Mine was apparently at home. In the morning D takes S by bike to school. He drops him off at the top of hill and he walks the rest of the way. This is maybe a 5 minute walk, even for an almost 5 year old. This morning was no different. Everything went smooth, dressed, breakfast and all on time. He is getting a cold so there was a momentary protest of not going to school, but after a promise of a new movie after a successful day at school all was well. Or so I thought.........D and S left at 8:45 AM and here I am merrily chatting away with my sister on the phone. She is by a nature a night owl which makes mid-morning a great time to chat for both of us. So it is 10:00 AM and I can hear the phone line sizzling we have been at so long; when the front door opens. I am thinking it is one of the twins playing with the door when all of a sudden, who should appear but my darling oldest who is supposed well entrenched in the riggers of school by this time. Mind you this is the kid who hates walking home every day after school with me. But he managed to walk all that way home by himself, being sick instead of sticking out and waiting for me and a chance at taking the bus, although slim to none. So he is now in bed and quarantined for the rest of the day with no hope of parole until tomorrow when he will go to school unless I seem something more serious than a cough. Yes, he does have a little cold, but we have it on good authority that he can still go to school like that and survive. We have also been told that he is behind because of his attendance for missing school for things like this. So we are being more strict in this department. D has been for it all along, but I have been slow in getting on board with it. So, hopefully our little delinquent has learned his lesson and so have we. From now on he gets front door service to school, but I am going to have him start meeting me half way now instead of getting him right from school. If he can walk home sick, then he can make it when he is healthy and then I don't have to cart 50+ extra lbs. up the hill in a stroller.
So do you know where your kid is? We all think we do don't we...............
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Family and the Holidays
The past month we have spent celebrating the Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah. It starts with the celebration of the mark of a new year and a time of self evaluation and asking forgiveness from those around for any harm or bad feelings we may have caused. Yom Kippur is the day of Judgement when G-d decides the fate of all the people of the world and who will be inscribed in the book of life and who will die, and also how each person's life will be shaped. How many blessings and curses will each person receive, illness or health, money or poverty and so on. Then we have Sukkot which in Christian Terminology is known as the week of Booths. We put up a little house outside on our deck and sleep in it for a week and basically live there. All meals are eaten outside and we try to spend as much time as possible out there. The week is ended with Simchat Torah where we finish reading the end of the Torah and begin again. It is about a month of self reflection, eating big meals, with a fast day for Yom Kippur and trying to think about how we want to better ourselves and celebrating our Jewish heritage. It is always an amazing time and a lot of fun.
This year was particularly great because we spent Rosh Hashana in Jerusalem and had a really nice time seeing a lot of friends that we don't see often now that we are in Beitar. But also because and this is the best part of all, my mom and aunt came for two full weeks and were here for Sukkot and the week after. I have not seen my mom and aunt in nearly two years and it is 3&1/2 for the rest of the crew save my in-laws who trek out twice a year.
It was so much fun having them here. Not just for my own selfish reasons which is that I miss them like crazy, but even more so because the kids are now old enough to really see them and remember them. The twins were just 9mo. old when they came last and now they are nearly 2&1/2. S was only 3 and now is nearly 5 and got to see them in a different light too. Seeing the way they interacted with the kids reminded me of when I was a kid and that was fun too. My aunt always had goodies for us as kids and spent hours reading and playing with us. It was so much fun to see the kids do the same and of course now my mom gets to join in too and I got a very nice break. I even got help with kitchen and laundry duty and a few other things as well. Hallelujah! We also got to do some really cool things as well.
The first week we spent up North touring around. The highlights were Nimrod's fortress, the Temple of Pan, a really neat wildlife preserve and a visit to Tsfat. To sum up Nimrod was a descendant of Noah and built the Tower of Babel. The fortress sits up on a hill and from there both the borders of Lebanon and Syria can be viewed. It is really a breathtaking sight. The temple of Pan is a Roman sight where they worshiped their idols during the time of Roman occupation. It is a huge area and we only saw a tiny spot because as usual we ran out of time..........The wildlife preserve was also near our Northern borders in the Chula Valley and amongst the many critters are birds who come to migrate maybe two weeks out the year there and we got to see them come in. Nice day. And Tsfat is considered one of the most religious spots in Israel and is also quite historic with some synagouges dating back to about the 14th century. This city also housed t he headquarters for the Palmach group in the 40's which was an underground group that helped defend Israel. This is just a tiny idea about what the city is, but it is one of our favorite places and it was fun to be able to share. The following week we spent in Jerusalem. Trips included the zoo, the Old City and trip to Brooklyn Bakery in Geula, a religious neighborhood in Jerusalem with some of the best goodies in the country.
Suffice to say we ate really well for two weeks straight and we are all just a tad bit spoiled. But we are adjusting to life as mere mortals again! :) There is so much to say about this visit, a blog can't do it justice, but of the things that stand out here are some highlights and quotes. The trips were amazing, but for me having my mom and aunt there to share my birthday was about tops. My mom and D went nuts on the dessert and we had cheesecake and cream puffs and my mom made my birthday lunch. It was really cool.
For the kids it was probably the trip to the zoo. It took the four of us adults to keep up with the three of them! The kids loved showing the grands around and getting help from them at the petting zoo and we adults learned some neat things too. For instance, did you know that when a male tortoise is so inspired he can make noise? I am not kidding we actually witnessed this and we were laughing. They had quite an audience as this is something not witnessed every day. We also saw a very twitterpated male kangaroo chasing his mate.
But my favorite quote of all time came from S. This is a line only family will truly understand, "Can I stop smiling yet?" This came in the first week when we were up North at Nimrod's fortress as S posed for yet another photo opp! I think my sister and I used to ask the same question as kids, if not we were thinking it! My mom and aunt are notorious for the copius amounts of photos they take. Especially now in the age of digital where you can discard and re-take on the spot. But I am so glad that they do as it ensures that the rest of us get them too! But it really made me laugh! However, my mom now understands why " I can't just take one photo of all three kids "looking normal!" Two weeks of straight trying and I don't think she was succesful once!
The two weeks were amazing and went by all too fast. Now on Sunday my in-laws will be here for 8 days for their regularly scheduled fall trip. It is nice for the kids to have everyone here all at once and we are looking forward to it as well. It makes us feel not so far from home if we get to see everyone all at once.
That's it for now, will try to update again after all the family leaves.
This year was particularly great because we spent Rosh Hashana in Jerusalem and had a really nice time seeing a lot of friends that we don't see often now that we are in Beitar. But also because and this is the best part of all, my mom and aunt came for two full weeks and were here for Sukkot and the week after. I have not seen my mom and aunt in nearly two years and it is 3&1/2 for the rest of the crew save my in-laws who trek out twice a year.
It was so much fun having them here. Not just for my own selfish reasons which is that I miss them like crazy, but even more so because the kids are now old enough to really see them and remember them. The twins were just 9mo. old when they came last and now they are nearly 2&1/2. S was only 3 and now is nearly 5 and got to see them in a different light too. Seeing the way they interacted with the kids reminded me of when I was a kid and that was fun too. My aunt always had goodies for us as kids and spent hours reading and playing with us. It was so much fun to see the kids do the same and of course now my mom gets to join in too and I got a very nice break. I even got help with kitchen and laundry duty and a few other things as well. Hallelujah! We also got to do some really cool things as well.
The first week we spent up North touring around. The highlights were Nimrod's fortress, the Temple of Pan, a really neat wildlife preserve and a visit to Tsfat. To sum up Nimrod was a descendant of Noah and built the Tower of Babel. The fortress sits up on a hill and from there both the borders of Lebanon and Syria can be viewed. It is really a breathtaking sight. The temple of Pan is a Roman sight where they worshiped their idols during the time of Roman occupation. It is a huge area and we only saw a tiny spot because as usual we ran out of time..........The wildlife preserve was also near our Northern borders in the Chula Valley and amongst the many critters are birds who come to migrate maybe two weeks out the year there and we got to see them come in. Nice day. And Tsfat is considered one of the most religious spots in Israel and is also quite historic with some synagouges dating back to about the 14th century. This city also housed t he headquarters for the Palmach group in the 40's which was an underground group that helped defend Israel. This is just a tiny idea about what the city is, but it is one of our favorite places and it was fun to be able to share. The following week we spent in Jerusalem. Trips included the zoo, the Old City and trip to Brooklyn Bakery in Geula, a religious neighborhood in Jerusalem with some of the best goodies in the country.
Suffice to say we ate really well for two weeks straight and we are all just a tad bit spoiled. But we are adjusting to life as mere mortals again! :) There is so much to say about this visit, a blog can't do it justice, but of the things that stand out here are some highlights and quotes. The trips were amazing, but for me having my mom and aunt there to share my birthday was about tops. My mom and D went nuts on the dessert and we had cheesecake and cream puffs and my mom made my birthday lunch. It was really cool.
For the kids it was probably the trip to the zoo. It took the four of us adults to keep up with the three of them! The kids loved showing the grands around and getting help from them at the petting zoo and we adults learned some neat things too. For instance, did you know that when a male tortoise is so inspired he can make noise? I am not kidding we actually witnessed this and we were laughing. They had quite an audience as this is something not witnessed every day. We also saw a very twitterpated male kangaroo chasing his mate.
But my favorite quote of all time came from S. This is a line only family will truly understand, "Can I stop smiling yet?" This came in the first week when we were up North at Nimrod's fortress as S posed for yet another photo opp! I think my sister and I used to ask the same question as kids, if not we were thinking it! My mom and aunt are notorious for the copius amounts of photos they take. Especially now in the age of digital where you can discard and re-take on the spot. But I am so glad that they do as it ensures that the rest of us get them too! But it really made me laugh! However, my mom now understands why " I can't just take one photo of all three kids "looking normal!" Two weeks of straight trying and I don't think she was succesful once!
The two weeks were amazing and went by all too fast. Now on Sunday my in-laws will be here for 8 days for their regularly scheduled fall trip. It is nice for the kids to have everyone here all at once and we are looking forward to it as well. It makes us feel not so far from home if we get to see everyone all at once.
That's it for now, will try to update again after all the family leaves.
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