Frog Pond Part 1

 Saturday Morning it was off to the Boston Frog Pond Park  for a kids' morning out.  When we arrived Rachel and Josh's family were already hard at play.

Hmm, thinks he likes the slide?

  After greetings and checking things out, Gabby found a book and decided it was story time.  

Please sir, won't you read to me?

Come on guys, he's going to read!  Gather round...

 They children came from far and wide....

Stop talking daddy and get back to the story

You know dad, the view from over here sucks!

Book finished it was back to the jungle gym for Noah and off to new corners for Gabby (and Laura)

Saba and Eva opted to commune with the dinosaur.

 Rumor had it there were more kids on the horizon - what could that be? Was that the clarion call of the Bleisenbergs approaching the carousel?

To Boston To Boston to............

Well, I've been beaten by Rachel and Kate as to reporting on our Boston trip but that just means I have less to write.  This was the week for Zack to graduate with his PsyD and a Blumkin Boy weekend had been in the planning stages for months.  We took off first thing on Friday to get in a little Pytel time and succeeded in arriving while both the kids were asleep.  What a treat to get to chat with Rachel for a few minutes!

We continue to be blown away by how quickly the kids are growing up and how huge the changes are from month to month.  Eva is a sponge....


 She notices everything

And Gets a kick out of it!

          While Melenie got to pretend she was the Autobahn Rachel got out of the house on her own for a while.

 Eva didn't have much to say although she clearly enjoys watching her brother do most anything

 I think she's working on some new comments.

  Later we went out for a walk, played in the back yard, chased the basketball and frisbee, poured water all over everything (except Eva) and generally wore ourselves out.

Chad came home bearing Tai food and we got to enjoy Shabbos, dinner and Eva's introduction to carrots.  Carrots were a winner.

After dinner it only took us three false starts to get more than a mile from the house and off to the hotel. First we forgot a phone, then a camera, then an ipad.  Pretty pitiful.

   Clearly time to crash.  Well David crashed, Melanie joined the boys at the bar......

May Visit

Ok, over a month late I know but back in May Rachel, Noah, and Eva came to visit.  I'm not sure what her verdict was on the 6 hour trip (other than it was long) but we are sure glad she made it - and hope it didn't scare her off for another.

Upon arrival Noah  first checked out the animals before but Eva looked a bit stunned: not quite sure what had just happened.  Everyone soon settled in and it was time to burn off some energy.

 Noah has learned to run!





Does Rachel look excited at the prospect of chasing a running child?


Over the few days we got to take walks, play with both kids and Noah was particularly taken with the idea of a bird sitting on Nana's head (photo to follow soon).  He was great about standing still so the the bird would come near and take a bath, but it was just too exciting to stay still once that happened and he just had to jump up and down.  So the bird left.

There was also a visit to Ithaca to see their great-grandparents as well as a trip up to T-burg to visit Ellie and Sue.

As always, we were struck by how much energy it takes to raise kids.

Passover in Madison Part 2

The next day saw the arrival of the Provan's.  We had a few moments to catch up with each other when the women all departed  for a little sort of surprise for Sarah.

Could it be that there was some more Champagne?

Any chance these two are related:

 

    Sunday night Chad and Rachel were sent off to celebrate their anniversary.  Sarah and Alex volunteered to take on the babysitting duties.  Eventually Rachel stopped calling every hour to check on things which were well in hand.  The Grandparents eventually left and Noah and Eva were the ideal house guests.

Monday Morning saw an early morning return to the kitchen.  Food to be cooked, tables and chairs to be rounded up. Kids to be enjoyed. Did I say food to be cooked?   Noah did a great job setting the table.  He did have some assistance, but he made a good share of the decisions.

The Mother's Club - some dispute on who's in charge!        

   The Seder started at 5:00 PM Swedish Time.  We enjoyed the presence of the Swedish contingent via Skype on the iPad.  Debra, Nils, and Ami joined us with Debra lighting the candles to start the holiday.     We've tried the Skype thing before, but before this it was disappointing.  First off was the fact that it was after Midnight in Sweden and then there was no sense of communication.    This year we put the iPad in the middle of the table and Debra was free to put in her two cents and we could talk freely with the Swedes.  Then of course there was the discussion of the importance of questions for the holiday.  When asked if he had any questions, Noah started things off with "When are we going to eat?"  We learned what "Why is this night different" sounds like in Swedish and we were off with everyone sharing the reading and discussion.

       We signed off the iPad for dinner.  The food, as expected, was incredible.  Besides a wonderful assortment of dishes for the meal, the desert of Strawberries Romanoff was a big hit.  No one left hungry.
  Still not quite sure about what Debra subbed as gluten free Matzah.  Never considered the implications of a gluten free diet on Passover food, let alone the challenge (OK impossibility) of finding Pesadic products in Smalandsstenar.  After the meal, Noah, Leslie and Caroline helped by finding the Afikomen and we hooked back up with the Swedes.  We finished off with a good round of songs and then Norm impressed us all with his rendition of Chad Gadya.

                                                           Next year in Tully.

Passover in Madison Part 1

Sarah called for a Seder in Madison and people arrived from both coasts for the event. She further arranged for the Seder to take place so that Nils and Debra could be part of it via Skype, and not have to stay up till 3 in the morning.

        Melanie and David arrived on Friday to be picked up in Sarah new Mini then off to the house to mellow out with Max till Alex arrived and we went off to dinner.

 
  The next morning  was chilly - oh yes and a bit of snow flew, but Noah wanted to go out.  After two playgrounds, extensive bird chasing and exploration David started getting pretty cold.  Noah didn't care.  We won't expand on what Saba had to say to finally convince him to come in.

Later that Saturday, Rachel and Chad arrived after they pilgrimage from Boston with Eva and Noah.  Ellie and Sue also arrived from Trumansburg.


     As you might imagine, there was much holding of children.

During all this of course was the issue of preparing food for Monday.   The kitchen stayed pretty busy the whole weekend.  To keep Max entertained  we borrowed a neighbor to come over and try to wear him out before things got really crazy.

 


Little did they know, but there was a surprise was a surprise party held that night after dinner for Sue and Ellie.   That came off without a hitch.

There was much laughter and yes, I think the first of the Champagne appeared.