In this issue 3 Editor’s Letter 4 Mini Board 6 Fresh Start
It was time for an escape from cabin fever and homework
8 Sand & Sun
Exploring the beaches of Kings and Nassau counties
14 Closer to Home
How to entertain three kids without a daytrip
18 Battling the Elements
Growing grass, vegetables, and sunflowers
24 Hungry for a Challenge
Kal preprares to be a middle schooler
Kal couldn’t stop making his own tuna creations
28 It’s So Hard to Say Good-Bye We watched Toys ’R’ Us close its doors
34 Beat the Heat
Movie reviews, Luis Vega
35 Science of Gum
Boom loves gum so much he made his own
36 Five Things
A few last favorite photos from summer
Art department weekly Luis Vega Chief content officer Madeline strum Managing Editor Credits Madeline Vega (Cover and pages 3, 6, 8-13, 14-17, 18-23, 24, 25, 28-33, 35, 36), Luis Vega (Of Madeline Vega on Page 13)
Summer, interrupted When we finally posted the 2017 recap in March of 2018, we signed up for access to upload bigger pdfs. We told ourselves we’d commit to a monthly plan because it would motivate us to publish more often. Months went by. I started this issue. It came together slowly. I think I was pretty close to being finished when our landlord said he was going to sell the house. Our lives became more chaotic and nothing happened with this issue for six months. So at the least, let’s cheer that now that we’ve lost an hour and there is more daylight at the end of the day, we’ll soon see summer 2019. Our family has never really been into beaches. I grew up in Illinois. The closest shoreline would be on a lake with restricted access. Luis hates the heat and the sand. Kal always loved waves, but Boom was terrified. I took three kids to the beach one time by myself in 2016 because Boom wasn’t going anywhere near the water and Betty could barely walk. By the time June 2018 rolled around, though, I was so tired of the broken and crowded sprinklers near our house, I was ready to pack up all the kids and drive to any beach. While Sunken Meadow was peaceful and posed almost no threats from nature, the crashing waves at places like Jones Beach were more therapeutic. I couldn’t
hear my kids screaming at each other. I couldn’t hear anything. So much white noise... And I earned a mental badge of honor for not yelling at them and keeping them all alive. In January 2018, I had put a to-do list on the wall in the play room that included things I needed to do before summer started, like clean out a room full of junk and be ready to have their YouTube channel take off. Instead, I didn’t get around to cleaning until June. We would drop off bags of things to donate on our way to a beach. I took videos, but never edited them. We grew plants, but didn’t follow a lesson plan to be sure everyone learned something. The main lesson for the summer was that everyone should be nicer to each other and to enjoy this all while it lasted. Boom had to start wearing a tie and a belt to be ready to go back in his more advanced uniform. Kal had to learn to walk around his school’s neighborhood by himself. Betty might not have been potty trained. I might not have started a media empire. But we took advantage of summer. And now you can finally read all about it.
Year in Review 2017 • Art
(Madeline)
Department Weekly 3
