this day

Woke up at 6 to take my wife to work. Stopped at Peet's for coffee on the way. (I lost my militta #2 filter holder.) After dropping Cyndi off at work the boys and I went to the park.

This particular park was designed by an award winning park architect named Royston. This park was mentioned in Dwell (my favorite architecture and interior design mag.) as one of the best parks for kids. My earliest memory of the place is of when I was 4 years old. I jumped into a concrete tunnel and split my head open. The doctor stitched me up and i was fine. Anyway, the boys and I went there today and had a good time. The water play area is fun for them. Because it was a school day and very early in the morning, they were the only kids there.

We went home had breakfast. Then Anselm got to work on his reading work. We are doing the Independent Styudy Program of our local school district. We want to home school, but I am not confident in my ability to teach reading. After working with him for a couple of hours (during which time little brother Basil was doing everything imaginable to destry the house.) It was time for a nap.

After nap we went to BevMo where we bought a case of S. Pellegrino. It is my fave sparkling water. And BevMo is the only place where I can find 500ml bottle with a real bottle cap. (I hate twist off.)

I've tried other sparkling waters, of course. I like San Faustino for it its bubbles are light and gentle but it is a little chalky. And Calistoga is local but too carboniferous. Gerolsteiner is good in a pinch. But I don't understand the price. I don't think it is worth 10% more than San Pellegrino.

From BevMo we went home and made lunch. But first I read to them. Basils new favorite book is a version of Stone Soup set in China. Lunch, of course was soup. It is so much fun to see the boys weilding big chef's knives and cutting up celery, garlic, parsley, leeks, cabbage, etc. It was a crasy kind of soup with some of every kind of vegetable in the house thrown into the pot. (But the San Marzano tomatoes really made it.) Anslem like the liquid part while Basil liked the solid part. So, I guess, it was a success.

After lunch we went tot he Palo Alto Children's Museum and Zoo for a little while and then we picked up mommy from work. Soup for dinner followed by teeth brushing and reading of the Hobbit. Anselm is really enjoying it.

One thing about home schooling that is really neat is getting to pray right before instruction begins. The boys like watching me struggle to get the incesne going. (Anslem always has lots of advice: "Blow - put the match on it - hold the charcoal higher", etc.) Basil just gasps every time I light a match. (I always need at least three to get it going.) Now you might be wondering "why is Incense a big deal? You're Orthodox. You should be used to it." Well, at Church, yes. But my wife doesn't like the charcoal smell, so we don't usually use it at home. But since success in education is so imprtant, and to make sure Anselm understands how important it is, we burn incense when we pray before lessons.
Then we light the lamps before the Holy Icons and pray O Heavenly King , which is the prescribed prayer for such occasions.

Its a good life. I need to try harder to be thankful for it.