And that’s it for soccer for at least a little while. This was the first year where we had both kids in soccer programs, and we found trying to get both kids to practices and games on weekends a bit hectic. We had a few cancelled games, but we did our best to make it to almost all the games and weeknight practices.

Josh has gotten a bit better, as this was his 4th season playing soccer in this particular league since last year. He’s never been very interested in athletics (neither was I growing up), but I think he’s beginnng to grasp the fundamentals and generate an interest in sports.

Autumn was Lily’s first season of soccer. To be completely frank, with Lily’s personality, we expected her to really shine at soccer. Instead, I witnessed a complete lack of interest. Oh, I know she’s just 3 years old. I’m just saying I thought she’d be running and going for that ball. Nah, most games she either wanted to sit and snack on the sidelines, or just stood on the field twirling around, or talking to her friends. Well, better luck next time. Interestingly enough, she’s been enjoying her ballet dance class much more. Who knew?

I’m a little late with this, but I finally scanned in the team photos.

Fall 2011 - Joshua's soccer team

Fall 2011 - Lily's soccer team

This is a very busy month for the kids. In addition to all the birthday parties and soccer games, the kids have end-of-year school events. On Friday June 12th, the kindergarten classes at Joshua’s elementary school had an afternoon concert performed by the kids for the parents and families. I took a 1/2 vacation day so I could attend. After the afternoon concert, we had to take care of a few errands, take Josh to a  birthday party, then meet up for Lily’s 7pm “Spring Sing” concert. What a day!

Apart from the concert photos available in the June 2011 gallery, I’m publishing a few home videos of the performances. Below is the performance where Joshua did some additional performing.

Joshua’s “Kindergarten Smiles” group sing performance from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.

Josh on his Spring Break 2011

With Josh’s first year in public school, we now get hit with all these holidays and breaks. This never happened when he was attending school in daycare. So while he benefits from many days off, his parents need to find out what to do.

In these situations, either one of us stays home with him, or I take him to the backup daycare center at my office. This week, he came to the office with me from Monday through Thursday. I think he had a decent time each day at the backup daycare center, and I took him out for lunch every day. I hope he understands why I get stressed out trying to get everyone out the door each morning, as he noted that I have ”a long time” in the car to get to work, as well as traffic each way. One can only hope. In any case, I hope he had a good time hanging out with me for a week.

I’ve never heard of a “curriculum fair”, but it’s supposedly an event that was discontinued seven years ago at our school district. The annual event was restarted this year, which I think is very nice for the community. Josh had some of his work selected to represent his kindergarten classroom, along with that of his best friend Kaiya. We met up with his friend family for dinner at a local pizzeria, and then we drove over to the high school to see the work on display. It was very crowded, but I’m glad Josh had his work displayed. Good for him. I found more pictures here.

Josh & Kaiya @ the district "Curriculum Fair"

As a child of the 80′s, I grew up on a few, critical, pop culture icons — The $6 Million Dollar Man, Knight Rider, etc.  Saturdays were the best. I’d get up at 5am on Saturday mornings to watch Rocky & Bullwinkle, all those nutty cartoons (Smurfs, Chipmunks, Looney Tunes), and whatever was popular at that moment. Saturday afternoons were hit-and-miss, but sometimes there was something good on, primarily 70′s kung fu movies and Godzilla.

Ah, Godzilla, my childhood friend. You were the big monster hero, out to battle aliens, space monsters, and freaks of nature. There are three eras of Godzilla films, and I’m completely ignoring that stupid Emmerich. Let me elaborate:

• The Showa era (1954-1975) — my favorite series, starting with the 1954 original classic.
• The Heisei era (1984-1995) — begins with the 1984 film, but I’m not a big fan, so I haven’t seen them all.
• Millenium era (1999-2004) — I haven’t watched any of these.

Although I watch a few of the 1990′s Heisei era films in college, I wasn’t enamored. I supposed I had a soft spot for the old kitchy films of my childhood. I watched a few clips with Joshua last year, but we sat and watched two entire Showa films this month — Godzilla vs The Thing (1964) and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). So far, Josh likes them, but he prefers the later ones where Godzilla is a hero, not a villain / force of nature.

Apart from the big birthday party last Sunday, Josh wanted to eat at IHOP on his actual birthday. Apparently, he’s a big pancake fanatic. Who knew? After we got back from work, we took the kids out for dinner. To pass the time, Joshua devoured one of his new Magic Treehouse books (birthday present), and Lily & I made faces.

Joshua loves his books

Making faces

A Star Wars family

Joshua celebrated his sixth birthday this year. Trying to find something different to do, we opted to rent a nearby community room, and entertain the kids ourselves. We decided on a space / Star Wars theme for the party. Since Joshua was in kindergarten now, we invited friends and children from both kindergarten classes at his school. Out of 40 kids, I’ll never understand the folks who never RSVP. I mean, really, can’t you pick up the phone?

Handmade lightsabers

As the party attendance grew to around 25 kids plus the parents, we decided that maybe we weren’t going to be able to successfully entertain all those kids (and their parents), and run the overall party simultaneously. A few days earlier last week, we opted to hire someone else to professionally come in and do it. In hindsight, great idea. I can handle entertaining my two kids, but 25 kids? Recipe for disaster, and me fleeing through the fields. We made a call to Dynamic FitKids, and they were available on Sunday afternoon.

My wife had some cool ideas, such as us wearing Star Wars t-shirts. As part of the goody/gift bags, each kid would take home their very own handmade lightsaber (made from a pool noodle.). Finally, Namita made a pretty awesome Star Wars birthday cake with a mini Death Star on it.

A Star Wars cake

Two years in a row, the day called for rain, but we dealt with it. We got to the hall about two hours before to set up and decorate. The kids and parents promptly began arriving at 3pm, but we were fairly ready. The kids ran around, then our entertainment arrived, set up quickly, and we were off. It turns out that 25 kids is a lot of children to handle, so we’re doubly glad we didn’t try to do it ourselves. I think everyone thought the cake was pretty cool, and the kids seem to enjoy beating each other with their lightsabers.

Joshua’s 6th birthday party – Rocket Ship Activity from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.

When the new carpet was installed, we had to move everything out of the living room. Now that the carpet is installed, we’re figuring out how stuff should be arranged and how to best use the space. I think we’ve finally found a place for Joshua.

Organizing Joshua

I guess the kids like their new respective game systems… Josh’s Nintendo DSi XL, and a hand-me-down Leapster handheld for Lily.

Josh & Lily like their handhelds

Liberty Science Center

In years past when the kids were both in daycare, my wife and I would normally be off to enjoy life as adults. As Joshua is now in kindergarten, he is off this week, and he’s been bored. He’s not saying it in so many words, but he certainly has cabin fever, and constantly asks us, “What can I do now?”  We decided that a trip to the museum, and outside of the house, would be good for him. Lily went to daycare, and my wife had some office work to do, so it was just a boys’ trip to the museum. We haven’t been to the LSC since January 2009, so it has certainly been a while.

It was an easy drive up to Jersey City mid-morning, and LSC looked exactly the same. After spending about $50 last year, I was determined to cut the costs. I looked for discounts through my employee, but found none. I checked the 3D and IMAX films, but there were none that looked that interesting. I elected to skip the movie and save $20. I’m also realizing that there is no benefit of shoehorning a million activities into the itinerary of a 5-year old. Kids end up exhausted, and they don’t enjoy it. There were a few new exhibits, but I elected to skip the new Mastodon Lubya to save money. We visited all the floors, but Joshua most enjoyed the I-Explore childrens area. Apparently, he’s been yearning to play with uncooked rice and use the ball contraption machines since 2009, and that was all he was interested. As a matter of fact, he wrote down what his itinerary was, and “rice” was on there twice.

I decided not to fight it, as long as he was having a good time, but next time I’m just buying a bag of Uncle Ben’s. I do want to tell others that there quite a number of exhibits that weren’t functioning. Cutbacks?