Monday (7/18) was our last full day in the big city.
We slept in and went to Chinatown for lunch, back to Jing Fong. While we were eating, my wife got a call from her classmate that she had not seen for over 20 years.
Michael and I were both a bit burned out on eating in Chinatown, so my wife took her family and Zoey to have dinner with her friend (and his family), while I took Michael to Rockefeller Center and the Lego Store. He had been asking to go back.
Wife said that Zoey had a nice time. Her friends have a young boy about Zoey's age, and he kept wanting to play with Zoey, but she was a bit shy.
They had an incredible amount of food, and Zoey had a good time. I wasn't there since I was taking her big brother out for a guy's adventure to the Lego Store in Rockefeller Center.
They ended up coming back quite a bit after we did. Zoey seemed to be in good spirits when she came back, so I figure she had a good time.
Monday, July 18, 2016
Sunday, July 17, 2016
New York City Trip - Day 6
Sunday was a very nice, quiet day. Well at least as quiet as Sunday can be in Manhattan.
I woke up and felt better. We went to Grand Central Station so everyone could see the main terminal, it's really beautiful.
We ate at the food court there. Had Chinese fast food, kind of like the mall-style food courts.
We went to Times Square. Surprisingly, there were a lot fewer of the costumed people that entice tourists to take photos for tips.
I think the police have been cracking down on them.
Came back and took a nap this afternoon.
We woke up around 5 PM and my wife took her parents and little sister to Chinatown for dinner, while Michael and I had an adventure, back to Central Park to drive the model boats.
Zoey is pretty over the model boats, she never really took to driving them, but Michael and I had a great time.
Zoey and Michael needed separate time anyway ... They were fighting a lot in the hotel room this afternoon.
Zoey's pretty aggressive, and strong at arguing. She talks fast and assertively, she told Michael "No Michael I found this paper first, it's mine, you have to find your own."
Even when I told her she had to share, she stood her ground and said "I found this first, Michael has to go get his own."
She is a very strong communicator and really assertive.
At home, I've seen the 2 of them argue, and watched her get the last word, and Michael get flummoxed and not know what to say back, and break down and start sticking his tongue out and blowing raspberries at Zoey.
I woke up and felt better. We went to Grand Central Station so everyone could see the main terminal, it's really beautiful.
We ate at the food court there. Had Chinese fast food, kind of like the mall-style food courts.
We went to Times Square. Surprisingly, there were a lot fewer of the costumed people that entice tourists to take photos for tips.
I think the police have been cracking down on them.
Came back and took a nap this afternoon.
We woke up around 5 PM and my wife took her parents and little sister to Chinatown for dinner, while Michael and I had an adventure, back to Central Park to drive the model boats.
Zoey is pretty over the model boats, she never really took to driving them, but Michael and I had a great time.
Zoey and Michael needed separate time anyway ... They were fighting a lot in the hotel room this afternoon.
Zoey's pretty aggressive, and strong at arguing. She talks fast and assertively, she told Michael "No Michael I found this paper first, it's mine, you have to find your own."
Even when I told her she had to share, she stood her ground and said "I found this first, Michael has to go get his own."
She is a very strong communicator and really assertive.
At home, I've seen the 2 of them argue, and watched her get the last word, and Michael get flummoxed and not know what to say back, and break down and start sticking his tongue out and blowing raspberries at Zoey.
Saturday, July 16, 2016
New York City Trip - Day 5
We went to the Empire State Building in the morning.
It was great ... we arrived around 9 AM and there was NO line whatsoever.
My wife and I went 11 years ago, at night, and we waited 1 hour (or more) in line to go up the elevators.
We walked right past all those waiting areas, and right up the elevators.
It was a nice day, got to walk around the entire observatory area and take lots of pictures.
After the Empire State Building and walking down Koreatown, we went to Jing Fong restaurant in Chinatown (our regular spot in New York) for Dim Sum lunch.
They had the Dim Sum carts. Zoey's a very good eater, she eats everything.
I still think the kids favorite thing is playing with Duplos in the hotel room. They were moody/unhappy all day, but perked up when we went back to the hotel to take a rest and they played Legos.
We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art this afternoon, and I started feeling sick.
Either that or I'm really allergic to museums. Thought it was allergies at first since there is so much dust there (they've got 4,000 year old artifacts after all). Couldn't stop sneezing and nose running.
One high point for the kids was the the Temple of Dendur. This was a really big, open area where they ran around pushing strollers and racing each other. Probably not what they were supposed to be doing, but nobody said anything to us.
We've finally used up our CityPasses. I guess it was an okay purchase overall, had I not bought them, probably wouldn't have gone to the Met Museum today.
I was pretty burned out on museums after the American Museum of Natural History, that was a major bust. Had such high hopes for that one, even had a coworker recommend it for kids.
It was great ... we arrived around 9 AM and there was NO line whatsoever.
My wife and I went 11 years ago, at night, and we waited 1 hour (or more) in line to go up the elevators.
We walked right past all those waiting areas, and right up the elevators.
It was a nice day, got to walk around the entire observatory area and take lots of pictures.
After the Empire State Building and walking down Koreatown, we went to Jing Fong restaurant in Chinatown (our regular spot in New York) for Dim Sum lunch.
They had the Dim Sum carts. Zoey's a very good eater, she eats everything.
I still think the kids favorite thing is playing with Duplos in the hotel room. They were moody/unhappy all day, but perked up when we went back to the hotel to take a rest and they played Legos.
We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art this afternoon, and I started feeling sick.
Either that or I'm really allergic to museums. Thought it was allergies at first since there is so much dust there (they've got 4,000 year old artifacts after all). Couldn't stop sneezing and nose running.
One high point for the kids was the the Temple of Dendur. This was a really big, open area where they ran around pushing strollers and racing each other. Probably not what they were supposed to be doing, but nobody said anything to us.
We've finally used up our CityPasses. I guess it was an okay purchase overall, had I not bought them, probably wouldn't have gone to the Met Museum today.
I was pretty burned out on museums after the American Museum of Natural History, that was a major bust. Had such high hopes for that one, even had a coworker recommend it for kids.
Friday, July 15, 2016
New York City Trip - Day 4
On Friday 7/15, we switched hotels. Went back to the Marriott Courtyard we stayed in last year.
Oh, we took an Uber over!
We were very impressed with Uber, it's a cool technology and a great idea ... You can watch your Uber driving up on the app, literally see it moving down the street roads, and you get your driver's name and they have your name so they say "Is this (your name)?" I seriously was impressed by the whole Uber thing.
We went to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I explained 9/11 to both kids. It was a very well done memorial, and the museum was actually very interesting, really took you back to that day.
Zoey was asleep through most of the experience. When she woke up the first thing she asked was if she was in Legoland. She was certain she was in Legoland.
Oh, we took an Uber over!
We were very impressed with Uber, it's a cool technology and a great idea ... You can watch your Uber driving up on the app, literally see it moving down the street roads, and you get your driver's name and they have your name so they say "Is this (your name)?" I seriously was impressed by the whole Uber thing.
We went to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I explained 9/11 to both kids. It was a very well done memorial, and the museum was actually very interesting, really took you back to that day.
Zoey was asleep through most of the experience. When she woke up the first thing she asked was if she was in Legoland. She was certain she was in Legoland.
Thursday, July 14, 2016
New York City Trip - Day 3
On the 3rd day of our trip (Thu, 7/14), we spent all day at the American Museum of Natural History.
Zoey didn't really care for it. It was dark and had lots of fake animals in displays that look like their natural settings.
Pretty boring for the kids (and grown-ups as well). We saw a 3-D IMAX about National Parks that managed to scare Michael, the part about Forest Fires. Once he started saying "I'm scared", Zoey started as well and soon both of them were clamoring about being scared.
Zoey fell asleep in her stroller toward the end of the Museum trip, so Michael and I did a little more exploring on our own. She probably had a better time (napping) than we did (exploring the museum).
In the evening, we went to the Top of the Rock around sunset.
There is a small (but very busy) Lego Store in Rockefeller Center. We went there and both kids wanted to buy Duplos.
I let them buy Duplos with the caveat that they were something that could not be found in our hometown cheaper.
They managed to pick out 2 sets that I have never seen in our local Toys R Us, and they sit on the bed in the hotel room and play and play and have a great time. Zoey got a set with a horse that has a cool red cloak and fences.
That seems to be the highlight of their trip, and when we're out sightseeing, they are clamoring to go back to the hotel to play with Legos.
Zoey didn't really care for it. It was dark and had lots of fake animals in displays that look like their natural settings.
Pretty boring for the kids (and grown-ups as well). We saw a 3-D IMAX about National Parks that managed to scare Michael, the part about Forest Fires. Once he started saying "I'm scared", Zoey started as well and soon both of them were clamoring about being scared.
Zoey fell asleep in her stroller toward the end of the Museum trip, so Michael and I did a little more exploring on our own. She probably had a better time (napping) than we did (exploring the museum).
In the evening, we went to the Top of the Rock around sunset.
There is a small (but very busy) Lego Store in Rockefeller Center. We went there and both kids wanted to buy Duplos.
I let them buy Duplos with the caveat that they were something that could not be found in our hometown cheaper.
They managed to pick out 2 sets that I have never seen in our local Toys R Us, and they sit on the bed in the hotel room and play and play and have a great time. Zoey got a set with a horse that has a cool red cloak and fences.
That seems to be the highlight of their trip, and when we're out sightseeing, they are clamoring to go back to the hotel to play with Legos.
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
New York City Trip - Day 2
The second day (Wed, 7/13) was boat day.
We went to Central Park, did the rowboats first thing in the morning, did the toy model boats, and in the evening went and did the Circle Line Cruise - it's an evening 7 PM - 9 PM cruise around the Hudson called the "Harbor Lights Cruise".
Zoey liked the rowboats. She sat in the back with Mommy. I rowed. Michael sat in the front and we called him "Captain Michael" which he got a kick out of. Zoey liked seeing the turtles as we were rowing.
She was not terribly enamored with driving the model sailboats. I think she is not old enough to make the association between her moving the control and the boat moving, since it's wind-powered and there are a lot of boats on the pond. She does know how radio controlled vehicles work since she can drive our toy RC car at home great.
We bought 4 CityPass New York booklets. They're a pretty good discount ... You get tickets for 6 places for about the price of 4. It cost $116 for each person's. We only bought 4 for the adults, since many of the places were free for kids under a certain age. For the kids, we just paid for the events that required kids their age to pay.
The Circle Line Cruise was 1 of the 6 items in the City Pass booklet.
The only problem with the CityPass is then you feel a sense of pressure to use up all 6 tickets to get your money's worth.
It rained a little bit on the Harbor Lights Cruise. It was a 1 hour 45 minute cruise. Zoey seemed to like being held and looking at the city with the wind in her hair.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
New York City Trip - Day 1
We just took a family trip to New York City (Manhattan) for 7 days.
Zoey gets tired easily (she's still young), and will often fall asleep mid-excursion. She's pretty much able to fall asleep on the spot at any given time in her little aqua-colored umbrella stroller.
On the first day (Tue, 7/12), we arrived, took the Air Train to the Jamaica, Queens station. Original plan was to take the Air Train to the Howard Beach station, but for some reason that wasn't available, so changed up, took the Air Train (it's a cool train that's like an above-ground Subway) to Jamaica, than took the E all the way to our hotel.
We stayed at the Skyline Hotel on 10th Ave and 50th St. It was kind of inconvenient, quite a long walk from the nearest Subway stop.
We actually went to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden the first day (felt like we sleep-walked through it, since we were up at 3 AM that morning).
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Counting down and singing songs
Zoey has learned how to count down from 10 to 0.
We were going bowling on Saturday, and as we were driving to the bowling alley, she was counting down ... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
She also likes to make up her own songs and sing. A few days ago she was jumping on our bed, bouncing in a circle and singing,
"Fe Fi Fum Fum ... I'm big Dinosaur ... here I come!"
We were going bowling on Saturday, and as we were driving to the bowling alley, she was counting down ... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
She also likes to make up her own songs and sing. A few days ago she was jumping on our bed, bouncing in a circle and singing,
"Fe Fi Fum Fum ... I'm big Dinosaur ... here I come!"
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Basic Software Concepts
So, I figured I would start teaching the kids basic software principles. Zoey's a bit young, but I wanted to get her exposed to the ideas as early as possible.
I’m trying to make it very fun and hands-on. I’m teaching concepts and ideas, and trying to get it a fundamental part of how they think and reason.
Zoey loves to learn, and she likes being quizzed and trying to answer things, and she's naturally very curious, so she's been a great student so fare.
I started the other night with Collections, Stacks, and Queues with both of the kids.
For Zoey, I lined up her Duplo people and asked her how many was in the Queue. She could correctly answer "5". I made a line of light posts next to the people line, and explained how one line is a "People Line", and the other is a "Light Post Line". The ideas definitely made sense to her, and she could separate the People Line from the Light Post Line.
I used the term "Generic Collections", which she definitely won't get yet, but I wanted her to hear the term.
I put a train in front of the people line and explained her that it was a Queue, and whoever got in line first got to go on the train first, the FIFO (first-in, first-out) concept. Zoey kept putting her favorite stuffed tiger at the front of the line, which drove her brother nuts because he understands the concept of a line and he would yell out "Zoey! Tiger is cutting! That's not fair!!!"
We went on to stacks. I took their plastic IKEA chairs, and stacked them up 3 high. Zoey did listen as I explained to both of them, but she just liked knocking over the chairs. I also took some Duplos (same sized blocks, different colors) and stacked them up, with a green one at the bottom. I explained to her that to get to the bottom one, we had to "pop" all the Duplos off that were above it on the stack.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Little Communicator
Zoey is a really great communicator. I've always had a very easy time understanding her and I finally put my finger on exactly why.
We took her to the beach today. As we were leaving, I was carrying her.
I asked her, "Zoey, did you have fun?" She looked me in the eye, nodded, and answered "Yeah Daddy I had fun."
I followed up with "Zoey, do you like the beach?" She answered "I like the beach."
Finally, I asked her, "Zoey, do you want to come back sometime?" She answered "I want to come back."
The reason she's such a good communicator (especially at such a young age) is she uses the words from your question to phrase her answer. She doesn't just answer "Did you like the beach?" with "Yeah". She answers and includes the original words "Yes I like the beach".
UPDATE:
Wow ... I was helping her get ready for bed and asked her: "Did you have fun at the beach?"
Her exact answer (mentally snapshot what she said since I wanted to record it word-for-word for posterity ...
"Yeah I had fun at the beach. I like the beach."
I'm so impressed. She speaks in full sentences, grammatically correct, and more often than not, even correct tense.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Neeky Nook
Zoey is very talkative and has quite the imagination. When we're reading together, she will look at the characters on the page and imagine a new conversation between them, and "speak" on behalf of the characters between each other.
She has always spoken very clearly. Her current favorite TV cartoon / books / character line is "Jake and the Never Land Pirates."
I'm actually glad she's moved (mostly) past Umizoomi as a favorite. Not that Umizoomi is a bad favorite, mind you, but the problem is since it never reached a tremendous amount of popularity, the toys from Fisher Price were quickly retired.
Supply and demand and all ... the Umizoomi Umicar originally sold for $15 - $20. When I looked at getting her one, it was on Amazon and eBay for $80. Just checked and the price is (gulp) now up to $160. That's pretty insane for a plastic toy that does not do much and originally retailed for $15.
Fortunately, "Jake and the Never Land Pirates" is very popular, so the toys are mass produced and easy/reasonable to buy. Zoey and her brother are into Duplos. He's actually probably big enough for Legos now, but we've always gone with youngest common denominator since Legos are a choking hazard, Michael never got any to play with while Zoey was still young.
We ordered Zoey and Michael a new set with Duplo minifigures. One Jake (for Michael) and one Izzy (for Zoey). Izzy is the girl pirate, and Zoey really likes watching her on the cartoon and reading about her adventures in our books.
In the series, Captain Hook is the mostly harmless, inept bumbling villain. The books often like to say "Captain Hook is a Sneaky Snook". Zoey picked up on this fast as a way to insult someone.
However, she does not yet pronounce the 'S' in words that start with the letter 'S'. So she's been going around telling all of us "You are a Neeky Nook! You are a Neeky Nook!" It's really adorable. She also says she wants to see "no" (snow) and a "noman" (snowman).
I'm really working hard to get her to pronounce 'S', for some reason she struggles with it.
She has always spoken very clearly. Her current favorite TV cartoon / books / character line is "Jake and the Never Land Pirates."
I'm actually glad she's moved (mostly) past Umizoomi as a favorite. Not that Umizoomi is a bad favorite, mind you, but the problem is since it never reached a tremendous amount of popularity, the toys from Fisher Price were quickly retired.
Supply and demand and all ... the Umizoomi Umicar originally sold for $15 - $20. When I looked at getting her one, it was on Amazon and eBay for $80. Just checked and the price is (gulp) now up to $160. That's pretty insane for a plastic toy that does not do much and originally retailed for $15.
Fortunately, "Jake and the Never Land Pirates" is very popular, so the toys are mass produced and easy/reasonable to buy. Zoey and her brother are into Duplos. He's actually probably big enough for Legos now, but we've always gone with youngest common denominator since Legos are a choking hazard, Michael never got any to play with while Zoey was still young.
We ordered Zoey and Michael a new set with Duplo minifigures. One Jake (for Michael) and one Izzy (for Zoey). Izzy is the girl pirate, and Zoey really likes watching her on the cartoon and reading about her adventures in our books.
In the series, Captain Hook is the mostly harmless, inept bumbling villain. The books often like to say "Captain Hook is a Sneaky Snook". Zoey picked up on this fast as a way to insult someone.
However, she does not yet pronounce the 'S' in words that start with the letter 'S'. So she's been going around telling all of us "You are a Neeky Nook! You are a Neeky Nook!" It's really adorable. She also says she wants to see "no" (snow) and a "noman" (snowman).
I'm really working hard to get her to pronounce 'S', for some reason she struggles with it.
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