Marty and Ethan play at Gatti Land!

The boys needed a day out of the house so we met Ethan and mom, Jessica in Frisco for lunch and play at Gatti Land!


The carousel was a big hit!


Ethan preferred driving the race cars, while Marty was glued to the cockpit of the fighter jet!

Daddy Showing Off Marty's Skills

Daddy has been working with Marty everyday on learning new elements from the Periodic Table of the Element. We also work on astrononmy, physics, airplanes, and lots of Spanish. Watch the video below for a tiny sample of Marty's knowledge.

Marty Goes To Diego LIVE!

Here’s a few pics prior to the much awaited event tonight! Marty, Mommy, Renee and Charley went to see the big show at Nokia Theatre! Marty was the best dressed kid there and we had “VIP” front row, center seats- and of course Renee made sure he came home with ALL of the souvenirs they sold! They wouldn’t let us take photos inside, but Marty can tell you that it was THE REAL Diego, Baby Jaguar and even Dora made a surprise visit! He didn’t want to leave…. What a night for all of us!!! Whew.

Here are the pictures

Email From Marty- July 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Shalom everyone! I’m just back from summer camp at the Shalom Temple in Dallas and I had a great time! It was a 2-week day camp for kids my age who like “things that fly!” We made kites, played with airplanes and helicopters, read books about things that fly, did art projects, had splash days and sang songs! I was really welcomed by everyone there and the best part of all was I didn’t do anything to embarrass Mommy!! She just knew I was going to do, say or sing something inappropriate.

Just before camp we took a vacation to Florida to visit the Vaneskahian family. Wow, what a great time we had!! First we flew in a big jet to Orlando. I’ve been putting in quite a few hours on the computer flight simulator and I wanted to offer to co-pilot the plane but Mommy made me stay in my seat! Instead Daddy and I just talked about the moving parts on the wings and tail- you know, the flaps, ailerons, elevators, the rudders, pitot tubes and such. I know all of them! Daddy likes to show me off and quiz me in front of the pilots to impress them.

Daddy and I also spend weekends hanging around the hangers at local regional airports, until we get run-off that is. They’ve only asked us to leave the Mckinney Airport once! I just love to walk around and look at all of the different kinds of aircraft. The pilots of the medic helicopter in Collin County all know me and wave as they land and I’ve impressed more than one pilot as they’ve come into the FBO (that’s Flight Based-Operations, for you novices out there) after landing their planes. They can’t believe a 2 year old can know so much about flying. I have to admit though we do look a bit like stalkers!

Anyway, back to our trip…. Then we went to Cape Canaveral and to the Kennedy Space Center. The Space Shuttle was supposed to touch down there that afternoon so we were excited that we’d be there when it arrived, but an hour before it’s arrival time the weather was too risky and it diverted to California. It didn’t damper my day though! My cousins, Perla and Isabelle and I had a great time seeing the rockets and astronauts and stuff. We spent the whole day there with my Abuela and Abu, and my Tia Lusan and Tio Nelson.

Next we headed to the beach and spent a few days at Cocoa Beach. Cousins Dianne and Sabino arrived to kick up the party a notch and we spent most of the next day poolside! I tried the beach but I just didn’t like all of that sand. Mommy was disappointed because ya know, she could live on the beach if you give her a towel and a margarita! Daddy and I prefer the more civilized lifestyle of the pool! Finally we spent our last day back in Orlando and went to the water park for another party!! It was a busy trip, best part was we were so busy that most days I missed my naptime!

There is a little black cloud hanging over the Vaneskahian house, and it’s not due to all of the rain we’ve had. Mommy, Daddy and I are in a state of mourning since the Clendinnings moved to Colleyville last month!! Daddy’s been pouting since they first announced they were moving, and I told Mommy that I wanted Ella to move back home but she said that Ella had a new home and it just wasn’t as close to us as her old home. But she said that we’d still see her and get to play together!!! Mommy was the only one in the house being an adult about the situation and realizing that the Clendinnings were just a few miles farther down the road….that is until the weekend the new swing set arrived in a box!!! Where is Ben when you need him??? Every project, every chore that Daddy would put off would finally get done when Ben would come over! (Ben, Jill, Ella and Logan lived just down the street and around the corner.) Now my swing set was out of it’s box and in a million pieces on the grass in the backyard and both Mommy and Daddy were staring at it. For some reason Daddy was just taking pictures of the pieces. That’s when Mommy said “I can’t believe the Clendinnings went off and left us!”


It was a long weekend for the 3 of us. I kept offering to help them but they seemed frustrated every time I’d pick up some parts they didn’t need, or when I’d ask for the 100th time if I could swing yet! I have to give the folks some credit though, by Sunday night the swing set was finished! I think they might have finished earlier but they kept taking it apart and moving pieces around. I’m not sure but I think they were building it wrong. Daddy said to Mommy that she had helped him screw it up enough that he wouldn’t ask her to help him next time. Mommy had a big smile when he said that so I think that was her plan all along. I have a very smart Mommy!

SAVE THE DATE!! Plans are underway for my 3rd birthday bash on September 8th! Word on the streets is that “Tony the Pony” is hosting the bash this year at The Johnson Ranch in Southlake! There will be, of course, pony rides, as well as games and fun and lots and lots of ice cream to keep us cool!! Put it on your calendars for Saturday, September 8th. You wouldn’t want to miss my birthday party, would you?

I start my new school on September 10th! I’ll go on Mondays and Wednesdays to the Spanish Schoolhouse Preschool. I’m really excited about it. It’s a Spanish immersion school so I plan to be fluent in Spanish by the end of the first semester! Daddy is giving me a head start and has been teaching me lots of new things this summer…he’s teaching me not only to count in Spanish (from 1 to 50) and to know the alphabet but I also know the colors, most of the body parts, and a few new words each day all in Spanish. And if that isn’t enough, since I’ve already memorized the planets, now he has me memorizing the Periodic Table of Elements. I know…don’t laugh, I’m serious!! He uses both flash cards and the actual Periodic Table! He really quizzes me on it! Don’t call Child Protective Services yet, he makes it a game and we actually have fun! And I have learned most of the Elements between Hydrogen and Silicon. I’m going to have to play it cool when I get to preschool or they’ll throw me out the first week for knowing too much Spanish and too much weird science trivia for a 3 year old!! I don’t want to be labeled a “geek” before I hit Kindergarten!

Have a great summer! Adios and Shalom!!
LOVE,
MARTY a.k.a Jean-Martin Garabet Vaneskahian