Road to Wall Street

This year, Toby has his first job: he is on the school safety patrol.

He was proud to be selected for the important task of leading the kindergarteners to the parent pickup area after school. 

He loves that he is a leader, but dislikes missing class:   "Mom, the only part I don't like about safety patrol is that I miss the last 10 minutes of focus math three days a week."    I am fairly sure that this is a sentiment shared by NO child ever!  From Toby's safety patrol application:

"I like to follow the rules.  I am a good direction follower."

Toby's favorite subject is math and he can't get enough of it.  His favorite day of the week is Wednesday because he has math class, math focus time, and his after-school math masters.    After Toby soaks up all the math he can in school, he plans to major in math in college and then go to graduate school because "you earn more money with a graduate degree".

Toby's career goal?  He sees himself on Wall Street. 

Toby's math teacher has implemented The Stock Market Game in focus math (kids work in teams to invest $ in the stock market and follow their stocks to see how their investment strategies are working). Toby is pretty jazzed about it. 

He wants to start investing in the stock market as soon as he saves a little more money.  This will be good practice for when he is a stock trader. 

It is so much fun to hear Toby talk about his future!  Toby knows that Wall Street hours are grueling, and he is ok with 80 hour workweeks as long as his company offers vacation time.  Because of the long work days, Toby plans to live in an apartment close to work.  He just won't have time for a big fancy house far away from work. 

His Wall Street paycheck will let him "live the good life" and he will be able to buy expensive things without having to save up for them, as he does now.  I need not worry about him spoiling his kids: just because he CAN buy them whatever they want doesn't mean he WILL buy them whatever they want. 

Toby *may* moonlight as a street musician because he thinks that would be a cool way to earn some extra pocket change.

Toby's tools for the trade will be: a good calculator and a laptop with "Yahoo!Finance" bookmarked. 

Because Toby is a worrier, he is a little concerned about the pollution and crime in Manhattan.  However, he will be careful, and he will try not to go outdoors when the smog is too bad. 

Toby was a little disappointed that he couldn't talk his friends into relocating to New York with him.  His buddy who plans to become a veterinarian told him he didn't want to be a vet in a big city.  But Toby decided that's ok: he can visit all his friends when he's on vacation.

That is, as long as he can overcome his fear of air travel.  :)

State Swim Meet

Sunday, Feb 17th, 2013

Both boys made it to the YMCA state swim meet!  Jonah qualified in his 500 yd freestyle, 100 yd freestyle, and on a couple relay teams.  Toby's freestyle relay team also qualified.  Thanks to Aunt Deb Taylor for the photos!

Jonah swam a medley relay, 500 yard freestyle, 50 yard breaststroke, and the 100 yard freestyle.

Toby swam a 100 yard freestyle relay.

Hope you enjoy the photos and the music!

Swim Meet Weekend: Duluth!

Each year, the boys' YMCA swim team registers for one out-of-town meet, which is the highlight of the boys' swim season.  This past weekend was our annual Duluth meet.

The meet was held in the brand new Lincoln Park Middle School, a wonderful facility!

They boys swam very well: Toby got two new "personal best" times.

Jonah had a blue-ribbon day!  His two relay teams took first place. Individually, Jonah rocked the block as well.  In his own words, "When I started Swim Team, I usually came in 17th place.  In this meet, I won first place in two events and took 2nd place in the other!" 









The team reserves a block of rooms at a hotel and this translates into lots of fun!

Ken, Jonah, and Toby played many games of "Magic: The Gathering" card game with each other, and other Magic-playing swim friends:

A sleepy game of Magic: The Gathering

There was a team dinner and awards ceremony Saturday night:

Jonah and Coach PJ

Toby and Coach PJ

What do you suppose swimmers do after a long day in the pool?

More swimming, of course! 

 Jonah is the BLUR behind Toby in this picture

There were two swimming pools in the hotel, which turned out to be a good thing, since we were competing for pool space with a bunch of hockey players who were staying in the same hotel.  The kids took to the pool before and after the team dinner.  At one point there were 40+ kids in the pool.  Jonah's eyes are STILL a bit red today, Tuesday, from all the chlorine on Saturday.

And what do parents do while the kids swim? We gather by the pool to watch the pool fun, talk, and laugh with each other.