event full

first things first - happy 6th anniversary to my lovely wife, and parker and Z's consistently amazing mother, the one and only ellen thomas!

big hand, everybody!

(wild applause)

you may now take your seats.

now, where did we last leave off?

ah, yes!

just before christmas in mexico...

with cousin hana and cousin kobi and random, unnamed doll

it's become quite a tradition.

there were art projects...

fun in the pool with cousin kobi...

love at poolside with mommy...

family strolls on the yucatan beach...

 flat out glamour shots...

and if it's action you want, well how about our beloved patriarch, uncle alan, showing the not so gentle caribbean waves who's boss...

uncle parker acted as lifeguard/mischief maker

oh, you want even more action?

how about our discovery that Z was now able to free-climb el capitan, 

or more accurately...

FREE CLIMB HER PACK 'N PLAY

(http://bit.ly/1taK9ie)

and, of course, what's a trip to mexico without some zip-lining...

and cenote-jumping-into...

note the "no jumping" sign clearly posted on the railing

bad daddy!

bad daddy!

then it was home for parker's big number 4, with always special guest, aunt sussie...

he doesn't look a day over 4!

and maybe the best gift a 4-year-old boy could ever get, a brand new, genuine construction helmet courtesy of parker's amazing new friend, "chubby" (actual name) the world's nicest construction foreman...

happiness

time for a parker d and baby Z video ex-travaganza!

here's Z proving that sometimes even for a 2-year-old...

HIPS DON'T LIE

feat. charlotte

(http://bit.ly/1k1HJQ7)

here's parker making the very best of...

A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK CITY

(http://bit.ly/WIvhdO)

here's Z showing off some early skills that will one day be the centerpiece of...

THE Z-Mac™ BRAND

(http://bit.ly/1rKEVI9)

and here they are together travelin' in style...

COURTESY OF MOMMY
(http://bit.ly/1q1PPGq)

in march, we headed to california where parker discovered what would become his west coast obsession: the thomas family's hand-crafted, easy-access, elevated lego table...

 

in may we headed south to visit the truly incomparable DC Helms's and to squeeze in some hob-nobbing with political icons...

2 great americans

as long as we're at it, may as well complete the "Z with creepy statues" series...

central park's giant psychedelic-song-inspiring "alice"

on june 29th, daddy turned 50 the best possible way he could think to do it... by jumping in a lake.

in july we headed to big basin redwoods state park for our first family camping trip which was thankfully planned and supervised by professional car-campers - the west coast thomases.

and i suppose it's worth mentioning that i was able to be present for a lot of these events because after 18 years of waking up every morning to go to a dream job, i wanted to see what it would be like to actually relax, so i left The Daily Show (with Jon Stewart). 

ask me about the experience someday when you've got 18 years to hear the answer.

a song?

sure.

in honor of big changes, how about green day's "good riddance (time of your life)".

dig it...

another turning point, a fork stuck in the road

time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go

so make the best of this test, and don't ask why

it's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

it's something unpredictable, but in the end is right,

i hope you had the time of your life

as long as green day brought it up, i have had the time of my life...

up to now of course.

'til next time.

it goes by so fast...

and how!

which would explain why it's been a full year to the day since my last entry. that's mainly my fault but in my defense, i'm tired all the time.

so we'll just have to go with the year in highlights, although when you're a doting father with an itchy camera-trigger finger, there are a lot of highlights.

they begin with christmas in mexico with the west coast thomases...

can you tell that parker had spaghetti for lunch?

with mommy and some friends at xcaret - totally unstaged!

and speaking of impromptu run-ins with viciously wild animals, it turns out that after 73 or so viewings of "how to train your dragon" our little man had no qualms about getting hands-on with... 

A TINY VERSION OF A DRAGON.

(http://bit.ly/196bXtO)

the spanish word for ice cream is "adorable"... i think.

after another fine, family destination christmas celebration, we headed back home for...

parker d's 3rd birthday. 

clearly one gift he didn't get was a haircut.

meanwhile, baby Z was making plenty of progress of her own including taking her (not quite)...

FIRST STEPS.

(http://bit.ly/IXdVTL)

and after barely a year of adjusting to her new upright position, Z was already showing off some serious...

SCOOTER SKILLS

and thus, the legend of "Z Mac" begins.

(http://bit.ly/IuOYOT)

february 10: first movie in a theater!

parker D and daddy went to a little theater at lincoln center to see the original muppet movie. parker agreed that it was the "most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, muppetational" movie he'd ever seen.

(his words, not mine)

"her curlyness"

baby Z at 1 year and 1 week... c'mon!

while Z was busy gettin' cuter, PD was busy gettin' "rockier" as evidenced by his inspired rendition of "i'll fly away" on... 

"DADDY'S DRUMS". 

(http://bit.ly/1eTClaw)

parker D with cousin hana at the tide pools in monterey bay during a daddyless trip to CA. (daddy was working)

march 31: easter in central park

right after parker dominated his age group in the easter egg hunt.

april 15: with the boston daleys in central park taking a short break from the otherwise endless fun.

"couch fort"

one of parker's favorite pastimes over the summer.
and yes, he put it together entirely by himself.

may 31: pure joy with charlotte doggie.

on june 6th parker graduated from his first year at the family school. there's a great video in which parker makes the whole audience laugh but it didn't seem to want to cooperate with me, so i guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

and now it's time for my favorite family photo to date...

june 20: botanical gardens in the bronx

one of our favorite family destinations.

we all had hats on!

at the end of june we took a trip to north georgia for a thomas family reunion that included sus, pam, the boston daleys and the DC helmses...

kid pile!

what blog entry would be complete without a picture of aunt pam bringin' the love?

(also in georgia)

and then it was back to new york and the amazing perk called fire island...

 i like to think this shot will be the cover of their first album.

baby Z takes a very important call.

stop me if you've heard this one: a pirate and a dinosaur are walking in a halloween costume parade at the pirate's school. the pirate says...

"LOOK AT MY SISTER, Z!"

(http://bit.ly/IxgvPF)

every friday, Z would join daddy and parker for the morning "scoot" to school...

Z always insisted on wearing her own tiny

backpack even though there was never anything in it.

over the past year, parker D's love of building with legos and magna-tiles and pretty much anything that can be piled on another thing has really taken off. he also developed a fascination with actual buildings and has a couple of nyc favorites...

a cardboard model of the chrysler building that was far more complicated than the "5 yrs +" label on the cover. liars!

november 16: the world trade center,

 or what parker innocently calls "the world's greatest building" 

november 25: "grandparents day" at the family school. 

3 people who i assure you did not need to be told to smile.

sharing a mayor bloomberg-approved sized beverage with aunt sussie.

our 3-straw morning ritual of racing to

the bottom of a homemade smoothie.

and now for...

mommy update

the biggest news is that ellen was officially hired full time as the director of food services (head chef) of spence school on the upper east side. it's a demanding and challenging job that she is performing brilliantly as you might expect. she's also learning to play guitar and practicing regularly with sussie and their band, "the lightning bugs".

daddy update

daddy continues to do what he does despite a constant desire to sleep which he doesn't do nearly as much as he'd like to/needs to. in his spare time he ponders what it will be like to turn 50 which happens in a scant 7 months.

time for a song.

it's a classic, and i'm pretty sure the kids would approve of the band's name. it's the turtles with "so happy together".

dig it...

I can't see me lovin' nobody but you

For all my life

When you're with me, baby the skies'll be blue

For all my life

Me and you, and you and me

No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be

The only one for me is you, and you for me

So happy together

i suppose it's a bit greedy of me to feel that way about three different people, but there ya have it.

oh, and one more video because i have a hard time putting a limit on... 

ADORABLE

(http://bit.ly/IIy0vZ)

it's a wonderful life

... and the best part is i didn't have to almost die to realize it.

a rare family shot in which none of us are noticeably crying.

this was in estes park, colorado. we were there for a friend's wedding and daddy took advantage of the setting to run a 5 mile trail race at some crazy altitude that made my lungs burn for a week.

more from colorado...

mommy in her natural setting.  someday, baby... i promise.

 frontrunner for cutest picture of the century.

proof that these two stand out in any setting.

"Baby Parade!"

ellen with her friend janel. the two were roommates when they were both river guides in colorado. and for the record, i checked back through all the entries in this blog and yes, that was by far the coolest sentence i've ever written.

back home there were a couple of pretty big "firsts" for the kids that are well worth mentioning...

parker's first day at montessori school...

this ain't your grandmother's pre-school! unless your grandmother was maria montessori... then i stand corrected.

EXTREMELY FUN FACT: i get to walk parker to school everyday, by which i mean "carry him on my shoulders as we walk along first avenue making up lyrics to songs that never existed in the first place."

it’s easily the best part of my day.

first field trip

mommy went with him to a pumpkin patch where he also took his first pony ride, though judging from the look on its face i'd say it wasn't a first for the actual pony.

 baby Z's first taste of ice cream

these honors, as has become our family's custom, went to steve spang (of the carlisle spangs). it's an extremely easy job without a stitch of resistance for which you receive a lifetime of appreciation... but somebody's gotta do it! (for the record: vanilla. not sure if she got any of the cake.)

first halloween

even though auntie sus calls her "peanut", she opted for being a pumpkin which happens to be auntie sus's nickname for parker but he was too busy during this particular holiday serving as one of new york's bravest...

though "bravery" in this instance consisted mainly of eating enough candy to save several other kids from having tummy aches of their own.  again, somebody's gotta do it.

and finally...

first time getting caught shredding the toilet paper

for weeks we thought it was the cat, but then we realized we don't have a cat.  mystery solved.

it should be noted that unlike her brother who was a purist when it came to “butt scooching”, baby Z is a first class crawler who is also already standing for a few seconds without holding onto anything. that means walking is right around the corner (see next blog entry) but until then, parker seems perfectly happy to see to it that she...

GET AROUND SAFELY

(http://bit.ly/TR6jQR)

in fact, it turns out baby Z might just be in much safer hands when she's with her brother on the streets of new york than when she's with her daddy in...

 AN OTHERWISE SAFE PLAYGROUND ENVIRONMENT

(http://bit.ly/TQYIla)

along with face-planting at the playground, baby Z also is not crazy about getting dressed or having her diaper changed.  she twists and turns and wiggles and wails, and when all else fails she stiffens up like a board that’s been sitting in a freezer for a week. think about trying to give a cat a bath. now think of having to do that 9 times a day. now go take a nap. oh, wait! you don't get to take naps.  now welcome to our world.

but the love is undeniable...

if you noticed something different about the above pictures, it's probably that they were taken with something other than an iPhone. this is thanks to the multi-talented mr. david schonbrun, or as i like to call him, mr. eliza spang. they're own baby is due around christmas.  best of luck schonbrun-spangs! if you guys need any fancy iPhone pictures taken just say the word!

and thank you to the mystery taker of my favorite picture in this particular blog entry...

reveal yourself, mystery photographer! (i think it was susan helms.)

EMBARRASSING PHOTO ALERT!!

(oops.  too late.)

post hurricane sandy

the water was over the center divider shutting down the FDR to anything but jet skis... until the next day.

among the many fantastic visits we got from friends and family over the past few months none quite resulted in this level of photographically-captured love and joy...

ellen, Z, margaret and eli

(idea for world peace: make this everyone in the world's screensaver.)

as for mommy and daddy, we're both still working our butts off on a week-daily basis but thankfully we're doing things that we love. can't ask for more than that.
ellen did get a couple of well-earned breaks. in early november she flew off to scott and shelley's wedding in south carolina while i stayed back and watched the little ones.  that was a first for me. and it was a learning experience that i used a couple weeks later when ellen drove off with auntie sus to go to a guitar/banjo/mandolin "jam camp" near boston for a weekend. baby Z did me the great favor of sleeping through most of the nights i was alone with them which means the biggest challenge i had was how to get two kids and a dog out the front door for a walk when it's 30 degrees out and the only one who really wants to go is the dog.
answer: as quickly as possible.
fortunately, the local barnes&noble has a play section you can go to when it's too cold to be outside. it was a common destination for me during my "single daddy" experience and it was...

FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

(http://bit.ly/YBl5mk)

i'm beginning to think you all deserve a nice song.
this time around it's a beautiful little gem i stumbled on by Keb' Mo' which is short for "kevin moore" which doesn't explain the "b" but that's neither here nor there. it's called "life is beautiful" and it always makes me think of my family.
dig it...

life is beautiful
life is wondrous
every star above
is shining just for us
life is beautiful
on a stormy night
somewhere in the world
the sun is shinin' bright

the end...