Well, it’s been a whirlwind of a month here in Spergerland. We’re just back this week from a grand tour of Florida, where we got to enjoy some fun in the sun. As is typical for us these days, we had to travel in small groups. Nick, Anna, and I flew down first, while Chelsea and Maria followed a few days later. Maria had her performance of Dido and Aeneas, which we’ll talk about in a separate post. The rest of us were itching to get into the sun.

Our gang of three took the train to the airport:

Here’s our bird waiting for us:

We realized that Anna hadn’t flown since November of 2009. That’s a long time when you are only 8 years old! She was pretty excited.

The kids had all manner of gadgets to keep themselves occupied:

We have more, so much more, to report from the trip, gentle readers. Stay tuned.

We are doing a bit of work on our house right now, and in order to make room, we’ve rented a storage unit and have been moving out some things that we can do without for a few months. Nick and Anna have been most helpful in taking things out of the house. Mainly it’s because they think the storage facility is the coolest place they’ve ever been.

Part of the fun of the place is that you get to drive inside while you unload your stuff. Driving inside a building?!? Super cool!

Happy weekend!

I’ve been traveling up to NYC quite a bit for work recently. Here’s how the city looked from the office building I was visiting two weeks ago:

Like San Francisco, I think New York looks good in all conditions.

…our man Nick was playing in a soccer tournament against teams that were tough and very well trained. This tournament was meant to be a challenge for the boys, and they rose to the occasion, reaching the final and losing there in a 1-0 heartbreaker.

The best moment of the tournament was the semifinal. Our guys were down 1-0 until the final seconds of the match, when they tied it up on one last surging attack that ended in an own goal by their opponents, a team called HBC Boca from New York. Because it was an elimination match, they had to go to penalty kicks – something we haven’t done in as long as I can remember, if ever.

In the first round of penalty kicks, both teams take 5 shots. If the teams are still tied after the first round, they go to single elimination rounds.

The boys went 4-4 in the round of 5 shots, meaning it was time for the single elimination. First round, both teams scored. Second round, our guy scored… and then our goalie blocked their shot! Victory!

On the strength of that tournament, Nick’s team shot up in the state rankings, going from tied for 33rd place all the way up to 9th place in the eastern half of Pennsylvania. We start playing in a statewide tournament later this month. Everyone is eager to see what happens next.

The weekend before last was an eventful one in our house. Miss Maria had one of her big ballet performances, Variations/Collaborations. It’s a joint program between her ballet school and the Settlement Music School, which is based here in Philly and is the largest music school in the United States. The program is marvelous every year, yet this year I think they outdid themselves. My pictures don’t do it justice, so take my word for it.

The premise of the show is simple: The musicians perform and the dancers dance.

Together, they make for an extraordinary sight.

Tomorrow: The rest of our crazy weekend.

Mr. Roboto (that’s Nicholas) is competing in the FIRST Robotics competition this weekend. His school team made their debut in the first leg of the competition last weekend. This is their rookie year competing at the high school level, and everyone involved is very excited.

The robots have to play basketball – scoop up balls, take them over to a hoop, and throw them in. Yes, throw them. It’s amazing to watch. This is another team’s robot, but you can get a sense for how big these things are. The basketballs in the picture are regulation size, though they are made of foam for lightness and safety.

Nick’s school is in the early stages of figuring out how to bring more engineering work into the curriculum. This was a big step forward.

Happy weekend!

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. This was the sunrise at Boca Grande, Florida a few days before Thanksgiving in 2009.

Gentle reader, your correspondent is in the midst of an incredibly busy stretch of time. This past weekend, I left home at 7:00 in the morning and came back at 11:00 at night on Saturday. Sunday was better – out at 9:00, back at 7:30. But I was up and out to the office bright and shiny this morning.

When my weekend disappears, the following work week becomes doubly hectic.

I need to figure out some technology adjustments, since I’m taking more pictures with my iPhone these days. I also need to figure out when I am going to find time to post on a consistent basis. Bear with me, gentle reader, bear with me.