New York October 2009

We had one and a half months planned in New York. Thankfully, considering what we had to fit in.... The girls and I arrived on a Sunday night after hanging around the pool in LA for a day.

We were greeted with open arms by our New York family, Griffin, Gracen, Jaimie, David and Lucky the dog. We launched into the New York experience with Trinity going straight to Blue School the next day. She loves the school, I think, because the class is small (10 kids) and they are the oldest kids in the school. Blue school is growing grade by grade, so Trinity gets to be queen of the school for a little while when she comes in, changing the dynamic, and bridging the gap between kids that don't normally hang out together.

This time Trinity is in first grade so she doesn't just get to have fun all the time - she also gets to do school work too. There is no space for India in the two year old's class this time so she gots to hang out with Emily the nanny, who had come along with us too.

The first big event on the agenda was David's book launch for Your Brain At Work which was truly wonderful. A breakfast for 100 people, 40 floors up, overlooking central park. The girls came along, Trinity getting to miss a days school.She even got to sign someones book too. It felt like a true coming of age for David. Our good friend Ara the photographer was there to capture the moment.

Next was TED x Blue. TED (ideas worth sharing) is a big conference that happens in Long Beach each year, with a cult following. Each speaker has 18 minutes to share their idea, so it is a really tight format. This event was an independently organised (thus the x) one specifically based around the idea of how to make education better with over 200 people there.

One of the videos played was of Blue School board member Sir Ken Robinson which is one of the most popular at the TED conference website. We were lucky enough for Sir Ken and his wife Theresa to join us for dinner on the first night of the summit in LA the following week. Dan Seigel spoke on mindfulness along with Chris Wink, David and Jaimie Cloud all talking about what is needed in schools.

It was then time to focus on the final details of the NeuroLeadership Summit which we held in Los Angeles this year. David and I flew in the night before, while the girls stayed with Emily and our family in New York. This allowed David and I to focus on the wonderful people a the summit.

With a combination of Leadership greats and neuroscientists, the event was quite overwhelming. The response from the participants and speakers alike was wonderful. It was a respectful and curious space created for the building a bridge between the latest neuroscience research and leadership both in education and organisations. The RCS staff that flew in for the event where champions and the event went off with out a hitch. We flew straight back to New York the next morning to see the girls who didn't appear to miss us much at all. All credit to Emily for looking after them so lovingly.

The next night was Halloween and Trinity choose to dress up as a member of Kiss the band, so we all joined in too, including Griffin (12). We went trick-or-treating in some apartment buildings around the financial district, and the kids ended up with way too much candy.

Then it was time for the parade, which starts right near our home in Soho. We walked around the start, enjoying the creativity and craziness. There was sushi, lots of wild things, and all kinds of other costumes. My favourite costumes was a couple dressed as a stairway to heaven and the road to hell. Sadly, I didn't get a good photo.

The next day was the New York marathon and our friend Stuart and his mate Warwick ran the 43 kilometers to help raise money for a sports foundation in the slums of Nairobi. Holey mackeral.

We took an hour to see a beautiful Georgia O'Keefe abstract exhibition at the Whitney while we waited for them to get closer to the finish line. We watched Stu and Warwick take the finish line, 6 hours after starting the run, ecstatic with their achievement.

It was amazing to feel the emotion, support and acknowledgment that the crowd poured onto the runners as they moved towards the finish line. Megaphones, signs, and the yelling of names on the runners shirts as they passed by. I was almost inspired to give it a try next year. I am sure the idea will fade.

Two weeks to go...on the downhill run now.