Summertime

Best of summer, ice cream sandwiches with my son on a Wednesday just because.

Explaining the red fingers, red lips and tongue from the red velvet cookies to the allergist, priceless.

Happy Summer.

5 Pounds of Chocolate

My neighbors received this chocolate bar as a gift.  They let me take a picture of it.  I think it is an appropriate amount of chocolate, don't you?

The Minion Project

In first grade Jacob did a Flat Stanley project.  We decided to duplicate the project with Jacob's Minion from Despicable Me.

Check up at the dentist.  All is well.

One giant piece of pizza and a Fanta to boot.

Lunch at In-n-Out with Nana and Zaide.

We saw Despicable Me 2 on opening day.

Welcome to Summer

Welcome summer hot and dry

you warm me feeling nice and hot

you fill my body with joy from warmth

and as I stand their softly pacing

I feel the warm water calmly flowing

And to this day summer shall always be

The summer I know so well

As I say the waves are crashing at my feet

Flowers swaying in the wind

And then summer always brings happiness

to us all

Jacob Zwang



So Long Summer

I finally finished my last summer dessert, Plum Knuchen, on the Fall equinox, is that timing or what?  I managed to make everything that I wanted to this summer, I have lofty goals huh.

As a sign of a true professional, I forgot to take a picture of my cake.  This is from the Cooking Light website where I got the recipe  http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/plum-kuchen-50400000113763/ .  We had our priorities correct, we ate the cake first.

On Sunday we took a family bike ride with our synagogue on the Ballona bike path to the Ballona creek.  In total we went about 8 miles but if felt longer for me due to the heat and humidity. Jacob took no notice of such things and said "let's go faster".  Most of the ride I was by myself.

Hollywood Bowl

The Zwang's scored Hollywood Bowl tickets thanks to Kristen.  I have mentioned her before, she is the neighbor of Hank & Berta and we have nicknamed her Fairy Godmother.  These weren't just any tickets but  Pool Circle tickets, they were front row seats.

Since there were only 4 tickets I sent Michael and Jacob off for a good time.

Dudamel was conducting the LA Philharmonic.  Verdi Rigoletto was the music. 

Jacob said he enjoyed staying up past his bedtime and he liked the hot chocolate and cookies.  A good time was had by all.

Camp Stuff

Jacob went to science camp this summer also known as Camp Stuff.

He brought home a new bag of stuff each week.  As you can see from the brightly colored bags he went 4 weeks.

These are the projects that came home also known as new toys.  Jacob really likes this camp so we put up with stuff.

New Bike

Jacob has a new bike and we have the nicest neighbors on our street.  We participated in stuff swapping during our block party.  One neighbor gave us his son's bike that he grew out of and we passed along a bike that hooks up to an adult bike to another neighbor.  One in, one out I always say.  It helps that one of our neighbors was cleaning out his garage:)  Jacob is pretty happy with his new acquisition and we went out for a family bike ride on Sunday.  I think he is fully cured from the surgery.

Life Post Surgery

We expected life to be much more lazy post surgery but that has not been the case.  Jacob was down and out for just a few hours then was back to his nickname Zippy.

By the night of the surgery, Jacob had pretty much recovered.  We managed to play a game of Mexican Train Dominoes from the new Domino set Jacob received from his grandparents.  

Day one after surgery Jacob received an early birthday present, Lego Mindstorm.  He spent the whole day putting it together and playing with it.  Michael had the patience of Job.

Surgery did not slow down the baking Zwangs.  Michael made homemade English Muffins, they were delicious but quite the 24 hour process.

I made monkey bread on another day.  Jacob really liked this one and it's Cooking Light!

We are all thankful that we have made it through this hurdle and can get on to enjoying the rest of our summer!

Summer of Firsts

First cotton candy and now a blue Icee.  Jacob had never had an Icee before so we bought one today for him to try.  Since I am not very familiar with the product, I didn't realize that after you fill the cup the Icee continues to expand.  Live and learn.  Like most things it did not live up to its hype.  He said "it tastes just like soda".

Nothing like a new ball to make my kid happy.  Ah, the lazy days of summer.

Official Start To Summer

I made this 8 layer gelatin dessert for Jacob's last day of school.

Saturday we went to our annual Santa Monica Fireworks show. We celebrated Scott's birthday.

We made a Tennessee jam cake with caramel frosting that was a big hit with the crowd.

On Sunday we went Kayaking with some friends in Sunset beach. The weather was perfect, we learned a new skill and everyone managed to stay in their kayak.
Happy Summer!

Best of Summer Part 1

Jacob has journal writing twice a week now. One of his topics he chose to write about was "Summer Bests" and I thought I would share his list.

Best food pomegranate seeds.
Best clothing Star Wars shirt.
Best song Dog Train.
Best movie Star Wars.
Best place home.
Best camp science camp.
Best gift ipod.
Best days Saturday and Sunday.
Best Neighbor Linda.
Best room my room.

Best of Summer Part 2

The staff at Smart Space take pictures during camp and then share with the parents on their website. Here are some highlights from Jacob's 4 weeks of summer art camp.

Assembling surrealist dream box.

Jacob said he won the dirtiest hands contest.

I am so happy the staff got a picture of the t-shirt print that Jacob made since he has now ruined his shirt.

Yoga with dirty art hands.

Jacob's outer space alien.

Who doesn't love duct tape.

One of Jacob's favorite projects this summer, tie-dye using natural dyes made from vegetables, cherries, flowers and tea.

Art work inspired by Georges Seurat and his technique of pointillism.

Before

During

After


Now I need to put all this artwork into another photo book as my house has piles of art.

Smart Space Art Camp

It is my favorite time of year, summer art camp. I just love what Jacob creates. This week was on the modern art movement and here is some of his creations.

Surrealist "Dream Boxes"

Inspired by Piet Mondrian and a study of geometric shapes, lines and primary colors.

Printmaking lesson inspired by Andy Warhol and Pop Art.

Inspired by Emil Nolde and the Fauves style of painting.

A study in pastels of "The Scream" by Edvard Munch.

Inspired by Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian painter who was one of the founders of Abstract Art.

And finally, marshmallow sculptures inspired by contemporary artists such as Tara Donovan and Rachel Whiteread.

The sea of marshmallow art that greeted the parents was a sight to see:)
I am glad that the teacher provided an information sheet as I would have nothing to write:)