsuspecting wide receiver. Her head hit the camera, which then smashed into my face. The multiple impacts sent my daughter, my body, and the camera flying in different directions. Miraculously, neither of us (or the camera) was hurt, and unlike European soccer professionals, we didn’t exaggerate our pain by writhing around the ground in agony.

All A's

By day, she’s walking hand in hand with A.J. around the arts festival; by night, she’s accompanying Aiden in his wagon on their way to the park; and in between, Olivia’s observing during our bike trip up to Aiden’s that her best buddies’ names start with the letter A.

The O.C.

The ocean city of Ocean City—site of Days 10, 11, and 12 of our first vacation of the summer—was originally founded in 1879 by four Methodist ministers seeking a beach town for clean, wholesome fun. Although it no longer caters just to Methodists, Ocean City is still clean (garbage and syringes floating ashore is soooo 1989), wholesome (the town remains as dry today as the day it was incorporated), and fun (the two-plus-mile-long boardwalk is a mélange of all things tourist trap-py). We were there celebrating many things, among them my cousin Anders's graduation from high school.

I We Love Lucy

We are told that an elephant never forgets, but it is us who will never forget this elephant.

Lucy the Elephant is a six-story monstrosity of wood and tin sheeting located in Margate City, New Jersey. An early example of zoomorphic architecture, the structure was built in 1882 as a way to boost tourism.

This evening, she was the main attraction bringing seven of us—me, my aunt and my cousins, my mom, Beni, and Olivia—over the bridge to Margate City for dinner and a (big) show.

Get-Down Market

Olivia’s been quite partial to the songs “What a Wonderful World” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” ever since Jason Castro of “American Idol” infamy busted out a ukulele to cover Israel Kamakawiwo'ole’s mellifluous mash-up. Our daughter has also recently discovered Louis Armstrong’s original version of “What a Wonderful World” in book form…

...and in the movie, "Madagascar."

And here she is getting down to the composite of her new favorite songs as performed by a local high school student at the farmers market in Warwick, New York, hometown of my aunt, uncle, and two cousins.

(Apologies for causing neck strain; I can't

figure out how to straighten out the video.)