First Day at Camp!

Home from his first day at camp!

I credit Jewish summer camps for deeply influencing my love of Judaism, and for how I find meaning in our religion today. In addition to swimming, dancing and painting, we sang, prayed and made lasting friendships. I began to look forward to celebrating Shabbat, and services became something I enjoyed, not something I was forced to sit through.

Of course, this was sleep-away camp. Noah is years from spending summers away from home, but the local Jewish day camp seems like a great start. This is his second summer there. Today was the first day this year, and though he was nervous to board the bus this morning, he came home happy and excited to go back tomorrow and the next day.

FIGMENT Festival

The only TV we saw all day.

This weekend we took the kids to Governers Island, a huge park that's accessible only by ferry from either Manhattan or Brooklyn, for the FIGMENT participatory arts festival. Everyone had a blast! Noah played a crazy game of mini golf, Evelyn insisted I go down the slide of the treehouse installation about 20 times, and we all enjoyed the listening to music you can't hear on the radio, plus the beautiful weather and a view of giant sculptures with Manhattan's skyline just behind.

What I loved best that day was the complete lack of corporate sponsorship. In fact, there was almost no exchange of money anywhere on the island. Even the ferry ride was free. We brought a picnic lunch and spent the day interacting with the work and even the artists themselves.

Just another reminder that the best things in life are free.

We Love PJ Library!

I just read that PJ Library has given its 3 millionth book to a family in Livingston, NJ. We signed both kids up right after they were born. My kids love getting "presents" in the mail from them, and now their shelves are filled with great titles I might not have even known about.

Got young kids that aren't signed up for PJ Library? Go do it! They now send Jewish childrens' books (and occasionally DVDs and CDs) for free to families in 176 communities across the US. No strings attached. Let's see you get a deal that good with Groupon.