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Curie June 2019

June means the end of school and the beginning of camp, and the end of second grade for Curie also means the end of preschool for Elia. The girls went back to the dentist and while Elia was okay Curie had more work to do including losing another tooth. When the day came, and she had her tooth extracted the same day Elia graduated from preschool, they ended up extracting two teeth. It was terrible, and while Curie bounced back the next day, she was miserable even as she was helping celebrate Elia’s graduation. Curie (and Albert) have a fear of the dentist and so the night before Curie went to the dentist, Albert spent some time teaching her box breathing to control her anxiety before going to the dentist. Afterward she told Albert (because Erin takes them to the dentist), that she did the breathing, and hopefully having something to concentrate on helped her that day. Continue reading “Curie June 2019”

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We Become an Archery Family Today

Today we became an archery family. 

I first learned to shoot with a Pearson fiberglass stick bow at Sierra Vista in 1981( George, Maximillian). I bought my first bow (a Bear TD) while at Northwestern in 1989 with Mavis and Frank. In 1996 I went to Arrow Mfg. to get some arrows to show a friend how to shoot. I bought a second hand Yamaha EX to begin shooting competitively even going to Vegas and Indoor Nationals in my first year. In 1997 the family at Arrow Mfg (Shirley, Philip), in their generosity, they let me become a shooter for them without seeing if I could even shoot after I went to their shop every day to look at an emerald Radian riser. At Vegas the next year I made some lifelong friends Brooke), after shooting competitvely for a while I gave up competitive shooting after starting work. 

I would collect bows and shoot with friends, family, and colleagues, Bernard, Agnes, Sean, Jon,Octavio, Amjed, and others) and I would buy Erin‘s bow before ever meeting her knowing that we would be an archery family one day. We would shoot with friends and family getting them and their families involved (David,  Candace,  Librada,  Buck,  Nancy, Alberta,  Michael,  Ono,  Amy,  Levi,  Julie, and many others). 

Then we had kids, and had to wait until Elia was 5 before we could go. Curie got her bow when she was 5, so did Elia when she turned 5. Today was the first day we went to the range at Ft. Belvoir to shoot. We were afraid the kids wouldn’t like it, we shouldn’t have worried, they LOVED it. That second picture on the bottom of our bows is as much a family picture as the one next to it. I tagged so many people and missed so many more because I realize that archery is a pretty big part of my life)

Anyone want to go shooting?

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Archery Equipment

From Facebook to the Cotton’s: My kids started shooting today! While going through my archery gear, I came across this. Shirley and Phil, do you remember when I used to come see the emerald Radian every day? I shot a red Hoyt Avalon, then a black Avalon Plus as an Arrow Mfg. Shooter thanks to your generosity and kindness. I am forever grateful for the friendship your family offered me. I bought Erin Sky Medalist, long before I met her.

I’ll tell you something crazy: I became somewhat of a collector since those times in hopes of getting friends to shoot recurve with me. Of the top olympic bows of the day (’96/’97), I have, for Hoyt, the Avalon+, a Radian, a Gold Medalist/TD4 or four, a tnumber of Sky Medalists/Hoyt TD3s, and for Yamaha, an EX, a YTD II, a YSTL II, and an Eolla. I never got a Sky Conquest, though I did get a PSE Centra that I ended up giving to a friend. In total, I have in our garage, 27 risers, 31 sets of limbs, a Japanese yumi, and a number of older bows still at my parent’s house that were not take downs. Before Arrow Mfg., I only owned one Bear TD. 

Thank you, your family (and Ron and your parents, may they rest in peace) again for your friendship and generosity.

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Dinner on our Deck

Tonight we had dinner on our deck with our low table and our Adirondack chairs. We sat out right before sunset with some takeout Japanese/sushi, watched the starlings fly, saw a hummingbird at our feeder, and a nuthatch come by. The sky turned from blue to pink cotton candy to night, and we saw an owl fly to the tree, a dragonfly visit us, and fireflies come to life. No TV, no tablets, no phones, no electronics.

Lest you think it was so idyllic, we sang “that bug is on fire!” Had water bottles to squirt at the fireflies, and lay in wait for any squirrels to come by. A tension was felt by all as we did not know if one of us was going to break out into a squirting war with each other.

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Elia June 2019

Elia’s June was all about graduating from K-Prep at Bright Horizons. Erin’s parents came up for the event and we took pictures and video for Albert’s parents. Unlike Curie, who we kept in pre-school up until she went to kindergarten, Elia will be going to camp this summer with Curie. We have some misgivings since Ms. Chelsea is really doing a better job than Ms. Ariel did preparing the kids for kindergarten, and we worry whether or not the repeated changes will be too much for Elia. On the flip side, learning about the changes and adjusting to them is not a bad thing either. In the end she will be okay, but Albert remembers the days at camp feeling awkward and alone. We also discovered that Elia won’t be with Curie at camp as the kindergartners go to the little school rather than the big campus at Congo Camp (spoiler, it is July and this all works out). Continue reading “Elia June 2019”

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Elia Graduates Pre-School

Today Elia graduated pre-school, and there will be a separate collage for her day in a while. So when Curie graduated, the preschool sent home a letter saying to dress your child up for graduation. Erin was annoyed that they were trying to make us dress our kids up in fancy dresses and outfits, so she “dressed Curie up!”… As Superman. All the other kids were in little dresses and shirts with ties and Curie is as proud as punch in a Superman/girl shirt complete with cape and snow boots. So today, Elia was all dressed up in her fancy dress – if you don’t know, she always wears a fancy dress to school, so this was not any different except for the Jojo Shiwa bow. She looked so cute, but at the last moment, unprompted by us, she had a meltdown saying she did not want the dress and instead wanted her Wonder Woman dress. SO Curie graduated as Superman/girl, and Elia graduated as Wonder Woman, why is that so appropriate?