Show time

Last month we heard from friends R and M that there was a live-action Disney "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" show coming to a local stadium. So after consulting with O for approximately 5 seconds and receiving the emphatic yes, we went in with them and got tickets. This was in advance of our recent Disney live show experience at the mothership, so I really had no idea what to expect. After the Disneyland show, I thought it might be something like that, though I was unclear on how they'd be scaling things up for a sports arena and hundreds (thousands?) of kids.

The show was today, preceded by an energetic lunch at a restaurant "in a rocket?!" Not quite, but the boys were both very excited. J had even graciously brought an extra whirling flashlight toy, as wise parents R and M had indicated the souvenir selling was alarmingly prevalent. After queuing up in the rain, and then explaining to O what precisely hockey is (seeing the signage for the Thunderbirds along the side of the building - ugh, I'm a failure as a sports-love-imbuing dad) we were into the venue -- which was indeed an arena decked out with thousands of seats while vendors hawked a number of Disney-themed wares (along with snacks). The show itself was not quite of the caliber of the one at Disneyland, with the puppets replaced by live actors (most of whom were accompanying their entirely lip-synced lines with highly exaggerated body movements -- designed to engage the preschoolers I suppose?) But the boys had a fabulous time and, as at the Magic Kingdom, the show ended with an explosion of "gold doubloons" (yellow tissue paper circles) showering down from the ceiling, which O of course once more collected, hoarded, and stuffed into his pockets while the staff tried to start shooing kids out for the later afternoon show. All in all, a fun and successful father/son date - thanks to R, M, and J for the invitation!

House, M.D.

Home! With a week of travel behind us, I am glad to report we are all home safe and sound this evening. After our Disneyland adventures, we had a full week of activities with the extended family and many friends in Los Angeles, despite various members of the family (kid and adult alike) falling ill with colds, coughs, and stomach bugs. But somehow despite it all we had a wonderful if exhausting time - and if we were sick, at least we could all help take care of each other along the way! Thankfully the boys were on the mend after their pre-trip bugs (though L got a brief bug towards the end) and ready to burn off much energy.

We set up shop in a very functional house in Redondo Beach, and stocked it with seemingly twice daily trips to grocery stores -- but managed to work our way through most of the food with dinners cooked for each other almost every evening. Friends B and R came one night for dinner and somehow ended up picking up the spatula and taking over the cooking for us - not quite sure how that happened, but we were most grateful to have them as guests! There were actually a steady stream of friends to see, both in the house and out and about.

Of course needless to say there were multiple trips to various parks with fabulous playgrounds, including one conveniently located a block from the house we rented. The boys even got out of the swings on occasion to slide, climb, run around, watch other kids bring crazy RC helicopter drones and flying cars (hey, it's 2015 now, right?).

Foodwise, we enjoyed our favorite burgers and grilled cheese drive through (twice even; I detoured our drive to the airport by a few blocks for a quick pre-flight lunch), grabbed some kosher deli, discovered the kids' favorite Seattle conveyor belt sushi now has a prime real estate Hollywood location, and Meh and I even got a date night at an excellent Manhattan Beach restaurant (thanks to our family for the free babysitting, and to friend J for the recommendation!).

And we did many of the tourist things that I'd actually never done when I actually lived here: we visited the lovely Getty Center, where the kids really enjoyed the automated train up to the campus (I actually was there for only about 15 minutes for drop-off and pick-up between meeting good friend J for his birthday lunch); the kids got to ride on a scale train and explore a bunch of old real trains at Griffith Park's railroad and Travel Town; we rode the Exposition Line light rail past my alma mater to check out the California Science Center's excellent Pompeii exhibit and the hangar housing the space shuttle Endeavor.

Meh got her cooking fix at Surfas, and B and J graciously surprised me with an early birthday present that restocked my tea supply from our favorite LA tea location. And of course we had a lovely time getting to know cousin M and spending time just hanging out with, as grandma would say, "the whole family". Hard to believe the week has already come and gone, and that this afternoon we were once more boarding a plane to come back home. The boys are already conked out, and the recovery period begins (perhaps unwisely along with the restart of school tomorrow) -- happy 2015 everyone!

Christmas dinner

When I first moved up to Seattle, I knew precisely one person, from a summer program she and I had attended while in college. Today, at long last, Meh and I took the family to her delightful and highly successful new(ish) bakery. Congrats to Robin! And a huge success with our own food critics; the boys were big fans of the giant cookie sandwiches.

I mentioned yesterday that Z loves associating holidays with months, and that he was very much looking forward to Christmas. When he learned that we don't actually "do" Christmas, he was sad -- though he certainly brightened up when I indicated we'd be in Disneyland for the holiday this year. And then friends-of-friends C and T expressed an interest in doing a bit of a 'cultural' exchange, where we'll host them for a Shabbat/Chanukah dinner in a few weeks. So tonight we went over to their house, which they had just finished decking out for the holiday (with not only tree and ornament, but also trains, model houses, and more), for a very November Christmas dinner. The kids made snickerdoodles, there was much playing (in two separate playrooms no less) with friends, and everyone even warmed up to the family's friendly golden retriever after a while. Some of the adults even busted out with carols, and it was a lovely evening. Happy almost December to everyone!

Double dates

With Thanksgiving now past us, Z has been focusing on the upcoming month and holiday associated with it - "In December we'll have Christmas!" Er, hm. But at least Chanukah makes the list as well. I do still love the selections (and spellings) that comprise the Z bank holiday calendar; my favorite is "short day", which we figured out to mean days where he has a half day at school.

Movie nights have been a popular non-school-night activity with the boys. Last night we at long last introduced the boys to Star Wars (and despite many online nearly religious debates of correct ordering, we opted to open with Episode IV). O definitively proved himself to be my son by declaring during the opening titles, "This music sounds like Superman!" Both boys had a great time, and O definitively stated that his favorite part "was where they blew up the bad guy space ship". We'll have to slot in the rest of the original trilogy soon; that prequel trilogy is still TBD.

Today the boys each had an activity with a non-parent. Mima and O had lunch at a shockingly original location before heading onward to the local art museum for a project making a toolbox. O did a fabulous job with his, and though the paint is still drying, he *really* wants to put all of the tools that used to go in a little plastic box into the new toolbox. And Z got to go to his favorite park with former summer camp counselor E, who was visiting from university for the long holiday weekend. When Z had heard about getting to hang out with E a few weeks ago, he was super excited -- so much so that on an art project that came home with the names of people he was thankful for, E showed up. (Fear not, the entire atomic family and grandparents made the list as well.) All in all, an excellent time for the boys, and some good quality time for Meh and me to spend with L as well!

Poetry reading

Z loves to write, spell, fill in the blanks, work with bananagram tiles, read, and come up with creative sentences. He loves doing the portions of his "table work" (homework) that involve words, interestingly strongly preferring them over math (though he does well with arithmetic as well). When there isn't school work to do, he will often fill pieces of paper with words or sentences. This has occasionally generated what I can only really describe as poetry; an excellent sampling from yesterday: "One night I dreamed above the moon. I see your favorite day because I love you. It was a busy day of writing."

This past week I took a trip to LA to speak at a few conferences (and while in town, I was also thankfully able to stop off and replenish our tea supply in addition to meetings and catching up with some friends). I returned home just in time to help greet friend M arriving from the east coast, who after many years of threatening to visit finally found the right combination of airfares and schedule -- yay! We've been having a lovely time; she's become an immediate favorite with all three of the kids, and it's been great to catch up with her and also show her some of the boys' favorite stomping grounds.

Tomorrow's Their Wedding Night

Yesterday was the wedding of friends J and L in beautiful Montecito at the posh Biltmore Four Seasons. It was a lovely occasion, full of music, laughter, dancing, glorious weather, impromptu performances, a documentary, and more -- more on that in a bit. Mima and papa graciously watched the boys, but it was a bit early for L to try to go cold turkey with a bottle, so the three of us jetted down to Santa Barbara for the weekend. On the plane, L had herself a lovely snack of cheeks of mommy.

Each morning we were there, L was up crazy early, so I tried to let Meh sleep a bit by taking the little girl for extended strolls around the downtown and all the way down to the beach. Sometimes she dozed again, other times she crowed or raspberried, but it was nice, relaxing, and peaceful. During the day, in between the ceremony rehearsal, we also got to catch up with friends (some of whom I hadn't seen since college) -- and L got to enjoy her very first dip in a warm salt-water pool overlooking the ocean at an equally luxurious beach club opposite the hotel -- she decided she liked the taste of the water and had a lolling tongue for the remainder.

The rehearsal dinner was a joyous affair, with a women's ukulele group serenading the bride and groom, followed by a few toasts; Meh had contributed immensely to my own effort in this regard, a (thankfully pre-recorded) duet performance altering the lyrics to a certain recent animated film number that the boys might have been watching on auto-repeat back in Washington even while we were at the dinner. It was appropriately silly and self-deprecating to get some applause, and the main goal of entertaining the bride and groom was (hopefully) accomplished; while I suspect I should probably pull it down at some point, for now it can be found at this link. L was a hit of the dinner, wearing the fabulous outfit you see here and smiling/cooing/screeching happily at everyone she met.

The wedding day arrived and was again just perfectly "them". The hotel had sourced a very nice babysitter so Meh and I could go to the kid-free wedding, and as a wedding party member I think I was there starting at like 9 am. The last piece of music before the ceremony itself started was the fabulous Muppets Take Manhattan's "Somebody's Getting Married". The ceremony featured multiple references back to their favorite lyrics, and the officiating rabbi had been director of my college Hillel when I was there. The reception was no less excellent, with beautifully decorated tables and a cascade of loving dedications to the happy couple: a faux documentary telling the story of their meeting that J's friend T had made (L, meh, and I had contributed a few clips remotely from Seattle), a surprise rendition of a number from "A Chorus Line" by the bride and her acting friends [they had done a recent production], first dances with the parents and in-laws, and warmth and joy all around.

The weekend was capped off with a goodbye brunch the next morning -- as if the weekend couldn't be topped, the brunch took place at the same beach club overlooking the Pacific, and as we were sitting there eating, a pod of dolphins decided to start leaping and frolicking in the waves outside. Perfect! Congratulations and mazel tov once more to J and L - more pics here!

Seats and tray tables

On the drive up to Whidbey last week, we noticed a big sign announcing that this weekend was the return of the wildly popular-with-the-boys Vintage Aircraft Weekend. We invited friends B, J, and their kids J and M along this time, and preceded the event by sampling mima and papa's favorite New York-style pizza place - a new favorite for us and the other family, though our boys couldn't be bothered to try the pizza (even though we got plain cheese), breadsticks, or caprese salad. Anyway, from there it was onward to the show; after dashing inside and instantly exclaiming about all of the planes (and other vehicles -- though alas, not the huge collection go-carts, army vehicles, fire trucks, or bounce houses we saw last year), O climbed up to check out a dogfighter before asking nobody in particular what other planes he could get in. A friendly passing staff member answered anyway, pointing at an impressive World War II B25-D bomber that we learned had actually just done a demonstration flight an hour earlier. The queue was long, but O impressively and patiently persisted (Z and the others opted out, continuing onward to look at other planes) and eventually got to climb the ladder to check out first the cockpit and then crawl through the tunnel to the forward gunner seat.

We got to see a number of other planes, both stationary and flying in formations low across the runway. Both O and J were pretty smitten (and calling pretty much every single-propeller plane Dusty Crophopper) and Z had a great time as well. And the weather turned out to be surprisingly sunny after the morning rains. All in all a lovely and successful family outing! Full album here.

Tonight another milestone for L - while she's been sampling an increasing number of foods, Meh was inspired by M at lunch, who at one month older than L was already gumming carrots and such. So we reattached the tray table that goes with her high chair and tried a big cube of watermelon. L mostly squished it, but did manage to consume a little bit of it -- go L!

It's our time down here

It's our last day down on the Oregon coast, where we've been having a fabulous (if exhausting) time with friend L at her parents' amazing beach house along with friends A, J, and their son E. L has been by and large the happy baby that Meh discussed in Bulgaria -- nearly always happy, giving big smiles to all involved. O and Z have surprisingly have slept pretty well in a shared large bed in a separate room from us. O came in both mornings to wake me up by 6:30 or 7, but he and I have had some wonderful times together, including gathering firewood on the beach yesterday evening for a smores bonfire. (And yay, my boy scout days didn't fail me - I could actually still start a decent fire.) Z has been in full artist mode, creating and then hanging a number of crayon-etched creations around the house. (Fear not; the amazing Meh had the foresight to buy and pack, in addition to a full ream of paper and many crayons, some special hanging tape that doesn't take paint off the walls.) Whether it's the noise of the kids or the lack of a fully darkened room, L hasn't always been ready for naps during the day, so yesterday I wore her and hiked out to the local rock made famous by The Goonies -- a wonderful and relaxing stroll (and apparently a big contrast to Meh's experience, apparently battling boys who alternated wanting to go into the ocean or staying high up on the beach avoiding "jellyfish" -- which every little bubble on the sand clearly must be -- oh, each boy also decided on the opposite preference to their brother of ocean vs. bluff). In the evenings, the adults sat and talked, valiantly crowded around my laptop (after a TV DRM fail) to watch the new book-into-TV-series hotness, or spotted the local landmarks in a screening aforementioned 80's film.

In addition to much time in and around the house, we also journeyed to a local beach town's semi-permanent arcade, where the boys enjoyed bumper cars (though O took 'bumper' to heart and kept trying to steer us towards the outer walls) and plenty of freshly made toffee. And there were boxes of new lego vehicles to assemble into creations as well. O and Z also had some nice times playing with their new friend E.

Huge thanks again to L for inviting us, it's been an amazing time -- I won't quite say "peaceful", but definitely a ton of fun! More pictures of the trip can be found here.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Several months ago when Meh asked Z what kind of birthday cake he wanted, he answered "a Wizard of Oz cake!" Challenge accepted, and I think fairly exceeded, by mommy with today's seventh (!) birthday party for Mr. Z. There was an impressive amount of preparation, capped off with the completion of a stunning yellow brick road to the Emerald City cake (complete with sugar paste silhouettes of Dorothy and her friends!). Paired with slipper cookies (both ruby and silver per the movie versus book), scarecrow diplomas (wafer tube cookies wrapped in rainbow candy ribbon), tin man hats (Hershey's kisses), upside down cupcakes squashing wicked witches, rainbow cupcakes, lollipop guild lollipops, and much more (including what Z now expects of all birthday parties: pizza), the spread was a solid success. Many of the kids did the Glinda bubble wand craft projects (made with awesome Meh-sourced beads and colorful pipe cleaners) too. The location was declared by Z to be a winner as well, featuring his favorite park's playgrounds, swings, sand area, and "forest" of rhododendrons to wander through -- all of the kid attendees had an excellent time as well. Even L cooed and squeaked her way through the affair, sporting another lovely new party dress. Several of Z's kindergarten friends came too, and it was fun to get to meet some of the kids he'd talked about all year long. The afternoon was capped off with some recognizable aircraft from the previous day doing their repeat Seafair performances in the distance.

I could try to describe in more detail, but pictures are worth a thousand blog posts, and a whole set from the party can be found here - happy (observed) birthday, Zachary!

What happened in Vegas

stays in Vegas, of course. But suffice it to say that, of my family, O and Z came out the winners, with cute little car-shaped tins and poker chips made of chocolate that I brought back with me. My primary success was finding one of the toy cars' price to be mislabelled - win. Regardless, it was good to spend time with J and get to catch back up with some friends and friends-of-friends, and to get to see some of the newer sights there (I hadn't been in more than 15 years). And it sounds like the boys had a very nice time with mima and papa (including young friend K's birthday party with a slip and slide) in my absence. Z had been announcing to his counselors all week that "daddy's going to fly to Vegas", so I think most of the camp may be ready to ask me about it when I drop Z off tomorrow.

Double Play

The boys continue to have a fun if exhausting time while mommy and L traverse Bulgaria (and appear live on national morning TV and even a cooking show airing in another month or two apparently?!). O's early afternoon park tour has continued this week, even despite the weather finally backing off from the unusually warm; on Tuesday, O was insistent that we find a park with a water feature even though it was overcast and in the 60s; here's a shot of him enjoying the spray hoses for, oh, about five seconds before asking for his towel. From there we reverted to a more standard park, where he and I had a delightful time (re-)discovering the joys of whirlybird maple seeds.

Thursday was O's teacher M's last day of class before moving to Arizona - she's been a fabulous teacher and the two of them have been so close, we'll miss her! She left a very cute goodbye note for all of the parents at the sign-out sheet, and she also made a custom card for each of the kids featuring a picture of them with her and a very sweet and child-specific note. We wish her the very best in her next advenutre! After school (and before camp was over), the rain was coming down, so O and I headed over to the trendy Seattle combination indoor play area/restaurant. While he was a bit shy and made me climb around in tubes and tunnels clearly meant for 4-6 year olds, we had a great time and then a very civilized nice snack together before looping back to Mercer Island to pick up Z.

Z for his part has been continuing to love camp and has really developed a solid friendship with his counselor E; as so many of his teachers are women, it's great to see him having a guy role model and talking about both E and camp, having big smiles as he's dropped off (and picked up), and overall clearly enjoying every minute of his days at Camp Kef! Z even shares at bath time some of the songs he's been learning ("boker tov" means good morning in Hebrew):

Magic Z Ball

One of the many items that came home with my from my conference was a small kitschy magic eight ball. O loved it, but couldn't be bothered to try to read it himself, instead insisting that I ask it variants of whether monsters were going to come to our house, whether Lightning McQueen was faster than a monster, whether the monsters were good guys, etc. Z has been enjoying it as well, and I've been noticing him incorporating its cryptic responses into his own vocabulary; earlier today I asked him a yes/no question and he responded "outlook unclear".

Yesterday was friend K's second birthday party, and they went all out with a Richard Scarry Cars & Trucks & Things That Go themed celebration of cuteness -- so clever and original, and the boys had a blast hunting for goldbugs (drawn on paper and artfully hidden throughout a full model cardboard city outdoors), painting trains, eating individual-sized chocolate cakes shaped like vehicles, and much more. K opened his presents at the end of the party, and I was amused to see there's already a printed book of the viral hit "What Does the Fox Say?", complete with spelled out noises. In the meantime, the boys sat front and center at rapt attention, like it was some kind of close-range live action version of the toy unboxing videos they used to obsess over, while K opened an impressive number of increasingly large construction vehicle toys. Z and O both got their own new cars as part of their goody bags -- win all around!

Today's birthday party (for O's close school friend J) was an outdoor sports affair (complete with multiple coaches/referees/kid herders) -- the boys had lots of fun at a sports field kicking balls with friends, while L was first in the stroller snoozing and then later was on me making her familiar happy cooing and screeching noises. I thought the party was winding down after snacks when all of the sudden we heard a familiar musical noise out on the street, and J's mom told the kids to come around to the parking lot. Voila, an ice cream truck awaited, serving up perfectly cool desserts on a very hot day. O first picked one option, then changed his mind (thankfully before opening it) when he saw what the birthday boy had; both he and Z (and O's shirt) ended up sharing a rocket pop. The after party (yes, there was one) was at the adjacent school playground, where both boys played and played some more while L enjoyed her second nap of the event. A thoroughly enjoyable and exhausting day for the boys and littlest girl!

Brighton beach memoirs

The family's hectic summer travel season continues -- this week I've been in the UK for a conference. Alas, didn't get too much time in my favorite (favourite?) city, as the event was down on the coast in Brighton. Somehow I managed to miss the actual beach (it was actually a bit chilly and very breezy) and the landmark pier, but the conference itself was certainly productive and thought provoking. And I did get to have one lovely London afternoon with N, S, and their kids R and J, followed by an excellent dinner for the grownups. It's always fun getting to interact with the kids, as they're only slightly older than my boys, so it's sometimes a bit like looking into the future. In addition to the event itself, I did have a day of meetings back in the city, and visited not only Meh's favourite market for a lunch get together, but also checked out a replica tall ship docked in the port -- as usual, I've been keeping an eye out for fun vehicles that the boys would enjoy pictures of. Of course, the one I most like taking a picture of is the plane that takes me back home to them!

A bit of perspective

Z has long enjoyed drawing, and has pretty much drawn his way right through about four magandoodles (I don't think I knew before that they could actually wear out), as well as multiple reams of paper with a variety of sketching media (pencils, pens, markers, crayons). The subject matter varies a bit -- buildings, people, lots of interest in vehicles, roads, traffic signals, and (for some reason) utility poles are among his favorites. This weekend we went to a party at friend J's house, and Z was intently using her oversized (and more or less pristine) magnadoodle. When I checked in on his masterpiece, I saw that for the first time, some of the roads were at an angle and seemingly disappearing in the distance -- Z has discovered and started using perspective. Go Z! Once he's done, he's quick to erase and move onto the next picture; thankfully I got this shot a few moments before he started a second (also perspective-aware) drawing.