Second Grade Music Program

Wednesday evening was the 2nd Grade Music Program.  All four classes (around 100 kids) participated.  Each one spoke or played an instrument in addition to singing 7 or 8 songs.   The theme was "Somewhere in the World."  Although it was 7 p.m. in Naperville, around the world it might be bedtime, midnight, morning, or day. 

 

Two things struck me about the program:  the outfits and the actions.  The music teacher said to dress the kids in something that was comfortable and made them feel special (and considered the fact that the school is warm. . . .).  Nearly all the boys were wearing shorts with polo shirts and sneakers.   A few were in slacks or dress shirts.  Nearly all of the girls were wearing pretty party dresses and shoes or boots!  I'm guessing for many they were Easter dresses.   It was a fun contrast!   Second, my kid is not a born performer.   There appeared to be actions for a number of songs - which kids were doing to varying degrees - but William never once moved his body.  His hands were in his pockets or at his side the entire time. 

Big Apple Easter

William made his first trip to NYC!  The highlights of the trip were seeing Uncle Ryan, playing with the cats and trying every form of transportation possible.  But we had some other fun adventures, too!

 

I made sure we sat on the left side of the plane (#1) on arrival to spy the Statue of Liberty.  Can you see it there over the middle of the wing?   After landing at LGA we had a quick Yellow Cab (#2) ride to Ryan and Tarek's condo in Astoria, Queens.   We unpacked and made fast friends with Harhour, the new kitty.  Ernest Hemingway, Ryan's first cat, also seemed happy to see us, but the weekend was fully of Harhour and William play time since they're both a little ornery. 

We walked (#3) to the subway (#4) for a ride into Midtown to meet Ryan at his office.   We were able to rescue him from a boring Friday afternoon in the cubicles and made an emergency stop at Starbucks for me.   (An aside, if MDW would just get a Starbucks I would travel to/from there more happily and headache free.)   We took our Starbucks and walked in the Empire State Building for a photo op in the lobby, since we didn't want to spent over $100 for the three of us to go to the top.  Though I thought I'd temp William with it because in the Percy Jackson books we read, Mount Olympus and all the gods are above the Empire State Building!  But, alas, we walked in/out and then worked our way over to Eataly for pizza.  At this point we were worn out and William wished there was a train to get him to the train so we could go back home.   Instead of that, he spied a Lego Store, and wow, the energy returned!   Uncle Ryan bought him an early birthday present and then we did return home for Easter egg decorating and movie watching.

 

Saturday morning we took the East River Ferry (#4) to Lower Manhattan.  The plan was to then take the Staten Island Ferry out and around the Statue of Liberty but the day was gloomy and we weren't dressed for the wind and the cold of the water.   Instead we did a quick walk around the Financial District, saw Charging Bull (I hate that people climb all over it for photos!) and Fearless Girl, the 9/11 Memorial and Trinity Church, and then took the subway back home.  

Our Saturday evening was a walk to Socrates park, playing on the Boys & Girls Club playground and then taking the bus (#5) to a delicious Mexican food dinner.  

Sunday was a hipster Easter brunch followed by a trip to neighborhood gem, Museum of the Moving Image.  We watched the Disney film, Moana, and then made our own pendants.  They had several cool exhibits we walked through as well.   One about hair and make-up was really neat!  They also had a lot of Star Wars toys on display - many that I recognized Ryan having as a kid.  I had my mind set on a certain bagel place for an early dinner but it was closed due to the holiday.  So William and I got some cheese and crackers at the organic grocer and enjoyed them at home while Ryan and Tarek ran errands. 

On Monday morning, we got the guys off to work and then took an Uber (#6) back to LGA for our noon flight home.  William brought some toys to entertain himself in the waiting area while I started through my emails.   We were so excited when we pulled up at home and saw that the Easter bunny had been there!  That woke William right up again!  He ran inside to get an empty Easter basket for the hunt through the yard. He opened up each egg as he found it.  It was so fun to see that!  Ironically the "Easter bunny" happened to be out walking her dog as we arrived so she saw that William was doing his hunt.  She told me later than week that she had considered going back to collect them in case we weren't going to pick them up!  I assured her we hadn't outgrown the Easter egg hunt!

Fireplace Redo

As part of our continuing renovation of the first floor (kitchen, floors and lighting so far; painting, trim and furniture to come), I white washed our brick fireplace and spray painted the brass screen a high heat black.  I'm very happy with the results!  I used leftover white ceiling paint diluted with water.   The only supplies I had to purchase was a can of Rustoleum High Heat spray paint.  I only needed a small part of it, and have already passed it on to a neighbor to do the same treatment to her fireplace.

I learned about whitewashing on home improvement blogs.  It's easier than painting because it's meant to be imperfect.  That worked well for our brick since the mortar was very recessed and the bricks very rough.  To paint it opaque would have been a lot of work.  Not to mention I don't like how that looks.

I didn't get a true "before" picture but remembered to snap one after I'd put cardboard around the screen for spray paint overspray.  Yes, I sprayed it in place.  I don't recommend that from a ventilation standpoint, but we have never used our fireplace in our 8 years here, and I wasn't interested in reaching inside it to unhook the screen and haul it outside!  I did not tape off the glass, since I just scraped off the overspray with a razor blade when I was done.

The whitewash was very drippy and splattered a lot across the rough brick.  I protected my spray painted screen by covering it with plastic (aka Target bags).  I also put cardboard (aka Eggo waffle and frozen pizza boxes) between the brick and bookshelves to protect from paint.  I wasn't too concerned about the bookshelves since we are having those painted white by the wall painters, but I didn't want to glop paint on them. 

The entire project took me about 6 hours over three days.  On night one I spray painted the screen and put the cardboard up for the brick.   On evening two, I whitewashed above the mantle before dinner and did the mantle and under the mantle in a separate session.   Finally, I did the hearth on the last day.  I was much more careful about the dripping because I didn't want to get the floors painted.  Luckily the flat part was super easy (and not drippy) and I only had to worry about the vertical surface.  After this photo was taken I scraped the glass for overspray.  Not bad for 6 hours and $8! 

Spring Break

No Spring Break family trips for this tax accountant's family!  Instead, William spent two nights in Indiana at his grandparents and two days at the Children's Museum art camp.  He very much enjoyed both!  Since John was traveling, I did meet up duties with the grandparents.  But before we could drive to Indiana, we needed to spend the morning in my office getting some work done.  William happily accepted payment in donuts and jelly beans, though he did get bored after a few hours.  Me, too, buddy.  Me, too.   I enjoyed my time in the car with him so much.  We don't get many quiet moments to talk.