Steve and Cathy Simon (and Nicholas) -- Main page

This is the main page of the Steve and Cathy Simon website. It contains personal information about us and our son, Nicholas.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the winter biker (created 2010-02-28). We wanted to go for a walk today, but Nicholas wanted to ride his bike instead. I'm not going to ride until it is at least 60 degree Fahrenheit. If Nicholas wants to brave the cold weather, I won't stand in his way. We walked while he biked. He was pretty good not to race too far ahead of Cathy and me. At the end of the bike ride, I snapped a few pictures as he circled around on our driveway and cul-de-sac.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas meets Greg Mortenson (created 2010-02-19). On Thursday, December 17, 2009, Greg Mortenson came to town for a book signing. Nicholas has been a fan, having read the young reader's edition of Three Cups of Tea from cover to cover, so I arranged to get tickets.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the photographer (created 2010-02-19). I have one of those indestructible cameras (it goes underwater, can be dropped from seven feet, etc.) and once in a while I turn it over to Nicholas and let him shoot pictures of whatever he wants. Here are some examples. I cropped most of these pictures (just like I crop my own pictures), but they are otherwise untouched.

Missing verse from Romeo and Juliet song--a joke ICOBOM (created 2010-02-13). Here's a joke that I wrote myself. I call these jokes ICOBOM (I can only blame on myself) because if they are bad, I can't shift the blame to someone else. Something has always bothered me about that "Romeo and Juliet" song by Taylor Swift (the actual title is "Love Story").

Where polar bears live--a joke ICOBOM (created 2010-02-10). Here's a joke that I wrote myself. I call these jokes ICOBOM (I can only blame on myself) because if they are bad, I can't shift the blame to someone else. There's a kid's puzzle in our Sunday comics with a mystery sleuth, Slylock Fox.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas and fun in the snow (created 2010-02-06). I've already written about the big snow we had during Christmas break and the sledding that Nicholas did near Cleveland Chiropractic. We've had even more snow recently. On Saturday, January 30, we had an inch or so.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Steve's hobbies (created 2010-01-31). My biggest non-work activity is taking care of Nicholas. He is quite a handful, in a fun way, of course. But I do have other hobbies that I should mention.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- What have I been up to over the last three decades? (created 2010-01-26). Since signing onto Facebook, I have been reconnecting with some old friends from my college days. They've been asking "What have I been up to?" Here's the Cliff Notes version of my life since college.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the sledder (created 2010-01-16). We had a very white Christmas in Kansas City and it was perfect sledding weather. Nicholas heard from a friend about a great sledding hill near Cleveland Chiropractic College, so we checked it out. He had a great time. Dad mostly stood around and watched. Nicholas did get Dad up for one sledding run. getting uphill was quite treacherous, but the downhill part was fun. Here are some pictures.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas hits the toothfairy jackpot (created 2009-12-08). Nicholas has been losing a bunch of his teeth recently. Here's a picture.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the iceskater (created 2009-12-08). One of the local shopping centers has an ice rink and they just opened for the season. Nicholas, who had only skated on ice once before, stepped bravely out and started skating like a pro. Here are some pictures.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the sculptor (created 2009-11-07). Nicholas and I made some creatures with Play-Doh. Here's a picture of our creations.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas and a very busy week in October (created 2009-10-27). Nicholas has had a pretty busy October, and it is not over yet. In the span of four days he starred as a bumble bee in a second grade school play, visited the Moon Marble Company, attended the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, took his own pictures at a wedding, and played at the Pumpkin Patch Festival at the Deanna Rose Farmstead.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the fishmonger (created 2009-09-08). Nicholas bought a blue betta on Saturday. It's the first pet that is "his" and not Mom's or Dad's. Here's a picture.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Newton says goodbye after 20 years (created 2009-07-01). While I have spent most of my time talking about Nicholas, he is not the only member of the "family." When we got married in 2002, Cathy brought a dog, Shauna, into the relationship, and Steve brought a cat, Newton. At the time, I joked that we had a blended family. Both cat and dog were "only children" so it took a while for them to get used to one another. After a year, though, they became best friends. Newton had always had trouble adjusting to other cats, but Shauna seemed to bring out the best in her. Shauna liked it because the food we got for Newton was a whole lot more interesting than her stuff.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the scientist (created 2009-04-29). At Nicholas's school, there is an afterschool program called "Science Stars." We weren't sure if Nicholas would like this, but we signed him up. It has been very successful in at least one aspect, he now says it's his favorite part of school. Until recently, his favorite parts of school were either gym or recess. Here are some pictures of Nicholas at Science Stars.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the traveler, part 1 (created 2009-02-15). Nicholas has always been a very good traveler. He was adopted from Russia, so as a two year old, he got to experience a lot more traveling than many adults.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the roller blader (created 2009-01-14). During Christmas break, students at Nicholas's school were given a coupon for a free admission to a roller skating session at Skate City. Nicholas loves skating (meaning roller blades, not ice skating). We both took him on December 30, but Steve, having done skating with Nicholas before, wisely decided to let Nicholas do all the skating and he'd do the watching. It's not that I fall down less than Nicholas does, it's that when I fall, it is farther to the ground, and my weight produces greater momentum. Nicholas just picks himself back up and keeps going. Cathy had skated a lot as a child, and rented some skates to go out with Nicholas.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the artist (created 2008-12-05). Until just recently, Nicholas has not taken a great interest in art projects. There was a recent project, though, that inspired him. The students in his classroom were all asked to color a turkey as a special character. Nicholas chose a Spiderman turkey.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- The cousins help decorate cupcakes (created 2008-12-05). We were asked to bring a dessert for the family Thanksgiving dinner, so Cathy suggested that the younger cousins (Gabriella, Matthew, and Sophia) join us for a cupcake decorating party. This picture shows Gabriella and Matthew with their mother, Elizabeth. I think Nicholas and Sophia were already playing at this time.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the pumpkin carver (created 2008-12-05). Nicholas carved his first pumpkin this year. Cathy showed him where to cut, but he did all the work himself. Nicholas is showing his scary face in this picture. It's hard to tell who is more frightening.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas loses his first baby tooth (created 2008-09-18). For a couple of weeks, Nicholas has had a loose tooth. He would show everyone how he could push it forward until it was almost horizontal. On Sunday, on the way into church Nicholas shouted out "The wind blew away my tooth." He opened his mouth and there was a big gap where his loose tooth was.

Steve, Cathy, and Nicholas -- Nicholas the swimmer (created 2008-08-08). Nicholas has always enjoyed summers at the swimming pool, but in 2008, he developed some really amazing swimming skills. He is mostly self-taught, though he has gotten some informal instruction from Cathy and at the Bright Horizons summer day care program. What's truly amazing to me is how easily he glides under the water. Here are some pictures.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. This page was written by Steve Simon and was last modified on 2010-02-28.