the end of a day in burano

We returned to the mainland (Venice) and rested in our hotel until it was time for dinner. We walked out from the hotel lobby into a sea of people. It's hard to have a bad meal in Italy. Yet we didn't have any idea where to eat. A man who was a restaurant host approached us as we walked by. He seemed friendly, he said he would make us the best fish we had ever eaten. We decided to take him up on his offer. He was right, the food was fabulous. But the best part of the night was the complimentary desert, which the kids got such a kick out of, insisting that even though we were in Italy, they had in fact brought us flan.

yosemite

I have always wanted to see Yosemite.  Despite the heatwave, it was incredible. Of course we did lots of hiking.  We stayed at the Ahwahnee Hotel.  It was very special. The kids loved the falls.  I am so grateful for our national parks.  We ate at their restaurant where men and boys were required to dress in collared shirts.  That evening we sat in their large lobby in front of a fireplace, not burning, and made funny faces with fake smiles, laughing til our sides hurt. Sometimes you need to be a fool.     

final ask skylar

In this episode Sky gives teens advice about boundaries.  She also talks to a kid who is nervous about starting a new high school.  She suggests that the girl create a character which is a more confident version of herself.  Kind of a "fake it til you feel it."  Interesting because just today I listened to this Ted talk by a sociologist who talks about the importance of body language and how even holding a confident posture for two minutes before a person goes into a job interview can make that person exude confidence.

What a great experience this webshow was for Sky.  She got to work with such wonderful people, from the producer, to the assistants, to the tech guys.  She got to be honored for her natural gifts of intelligence, wisdom, and wit.  She had so much fun filming, and got to see what that was like.

Ever since she has been very young she has been dramatic and comes alive when she is on camera.  It will be fun to have these shows as she grows up.

ask sky about getting along with little brothers

The day Shawn was born Sky, age 6 1/2, asked me, in total earnestness, "Can you marry your brother?"  Later that day when we placed this tiny baby into her arms for the first time she said, "I'm your big sister Skylar, and I'm going to love you for the rest of your life."

Shawn was born before noon at home.  Sky didn't leave my side for the rest of the day, and chose to have her meals with us, drawing Shawn about 25 pictures.  She was thoroughly enthralled...

Thank God for this beginning.  As Shawn grew she continued to love him, but baby and toddler reality also struck.  Overall, our kids all get along really well.  I always tell them how lucky they are to have each other, and how it's important to draw on happy memories to help get through conflicts and squabbles.

Something is going right.  Shawn just got back from his first day of school after fall break, the girls are still off school.  I think he missed them.  He is doing his homework in Sky's room (a first) while she charges her brand new cell phone.  

In this episode of Ask Skylar, Sky talks about when little brothers annoy you, and friendships.

life lessons

This is Skylar's webshow -- in this episode she addresses bullying.   

I was harassed in high school my first year by a group of troubled girls who were my age.  I am not kidding, one of the girls' fathers was in prison, and I went to a really good high school!  These mean girls were from the city.  I was a small town country girl.  I never did anything to them, they just started picking on me.  I told an adult but it didn't help, in fact it made it a little worse.   They were pretty scary to me.  There was this older girl in my school (Becky) who was on my gymnastics team and she got word of what was happening.   Becky was also a city girl.   She had a few choice words with the bully leader.  Let's just say those awful girls never even looked at me, let alone spoke to me ever again, and two were soon kicked out of our school, due to their own self destructive behavior.   The rest of my time in high school was much better.

Becky was my hero.  Thank you Becky!!

My daughter was teased and mistreated by some girls and accused of being -- are you ready? -- too happy.  Now she is in a school where there is zero tolerance for this type of behavior and she is loved by her friends for who she is.  For the most part the kids treat each other with respect, despite their differences.

Have your kids experienced being bullied?    

corner view~what makes me laugh

My goofy kids.
How I love them so.

And my husband, he can be pretty funny!!!

corner view~hmmmmm

I'm not kidding.  These were signs on the side of the road during a road trip we took a few summers ago, from New York to Virginia.

corner view~monument

My kids have grown up listening to Aesop's stories.  I hope he wouldn't mind them having a little fun with this statue of him.  We stumbled upon it in a park last summer in Paris, while Gary was across the street, inside a museum looking at paintings.   

ask skylar

 

It has been awhile since I posted about Sky's webshow.  Here is episode seven.  She talks about friendship.

corner view~silly

Many of you know that our comedic daughter is starring in a webshow.  An advice show.  But there is plenty of silly as well.  Just look and see.

Here are episodes five and six.

ask skylar

Two more episodes of our awesome girl's webshow have been released.  Here and here.  If your kids have any questions, be sure to have them ask Skylar! 

Have a great weekend, my friends!

ask skylar

Ok everybody, Sky's internet show "Ask Skylar" is up.  It turned out really well, and Sky wrote and created the theme song.  Here is the link to view Episode 1, where she introduces herself more in depth.

And this is Episode 2, which is the first show where she answers questions, and you will see the basic format of the show.

Let me know how you like it.  If you can share it with people in your neck of the woods that would be great.  The production team wants us to get it out there and see if it is popular and if kids and teens are drawn to this type of internet interaction.

Have a great weekend!

old town alexandria

A day to explore this beautiful town on a perfect summer in Virginia day.  Complete with shopping, dinner at a restaurant in a building built in the 1700's, watching the famous Jamey Turner play the glass harp, and some Skylar antics inside one particular French country summer house decorating store!  Oh, and a couple of shots of the McLean farmer's market to boot.

sky introduces herself and her web show

 First day of filming

This past week we met with Sky's production team for her new web show Ask Skylar.  They filmed her here introducing herself with a tad bit o' humor.  We also picked out outfits for the first shooting which is next week.

 Sky with the production team