OUCH.


















Today small man bashed his nose on a table at school; minor laceration, little contusion and the jitters. We got him a fruit shake to cheer him up...then played hopscotch...































...and worked on his chalkmanship.

OH, BUFFALO!























Raul after a week spent upstate. Discuss.

PS Nani...a white turtleneck under a Bills jersey? Really?

OH YEAH...



















...when Nani picked us up from the airport she had an iPod (?!) in the car (?!!) bumping Jaheim(?!!!)...all our favorite jammingtons!

More rare glimpses from inside the Naniverse:

SHUFFLED OFF TO BUFFALO
NEVER FLY WITHOUT A TIE


















"Uh...JetBlue Dad? Really?"

This week Dad had to go out of town to South Africa, so he and Raul flew up to Buffalo, where Raul is gonna spend a few day with Nani and apparently Tanti Mitch (his no-show aunt from that post a few weeks ago). The Robinson boys played the odds and missed a 6am flight with a bobo connection in Boston and instead flew standby on a direct to the Nickel City, arriving 2.5 hours earlier, holla. True to form we also slept the entire flight, missing the coffee/OJ/snack cart Raul had been looking forward to. Nani picked us up and after dropping her at work we went to the house and T-Mitch made us a slamming breakfast of cheese grits, scrambled eggs and toast. Raul subsequently added "marmalade" to his vocabulary.

We'll see if the Robinson girls club can get some pics this week. Nani might take Raul to the school where she works for a few days and T-Mitch has lots of plans as well: the zoo, Delaware Park, roller skating etc etc

HAY HORSES!!!

AT THE PLAYGROUND (THE REMIX): THIS IS JADA

Weird/awkward denoument to the playground episode today, we went to check out Prospect Park's outdoor ice rink not only because apparently Raul didn't know what ice skating was (yikes!), but also because the rink staff blasts really great commercial r&b out onto the ice. Anyways when we roll up into the locker area, who's there but the main girl in Raul's school crew: Jada. Dressed Saturday afternoon Brooklyn fresh and rocking her own white double-bladed ice skates from home. She was there skating with her big brother Jelani and two of her cousins.

It was one of those poignant defining moments in Raul the Jewel's young life, not only did he come across an entire scene previously unknown to him—the Saturday ice rink meet-up—but his girl Jada was right there up in it, stunting these crisp skates and prancing across the rubber mat flooring to greet him with more exuberance than he gets at 8:30am on the average Tuesday at school. Raul, just stunned into shock to find out this is the way the world works.

Suffice to say we'll be there tomorrow afternoon LACED UP. Jada won't be there, though; her mom told us she's got swimming lessons at the Y on Sundays.

Shout out to Jelani, who was a good helper at Raul's birthday party last fall. Also reviewing those bday pics in the archive it's apparent Jada has the whole appliquéd girl denim moment owned. So dont test.

UPDATE: We went back to the rink on Sunday—the last day the rink was open for the year!—and had a lot of fun. Just walking around on the skates in the locker area was a minor bugout for Raul, so just imagine when we hit the ice! Dad told Raul ahead of time that two things happen when you go ice skating 1) you fall; 2) your hands get cold when you fall. Turns out neither thing happened because it was really warm and Dad helped Raul the whole time...except when he had to show off on a few laps by himself. Some older boys were ice krumping like they were Johnny Weir x Chris Brown at Empire Roller Rink minus The Rapture and the old man had to get it crackin to rep BUFFALO NY SOUTHTOWNS WHAT. Anyways didn't take any pics because the camera battery was dead but Raul can tell you all about it. Can't wail til next year...although we might have to get some practice in this summer at Chelsea Piers.

Side note: what's with the rumors re: the Empire Roller Rink closing for good?

AT THE PLAYGROUND...YA KNOW?



















With both Nani and Tanti Mitch felled by the dreaded Robinsonitis, the RBC went to karate per usual then headed to the park to log the first playground hours of the year. The weather was nice, and we had a great time. Raul even told a couple of the moms not to climb up the slide the wrong way..."safety first!" Anyways the pics speak for themselves, he was really going for it with the firehouse pole element today.

With the firehouse pole game on lock, the curvy slide wasnt really that deep but there's an obligatory pic at the end, just to show of the blurry cam post-production plug-in...you gotta pay extra for a look like that.

LATE BREAKING NEWS



















Nani came all the way from Buffalo to see Raul in Brooklyn! It's gonna be a great weekend (and we're catchin up on sleep ahead of time.). Maybe she'll bring some of the summer sun pictured above.

Plus plus, Tanti Mitch is reportedly in the area...Robinson insanity!!!

BANANAS...



















...plus strawberries, oranges and tangerines in a fruit shake. That's how we're battling this last bit of winter cold.

Brooklyn, 15 degrees, light snow



















This am Raul said, Dad, I'm ready for summer.

























He meant it!

THESE DAYS



















At school Ms Vera is fond of saying Raul doesn't have bad days. Well well! Not so with Alexander:

"My bath was too hot, I got soap in my eyes, my marble went down the drain, and I had to wear my railroad-train pajamas. I hate my railroad train pajamas.

When I went to bed Nick took back the pillow he said I could keep and the Mickey Mouse night light burned out and I bit my tongue.

The cat wants to sleep with Anthony, not me.

It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

My mom says some days are like that."

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. Full story here.

"Hello Pop-Pop? It's Raul..."



















"...Are you still coming to town this weekend?"