Leah's second grade class has been working with living organisms. Here she is showing off a fish she drew. See the classroom web site for more photos and background.

Leah performed in her first hip-hop dance recital today. (She's the second girl on the left). Or watch the video if you have Windows Media Player.

Memorial Day and it is 90. Leah lounges and then lunges for the pool...meanwhile just 6 days ago, she was bundled up for a skating party for her friend's birthday

Nathan's martial arts buddy recently suffered the loss of his 90s-year-old grandfather and was whimpering about it today at as the two of them were being driven to class. "Nathan, are your grandparents still alive?" asked his buddy's mother, attempting some consolation.

Nathan thought for a while. I�m not sure,� he said slowly. Then after a pause, a bit more confidently, �But I think my aunt is alive.�

Watch out, Martha, your friends Oriana and Avry are looking at you with preschool cruelty. You know the three of you are best friends and will spend the rest of the day playing together, but I guess you have to start the day pretending you're not interested.

We rented Star Trek: The Original Series Volume 1 ("The Corbomite Maneuver") on Netflix this weekend.

The kids have been watching Gilligan's Island for the past few months and they love it, so I thought they'd enjoy this one too. I know it was my favorite show back when I was their age.

It's one of the original episodes from the 1960's and boy does it seem whacky and low-budget. By today's standards, all the technology seems humorously low-tech. A countdown timer is one of those faux-digital rolling digits that were sometimes used in clock radios before LEDs were available. Even the set looks like its made from wooden furniture mocked up to resemble a pre-plastic persons idea of the future.

Leah received First Communion today, May 7, 2005. A glorious angel, she is!

May 1 is a glorious, sunny day to celebrate Martha's 3rd birthday with friends. Here, the children are parading around a "may pole" in our backyard.

Nathan rides without training wheels. He resisted for months, but this morning when we finally forced him to try, he immediately hopped on and rode like a pro: starts, turns, stopping--he does everything, without hesitation. Didn't fall down once.

Beijing is hotter than Singapore: about 90 degrees, but less humid. I'm only here for a day, though. Here I am in the courtyard of my hotel, the Shangri La, in the HiaDian district.

Singapore

I'm in Singapore, speaking at a Microsoft MVP Event held at the Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre.



My hotel, Mandarin Oriental, just completed a major rennovation in December and it's fabulous.



My plane was an hour late, so I didn't get to my room until 2am, and I'm so exhausted I haven't had much chance to look around. The weather is hot and humid, like New Orleans in July.

Narita Airport in Tokyo is only the halfway stop on my trip to Asia this week. Turned out that the rest of my MS colleagues were on the same flight, so we relaxed a little between planes. They're headed straight to Beijing, but I won't get there until Wednesday, after a couple days doing a presentation in Singapore.

Devoted, loving, husband and wife.

Vancouver, British Columbia is only a three hour drive from us, so we drove up for a week of sightseeing during the kids' spring break.

Easter girls.

Nathan's swimming class is over, and here's his certificate of completion. Hmmm, what does his teacher really think?

New video from Christmas: click here or on the photo to watch a short video of our Christmas in New Orleans. (I finally got around to editing it)

Martha's signature: here's what our two-year-old progeny can do all by herself. No adult hands were used in the making of this picture.

Stowe presents to the Mercer Island City Council about preschool and early childhood issues. Click here to listen to a recording of her presentation.