Tonight Dennis and I went to a fun restaurant called Busboys and Poets.  It’s named for the poet Langston Hughes, who was a busboy before he was a poet.  You will read Langston’s poetry when you get a little older!

On our way to the restaurant, we walked through the park across the street.  Remember that park?  We tossed football there and Emma got a booboo.  On Sunday evenings in the spring and summer, a bunch of people from the neighborhood gather together and play drums.  It’s called the drum circle.  It is a fascinating tradition that attracts many, many people.  While the drummers play their drums, people dance in the middle or on the outside of the circle.  Others just bring a picnic blanket and do their own thing.  We saw daddies holding sleeping babies, people walking dogs, people reading books, people walking on tight-ropes that they hung between trees, people hula-hooping, people doing hand-stands, and much much more.  It’s almost like a laidback carnival.

We love listening to the drums, and we took a video so you could listen to the drums too (click here)!

Here’s a video I took at a place that might look familiar to you (click here).  Do you know where this video was taken?  It’s of us playing puppy soccer with Jackson and Harper.  Watch for when Harper gets kicked in the buns with the ball!

LOVE YOU!

xo

Uncle Toto

I ran on the Appalachian Trail this weekend.  You can access part of it by driving about an hour outside of DC.  The Appalachian Trail is a very, very long trail!  It stretches from Georgia to Maine!  It is more than 2100 miles long!  If you walked the whole trail, that would be like walking from your house to DC and back.  Twice!

I ran 18 miles on the trail.  So only 2082 more miles to go!  Just kidding.

Here are some pictures that I took along the run.  Click on the picture below for more pictures!

Uncle Tony on the Appalachian Trail

Enjoy!

I went for a run this morning from our house down to where we rode the paddleboats!  Remember that?!  I thought of you bunches as I ran around the water.  Then I ran across a bridge over near the airport.  Here’s proof!  You can click on the picture to make it bigger!

Uncle Tony at National Airport!

I took that picture by putting the camera on a picnic table, setting the timer, then running away as fast as fast can be to get positioned in the photo.  I had to try to time it so that the plane was taking off just as the camera was taking the picture.  Did I do a good job?  Where do you think the plane was flying to?

Here are some other pictures I took on the run today (click here). Do you recognize any of the places or sights in the pictures?

You’re going to be in DC soon!  What would you like to do in DC when you visit?

Love,

Uncle Tony

Jackson, Harper, and I got really silly last night and came up with a little musical routine for you.  It includes some puppy gymnastics.  Harper is a very good jumper!  And the dogs love these toy bones that they’re jumping for.

We hope you like this video! (click here)

Let Jackson and Harper know what you think!

I have a VERY, VERY IMPORTANT question for you.  It is VERY important.  Is this what you sound like when you sleep (click here)?

Can you tell me where this picture takes place and who is in it?  You can click on it to make it bigger!

Guess Who?

Also: tell me if you think this picture is:

1) silly

2) sausy

or

3) stinky!

Love you!

Uncle Tony

Here’s a couple of videos of me running in a marathon on Saturday.  It’s kind of fun to see all the people in front of me!  And to hear the people cheering.  Can you see my shadow in one of the videos?

Running a marathon would be like if you ran from your front door all the way down to the Cincinnati Zoo…and then ran 7 more miles after that!  Does that seem far?

Jackson and Harper Came Out with Uncle Dennis to Cheer Tony On!

I love you!  Sorry the videos are so shake-and-bake!

Mile 7 Video

Mile 17 Video

Last week I was kidding about my “class.”  Remember I said the dogs were my students?  Well, here’s me on my way home from my real class, which I teach over in Virginia.  I take the subway to school instead of the bus!  I guess it would be kind of strange if I rode the school bus to school, since I’m a teacher.  Can you imagine if your teachers rode the school bus with you on the way to or from school?  WEIRD!  Actually, my students don’t ride the school bus to school either because they are all adults trying to go to school to make themselves smarter.  Just like your mommy did a few weeks ago on the weekend!  My students work all day long at their full time jobs, and then they go to school at night.  They seem pretty tired when I teach them.  Can you imagine if your daddy went to school at night after he got home from work?  You’d probably miss him a bunch, right?  I wonder if my students’ children miss them.  They probably don’t get home until after their kids are in bed because my class doesn’t get out until after 9 o’clock at night!

When I get off the subway on my way to school, I have to walk through an underground mall for about ten minutes.  On the other side of the mall, I exit and my school is right across the street.  It would be like you taking the subway from your house to Tri-County Mall and then walking through the mall in order to get to St. Peter’s!  COWABUNGA WEIRD!

Tony on Way to School!

In the mall, there is this long wall of mirrors, and that’s where I am taking this picture!  In an underground mall in Virginia on my way to teach parents who probably miss their kiddos!

P.S. I have a 70 year old woman in my class.  Her name is Gladys, and she told me that I remind her of her grandson?  Can you imagine being the teacher of Grandma Carol?  COWABUNGA TRIPPA WEIRD!

Here is my class.  I have many students in my class.  I have five!

Class!

I teach them how to spell, add numbers, read books, paint pictures, go to gym class, sing songs, and eat pizza!  Harper’s favorite pizza is pupperoni pizza.  Jackson’s favorite food is vanilla ice cream.  Can you name one thing that Jackson has in common with vanilla ice cream? Delilah is the black dog.  She is Jackson and Harper’s friend.  If you put Jackson in between two Delilah’s, you’d have an Oreo Puppy Cookie.  Mattie is the poodle dog.  She is very, very shy.  That is why she sits in the back of class.  But she is very good at playing piano!  And Zeus…you know Zeus.  He likes science class because he loves to learn about how plants grow.

What’s your favorite subject in school?