The Bellaire Buzz - August 2017

Thomas, Samuel and Christy Smith

Teachers They’ll Remember Global Family: The Germains Chef’s Corner: Josh Fowler

Back-to-School

Vaping: E-Cigarettes Target Teens

Breakfasts

by Jennifer Oakley

Letting Go: From Cheerios to College Dual-Language Programs Easy Weeknight Dinners Houston, TX Permit No. 2047 PAID US Postage PRSRT STD

Bugs and Other Dirty Laundry

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EDITOR’S NOTE It boggles my mind that I no longer have kids in school. Regardless, it’s fun to reminisce. I always meet impressive residents in our annual back-toschool issue, like the parents who create gourmet breakfasts and young moms who spend Sundays organizing their toddlers’ clothes for the week. If I had only known... (yeah, right). I called Bellaire High School teacher Ann Linsley to set up a photo shoot for Jordan Magaziner Steinfeld’s article on inspiring teachers. I told Ms. Linsley that recent graduate Ben Schwierking had picked her as the teacher who inspired him the most. She was floored. At the photo shoot, she seemed to think it was a “set up” and asked him again what the story was about. When he explained it’s about teachers who have had an impact on students’ lives, she said, “…and this is a positive article?” Yes, Ben reassured her, saying she truly was one of his favorites. So many teachers don’t realize the impact they’ve had on students. Happy back-to-school to all of you parents, students and teachers (and even empty-nesters like us). joni@thebuzzmagazines.com

THE BUZZ MAGAZINES BELLAIRE • WEST UNIVERSITY • MEMORIAL • TANGLEWOOD/RIVER OAKS Published by Hoffman Marketing & Media, LLC 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401 info@thebuzzmagazines.com • p: 713.668.4157 • f: 713.665.2940 Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter thebuzzmagazines.com Editor Publisher Associate Editors Design Manager Staff Writers

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Joni Hoffman Michael Hoffman Cheryl Laird Jordan Magaziner Steinfeld John Duboise Tracy L. Barnett Sharon Albert Brier Andria Frankfort Angie Frederickson Todd Freed Cathy Gordon Michelle Casas Groogan Dai Huynh Annie Blaylock McQueen Jennifer Oakley Cheryl Ursin Courtney Hurst Hoyt Andrea Blitzer Leslie Little Kim Montgomery Amber Lewis Dylan Aguilar Karina Arnold, Andrew Duong, Aaron Feldstein, Eli Maierson, Nicki Miller, Jordan Miller-Mandel, Trevor Schneider, Sophia Wayne

On our cover: Christy Smith loves to find breakfast recipes in her cookbook library to make for sons Thomas (left) and Samuel.

Cover photo by Nikky LaWell, lawellphoto.com The Buzz Magazines has made all reasonable attempts to verify the accuracy of all information contained within. Advertising claims are solely the responsibility of the advertiser. Copyright © 2017 Hoffman Marketing & Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this magazine by any means without written permission is strictly prohibited. Printed on recycled paper. Please remember to recycle.

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 4

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Reputation Matters “2007 and 2017! Mike sold our Bellaire home in 2007 and our Old Braeswood townhome in 2017.

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MAILBAG

Your letters, thoughts, opinions We agree. Tracy Barnett is amazing Tracy [L. Barnett], you are an amazing writer! How you organized all the information into a story [Travel Buzz: 97 years of travel, July 2017] is beyond me. What a gift God has given you!

Thank you for taking the time with us to really dig deep for information.

You have a talent for asking just the right questions to achieve the information you need to weave a beautiful masterpiece. The information was detailed and thought-provoking, giving the reader a true insight into real people.

We had a phone call from a friend of ours that lives in the River Oaks area. She had a call from her friend saying she just read the most interesting inspirational article about a 97-year-old woman. Our friend said she knew immediately that it was us.

I feel you met and accomplished a wonderful goal, by inspiring someone and giving a sense of hope. We enjoyed our many conversations. Thank you again. Many blessings to you!

Gayle Christie and Ruth Peters

Wait, that’s me The first thing I read in The Buzz is Sharon Brier's article Rumor Has It [The Memorial Buzz, July 2017]. I've been doing this since the magazine came out. Imagine how I felt when I see myself. My kids, friends, and neighbors all commented. Love this magazine, and I share it with all my clients moving into the area.

Joanne Naponic Editor’s note: Sharon’s Rumor Has It columns run in The Memorial Buzz and The Tanglewood/River Oaks Buzz. But everybody can read them at thebuzzmagazines.com.

Don’t forget Weikel’s One of my favorite stops between Houston and Austin is Weikel's Bakery in La Grange. In my opinion, their kolaches are the best! And their pecan raisin cinnamon rolls are delicious, too. They make excellent sandwiches on homemade bread. I enjoyed your article on Roadside Pit Stops [Favorite places to pull over, by Russell Weil, July 2017]. Thank you.

Sandy Lee Editor’s note: To reread and share Roadside Pit Stops, along with any article in The Buzz, see thebuzzmagazines.com. Thanks for the suggestion, Sandy. One of our editors is a big fan of Weikel’s too, especially the cream cheese kolaches.

The limelight feels good My wife received some text messages from friends that had seen the West U and Bellaire magazine. That is how we found out about Marianna being on the cover of the West U magazine [The Buzz Magazines 2017 Photo Contest, The West University Buzz, July 2017]. We showed her the picture of the magazine that was sent to my wife, and she just jumped a couple of times BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 6

and smiled. She was very happy. My oldest daughter, Isabella, has also made the cover of The Buzz, and I remember how happy she was. Few things in life beat making your kids happy. Thanks to the Buzz staff and judges.

Mauricio Recinos Editor’s note: Mauricio Recinos’ photo of his daughter Marianna, then almost 7, placed in the People category of our annual photo contest. Two more of his photos also placed. If you missed this popular issue, you can find it and all the photos at thebuzzmagazines.com. Mauricio, we love the photo of your daughter and are glad to hear she is excited.

Fan of Morning Buzz I just wanted to say congratulations! Your new daily is fantastic! (I can’t believe you’re doing DAILY now!) Don’t work too hard, kids!

Sara Brook Editor’s Note: Thanks for the feedback on our new e-newsletter, Morning Buzz, which spotlights stories about neighbors every weekday.

(Don’t worry, Sara, we’re still taking a break on the weekends.) To subscribe, see thebuzzmagazines.com/morning-buzz.

Send letters to info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Please include your name, address, phone number and email address for verification purposes. Letters are subject to editing for clarity and space. Views expressed in letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Buzz Magazines, and The Buzz takes no responsibility for the content and opinions expressed in them.

What’s your story?

We are looking for residents for upcoming articles who: • Have special fall traditions.

• Have travel stories to share.

• Know a compelling neighbor to profile.

• Enjoy unique hobbies.

• Know a funny or interesting parenting story.

If this sounds like you or someone you know, please contact us at info@thebuzzmagazines.com or 713.668.4157, ext 12.

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 7

NEIGHBORS

by Jordan Magaziner Steinfeld, staff writer

Teachers They’ll Remember New graduates share their favorites

Y

Adalee Bagley (Bellaire High School): “Mrs. Paula Pete (Condit Elementary School, fifth grade and social studies) because she was always energetic and funny.”

Alyssa Barrett (St. John’s School): “My sophomore year I had Mrs. Gara Johnson-West for history. She totally changed the way I felt about history. I used to see it as something that I had to learn but never particularly liked, but after having her, I learned that history is really just the stories of many amazing individuals.”

Elizabeth Berquist (St. Agnes Academy): “Ms. Stephanie Jones (West University Elementary). She genuinely cared for every one of her students. She made sure that every kid knew they had a special place in her classroom. She was so positive and always was able to make me smile.”

Reagan Bisel (The Emery/Weiner School): “The teacher who changed my academic life would be Mr. Jacob Guidry. I was never good at math. Ever since having him as my math teacher, my average in math class have only been As. His constant motivation and positivity kept our class going.”

Deborah Brown (Robert M. Beren Academy): “Mrs. Carol Liberman, middle school English. She helped me develop my love of reading and writing into a skill.”

Evelyn Clark (Incarnate Word Academy): “Mr. Mitchell Mooneyham was my freshman English teacher, and I was fortunate to have him for Contemporary Literature my junior year and an English seminar my senior year called World In Motion. He pushed me to be a better person and better student. He has always seen the best in me and gives me encouragement and support.”

Benjamin Cohen (The Emery/Weiner BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 8

Dylan Aguilar

ears from now, they may not remember a specific school lesson – a math equation, historical date, plot of a classic novel – but they will remember the teacher who inspired them.

As part of a survey to gather information for our annual Where are they headed? article featuring high school graduates, we included the question: Teacher who changed your life and why.

MS. LINSLEY Bellaire High School teacher and A&M grad Ann Linsley, coordinator of the International Baccalaureate program, was surprised (but delighted) to hear BHS graduate and UT freshman Ben Schwierking had chosen her as the teacher who impacted him the most.

School): “The teacher who changed my life is Mrs. Sheila Roberts. She was my ninth, 10th and 11th grade yearbook teacher. She has always been someone that I can go to when I have problems with yearbook, need help in school, or just need someone to talk to or joke with. She taught me everything that I needed to know to become editor-in-chief of the yearbook. Her guidance and support helped me become the student and leader that I am today.”

Rylie Cohen (The Emery/Weiner School): “Ms. Sherry Dubin (The Shlenker School) taught me how to read and tutored me and others all through elementary school and still supports me to this day.”

Caitlin Connelly (Bellaire High

School): “Ms. Kelly Quarles, 11th and 12th grade. She introduced me to photography and has instilled a passion in me that will last a lifetime.”

Paula DeAnda (Carnegie Vanguard High School): “Mr. Tom Shahriari, my fifth-grade teacher at Roberts Elementary, changed my life because he sparked my interest in science.”

Anna Glickman (The Kinkaid School): “Mrs. Kate Lambert, my 12th grade AP Shakespeare teacher, changed how I view myself as a student of literature but more importantly as a person. She instilled a confidence in me and sparked a curiosity and love of learning and language. She can make anyone fall in love with Shakespeare, and her (continued on page 10)

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 9

life is contagious.”

Brittany Hitt (Bellaire High School): “Mr. James Monaghan was my 11th-grade tech-theater teacher who taught me that every dream is important.”

Lawyer (Episcopal High Jacob School): “Mrs. Linda Donald, my second-grade teacher at River Oaks Baptist School. She was the first one to see my future potential and helped me learn both how to study and how to not be as shy.”

Meagan McAuliffe (Bellaire High School): “The teacher that changed my life was my freshman biology teacher, Ms. Caroline Vu. She helped me realize that I liked science and made me want to go into a medical-related field.”

Eli Melendrez (St. Thomas’ Episcopal): “My yearbook advisor, Mr. David Graves, taught me a lot throughout the four years that I have been a part of yearbook at STES. In class we learned the basics of photography, journalism and design, but when I became more involved with yearbook my junior year and as editor-in-chief of the yearbook my senior year, he taught me a lot about leadership and about meeting deadlines.”

Ababu Mohamed (Bellaire High School): “All the teachers played a huge role in my life but Coach Brett Hervat, my track and cross country coach, changed my life.”

Hannah Moran (Bellaire High School): “My fifth-grade English teacher, Ms. Ollie Roy, at Longfellow Elementary impacted my life on so many levels. She encouraged me and made me feel at home. She was an amazing teacher. Her lessons were always engaging and productive. I was fortunate to reunite with Ms. Roy six years later when she substituted for one of my classes during senior year.”

Ella Morgan (The Kinkaid School): “Dr. Ed Harris changed my life as my teacher. He taught me freshman English, Economics (12th) and AP Government (12th), and I have never learned more about the world than I have in his class.

He’s the smartest person I know and besides teaching us the basics, he teaches his students how to be real, genuine human beings.”

Louis Oviedo II (St. Pius X High School): “In my junior year, my theology teacher, Mr. Gregory Henderson, taught me how to break down complicated material and develop detailed responses.

This has helped me out a lot!”

Emily Pedrick (St. John’s School): “It is difficult for me to select a specific teacher because I believe that every teacher has changed my life, whether in a big or small way. That being said, I had a teacher in first and third grade named Mrs. Sarah Williams (Annunciation Orthodox School). Mrs. Williams inspired me to set my goals high and to always believe in myself.”

Katelynn Phang (St. Thomas’ Episcopal): “Mr. Brandon Thomas and Mrs. Amy Ernest (St. Thomas’ Episcopal) because they always believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. Also, they pushed me to be a BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 10

Dylan Aguilar

(continued from page 8) passion for learning and

DR. CASTILLO St. Thomas’ Episcopal School graduate and soon-to-be Rice University freshman Calvin Wong (at left, on the Rice campus) was inspired by his chemistry teacher, Dr. David Castillo (right). Dr. Castillo is a Rice alum.

better me always.”

Paige Robbins (Bellaire High School): “The teacher who has changed my life most is Mrs. Jayne Snow. She is one of the special-education teachers at Bellaire High School, and even though she was not ever one of my teachers, I learned the most from my time with her. I spent the last four years in her classroom every day watching and learning from her interactions with the class and individual students. She has been a role model, and I hope to be as incredible of a teacher as she is.”

Ginger Sanchez (Bellaire High School): “This year, I had a government and economics teacher named Mrs. Natalie Christian. [I was] wavering between several majors, [and] her teaching style convinced me to major in education. I realized I could be a great teacher with an effective teaching style while still being fun!”

Ben Schwierking (Bellaire High School): “I had Ms. Ann Linsley at Bellaire for geography in 9th grade and AP Environmental Science in 12th grade. As the coordinator of the International Baccalaureate program, Ms. Linsley worked tirelessly to help make my time in high school even more successful. The IB program is pretty extensive. She was there for me all four years of high school.”

Alexa Spolane (The Emery/Weiner School): “Ms. Nishta Mehra. I have known her since eighth grade as my English teacher, and she was my 12th-grade teacher. She is so compassionate and truly loves her students and has the best intention for us to succeed not only in the classroom but as individuals.”

Kate Steelman (Second Baptist School): “A teacher who changed my life was my junior Bible

teacher, Mr. Brandon Alred, because he taught his class with incredible truth and insight. He challenged me in my faith and completely changed the way I read and study the Bible.”

Allison Taffet (St. Thomas’ Episcopal School): “Dr. Marcel Widzisz, 11th grade English (AP Language) at STE, for convincing me not to give up my love for English just because I want to pursue a career in science.”

Mary Kate Theroux (Incarnate Word Academy): “Throughout my past two and half years at IWA there was one teacher who stood out to me: Mr. Charles Kafoglis. Mr. K teaches and organizes the multitude of leadership classes, and taught my seventh-period Leading with Character class my sophomore year. I had just moved 1,600 miles, had no friends in Texas, and was terrified of my new life. Mr. K taught me the values of going outside of my comfort zone and the power of leadership, and unknowingly gave me the confidence to be comfortable with myself. He always goes out of his way to make sure everyone is smiling and confident.”

Calvin Wong (St. Thomas’ Episcopal School): “I had an awesome chemistry teacher in 10th and 11th grade, Dr. David Castillo.

Coincidentally, he was a Rice alum, and made me want to go there. Because he was really relaxed but also extremely productive, he made me really like chemistry.”

MORE ONLINE See this story at thebuzzmagazines.com and comment to give your favorite teacher a shout-out, too.

To learn where Buzz-area high school grads are heading to college, see “Class of 2017: Where are they headed?”

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NEIGHBORS

by Andria Frankfort, staff writer

Letting Go From Cheerios to college

T

he picture in my mind is clear: My mom and I are visiting in my kitchen, when out of the corner of my eye I see my two perfect and adorable daughters, one about 18 months, the other about 4, gleefully digging into the Cheerios box, throwing huge handfuls over their heads. Everywhere, there are Cheerios. I remember letting out a horrified shriek and lunging toward them with the intent of stopping the cereal rain. My mom, on the other hand, looks at the girls and laughs, and then looks at me and says, “Enjoy it while it lasts.” Then she smiles, gives us all kisses, waves and says, “Bye!” And now, all of a sudden, we are here, eons beyond Cheerios: one girl a senior in high school and the other just starting those four years. I had no idea it would be so true. It all went so fast.

As we worry about college apps and test scores and annual tuitions that could buy four small cars, I remember that feeling of having no idea what in the world to feed my just-starting-solids baby. I remember polling every mom I knew who was slightly ahead of me: “Now, what should I be giving her? And how much? And when?” I was baffled for weeks. Until I finally took the plunge and just started feeding her. She ate.

As I wonder about the girls in our new high school – Will they be kind? Will they see how kind and funny and wonderful my daughter is?

– I remember the days when I organized my girls’ playdates. So many playdates. Those days long gone, all I can do now is pray. Every morning.

That my girls will create their own loyal, lifelong, happy relationships. So many prayers.

Instead of making playdates and school projects and ballet classes happen for them now, I just pray for guidance as I guide them, holding their hands – metaphorically at this point, because we all know that nobody really wants to hold my hand now, even if they humor me every once in a while – to help them make their own friends, their own choices, their own lives.

I didn’t know it would go so fast. We’re not even done. They’ve got a lot more years of needing guidance, thank goodness, because I’ve got a whole lot more guidance in me to give. But still. My babies are only babies in my memory.

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 12

GROWING UP Nine years ago, the writer's daughters were on their way to the first day of kindergarten and third grade.

Now I have time to see those same mommy friends – the ones who told me what to feed the girls and which strollers to buy – for lunch or a movie or even the occasional happy hour. And if my girls happen to be there, they want a sip.

And my big girls, my mom friends, still guide me. It’s just that now they’re telling me what it’s like to leave a child in LA or DC or Tulsa, and next thing we know we’ve all got tears running down our cheeks into our Tiny Boxwoods therapy cookies.

This is what’s supposed to happen. We spend 18 years prepping our progeny to be self-sufficient enough to leave. And that whole time we worry that they’ll never get to that point. And then we catch those glimpses: They extend their hand first. They resolve an issue with a teacher on their own. They send a thank you without being prompted (well, we can wish). And then we realize that something we did – something we’re doing – must be working. And we smile

and cheer them on. And cheer for ourselves a little bit, too. And then we panic. Because they will be leaving.

So here I am, one looking at college and one starting high school. I’ve been panicking about this moment – about the actual leaving, which isn’t even here yet – for at least three years. I’m pretty sure the panic will escalate as this year goes by, and I’m absolutely sure the teary lunches with my friends will continue. But for now, thank goodness for those lunches, and thank goodness for my giggling daughters’ eye-rolls as I frequently choke up in front of them.

People say it’s really wonderful when it actually happens. When your kids follow their dreams and are happy and fulfilled and having fun. When we, as parents, have time to do things we love. But looking at it in anticipation, I’m not so sure. Right now, I think I’d like to be scooping up my giggly girls and cleaning a giant pile of Cheerios.

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lawellphoto.com

FOOD

by Jennifer Oakley, staff writer

The Breakfast Club Home cooks who rule the morning

W

e have breakfast on our minds. And not just any old breakfast – but reallife, delicious ones that fuel us for an

entire day.

The end of summer is slipping into the start of a new school year. For an A-plus beginning, we turned to Buzz parents who handle breakfast like bosses. We want to be in that club: the breakfast club.

Maro Desjardins Maro Desjardins likes to joke that her teen son Lucas eats a five-course breakfast every morning before he walks out the door to school.

And, who can blame him?

The high school sophomore is the lucky beneficiary of a mom who routinely whips up anything from Strawberry Swirl Sweet Rolls, overflowing with bright red berries, to Brown Butter BananaWalnut Granola with dried strawberries to Sheet Pan Eggs, generously sautéed with scallions, red peppers, spinach, cherry tomatoes and cheese.

Desjardins, who has a food blog, Maro’s Cooking, (maroscooking.com) and Instagram account (@maroscooking) spends a lot of time thinking about, shopping, preparing, cooking and baking food.

She grew up with the sights and the sounds, flavors and fragrances of cooking. “The importance of good food has been a part of my life as long as I can remember,” says the athletic and outgoing Desjardins, who lives in River Oaks. “I grew up in Boston in a Greek home where mealtime was the focus of the day for our family. My mother was an incredible self-taught cook and entertainer and has very much inspired me. I used to love to be in the kitchen with her from a young age. I miss her every day.”

Desjardins equates cooking with love, and she has passed on her mother’s love in the kitchen to her own family: husband Mark, daughters Daphne, 23, a recruiter for Baker Botts, Chloe, 21, a senior at Trinity College in Connecticut, and sons Eli, 17, and Lucas, 15, who both attend St. John’s School.

Desjardins is passionate about the importance of school-day breakfasts, and she knows a thing or two about the correlation between breakfast BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 14

WAFFLE HOUSE Eleanor Dick digs into mom Mary Rebecca’s special waffles for breakfast before her school day begins.

and education; she is married to the headmaster of St. John’s School. “For my kids, breakfast helps to give them the energy to focus in school and wake up,” she says. “I also think it is a nice way for them to transition into their day and gives them a few minutes to mentally tune in as they head to school. It is important that there are some healthy elements. I always incorporate a protein, fruit and carbohydrate and almost always eggs in some form.”

“Eggs take all forms: poached, fried, scrambled or omelette,” Desjardins says. “I serve oatmeal often, yogurt and berries, English muffins, bagels, leftover bread or biscuits, smoothies, homemade granola and juice.” On weekends, Desjardins takes it up a notch and serves pancakes, French toast, frittatas and casseroles.

If her sons are in a rush, Desjardins makes bagelegg sandwiches or burrito egg paninis wrapped in foil to go. “The boys love breakfast, and to keep up with their busy schedules and sports – both play football – they have to eat a lot.”

John Spalding Memorial resident John Spalding’s breakfast game is big. “Having heard ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ for years, I make substantial breakfasts for my two youngest kids,”

says Spalding, who is an attorney and single father. “But after some of those breakfasts went uneaten, I have evolved. The reality is other factors influence how much they eat, including being on time to school and their activities and academic schedule for the week.”

Spalding’s two oldest children are Jack, 24, a University of Houston Law Center student, and Meredith, 22, a recent Chapman University graduate, but Lexie, 17, and Jeb, 16, both Memorial High School students, dictate the menus at home. “I try to be a flexible short-order cook when they walk into the kitchen,” the affable Spalding says with a smile.

Spalding cooks anything from poached eggs on toast to pancakes to his mom’s special recipe of old-school biscuits and gravy. “I treasure those times cooking with her,” Spalding says of growing up in Abilene, where his mother routinely won baking contests. “My mom also made homemade cinnamon rolls that are ridiculous. I have friends who still comment 30 years later on how good those were!”

Spalding usually serves up tea and coffee with breakfast. Lexie, a senior, and Jeb, a junior, don’t eat lunch at school until noon, so Spalding wants them to have enough energy from breakfast to make it all the way to lunch.

lawellphoto.com

lawellphoto.com lawellphoto.com

A SQUARE MEAL Top left: Christy Smith’s Baked Oatmeal is a favorite of sons Thomas and Samuel. Bottom left: Christy Smith’s ham and egg cups are a go-to recipe before school. Right: Mary Rebecca Dick loves to cook breakfast, her favorite meal of the day.

Spalding says the time they all spend together in the morning is as important as what is served up on their plates. “I am downstairs in the mornings, and at 6:55 a.m. I can hear Lexie’s music as she dances downstairs, and when she sits down I have her tea ready to go. We will just sit down and talk and go over the day for 20 minutes. Jeb joins us a little later, and we all have our little bit of family time. We feel like it’s the best way to start our school days.”

Mary Rebecca Dick Mary Rebecca Dick is a believer in breakfasts.

“I could happily eat breakfast three times a day, and my favorite meal is brunch,” says the lively wife to Cody and mother to Catherine, 8, and Eleanor, 5, who both attend River Oaks Baptist School. “And I find on days that I miss breakfast, I am super cranky. I know that if the girls eat a good breakfast, they will be prepared for the day, have good attention and behave well.”

Her daughters have differing tastes.

“Catherine loves eggs, and Eleanor cannot stand them,” says Dick, a West University Place resident who is the mission coordinator for Christ The King Presbyterian Church. “Eleanor loves yogurt and smoothies, and Catherine cannot abide those. Eleanor won’t drink milk, and Catherine has a severe peanut allergy.”

Mom relies heavily on favorite breakfast standards. “I love big breakfasts on the weekends, and I try to double the batch of whatever we are having and then freeze that for the week. This

allows me to pop things that I make like waffles, frittatas and banana breads into the toaster on school days, and then we have a quick but solid breakfast. I think school-day breakfasts should take around 10 minutes total. If we do smoothies or eggs, it’s more like 15. The weekend prep helps control some chaos.”

Both parents are former college athletes – Mary Rebecca was on the cross-country team at Rice University, and Cody, a principal with Fayez Sarofim & Co., was on the golf team at Texas Christian University. Proper nutrition is always on their radar. “You need some good fats, fruits, veggies or breads and a protein,” says Mary Rebecca Dick, who adds moderation is key. “We have as many weeks where we all eat cereal as we do ones with homemade granola and green smoothies.”

Christy Smith Bellaire resident Christy Smith loves cookbooks and cooking. “I really do think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” enthuses Smith, a stay-at-home mom and volunteer who is married to Dr. Thomas G. Smith, a urologist at Baylor College of Medicine. “It gives you the energy you need for your day. It is hard to concentrate and learn if you are hungry.”

The Smiths have two sons: Thomas, an eighth grader at Pershing Middle School, and Samuel, a third grader at Horn Elementary. “My older son has the late lunch at Pershing, which alternates between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., so it is important that he eats a substantial breakfast

with some protein. I think a combination of carbohydrates with protein and a little fat to keep you full is a great way to start the day.”

Smith has some go-to breakfast recipes. “I love baked oatmeal and also ham and egg cups,” she says. “I also will toast whole-grain bread, spread with either peanut butter or almond butter and topped with sliced bananas and a drizzle of honey. “Other morning staples are breakfast tacos, French toast with whole-grain bread, and open-faced fried egg sandwiches on English muffins, as well as homemade pancakes and waffles. “Smoothies are great and fast, and I will make them two or three times a week.”

If Smith needs inspiration in the kitchen, she turns to her extensive library. “I have around 100 cookbooks. One side of my island is all bookshelf, so I keep them in the kitchen. I really like to read America’s Test Kitchen cookbooks, and they make some of my favorite cookbooks, like The New Best Recipe by Cook’s Illustrated. I have to tell myself in Costco that I cannot even go down the aisle! Even though you can find millions of recipes online, I still prefer a cookbook.”

And she loves cooking. “My grandmother was an amazing cook, and she made everything from scratch. She would sit and watch us eat what she created, and you could see in her face how much she enjoyed watching us eat her food,” says Smith. “I feel the same way now, although I have no time to sit! One of the ways I show love to my family is to cook for them, and (continued on page 16) it makes me happy.”

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 15

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COOKED TO PERFECTION Top left: No crumbs are left after Maro Desjardins bakes Strawberry Streusel Muffins with Key Lime Glaze. Bottom left: Maro Desjardins makes Slow-Cooked Extra Thick Oatmeal with Cinnamon-Brown Sugar, Vanilla and Dried Fruit. Right: John Spalding makes breakfast every morning for Lexie (at left) and Jeb. (continued from page 15)

Slow-Cooked Oatmeal From Maro Desjardins Ingredients: 2-3 cups milk Pinch of salt 2 cups whole grain oatmeal (Bob’s Red Mill) 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter ¼ cup golden brown sugar 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 2 teaspoons cinnamon ¼ cup chopped dried apricots ¼ cup dried cranberries 1 handful coarsely chopped walnuts In a medium saucepan, heat milk on medium heat for a few minutes, add salt and oatmeal to milk, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low, stirring once or twice. Cover and place lid on pan and simmer on low for about 12-15 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in butter, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon to incorporate. Replace lid, allowing oatmeal to sit covered for 10 minutes, adding additional milk if necessary. Oatmeal will absorb liquid as it sits. Serve in bowl with apricots, cranberries and chopped walnuts. You can be creative with your toppings, using fresh fruit like bananas as well and even some yogurt.

Oatmeal can be refrigerated and reheated in microwave for a week, adding additional liquid.

Christy’s Breakfast Ham and Egg Cups From Christy Smith Ingredients: BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 16

Nonstick cooking spray 12 thin-sliced deli ham slices ½ cup shredded Italian cheese blend 12 eggs Ground black pepper Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat eight muffin cups with cooking spray. Gently press a ham slice onto the bottom and up the sides of each prepared muffin cup, carefully ruffling the edges of ham. Divide cheese among the hamlined muffin cups.

Crack an egg into a measuring cup and slide into each muffin cup. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until whites are completely set and yolks are thickened. Cool for 3-5 minutes before serving. Carefully remove egg cups from muffin cups and serve. Easily reheated during the week. Can also be frozen and reheated.

Options: Add 1 teaspoon of pesto on top of each egg and top with cherry tomato halves before baking. Or whisk the eggs and add your favorite veggies after the cheese and pour whisked eggs into each ham cup. Super simple, and kids can make it themselves.

½ cup grass-fed butter, melted 2 eggs, separated 2 cups milk Almond butter (optional) Maple syrup (optional) Homemade Whipped Cream (optional, recipe below) Fresh fruit (optional) Sift together flour, flaxseed, baking powder, salt and sugar. Melt butter and set aside to cool.

Beat egg whites until stiff and set aside. Mix together egg yolks and milk. Add egg mixture into dry ingredients. Add melted butter and mix until smooth. Fold in beaten egg whites. Cook according to preference in waffle maker. Eat plain or top with almond butter or maple syrup.

We serve it with homemade whipped cream and fresh fruit for birthdays. Makes about 3 large Belgian waffles. I double this and freeze the extras to pop in the toaster on weekday mornings.

Homemade Whipped Cream: Ingredients: 1 cup whipping cream, cold 2 Tablespoons sugar ½ teaspoon vanilla

Special Weekend Waffles From Mary Rebecca Dick Ingredients: 2 cups whole-wheat flour 1 ⁄8 cup ground flaxseed 4 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon sea salt 2 teaspoons sugar

Mix whipping cream, sugar and vanilla into a cold bowl. Whisk on high speed until soft to medium peaks form, about 1 minute.

MORE ONLINE See thebuzzmagazines.com for all recipes mentioned in this story, and more.

7th Annual

2017 Dive-In Movie Night Benefiting PATRONS for Bellaire Parks Thursday, August 10, 2017 • 7:30 pm (movie starts at dusk) Bellaire Town Square Family Aquatic Center • 7001 Fifth Street $15.00 in advance or $20.00 at the door (refreshments and pool noodle included) Movie is rated G. Limited tickets on sale now at the Bellaire Rec, 7008 Fifth Street or online at www.bellaireparks.org Presented by

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NEIGHBORS

by Cheryl Ursin, staff writer

Breaking Barriers Becoming bilingual at school

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he Rassin family went to Mexico City for New Year’s Eve. Mom Ilse watched in satisfaction as Joshua, a freshman at Lamar High School, and Sophia, a seventh grader at Pershing Middle School, confidently placed their orders at restaurants and negotiated prices while shopping in crystal-clear Spanish.

“We could leave them in the middle of Mexico City, and they’d be able to find their way,” says Ilse, who, though she speaks Spanish herself, credits Mark Twain Elementary’s duallanguage Spanish/English program “completely” with teaching her children to be bilingual.

“They went in at kindergarten cold turkey, not knowing a word of Spanish.”

Dual-language, or language-immersion, programs (the terms can be used interchangeably) are when children are taught in two languages at school. These programs start at a young age, usually no later than kindergarten. The children, most of whom don’t know one of the languages at all, are taught at least 50 percent of the time in the non-English language. The goal is to produce, over time, students who are truly fluent and literate in two languages.

Some public and private schools in Houston, including some preschools, offer these programs.

In the Houston Independent School District (HISD), 51 elementary schools and five middle schools currently do. According to Gracie Guerrero, HISD assistant superintendent in charge of multi-lingual programs, the first duallanguage program in HISD started at Herod Elementary in 1994, and the ultimate goal, as more students move through the elementary programs, is to offer dual-language options all the way through high school. In June, the Association of Two-Way and Dual Language Education, a national organization, presented HISD with its District of Distinction Award.

The majority of dual-language programs in HISD are Spanish/English, though there is also the Mandarin Immersion Magnet School, which moved from Bellaire to a new and bigger campus near the Galleria last year, the Arabic Immersion Magnet School in the Heights and the newly opened Mark White Elementary in the Piney Point area, which started offering BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 18

STILL TRAVELING In 2016, the Rassins (from left, Joshua, now 14, Sophia, 12, Keith and Ilse) took a road trip from Madrid, Spain, to Lisbon, Portugal. The kids used what they learned in Mark Twain Elementary's dual-language program. They placed orders at restaurants and negotiated prices in Spanish.

French/English in 2016. The Spring Branch Independent School District also offers duallanguage programs in three elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school, Spring Woods, and one that is both a middle and a high school, Westchester Academy. Some dual-language public schools are magnets; others are neighborhood schools to which a child can either be zoned or can request a transfer. Often, there are wait lists and lotteries.

On the private-school side, Awty International School has long offered a French/English immersion program and is launching a Spanish/English one this year, the German-American Elementary School in the Museum District opened its preschool in 2006

and expanded into elementary grades in 2009, and the Lycée International de Houston, a French/English immersion school, is due to open in Katy this August. Area preschools that offer dual-language instruction include, among others, Crossing Borders Preschool near Rice Village and Language Immersion Private Preschool (LIPP), which opened in January 2017 in the Galleria area.

Because of its demographics, HISD is able to have many of its Spanish/English programs be “two-way.” When possible, schools try to have half of their incoming students in these programs be native English speakers and half native Spanish speakers. The children’s friendships naturally help their fluency in both languages.

AT HOME IN THE WORLD The Nguyen family took a recent trip to Vietnam. From left: Robin, Chloe, Giao, Spencer, Leslie and Tuan. All four children went through Mark Twain’s dual-language program. Mom Giao says learning a foreign language opens their minds.

And for the Spanish speakers, these programs, unlike traditional English as Second Language programs, allow them to continue to develop their first language to academic levels even as they become fluent in English.

Parents contemplating these programs wonder if trying to learn in two languages at once could affect a child’s learning to read. And, indeed, in some cases, according to HISD’s Guerrero, the children’s reading proficiency may lag behind what’s typically considered gradelevel in the early years. While, she says, choosing the program can be “an act of faith” for parents, long-term data show that students of duallanguage programs, including native-English speakers, outperform mono-lingual students academically over the long term. For example, according to a 2015 report by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, by the eighth grade, students in dual-language programs are, on average, a full academic year ahead in their English reading skills, compared to students not in dual-language programs.

“Absolutely, it’s an act of faith, especially in kindergarten, when there are no grades yet,” says Jami Fowler, whose son Reed just finished first grade and his second year in Condit Elementary’s Spanish/English program. Though Fowler, inspired by Reed, takes a weekly adult Spanish class, she reports, “He’s already way past me.” Native Spanish speakers have told her Reed’s accent is perfect.

Fowler is not learning Spanish to try to help Reed with his homework. In fact, educators dis-

courage parents who are not fluent in the second language from trying to teach it at home, which can do more harm than good. At the beginning of kindergarten, “It’s still fairly simple and parents are very likely able to assist,” says Dan Greenberg, principal at Condit Elementary, “but pretty soon after that, they won’t be able to.”

According to assistant superintendent Guerrero, with homework, instructions are often sent home in both languages, for the benefit of the parents, but the content is not. Of course, says Goldberg, parents should still be supportive of their children and practice “good literary routines,” such as reading to them. (English is fine.

“Reading is reading,” Goldberg says.)

While schools often warn parents of incoming youngsters that their children might feel frustrated at first, parents with children who have been through or are in immersion programs did not report any significant bumps. “It wasn’t till about third grade that my children said, ‘Wait a minute: there are classes at school taught in English? Mom, what did you do to us?’” jokes Ilse Rassin.

One plus of the public-school immersion programs is that children remain with the same classmates for years in schools like Twain and Condit, where the whole school isn’t dual-language. “They do develop a special camaraderie,” says Giao Nguyen, whose four children went through Mark Twain’s Spanish/English program.

Sarah Eshelman, whose daughter Charlotte just finished kindergarten in the dual-language program at Condit, finds the dual-language kids do

meet kids from outside their own class in their ancillaries, such as P.E., music and library.

Nguyen also reports, laughing, that when her daughters, now grown, wanted to talk about something without her listening in, they spoke in Spanish. “Learning another language opens their minds. They see that language and cultural differences are okay. And it gives them the confidence that they can learn anything,” she says.

Robin, the oldest Nguyen child, now 28, was in the very first class at Twain and uses her Spanish as an assistant principal at a school with a large percentage of Spanish-speaking families in Austin. The youngest, Spencer, 13, is currently taking the native Spanish speaker’s class at Pershing, where he could earn, by the time he leaves middle school, up to four high school credits and, if he takes AP Spanish in the eighth grade, even college credit, thanks to his Spanish.

Chloe, 24, currently works at a global health company in Vietnam. (All the Nguyen children are also fluent in Vietnamese, which was their first language at home.) Leslie, 25, now an environmental consultant in Seattle, was able to live with a family in Panama for two months as a volunteer with Amigos De Las Americas in high school. She also studied chemical engineering at a university in Spain during a semester abroad while a student at Rice.

“I am grateful that my parents had the foresight to send us to this program,” says Leslie. “It was what enabled me to have these different experiences and not fear cultural differences.

Language was simply not a barrier for me.”

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 19

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KIDS

by Michelle Casas Groogan, staff writer

The Vape Debate E-cigarettes target new generation

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ith flavors like mint, mango, fruit medley and crème brulee, it’s no wonder some teens are attracted to vaping, or e-cigarettes. What was supposed to be a less-harmful alternative to smoking is now a growing concern on school campuses, say health and school officials, and middle schools across the city are no exception. This spring, Memorial Middle School administrators sent an email to parents warning about an increased use of e-cigarettes.

E-cigarettes come in an array of battery-operated devices with containers filled with liquid that is usually made of nicotine, flavorings and other chemicals. A heating device called an atomizer turns the liquid into vapor that you inhale when you take a drag.

We talked to some teens from Memorial High School and Memorial Middle School. (The Buzz is not using real names to protect the minors’ privacy.) They told us about the newest vaping trend, JUULs, which are less conspicuous and easy to hide.

“JUULs look like USBs. A lot of kids go into the big stall in the bathrooms at school and ‘juul’ in there,” said a 17-year-old Memorial High School student who will be a senior this year.

“You can ‘ghost’ the smoke, where you breathe it into your lungs and then there is barely any smoke, so a lot of kids will do it in the classroom, sitting right there at their desk.”

Makers of the JUUL say one pod contains 5 percent nicotine and is approximately equivalent to 1 pack of cigarettes, or 200 puffs.

According to the websites ecigone.com and ecigarettereviewed.com, there’s a reason for JUUL’s popularity; it packs a powerful punch.

Critics say the pod contains more than 50 mg. of nicotine per ml of e-liquid, more than other types of e-cigarettes, most of which top out at 16 mg. An old-school tobacco cigarette contains about 10-20 mg. of nicotine. The students we talked to said they weren’t currently using JUULs but said they had tried them.

The Food and Drug Administration put in place new regulations last summer banning the sale of e-cigarettes to minors (anyone under the age of 18) and requiring e-cigarette companies to submit products for premarket review. Before BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 20

JUULS ON CAMPUS Vaping, smoking e-cigarettes, is a growing concern on school campuses. One popular brand, JUUL, looks like a USB drive and contains a large amount of nicotine.

these regulations, there was no federal oversight of the e-cigarette industry. But the fact remains that e-cigarettes are not hard for teens to access.

“It’s easy enough that if any of us wanted to start, we could start right now. We could get JUULs and pods right now,” said one MHS senior. “There are some students whose parents order the pods for their kids, and then the kids sell them. If you buy them on the JUUL website they are $15, but kids are selling them for $30 or $40.”

One 16-year-old MHS student said, “The perception that they are healthier [than tobacco cigarettes] doesn’t really matter. Kids are doing it for the buzz, and it’s easier than a cigarette because you can do it at school. It just smells like

hand sanitizer or lip balm.”

Parents are concerned about the designs and flavors that lure young users, and the misconception that vaping is safe because of the absence of tobacco.

“These flavored oils are just a gateway to the next thing,” said one Memorial-area mom of two teens. “First it’s nicotine, and then a little bit more. What’s stopping these kids from using cannabis oil and putting pot in there? And parents have no idea what they’re looking for. It literally could look like some kind of USB drive.

And for boys, the pods fit perfectly down in the bottom of their wallet.”

One 16-year-old girl at MHS said, “My friend

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NO TOBACCO BUT NOT SAFE Fruity flavors attract young users. Schools are warning parents about an increased use of e-cigarettes.

told me that her dad was driving her car the other day and he told her she left her USB in there. Some people were just putting them in their pocket, but then you could see the outline of it. But now there are pockets in bras, and you can hide it in there. I know a girl who duct taped a pod to her body and another who taped it in her notebook.”

“I have heard of parents noticing their child is going through a lot of cash, or little items are being sold to get cash,” said parent Kim Trimble.

“But they’re turning around and using that money to purchase a cartridge in cash. I’ve heard the ‘dealers’ are just other students who don’t know enough about what e-cigs are actually doing to someone, but they know it makes them money.”

There’s nothing innocuous about e-cigarettes, says Bellaire pediatrician Dr. Janet Pate. She says, for a non-smoker, they could lead to getting hooked on a habit that’s known to cause lung disease and cancer. She says other health maladies are popping up in vaping teens, like smoker’s cough, mouth sores and wounds that won’t heal. Dr. Pate has written an article posted on her website about another possible problem called popcorn lung.

“The flavoring components of vapes have been studied in other situations and are known to cause permanent damage to lungs in people who work at microwave popcorn factories,” said Dr. Pate. “The permanent lung damage is bronchiolitis obliterans and is commonly called popcorn lungs as a result of flavoring chemicals inhaled at the popcorn factory.”

She warns of other risks as well. “Even though some vapes might have very little nicotine, they all have a chemical known as humectants, the substance that holds moisture and creates a visible vapor when heated on the atomizer. The humectants used are propylene glycol, glycerol and ethylene glycol. When heated, they can give off a by-product chemical called formaldehyde, which is used to preserve cadaver tissue for medical study. The amount of this chemical depends on how hot the atomizer reaches.”

And then there’s the danger of nicotine poisoning.

“The nicotine content in a single JUUL is enough to kill a toddler who drinks the colorful, sweet-tasting fluid,” said Dr. Pate. “In fact, the FDA began working on regulations following the death of one child who drank the flavorful liquid.”

A 14-year-old student at Memorial Middle school who will be an eighth grader this year said she thinks she got nicotine poisoning from accidentally swallowing just a little bit of juice.

“There was too much nicotine in the JUUL I was using,” she said. “I only did it twice, and I couldn’t stop throwing up. Plus I got a little bit in my mouth. You can tell when it’s in your mouth; it kind of burns.”

While the JUUL cartridge can be mistaken for a USB, there are other signs to look for. The pods come in foil-lined packs that can look like a pack of gum. Parents say they have found these packs in trashcans in their teenager’s room. Another warning sign is a fruity aroma, unfamiliar handheld gadgets, increased thirstiness, batteries and

chargers. A 16-year-old boy at MHS says parents should look out for unusual behavior.

“I would say one of the reasons my parents got a little worried was the amount of time I would spend alone just sitting in my room vaping,” said the junior. “I would stay up there for an hour and a half and not come down and talk to anyone but that wasn’t normal for me. They would come check on me, but I would say I’m just watching Netflix or reading.”

The Office of the U.S. Surgeon General says the use of e-cigarettes has grown dramatically in the last five years. Today, more high school students use e-cigarettes than regular cigarettes, and the use of e-cigarettes is higher among high school students than adults.

The Surgeon General and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health created a website to explain the risks. Even breathing e-cigarette aerosol that someone else has exhaled poses potential health risks, it says. Besides increasing the possibility of addiction and long-term harm to brain development and respiratory health, e-cigarette use is associated with the use of other tobacco products that can do more damage to the body.

The website also includes a parent tip sheet, just in case your kid wants to know, “What’s the big deal?”

MORE ONLINE See this story at thebuzzmagazines.com for direct links to websites with additional information.

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 21

KIDS

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by Annie Blaylock McQueen, staff writer

Buzz Baby

Morning routines

Buzz Baby is a column about life with little ones.

Writer Annie McQueen has three children under the age of 3.

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n order to get my three under the age of 3 out the door (on time) to preschool, I have developed some routines. Since their early toddler days, for example, I have dressed my twins while they are still inside their cribs. I stand on my tiptoes and lean over the crib rail.

At 5’4”, I am the perfect height for the crib rail to dig into my rib cage. It’s uncomfortable, but it works, so I don’t care.

I am not going to lie. It’s difficult to leave my house. What I think will take 10 minutes always ends up taking 30 minutes. There are lunches to pack, nap mats to roll up, and diapers (with their names written on them) to be packed. If I don’t want the kids eating peanut-butter crackers in the car on the way to school, there’s got to be time left for breakfast.

After some fails, frustrating mornings and late drop-offs, I’ve learned that, for me, it’s all about preparation – not leaving anything extra to do in the morning outside of dressing and breakfast. I heard from some other Buzz moms who agree, including Molly Edington, who teaches fifth-grade English at St. Francis Episcopal Day School. She and her husband Wade, who owns Surprise Valley Resources, have two kids, Claire, 2, and Brady, 4.

“Everything has to be ready the night before,” said Molly. On Sundays, she washes, cuts and prepackages fruits and vegetables for the week.

“I also print labels with the kids’ names on them and label everything for the week. That way, it’s just grab-and-go each morning.”

Molly has to leave her house with her kids at 6:50 a.m. to make it to work at 7:15 a.m. This fall, both kids will ride with her in the car each morning because they’ll be attending St. Francis. This past school year, Wade took Claire to daycare each morning. “This year will be so much easier because Claire and Brady will both go to St. Francis.” said Molly. “They both will have the same drop-off and pick-up times.”

Wade cooks breakfast each morning – meals like eggs and bacon. Meanwhile, Molly makes sure BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 22

the kids are dressed. “On Sunday, I put a week’s worth of outfits for each of them in a pile in a drawer in my room, and a pile for pajamas and night diapers. We all get dressed first thing,” she said.

Another teacher, Kalee Blackburn, takes her two kids to daycare each morning and then heads to work. Georgia Ann is 2, and brother Case is 3 months. Kalee teaches AP science at Episcopal High School.

Kalee says consistency works for her.

“Georgia Ann knows that when she wakes up she has to brush her teeth before breakfast, and then she can eat in her playroom before finally getting dressed,” BACKPACK, BACKPACK Kalee Blackburn tries to keep her kids’ school gear simple and easy to manage. Here, daughter Georgia Ann wears her backpack she said. “I also ask her – and also her little brother Case’s. to help out in the mornsmell off of me. It wasn’t until around 10 a.m. ing with Case, which keeps her occupied.” that I realized I had poop all over my jacket, and Kalee said she keeps it simple with the school had already taught two classes,” the petite redgear, so there’s not a whole lot to manage in the head said, laughing. “I couldn’t take the jacket household. “I am kind of a minimalist when it off though because I was wearing a spaghetti comes to school gear,” she said. “For Case, I label strap top underneath, and so I had to wash the his bottles with self-laminating labels from jacket best I could in the bathroom and keep Amazon, and then he has a monogrammed seerwearing it the rest of the day.” sucker backpack.”

If a slightly smelly jacket was the only problem The working mom’s morning routine has not she encountered that day in her morning roualways been easy. “[I remember] taking Georgia tine, I think that still counts as a parenting win.

Ann when she was a baby to daycare.” Kalee said that one day, as she pulled into daycare, she noticed an unmistakable odor. “Georgia Ann What are your morning routine tips and tricks? had had a blow-out diaper in her car seat. I got Email info@thebuzzmagazines.com or comment her into her class, wiped her down, changed her, under this article at thebuzzmagazines.com. For and headed to work, all without being late.” She more baby stories, see thebuzzmagazines.com for said she felt like Supermom. writer Annie Blaylock McQueen’s column, Then the bell rang, and her high-school stu“Mommy Moments.” dents filed into her room. “I just couldn’t get the

MORE ONLINE

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 23

TRAVEL

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by Tracy L. Barnett, staff writer

Travel Buzz

Global family: the Germains

This is the first in a two-part series about families who take their education to other shores. This month, it’s the Germains; next month, it’s the Waters and the Kramers.

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hey call themselves the Germainiacs – and their trip began as a way to carry on their father’s memory, a means to move on and heal after his death. It ended up being a full-throttle, no-holds-barred embrace of life.

Dana and Rich Germain had often talked about taking a year-long sabbatical and travelling around the world with their kids. Both had lived and travelled abroad extensively, but this dream was never to be realized as he died of a heart attack, leaving behind four children and a world of pain. (See Tackling Grief by Cathy Gordon at thebuzzmagazines.com.)

Dana, a Lonely Planet-style backpacker who had circumnavigated the globe at 25 for the first time, was not one to let a good dream die. On Father’s Day, 2015, which was also son Davis’ 10th birthday, a year and a half after Rich’s passing, she and her four children – twins Alegra and Ryker, then 13; Ellery, 11, and Davis — shouldered their backpacks and began their journey.

Two years later with 28 countries and 111,000 miles behind them, they laughed at their scrapes with death, shared peak moments and pondered the ways the trip had changed them.

Alegra, then a moon-faced youngster, at 15 is now an award-winning photographer. The trip, she said, “started off as a way of healing – like, ‘We’re going to leave on this trip and be spontaneous, and it will be healing and processing.’

I don’t think that’s what it was in the end,” she said. “I think it was more about shaping our perspective on the world.”

That perspective included vast herds of wildebeest, AIDS orphans, tropical sunsets, coral reefs and glaciers, nights spent with African tribal people, and days spent rafting rivers and sailing the high seas.

“We didn’t want to hang out in Nairobi,” said Dana. “If we were going to be in Kenya, we wanted to be camping on the side of the hippofilled river with bush showers.”

One night, three lions slept between their two BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 24

NAMASTE Ryker, Davis, Alegra, Dana and Ellery Germain (from left) harmonize their journey at a Buddhist temple near Battambang, Cambodia.

tents, so they had a ranger with a rifle standing guard. “If you visualize the pages of National Geographic, that was truly how we lived,” said Dana.

Their initial course took them from Turkey to Greece and Croatia, just as Dana had planned on the big map back home with colored push-pins.

But after that, they made it up as they went. Once they got to Croatia, Albania and Montenegro called to them. On to Africa, Oceania, Southeast Asia, then back to Africa again.

They were in Thailand, planning to head back to the Mediterranean, when a series of bombings hit the headlines – one in Brussels, one in Istanbul — so they decided to veer back into Africa. Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania were fabulous, but plans to continue their overland travel into Mozambique were thwarted by violence on the border.

“Can we go to Uganda?” suggested Alegra.

“Next day we went to the airport and said: ‘Five tickets to Entebbe,’ ” said Dana. The lush mountainous country turned out to be one of their favorites. They went rafting on the Nile, and camped in Kidepo Valley National Park, where Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance

Army once had their headquarters.

“It had been too dangerous for tourists for almost 20 years,” said Dana. “But the animals were plentiful and the tourists were negligible so it sounded like a good recipe for us.”

Another huge highlight was Ethiopia, where they rented a jeep and drove around for five weeks, beginning in Addis Ababa. They drove toward the east close to Djibouti and through the Muslim region, then up to the north and the sacred city of Lalibela, where medieval monolithic churches were carved into the stone, and Aksum, said to be the home of the biblical Ark of the Covenant. In the Lower Omo Valley in the south, the visited with tribes like the Mursi, who wear clay plates in their lips, and the Hamer, who have a rite of passage called bull jumping. “When a man wants to marry, they line up 15-25 bulls – and it’s an amazing ceremony, full of eating, drinking and dancing almost until a trance-like state, where the young man has to jump up on top of these bulls and run back and forth several times,” said Dana.

The women taunt the men, who lash the women’s backs with switches as a test of their

Alegra Germain

HAMER DANCERS Native Hamer women from Ethiopia's Lower Omo Valley perform a traditional dance for the tribe's bull-jumping ceremony.

strength and courage. By the end of the ritual, the women’s backs are dripping blood.

“When you think about this in the context of our lives, you wondered how either party could participate in something so primal and violent,” said Dana. “But in the cultural context we witnessed, it was an honor to have been included … and it was unbelievable to watch.”

Their guide’s mother invited them for dinner and to spend the night at her home – a hut made of mud and sticks with goatskins on the ground.

It was one of the most memorable nights of the trip. “The kids are running around with local village children, I’m sitting around the campfire drinking their home brew, they’re singing and telling their stories….”

Finally they curled up among the goatskins.

Around 3 a.m., Dana recalls, Davis elbowed her.

“Mom, Mom, there’s a chicken standing on me,” he exclaimed.

“I can see him laying on his side and I can see by the silhouette of the moon that there is a chicken on him. I give the chicken an elbow and the chicken goes bawk and hops off him,” Dana said. “All night long, goats were wandering in and out, chickens, cows, the whole deal. When we wake up, there’s a baby goat spooning Davis.”

“Mom, there’s a goat right here,” said sleepy Davis.

“I said, ‘Isn’t that awesome?’”

That was one of Davis’ best days. Ryker and

Dana cite climbing the Franz Josef glacier on New Zealand’s South Island. Ryker will never forget the sight of the afternoon sun gleaming off a small avalanche; Dana will treasure the adventure of taking a helicopter to the top of the glacier with crampons and picks and full gear.

Ryker and Alegra got their scuba certification before they left so they could dive around the world. They went diving in French Polynesia, Australia, and in the Great Barrier Reef, which is rapidly dying off due to climate change, according to scientists. “It was sad; a lot of it was bleached and destroyed,” said Ryker.

He will never forget diving in Borneo. “There was a giant sea snake swimming in the water, and it was bigger than me!”

For Dana, sailing ranked high; they explored the Seychelles, Greece, French Polynesia, Australia and Croatia by sailboat.

The most astonishing, at least for Alegra, was the Great Migration in Tanzania.

They got to the Serengeti as the Migration was beginning; they boarded open-roof vans and were driving along the road when the driver stopped. “So we stand up and we see it – tens of thousands of wildebeests,” said Alegra. “The whole road is covered, with nowhere to go … wherever you looked they were there. The noise they made was overwhelming.”

“There were probably half a million of them,” added Dana. “We saw them once and we felt

blessed. Then later, at the end of day, we saw them again.”

A white woman with four kids was sure to attract attention everywhere, but in Africa in particular, and people often asked questions.

The questions were always the same even if the language was different. “The first thing people would ask was: Are they all yours?” Dana said. The next thing that would happen is they’d start looking over my shoulder, and they’d say: ‘Where’s your husband?’”

“To which we would follow up, ‘He’s dead.’

And that was really awkward to say – they’d say ‘Oh, I’m so sorry!’ so we’re comforting them….

It got to the point where we’d been on the road for six months and we decided to try something different. “He’s in prison,” we’d say.

“People would look at us stone-faced. So we’d say, ‘Just kidding, he’s dead.’”

It’s not that they don’t care, said Dana. It’s just that after two years of processing, counseling, going through all the stages of grief, they were ready to move on.

“I was so tired of hearing that we weren’t a real family anymore. We were drowning. We left as a rag tag, injured bunch, but quickly realized that life is a gift. Rich would have wanted us to embrace life. He probably would have laughed,” Dana wrote in an e-mail after our interview.

“Knowing we were ‘pro- (continued on page 26) BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 25

ON THE EDGE Ellery, Dana, Alegra, Ryker and Davis hold on for dear life in Alegra's award-winning photo on the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand. The photo won them a free trip with Franz Josef Glacier Guides – a journey Dana considers one of her top three life experiences. (continued from page 25) cessing’ was easier out of

our regular environment and routine, especially since we were bombarded by the ‘awesomeness’ that we encountered each day. We did a tremendous amount of sharing and bonding.

They are very clear now that family is a group of people who love each other.”

Another thing that people asked a lot was if they felt scared.

“I don’t think any of us were ever scared in the bush,” she said. “There was a certain level of adrenaline … and there were some genuinely scary moments.”

Alegra confessed to several terrifying encounters with aggressive baboons, however – as example, the one at the immigration checkpoint between Zimbabwe and Zambia and the one that got into their jeep with them in Tanzania.

“We had so many moments where we’d just look at each other and say, ‘Can you believe that just happened?’ Cobras, sharks, giant spiders – I said, ‘It’s just a baboon! Handle it!”

There were some truly terrifying moments, however. Like when Ellery disappeared in a market in Athens and they thought she might have been taken. Or like when Dana woke up in the middle of the bathroom floor in a pool of blood, her skull fractured, her jaw and nose shattered, and her teeth missing. She had passed out from a virulent form of food poisoning and hit the ground so hard, Davis thought she was dead.

Dana couldn’t believe the irony of it. After months of sleeping on the ground and in budget hostels, eating from mud huts and street vendors, they finally rented a comfortable room in a game preserve in South Africa. It was the least likely place on their journey to have a neardeath experience.

Her two days in the hospital were excruciating. Not so much for the pain, but for the disappointment that the trip might have to end not BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 26

on their terms.

At the second hospital she met with an oral surgeon named Pieter. “I’m just furious. I said, ‘This is not how the trip ends!” Pieter told her she was medically stable, that no surgery could take place until her broken bones healed. He whipped out his iPhone and showed her a photo of a patient. “A week ago, hyenas chewed his face off,” said Peter. “Look at this boy – he will wish he was dead. But you – look in the mirror.

Your bruises will heal. You have your eyes, your nose can be fixed, your teeth can be replaced; you will be beautiful again.”

If what she really wanted was to travel on, he said, he could patch her up and make that happen. The consensus from the kids: “If you’re ok, we’re not ready to go home, and neither are you.”

They decided to rent a jeep and drive to Swaziland – “because why not, it’s right there,” she said. That’s when the second blow fell. A man accosted her at the ATM machine and robbed her of $1,500.

“I’m looking at the sky and saying, ‘Come on, give us a break! Why do you need me to go home so bad?’” She felt like they had finally taken control of their lives and their destiny and that they were once again being tested.

They ended up going to Swaziland with very little cash and a credit card. “We were given this test for a reason,” she said. “If we could make it in Swaziland for two weeks on nothing, we could make it anywhere.”

Their last stop was Capetown, South Africa – perhaps their favorite city.

“When our trip ended, it was on our terms – and it was super bittersweet,” said Dana. “We wanted that to be our final launching place as we headed home.”

It was a different family that landed back in Bellaire in August 2016. They’ve settled back

into routines, reconnected with friends and are glad to be back in a formal school setting. Ellery goes to Trafton Academy, Davis goes to The Emery/Weiner School, and the twins go to Lamar High School. Dana has returned to her work marketing private equity funds.

But something has changed.

Partly it’s in the way they’ve integrated their loss. “Something terrible happened to my kids.

They know that. But now they have seen what other people’s lives look like…. We all realized that everyone has ‘something.’

I think we collectively decided that while our ‘something’ wasn’t great, it could always be worse.

We still had each other – and that was a lot.”

The trip allowed them to see the kindness of strangers from all walks of life. It also taught them how lucky they are to have been born where they were rather than in rural Africa, for example, where “the perils and challenges that can come with being a girl, then a woman, has been internalized,” said Dana. They have emerged with an articulate sense of global responsibility.

“All kids take things for granted,” said Dana, “but I think mine have taken a step back to really consider this. I see them as more globally sophisticated, less entitled, more appreciative, generally more aware and definitely more grounded.”

It was a journey worthy of the big screen – and indeed, it may just happen. Dana’s working with a screenplay coach in New York, and when Dana decides, things happen.

“I think the story is something like: You can’t choose what happens to you; the only choice you have is how you respond, how you take control back,” she said. “You lose your husband, you get sick, you lose your job … everyone has big life challenges.

“Yes, that will be the way the story goes….

It’s reminding people they really are the captain of their life.”

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 27

The Junior League of Houston

FOOD

by Courtney Hurst Hoyt, contributing writer

Cooking Buzz Easy weeknight dinners Cooking Buzz is produced in partnership with the Junior League of Houston.

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ack to school draws near, and the lazy days of summer come to a close. This has always been one of my favorite times of year, as I was an eager student who enjoyed the excitement of back to school and shopping for school supplies.

Now as a mother, however, the excitement and busy-ness can mean less time for preparing food for our family. Plus I am always looking for something my picky toddler will try, which can be a challenge. In the heat of a late-Houston summer, any recipes that can be served cool are winners in our house.

A unique choice we’ve tried recently is the Tuna Niçoise Salad from Peace Meals. With a mix of fresh vegetables, potatoes, eggs and tuna, this meal is approachable enough for a small child and delicious and refreshing for an easy, late-summer meal. In fact, my toddler loves picking his bites from the deconstructed platter arrangement.

Another favorite is one I have been making for years, the Tortilla Soup from Stop and Smell the Rosemary. A dear friend made this for us once. It was so delicious we called her to get the recipe. Imagine my surprise that it came from a cookbook I already had on my shelf. Normally, I would not say that a soup is a quick and easy dish to make, but this recipe is just a few steps beyond making basic tacos. Sometimes I use a rotisserie chicken to make it an even quicker meal. It is a great idea to make extra servings; we have it for lunch, bring it to friends, or freeze it for a future meal.

And for me, there is nothing simpler and tastier than a great B.L.T. A Bacon-LettuceTomato dinner is the perfect way to take advantage of the gorgeous tomatoes from the farmers’ market this time of year. Stop and Smell the Rosemary’s Best B.L.T. with Hill Country Basil Mayonnaise takes a simple, classic summer sandwich to new heights with the delicious homemade dressing. It is a breeze to make the mayonnaise over the weekend using basil from our little herb garden. And here’s a tip: You can keep it in the refrigerator for up to a week, makBELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 28

ing it an easy meal spread for when that busy night pops up later in the week.

Enjoy spending these last few days of summer with your family and friends – and not spending it all in the kitchen.

HEAT, ADD, STIR This tortilla soup almost as easy to make as basic tacos, especially if you use rotisserie chicken.

Tortilla Soup From Stop and Smell the Rosemary Ingredients: 6 Tablespoons vegetable oil 8 corn tortillas, chopped 6 cloves garlic, mashed ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 medium onion, chopped 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes 2 Tablespoons ground cumin 1 Tablespoon chili powder 3 bay leaves 6 cups chicken stock 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper 4 to 6 cooked chicken breast halves, shredded or cubed Monterey Jack cheese, shredded Avocado, pitted, peeled and cubed Sour cream 2 corn tortillas, sliced and fried crisp Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add tortillas, garlic, cilantro and onion.

Sauté 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes. Bring to a boil and add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves and chicken stock. Return to a boil. Reduce heat. Add salt and cayenne. Simmer 30 minutes.

Remove bay leaves and stir in chicken. Reheat.

Garnish with Monterey Jack, avocado, sour cream and tortilla chips.

Tuna Niçoise Salad From Peace Meals Ingredients for Dressing:

6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice 2 to 3 teaspoons Dijon mustard Coarse salt Ingredients for Salad: 1 pound baby new potatoes, boiled and cooled Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper 2 heads butter or other leafy lettuce 4 eggs, hard-boiled and cut in half lengthwise ½ pound haricot verts or thin green beans, blanched and chilled 1 red or yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes ½ English cucumber, thinly sliced 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced 13 ounces premium white meat tuna, drained ¾ cup Kalamata olives Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl; season with salt. Cut the potatoes in half and coat lightly with about half the dressing. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Place large pieces of lettuce on the bottom of a serving platter. Starting with the potatoes on one side, arrange the remaining ingredients in groups on the platter. Drizzle with the remaining dressing and serve.

To buy a Houston Junior League cookbook, see jlh.org or call 713-871-6608.

MORE ONLINE For other recipes mentioned in this story, see thebuzzmagazines.com.

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BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 29

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DINING

by Dai Huynh, staff writer

Chef’s Corner

Joshua Fowler

Find out about your favorite chefs in our Chef’s Corner column. This month, restaurant writer Dai Huynh interviews chef Joshua Fowler.

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ony Vallone has an eye for talent.

Decades ago, chefs Mark Cox and Monica Pope were Vallone's protégés, along with Marco Wiles (Dolce Vita, Da Marco and Poscol) and Olivier Ciesielski (L'Olivier).

Add to the list 31-year-old Josh Fowler, an Irving, Texas, native recently appointed executive chef of Vallone's.

Slim, with a shy, hesitant smile behind a trimmed, dark beard, Fowler walked into the well-appointed dining room of a reenergized Vallone's (947 Gessner Road) near mixed-used development CityCentre on Beltway 8 near I-10.

Once a coat-and-tie steak-centric restaurant, it has morphed into a relaxed, intimate haven where friends and families gather around a 15foot-long fireplace flanked by two shiny rectangle collages of antique copper pots, pans and utensils.

In the kitchen, Fowler and his team are deftly assembling steak salads and corn raviolinis, entree options on a two-course lunch menu for $19. These days, Vallone's prides itself on offering $65 steaks along with affordable selections, like $13 homemade pastas. Wines range from $35 to $2,400 a bottle. There's even a kid's menu. And on Friday nights, guests can fork into a three-course steak menu for $45 that features an 8-ounce filet. Come Sunday, Vallone’s roll up its sleeves for a hearty Neighborhood Nite menu with fried chicken, chicken fried steak and Texas cheese enchiladas.

"We have evolved into a neighborhood restaurant," partner/general manager Scott Sulma said.

Fowler plays a key role in the ongoing transformation of Vallone's from a high-end steakhouse to a modern American restaurant. "We started Joshua at Tony's kitchen [3755 Richmond Ave.] for about six months so he could learn about our sauces and homemade pastas," Sulma said. "Now he's here, and we're really excited. Josh brings energy and big, bold flavors.

He understands what it takes to be a great American restaurant and what we are growing BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 30

into. We'll always have our Italian roots, but a restaurant must grow and evolve to be relevant. And with the Vallone name, you can't be stagnant."

Fowler seems to be a perfect fit, an Irish-Italian boy who grew up in the kitchen, much like Tony Vallone did.

Also like his boss, Fowler was taught CHEF JOSH FOWLER Josh Fowler, the 31-year-old executive chef of Vallone’s, is helping to cook by his transform the restaurant from a high-end steakhouse to a modern American restaurant.

Sicilian grandThere really isn't anything better than that. mother, Angelina. He started out making soups Along with steaks, you're also planning to and sauces, and then graduated to making pastas expand the seafood offerings. What's on the menu? from scratch. He remains close to his 82-yearWe offer a whole branzino. It's a pretty cool old grandmother. "She just texted me, wanted presentation because not many restaurants have to see how I was doing," Fowler said with a the whole branzino. We flambé it at tableside, chuckle, looking at his phone. He had been so it has a lot of flare. We do a lot of tableside reminiscing about his childhood. dishes, like the tuna tartare. It's very classic. We Along with varsity football, track and field bring the classics to the table, and it's true servand power lifting, what else did you enjoy doing? ice in my opinion.

My great-grandma had pasta recipes she We're also rolling out a lunch flounder sandpassed down to our family, so I started making wich. It's served on a baguette we make inpasta. Then, I started selling pasta at church house. The 6-ounce portion is breaded and fried, bake sales. I made a good profit at $2 a pound. I then topped with a pepper-carrot slaw and spicy would sell 30, 40 pounds of pastas on the weektartar sauce. end. But it was a lot of work. I used a handDid you have to do a tasting for Vallone and cranked machine.

Sulma to get your current gig as executive chef?

You started out working for star-chef I did a tasting and was hired that day. I did a Stephan Pyles in Dallas, followed by Pappas grilled octopus and a grilled halibut. I can't realBros. Steakhouse, then Wildwood Grill, a ly recall everything because tastings are unique. wood-grilled steakhouse in Southlake, Texas, You see what they have in the kitchen and you and, more recently, Del Frisco's Grille in The execute; you really can't plan ahead. But for Galleria. When did you start perfecting your dessert, I served zeppole, Italian doughnuts. grilling techniques?

They're light and yeasty, and they happen to be In high school, I built a grill on the bed of my on our menu. We serve it with Nutella. It's a hit truck. During baseball season, my friends and I with parents and kids. would grill steaks in the parking lot. People would bring their steaks and pay us to cook them. It was Editor’s note: Buzz dining columnist Dai Huynh one of the highlights of my life. It helped me realis a James Beard food-journalism award winner and ized my true love for food. I love seeing people longtime Houston-based restaurant writer. enjoy their food, eating a perfectly seasoned steak.

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More insurance and estate planning In March I wrote that, as a rule of thumb, you should carry liability insurance equal to your non-exempt assets plus five to ten years of income.

Suppose you have a home, an IRA, a modest checking account, and $300,000 in CDs. The home and IRA are exempt from creditors’ claims.

The CDs are not. That suggests at least $300,000 in liability insurance. If Social Security and IRA income total $50,000 a year, another $250,000 to $500,000 in liability insurance is indicated. Even someone of modest means may want $500,000 to $1 million in liability insurance.

In April I started getting the calls: “I asked my agent for a $5 million umbrella policy, and he won’t give it to me.” “My agent wouldn’t tell me how much insurance I really need.” “My agent says I probably have enough insurance.”

These answers make sense. An insurance agent is not your agent; they are an agent for an insurance company, which limits the umbrella policy the typical agent may offer to $3 million. Larger, much larger policies are available, but not from this agent.

Insurance agents do not have a duty to advise, and are not obligated to inform the insured that coverage is inadequate or overpriced. The second agent, who refused to state whether coverage was adequate, knew his or her limits and communicated them honestly. The third agent, who told the client their insurance was adequate, was unusual. Most agents will not express an opinion.

My clients are low risk but high net worth, often $2 to $7 million, and are best served by an insurance analyst, sometimes called a private risk manager, that can be more proactive.

An insurance analyst tends to be an independent agent, representing sev-

eral insurance companies. Professional designations are common, e.g., Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC), Associate in Risk Management (ARM), or Certified Risk Manager (CRM). Insurance analysts carry errors and omission insurance, in case of loss to the client caused by their negligence. The profile client has an expensive home, domestic employees, watercraft, a farm or ranch, art or other collections, or alternate ownership structures (trusts, LLCs, family limited partnerships).

Like “mere” agents, insurance analysts’ compensation comes exclusively from the insurer. However, the competition for wealthy clients, access to multiple insurers, and the greater overall compensation per client leads to fuller disclosure, more robust advice, and better if not cheaper insurance.

We write wills and go to probate court. We offer no-obligation initial interviews for estate planning and administration, so it costs nothing to hear specific recommendations that suit your needs. Foreign nationals and international families welcome.

Russell W. Hall, J.D., LL.M. (Tax), Board Certified – Estate Planning and Probate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 6750 West Loop South, Suite 920, Bellaire, Texas 77401, 713.662.3853, www.rwhpc.com

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BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 31

SPORTS

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by Todd Freed, staff writer

SportzBuzz A

s the 2017 football season kicks off later this month, it has all the makings of another outstanding year for the Lamar Texans. The Texans are loaded with major collegiate prospects, led by senior cornerback Anthony Cook, who is rated as the ninth best overall player in the country by Rivals.com.

In addition, wide receiver Al’vonte Woodard, defensive back D’shawn Jamison, defensive lineman Josh Landry and running back Ta’zhawn Henry, who rushed for 1,450 yards and 19 touchdowns last season, are all being heavily recruited by many of the nation’s top collegiate football programs. Last season, those players helped lead Lamar to the third round of the playoffs and an overall 11-2 record.

“It’s a talented group,” said Texans head coach Tom Nolen. “The key now is finding a replacement for Owen Holt (Harvard University) at quarterback. But I really like the attitude and work ethic of this entire team.”

Even in his 33rd season as Lamar’s head football coach, Nolen remains as excited as ever for the opening night of football. “The good thing about coaching is that every year it changes.

There’s a new group of kids and a whole new dynamic. I enjoy putting the pieces together.

Plus, I love the kids and the game of football.”

The Episcopal Knights softball team closed out the last school year with another SPC Championship. The Knights beat The Kinkaid School, Houston Christian and John Cooper to secure their 13th SPC title in the last 20 seasons.

“The girls had a phenomenal season,” said Knights head coach Kim Randolph. “We were 27-4 and also defeated several large UIL schools like Clear Lake, Clear Falls, College Park and others. We played a really great schedule.”

It was an especially great season for Episcopal’s Sarah Venker. Her 14-1 record on

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 32

CHAMPION KNIGHTS The Episcopal Knights softball team posted a trio of dominant victories to win the SPC Tournament Championship. Episcopal finished the season with a 27-4 record while also winning its 13th SPC title in the last 20 years.

the mound included a no-hitter in the SPC final. At the plate, Venker hit for over a .500 average with a team-leading eight home runs.

“Sarah hit a home run against Pearland that hit the outfield scoreboard. It was one of the longest homers I’ve ever seen in high school softball.

She’s being recruited as both a position player and a pitcher, which is a rarity these days.”

Junior catcher Alexis Aboulafia, who’ll play college softball at Ball State University, homered, tripled and doubled in the SPC-title victory over John Cooper, while sophomore second baseman Amber Hatfield put up some big numbers at the plate in the SPC tournament.

The team’s RBI leader was sophomore third baseman Rachel Boeker, who batted over .400 with 34 RBIs. Freshman Alexis Sagers also hit over .400 and was second on the team in RBIs and home runs. Randolph also had high praise for senior left fielder Charlotte Spector, whom he called one of the major leaders on the team.

In soccer, the Houston Express 99G Navy team beat out the state’s top-tier youth soccer teams to win the championship of the prestigious STYSA (South Texas Youth Soccer Association) State Cup. The victory also earned the team a berth to the US Youth Soccer regional championships in North Carolina. The 99G Navy team consists of the top 17- and 18-yearold girl players from the Houston Express Soccer Club. Many of the girls attend local high schools such as Bellaire, St. John’s, Kinkaid, St. Agnes,

Emery/Weiner and others. “Texas is full of great teams and talented players that are college bound, and for us to win the South Texas State Cup is a tremendous accomplishment,” said Houston Express executive director Colin Chesters.

The Texas Cup Championship capped off an amazing turnaround for the team under the direction of first-year head coach Vedad Hadzajlic. “We went from being one of the worst defensive teams in the Southern Regional Premier League to one of the best,” said Hadzajlic. “The girls did a great job of adapting to our system.”

“The big goal now is to get these kids scholarships to play collegiate soccer,” said Chesters. “We just had Allison Schachter commit to play at Penn.” In addition, Madeline Beavers (UT Tyler), Hannah Bodron (Nicholls State University), Cameron Koerner (St. Mary’s University), Natalie Festa (Swarthmore College) and Amber Meade (Union University) will all play soccer at the next level.

“I expect that several more of our girls will also get collegiate offers in the next six months or so,” said Chesters. “It’s really an important part of our club’s mission.”

Editor’s Note: Todd Freed is the Emmy Awardwinning co-host and producer of the KUBE SportsZone, which airs Saturday and Sunday at 6 p.m. on Channel 57-KUBE. To submit high school sports news for possible inclusion in SportzBuzz, please email todd@thebuzzmagazines.com.

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Is it worthy of worrying?

A knowledgeable and worldly client of mine inspired me with these words during one of our training sessions. With all the distractions, work stress and curveballs in life, I think it resonates truer today than ever before. There are physiological effects of stress on the body. It can wreak havoc on your life, fitness and body composition. It can eat away at the simple pleasures that many will let go, unnoticed, each and every day. It can ruin your fitness goals by holding onto that excess body fat like gripping onto the armrest when you’re flying through turbulence. An abundance of stress can certainly change your hormonal profile and functionality of the digestive system, as well as have an impact on your psyche.

So instead of letting things get to you, try and follow these “words of the wise” and keep health and happiness centered on you! Take note of three criteria that are not so “worthy of worrying.”

1) Things you can’t control: Anything out of your hands directly shouldn’t worry you. The weather, the traffic, even being delayed at the airport, these things are completely out of your immediate control, and any time or energy wasted on worrying about them is mentally and physically draining.

2) Things other people do: Unfortunately we tend to jump on Facebook or Instagram as soon as we get home and catch up on the latest posts.

Worrying about what other people are doing, have done, or are about to do cuts into things you need to do, like spend a few extra minutes with the family, get to the gym, or finish up those household chores that seem to pile up every day!

3) Things in the past: What’s done is done. Unfortunately you can’t

change what was said or an opportunity that was missed. As a kid I used to dream about how great it would be to hit the rewind button on my life whenever I messed up.

Unfortunately, until that is invented, the only thing you can do is learn from those experiences and grow from it. Try not to make the same mistake twice, and knock down opportunity’s door when it arises again.

Having thick skin is important in today’s fast-paced, harsh reality of a world. Being able to let things bounce off of you as if you’re wearing Iron Man’s suit is a good trait to have and good for your health. Anything truly upsetting should be addressed, but if what is troubling you is something listed in those three categories, please take a minute, take a breath, and remember it isn’t worth the worry.

Pledge to Fitness is your local source for expertise in everything wellness. We offer a holistic approach that includes fitness, nutrition, pain correction, motivation and accountability. We’re only minutes away.

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BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 33

SPORTS

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by Angie Frederickson, staff writer

SportzBuzz, Jr. W

elcome to SportzBuzz, Jr., a column spotlighting neighborhood athletes in elementary and middle school.

Swimming with Olympians Sixth grader Meredith Frasier (top photo, at left) and Olympian Josh Davis (at right) say, “Hook ’em, Horns,” at The University of Texas swim camp. Former Longhorn swimmers who went on to compete with the U.S. Olympic swim team coach and inspire the young athletes at the annual summer camp. This was Meredith’s second year to attend, and she joined elite swimmers from across the country. A student at Annunciation Orthodox School, Meredith swims year round with the Briar Club and RICE Aquatics and practices four or five days each week. She hopes to continue swimming into high school, like her older sister Isabel, who swims with RICE Aquatics and Episcopal High School. After that, Meredith has her sights set on a college swim team and maybe even following in Josh Davis’ footsteps to the Olympics.

Comeback kids The West University Little League Minor AAA Threshers (middle photo) won the regular-season Minor AAA American division. Their impressive 122 record was well earned, as five of those victories were come-from-behind wins.

The boys celebrated under the Wallin Field scoreboard after their hard-fought victory over the AAA Bulls, when they were down by four runs and rallied to win 10-7. The comeback kids are (from left): head coach David Hartland, mascot Conrad Hartland, Matthew Newman, Blaine Stewart, Ryan Frew, Philip Khalil, James Davis, Campbell Hendee, Josh Horn, Charlie Allen, Bennett Hughes, Conner DuMay and assistant coach Edd Hendee; not pictured: Garrison Smith.

Sensational swimmer Duchesne Academy eighth grader Lindsey Regan (bottom photo) helped the Houston Racquet Club’s (HRC) summer swim team finish in second place at the Houston Country Club League Invitational Meet, which is HRC’s best finish in the club’s history. A competitive swimmer since age 5, Lindsey recently completed her ninth season on the HRC summer team and has raced at the Invitational Meet for the past eight years.

She placed fourth in the 13/14 girls 50-yard breaststroke, and she anchored the medley relay team that finished third, with the fastest time in many years. Breaststroke and butterfly are her favorite strokes, but she also competes in backstroke, freestyle and the individual medley. During the school year, Lindsey swims for the Houston Country Club League USA team and Duchesne Academy’s middle school team.

Editor’s note: Send your best high-resolution photos and behind-the-scenes stories about young local athletes, in both team and individual sports, to SportzBuzz, Jr. at info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Include all contact info, names, ages, grades and schools. Featured athletes must live in Buzz-circulation neighborhoods. Items will be published on a space-available basis.

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 34

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Update on antihistamines The good news is that you don’t need a doctor’s prescription to get most antihistamines nowadays. In 2017, Xyzal was released from prescriptiononly to over-the-counter. The bad news is you’re not sure which to choose, and your insurance won’t pay for them. First of all, do you need an antihistamine? They treat runny nose, watery eyes, itchy nose/eyes and sneezing.

But they don’t help for stuffy nose, sinus pressure or headache – look to decongestants like Sudafed for those symptoms. Some of the antihistamines to consider are Allegra, Benadryl, Claritin, Zyrtec, Clarinex and Xyzal.

Allegra’s benefits are that it is powerful and has the least chance to make you sleepy. On the downside, if you drink grapefruit or orange juice within four hours of taking Allegra, it won’t be absorbed completely. Also, Allegra has the slowest onset of action of this group (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2011;128:1139-50) while Zyrtec and Benadryl work the fastest. That’s not a problem if you take Allegra every day since it works for 24 hours, but could be a problem if you just need it once in a while.

Benadryl works quickly and is very effective. But Benadryl’s active ingredient, diphenhydramine, moonlights as a sleeping pill (e.g., Tylenol Simply Sleep or Sominex). That’s great if you’re itchy and you need some sleep, but not so great if you need relief at the beginning of a long day.

Claritin is a very safe medication, and it shouldn’t make you sleepy at the 10 mg dose. The FDA rates it category B for safety in pregnancy. Claritin’s tiny pill is the easiest to swallow. But Claritin is the least effective in the group – it frequently doesn’t work until you take 20 mg, and that dose might make you sleepy.

Zyrtec is also rated pregnancy category B, goes to work quickly, and is

very effective. But Zyrtec might make you sleepy.

While Zyrtec isn’t as sedating as Benadryl, it still makes about 15 percent of people sleepy.

Xyzal and Clarinex are two examples of the newest generation of antihistamines. Think of Xyzal as an "improved" version of Zyrtec and Clarinex as an "improved" version of Claritin.

Both Xyzal and Clarinex claim to carry improved efficacy with fewer side effects as compared to their respective predecessors. While Xyzal is now over the counter, Clarinex remains prescription-only.

Each antihistamine has its advantages and disadvantages. Insurance companies usually won't pay for them any more since they are non-prescription. However, if you have an FSA account (flex plan) at work, you can use pre-tax money to pay for them. Remember that the generic versions of Claritin, Zyrtec, Benadryl and Allegra can be had for much less than their brand name counterparts.

No one nose allergies like we do.™ Note: Information contained in this article should not be considered a substitute for consultation with a board-certified allergist to address individual medical needs.

Christopher Koch, PA-C, The Allergy Clinic, 7707 Fannin, Suite 100, Houston, Texas 77054, 713.797.0993, *1200 Binz, Suite 180, Houston, Texas 77004, 713.522.9911, www.allergyclinic.com, *Operating as Houston Allergy and Asthma Clinic

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SURPASSING STEREOTYPES Noa Strauss, a rising eighth grader at The Emery/Weiner School, shares an excerpt of a speech she read at the middle school’s Kallah program about what it’s like to have Tourette’s Syndrome.

KIDS

by Noa Strauss, age 13

Buzz Kidz

What having Tourette’s is like

W

hen you look at me, what do you see? A 13 year old with frizzy red hair and sunburned skin. I like sports and work hard in school. But do you know about my Tourette’s?

One evening I overheard an adult jokingly make a comment about someone else, saying, “It’s not like that girl has Tourette’s or something and cusses all the time.” My world froze!

The worst stereotypes came crashing into reality.

Not everyone understands Tourette’s – and I need to educate you so this won’t happen to anyone else. Luckily, I’ve never been bullied, but many kids with Tourette’s are.

Tourette’s Syndrome is a neurological disorder, which often begins between ages 2 and 21. Mine was diagnosed at age 5 and probably will last a lifetime, but less complicated cases can get better

as the person matures. Many people have “habits” known as tics. To be diagnosed with Tourette’s, you must have multiple motor tics and at least one vocal tic that lasts for at least a year.

Tourette’s can range from mild to complex, where it’s hard for a person to perform basic tasks without constantly ticking. What does a tic feel like? It’s almost like when you have an itch. It’s bothering you, and the longer you wait the more urgent it gets. You just have to do it, and once you do it’s a HUGE sigh of relief. Yes! I scratched the itch, phew.

I’ve made huge progress with my Tourette’s, and many classmates have never seen or heard any of my tics. When I was younger, my parents and I worked with therapists on techniques to control my anxiety, ADHD and OCD, which

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are common in people with Tourette’s.

You may have seen Tourette’s stereotyped on movies as a person who shouts out bad words uncontrollably. This is called “Coprolalia.” Only a very small percentage of people with Tourette’s have this disorder. However, it seems to be the most widely portrayed.

As Rabbi Hillel taught, “Don’t do to others what you would not want them to do to you.” This reminds us that no matter people’s differences, you should treat others well if you want to be treated the same way.

Want to be a Buzz Kid? Email approximately 350 words, a high-resolution photo and caption to info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Or mail it to The Buzz Magazines, 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401.

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A minute with Maisie

STH Fine Arts: truly fine

Many clients ask me, “What do you do when your co-parent refuses to follow the court order?” Texas courts issue orders every day with the expectation that parties will follow them and avoid the need for further litigation. However, family law cases involve ex-spouses, blended families and children’s changing needs and activities. Therefore, when a co-parent refuses to follow a court order, the legal remedy is to file an enforcement action requesting the court to punish the person and request attorney’s fees. These are very technical pleadings and require significant detail so it is best to try to work out your differences and rely on an enforcement action as a last resort. Always try to communicate with the other parent about these issues without involving the children. However, if you have tried to communicate but the other parent refuses to cooperate with you, an enforcement action may be the correct course of action.

Maisie A. Barringer is a partner at Jenkins & Kamin, L.L.P., a full-service, boutique, family-law firm specializing in divorce, child-custody modifications, grandparent access, paternity, adoption, and premarital and postmarital agreements. Maisie A. Barringer has been recognized as a Texas Rising Star by Texas Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters service printed in Texas Monthly magazine for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013.

Jenkins & Kamin, L.L.P., Maisie A. Barringer, Partner, Board Certified in Family Law, Two Greenway Plaza, Suite 600, Houston, Texas 77046, 713.600.5500, www.jenkinskamin.com

St. Thomas High School has consistently embraced the opportunity to broaden the creative horizons and foster the confidence of Eagle students while giving them the opportunity to showcase their craft beyond the classroom.

Nine Eagles were honored at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, locally sponsored by the Harris County Department of Education. They were the latest in a series of recognized St. Thomas students led by dean Mike Nebel.

William Castillo became the first-ever Eagle to be honored with a Gold Key in Drawing and Illustration, one of only 80 Gold Keys awarded from more than 1,500 entries from private and public schools.

Nick Phan was recognized with two Gold Keys in Ceramics and Glass, while Ryan Philipps, Nicholas Rodriguez, Michael Sides and Daniel Silguero each earned one as well.

Sides also collected two Silver Key distinctions, along with Matthew Coughlin, with Baxter Jones and Robert Wight adding one each, and Wight also receiving an Honorable Mention.

The Gold Key-winning Eagle artists represented six of the 11 Gold Keys from the region who advance to the national level in New York.

“We had more students in the competition than ever before and received more recognition than ever before,” Nebel said. “That’s what I look for, the percentage of students who are recognized.”

St. Thomas High School, 4500 Memorial Dr., Houston, Texas 77007, 713.864.6348, www.sths.org

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PETS

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Say no to hot dogs

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Blaze, 2, and Shiner, 4 months, Havanese, Cedar St. I’m Blaze, and I’m 2. The little one beside me, Shiner, is my brother from another mother (literally). He’s just 4 months old. Most people mistake us for Shih Tzus, but we are not. We are Havanese, a breed that originated from Cuba. Most evenings, you can find my family and me strolling the streets of Bellaire, walking through Paseo Park, greeting other dogs and humans. I love to sneak on the Bellaire Little League baseball field and play fetch with my father (shhh). Shiner doesn’t quite understand the game yet. He just watches. You can also frequently find us dining on the patios of pet-friendly restaurants. I’m looking forward to our annual vacation to Breckenridge, where I will get to show Shiner all my favorite hiking trails. Follow our Instagram page, @blaze.for.days.

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Hot dogs are a classic part of many summer cookouts and picnics.

However, with respect to our four-legged friends, a “hot dog” is something responsible pet owners should always worry about.

Countless pets suffer heat exhaustion, heat stroke or even death during summer months in the Gulf Coast area, and August is one of our hottest months of the year. Here are some important tips to keep your dog safe: Never believe your dog is fully acclimated to the heat. Even dogs that spend a lot of time outdoors are at risk in Houston’s climate, especially small dogs, heavy coated dogs, young dogs, senior dogs and short-nosed dogs like pugs and bulldogs. Avoid vigorously exercising your dog (like jogging or chasing balls) on very warm days. Provide your pet with a constant source of fresh water, and plenty of it, as well as lots of shade. Shallow wading pools in the backyard are great.

You can even find special “cooling vests” and bandanas to help keep your pet cooler. And just like children, never leave your dog alone in the car on a hot day! Outside temperatures in the 80s or 90s can cause the temperature inside your car to rise to dangerously high levels within a few minutes. If you see any possible signs of heat stress, call a veterinarian immediately.

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Meningitis – a real risk

Too warm inside the house?

Life is fragile…. I am reminded as I care for a baby whose life is threatened by bacterial meningitis. Infection of the spinal fluid and tissues around the brain (meninges) can progress rapidly. As pressure builds in the brain, bacterial meningitis can take a healthy child to the brink of death in a matter of one day.

Early signs of meningitis in a baby can be irritability, a full soft spot and vomiting.

Older children may have headache, vomiting, rash or stiff neck. Fever is often present.

Children with severe headaches and inconsolable infants need prompt evaluation. Meningitis is diagnosed with a spinal tap. Viral meningitis is treated with supportive care. Bacterial meningitis has a high death rate and requires IV antibiotics for several weeks. For children who survive, complications can include mental retardation, hearing loss, kidney failure, limb amputations and cerebral palsy.

What can you do to prevent meningitis for your child? Most cases of bacterial meningitis can be prevented by vaccinating. We have excellent vaccines available in the USA for infants and children to prevent meningitis due to pneumococcus (PCV), haemophilus (Hib) and meningococcus (MCV).

Vaccines are not scary, but meningitis is! Protect your child. Vaccinate.

Nurture Pediatrics, Dr. Janet Pate, 6900 S. Rice Ave, Bellaire, Texas 77401, 713.894.2751, www.nurturepediatric.com

As we are almost through the summer months and now in the month of August (the hottest), I’m sure many of you are noticing that your home is getting warmer during certain parts of the day. Aside from the discomfort that can come from warmer temperatures, they can cause your air conditioner to run longer, which runs up your electricity bill.

There are many things that can be done to help combat the high temperatures and summer rays piercing into your home. A common solution is to insulate the home. The year in which your home was built will determine what “R value” you need (R value is the maximum amount that the insulating material can resist heat or preserve heat). There are many companies that will sell you insulation and their services, but it’s important to know that many of the homes in Bellaire may not need additional insulation because of the high standards they had to meet in order to pass inspection. There are other factors that can affect heat in homes that may require an upgrade, such as windows, siding, doors and roofing. We can assist you with these to make you more comfortable and your energy bill more affordable.

If you’re needing repairs, or considering a remodel or upgrade on your home, contact Luria Construction, LLC, a fully insured company owned by Aaron Lewis, who is a Bellaire native and still resides in the City of Bellaire.

Luria Construction, LLC, www.luriaconstruction.com, 713.828.2155

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 39

NEIGHBORS

.

by Annie Blaylock McQueen, staff writer

Buzz About Town Relay victory

Episcopal High School) from St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, earned the rank of Eagle Scout. Biegler’s Eagle Scout project was to improve the playground at St. Andrews’ church on Buffalo Speedway. He removed a hill to free up the area and built several benches and garden barriers. Dittoe helped design and build two custom rolling book carts, each able to hold 1,000 pounds of books for Books Between Kids. Reid’s project was The Buffalo Bayou Cleanup – a project focused on teaching volunteers about the environment of the Buffalo Bayou as well as leading volunteers to clean up a five-mile stretch of the bayou. They collected over 300 pounds of trash and recycling.

With Belles on The 11- and 12-year-old boys’ freestyle-relay team from the Willow Wahoo swim team won first place at the Southwest Aquatic League Finals.

The boys started practicing in May in preparation for the race. Pictured (from left) are Jack Neumayr, Zach Gosda, Cian Grimes and Luke Brandt. They will be attending Pershing Middle School and Pin Oak Middle School in the fall.

The Willow Wahoo swim team won second place this year. After the final results were announced, swimmers jumped into the pool to celebrate.

Scout’s honor

Members of Boy Scout Troop 125, including (pictured, from left) Ryan Dittoe (of St. Pius X High School), Joshua Biegler (of Strake Jesuit College Preparatory) and Clayton Reid (of BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 40

The Bellaire High School Belles Dance Team celebrated the Fourth of July together. The team lined up in the Bellaire Triangle at 8:30 a.m. to prepare to march through the streets in the City of Bellaire Fourth of July parade.

This year’s theme was America’s Superheroes. Afterwards, they supervised the jousting and jumping activities at the City’s Fourth festival.

Loveable Liam Maggie Farrar (pictured) and her husband Dale, and Linda and Philip Boyko are smitten with their new grandchild. On June 14, parents Ryan and Tova Farrar welcomed their baby boy, Liam Joseph Farrar, at The Woman’s Hospital of Texas. He is the fourth grandchild for Maggie and Dale ("Mags" and "Pops," as their grandchildren call them). However, he’s their first grandson. Their granddaughters include Ryan’s sister Megan Beauchamp and her husband Brad’s daughters, Mary Merle, who will turn 4 in August, and 2-year-old twins, Annabelle and Georgia. Liam is the first grandchild for Tova’s parents, Linda and Philip, who will wait for Liam to come up with their grandparent name once he can talk. The couple says they feel blessed having the best two sets of babysitters around the block in Bellaire and in downtown Houston, where the Boykos live.

Liam weighed in at 8 pounds, 13 ounces.

Victory off the field Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien led the Houston Texans to seven home victories, so it was no surprise he was a big (continued on page 42)

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 41

Simply Photography

(continued from page 40) hit headlining a recent

event for the Easter Seals of Greater Houston, Inc. Caroline and Sam Chase III (pictured, at left with O’Brien and his wife Colleen).

Elizabeth DeLuca and Colleen O’Brien hosted An Evening with Coach Bill O'Brien benefiting Easter Seals’ Caroline School Operating Endowment at Ibiza. The Caroline School provides educational opportunities for people with disabilities. Houstonians, including Melissa Juneau, Stephanie Pai Fleck, Garrett Jackson, Pilar Colvin, Tracey Hull, Ryan Liles, Beth and Jim Watt, Paul Bredthauer, Barby Weiner, Patty Dominguez and Mark Taylor, joined in the event. Easter Seals Greater Houston provides services to people with all types of disabilities, as well as to their family members.

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 42

An annual tradition

of July celebration festival at Bellaire Town Square following the annual parade. Residents and friends dressed in red, white and blue cheered as patriotic, decorative floats, school bands, Boy Scout troops and classic cars passed by. Closing off the parade was a festival for the families to enjoy games, food and live music.

Volunteers kick it off

Scouts from Troop 211, including (pictured, from left) Wolfy Neukomm, Sean Sisolak and Raumeen Seifi, worked a booth at the Fourth

Bel Inizio, a non-profit that helps disadvantaged women enhance their self-confidence and life skills through fitness and nutrition, kicked off a summer program that offers nutritional guidance, mentoring and fitness workshops. It’s twice a week for two months and offers women the chance to set a goal and learn how to keep it. Coaches and volunteers (continued on page 44)

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(continued from page 42) gathered,

including Mercedes Avionn (pictured, back row, right), Tammy Nguyen (front row, second from right), Justena Sam (front row, fourth from the right), Jessica Ferguson (fifth from the left) and Rachel Husiman (not pictured).

Priscilla Dickson

The gift of life

Holocaust Museum Houston’s capital campaign is underway with plans for a $33.8 million expansion. Longtime HMH supporter and philanthropist Lester Smith found himself in a near-death experience as he underwent a double lung transplant last year. The lung donation came from a random stranger who died in a car accident. While recovering in his hospital bed after surgery, Lester knew what he wanted to do with his second chance. He and his wife Sue committed to a $15 million matching grant to the project. On June 20, he stood before a packed room at the expansion announcement, in tears. He said, “There is nothing like a nearBELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 44

death experience to put one's life in perspective, and you ask yourself, 'Did I do everything I could to make this world a better place?'" The new building will be named Holocaust Museum Houston, Lester and Sue Smith Campus. In May, the museum also celebrated its 22nd Lyndon Baines Johnson Moral Courage Award Dinner at the Marriott Marquis Houston. The annual dinner raised more than $1.25 million to support educational programs of the museum.

Pictured (from left) are chair Gary Markowitz, museum CEO Dr. Kelly J. Zúñiga and former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman. The Smiths surprised guests with a $1 million donation that night.

Chairing this year’s award dinner were Ira Mitzner and Fred Zeidman, along with their families. Serving as honorary chairs were pastor John and Diana Hagee, Barbara and Gerald Hines, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, and Sylvester Turner, mayor of Houston.

City, N.C.) and Philip Davis (an incoming junior at Reynolds Hockey Academy), stood on the podium after battling heavy rain, muddy conditions and other obstacles in the USA Triathlon Off-Road National Championships. The race took place at DeGray Lake and Iron Mountain.

D.C. tour

The course covered a 1,500-meter swim, 32kilometer mountain bike and 10-kilometer trail run. Clark placed second and Davis placed third.

Both local teens qualified for world championships in July. Both local teens qualified for world championships. In July, Jared finished first and Philip placed second in the Texas High School Triathlon State Championship.

Four lucky students from Horn Elementary, including (pictured, from left) Sam Lack, Ashley York, Audrey Hochglaube and Amelia Foley, went to Washington D.C. with fifth-grade teacher Liz Ueckert through Explore America tours. They were able to visit The White House, Smithsonian museums, Washington Monument and more.

Through the woods Teen competitors, including (pictured, from left) Jared Clark (an incoming junior at Bellaire High School), DeWight Winchester (of Bryson

Be seen in Buzz About Town. Send your high-res photos and community news to info@thebuzzmagazines.com.

Items are published on a space-available basis. Also share your upcoming-event listings on thebuzzmagazines.com.

Celebrating 22 years of serving Bellaire homeowners with excellence.

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BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 45

NEIGHBORS

.

by Andria Frankfort, staff writer

Back Porch

Airing our dirty laundry

BELLAIRE BUZZ AUGUST 2017 46

behance.net/runamokstudios

I

n life, there are Facebook opportunities everyone wants to share. Proud parent moments. Reunions with friends. Beautiful family pictures. Even sad times.

Then there’s the stuff that’s neither shared nor hidden. It just is.

Then there’s the unspeakable.

I found this out on Mother’s Day, when we realized one of the beds in our house had –I cannot believe I am writing this – bed bugs. Just typing the words screws my face up and sends me gagging. Let me say this was a minor case, and we immediately had the whole house professionally treated after literally washing and dry cleaning everything in sight and vacuuming, in a frenzy, every crevice in the house. We’re clean, clean, clean (as I cross my fingers, two months later).

But back to the subject. The next day, as I was in what I can only describe as full panic mode, my mom asked her friends at lunch if anyone had ever had bed bugs. One woman, Mom told me, silently looked down, screwed up her face and shook her head. Yes, she had them about two years ago. But she had never told a soul.

Well, thank goodness she fessed up, because her advice was gold, and I could finally breathe knowing someone else had lived through this plague.

Which got me thinking: What other atrocities are people dealing with but decline to share?

I started asking around. I found out there’s a whole lot going on out there that we never hear about. Like the young couple who’s just moved into a new house, “a very expensive house, not a fixer-upper,” says the wife. They have a newborn baby. And rats.

“The story is so disgusting,” she says. “First, we found an apple sitting on the kitchen island that looked eaten. Then, we noticed droppings, and I looked it up and was like, ‘Oh, that’s definitely a rat.’

“So we had the exterminator come out. He put out poison, so we were like, ‘This is taken care of.’

“A couple weeks later I turned on the oven and was like, ‘What’s this smell?’ It was really weird, so we cleaned the oven but didn’t think anything. But the next time we used the oven, we made the connection that the smell was the rats. We pulled out the oven, and there were droppings all over where they were coming in

OH, RATS! Critters are ubiquitous in Houston. We just don't like to talk about it when they set up camp inside our homes. (Or ovens.)

through a tiny hole in the connection and pooping and peeing in the oven. I can’t even. I was like, ‘There goes the oven.’

“That’s when I freaked out. I don’t scare easily.

We’ve had roaches. But this was just too much.

Have you ever heard of the movie El Norte that everyone watched in Spanish class? About this brother and sister and they get stuck in a drainpipe and they get attacked by rats and the sister dies? I’m telling my husband this is El Norte!”

The couple says they’re controlling the problem with poison and will be for a long time.

Also, she says, “We’ve just ordered a new oven.”

Another family in a beautiful home has moths. All over. “My child did a semester abroad, so his stuff got stored in the basement of the dorm,” the wife says. “Boxes came home for the summer and got thrown in the closet. Maybe a month later we started noticing tiny moths flying around. I went into the closet and saw these little cocoons hanging from the ceiling, and when I started looking with a keen eye, there

were hundreds of them. Then I went into the bedroom and saw, in the corner of the room, all these cocoons that had hatched. It had obviously been going on for a long time.

“I called the exterminator, who said, ‘You have to send all the clothes and every rug to the dry cleaners and rip out every wool rug, all at the same time. Then we’ll set off a bug bomb, then you’re good to go.’ I was like, ‘That is never going to happen.’ I’d rather crawl around looking for cocoons and vacuum like crazy and spray some bug spray.”

And that’s what this homeowner is still doing, some two years later. “Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and think, ‘They’re going to eat all my Oriental rugs. Because inevitably it’s your most favorite fabulous sweater they get to. They only eat cashmere, not the dumb wool socks. But if you’re diligent, they’re manageable.”

And by the way, did I mention that my house is very clean?

TRUST LOOKS LIKE THIS.

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