Honor Society

On Thursday, May 19th, in a ceremony held in the sanctuary at RLCA, Alex was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society along with 29 other students.

Membership in the NJHS goes beyond just having good grades. The society is looking for specific qualities in its inductees: Service, Leadership, Character, and Citizenship.

Congratulations, Alex, on this outstanding achievement. Mom and I are both exceedingly proud of you.

Music...from the Symphony to the Junkyard

On Friday, May 13th, RLCA presented the 2011 Spring Band concert for the Elementary and Middle schools.

The night kicked off with the Elementary Band, with Amanda on clarinet, presenting a few choice selections. The video below is from a song titled At the River.

After the Elementary band wrapped their portion of the night, the Middle School band took over the stage. With Abigail on clarinet and Alex on percussion, we were treated to a piece titled Junkyard Jam that featured some unconventional instruments.

Under God's Sea in 3D

On Tuesday, May 3rd, RLCA presented the 2011 Elementary Spring program. This year the show was entitled Under God's Sea in 3D. As always, before the show, the After-School Choir got to strut their stuff.

In clip featured below, the choir performs the song titled Live Out Loud that was originally written and recorded by Steven Curtis Chapman. Amanda had the privilege to be one of the first soloists.

The Day the Sky Fell

My children do amaze me sometimes. Just when you think you know them, your eldest writes a phenomenal piece of historical fiction for his English class. Here's an excerpt.

It started like most other Tuesdays. I woke up, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and ate my breakfast. The only unusual thing about that day was that I was skipping school to go with Dad to Marsh and McClennan USA, where he worked in Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. They hadn’t had a “Bring your Child to Work Day” in a long time, so I was naturally excited to go. We hopped into his brand new 2002 Honda Accord and sped down the Long Island Expressway under the cloudless sunrise. This is how that September 11, 2001, changed my then nine-year-old life for me, Michael Croft, forever.

Click here if you would like to read the rest of the story.

Falling Out

After it being loose since April, Aidan lost his first tooth today.

He came to me with said tooth in hand and stated, "I think my tooth came out."

You think? ;)

Delaware Marathon Running Festival 2011

Runners have this unique way of encouraging one another. They say things like, "Oh, if you can run a 5k you can definitely run a 10k," and, "Oh, if you can run a 10k you can definitely run a half-marathon," and so on and so forth.

It was this logic that led us to this morning's outing: Mom's competing in her first half-marathon. The event was the 8th Annual Delaware Marathon Running Festival.

Mom found herself among a field of 925 (registered) runners running in the half (with another 715 running the full marathon). The course started at Tubman Garrett Park on the Wilmington Riverfront and snaked around the city hitting Bancroft Parkway, Wawaset Park, Union Street and Little Italy.

In the end, Mom finished 419th overall and 31st (out of 63) in her age group. She completed the course in 2:17, having run the entire time (complete results here). Truly amazing! Way to go, Mom!

And...We're Back

No, the Tokarski family has not fallen off the face of the Earth, been abducted by aliens, or gone off the grid and adopted a luddite lifestyle. We're still here and still kick'n. And now we're back and ready to once again preserve our lives amongst the cloud for posterity.

So, here's some of what you missed:

For starters, a whole slew of birthdays have passed. In January, Aidan turned 5. Then in February, Abigail turned 12 while Mom turned...another year older. Finally, in April, Alex turned 14.

Back in February, Alex and his friend Zach turned in their project for National History Day. The over-arching theme this year was Debate & Diplomacy: Successes, Failures, Consequences. The boys had to choose a subject that fit that theme: They chose the 1979-81 Iranian Hostage Crisis. Weighty stuff, indeed.

To make a long story short (a tale fraught with iPod videos, hobos, toaster-ovens, and "THE SHAH!"), the boys took first place at the school level. Congrats, guys. They then went on to compete at the state level on April 9th at the DelTech Stanton campus. Here, despite a valiant effort, they failed to place. Better luck next time, fellas.

And in sports, Alex and Abby are both on the tail-end of their spring soccer seasons; Alex for his second and final season with the

U14 GRPC Inferno and Abby with her first season for the RLCA Middle-School Girl's Soccer. Both have played extremely well. We couldn't be prouder.

There has been a lot of other happenings but at this point, lets look to the future.

Note: This post disappeared for several days due to a problem with Blogger. The above version is a rewrite that I did from memory.