OK – I know it’s been a long time. But if you haven’t added me to your blocked senders list in the meantime, thanks.
No better time than the holidays to catch up with everyone — hopefully you all are in a forgiving mood, and have had a great Christmas holiday today.
I think Mom’s been updating Facebook, so I won’t bore you with all the backstory. Needless to say, we’re glad to be back in the U.S. We’ve had a great fall — new schools, new sports, and new friends. This morning, Santa became my new best friend…
Here are a few photos from this morning, in the aftermath of gift mania. You’ll see the baseball helmet figure prominently in the photos here, as Oliver (the intended recipient) and TT sparred over it most of the day. No lack of Giants gear for the twins. I remained focused on the trucks (and my new cool pjs).
Oliver had a serious case of baseball overload. In addition to the helmet, here he is with his new red baseball shoes. As he learned the hard way, though, they are not so appropriate for cold, icy sidewalks. Maybe when the grass thaws…
Leighton had a good day too – though he left a bunch of his presents wrapped and under the tree. He got distracted by the first one, and sort of never looked back. Rookie.
Anyway, they’re predicting snow tomorrow — so we’ll have a white Boxing Day. We’re prepared.
We closed the day with Christmas dinner — and chocolate Santas! (And don’t worry! the fifth in the photo is our good friend Jasper — Mom and Dad haven’t made good on their threat to round out the basketball team.)
I’ll try not to be such a stranger in 2011. Hope it’s a good one for you.
Well, I am now officially in search of a new title for my blog, as we have — once and for all — departed Jerusalem. I think it’s fair to assume that I left my mark on a few places — a handful of schools, any number of parks, just about any functioning swimming pool.
I thought about turning this into an Oscar-style acceptance speech, to thank many people who made my time in Jerusalem so much fun, and who helped my Mom and Dad survive it (mostly intact). But I think those people know who they are, and I trust I’ll see them again in Washington, New York, or other stops along the way.
Instead, here’s just a few photos of our last go-round the city.
My last day at the Anglican International School Jerusalem! (Including a diploma and some rather aggressive song and dance routines with my school mates.)
Our last run around the local park. I’ll miss the high-speed daredevil action on the scooter/bike paths. I’m not sure I’ll miss what goes on in the bushes here. But for a local patch of grass – and a spot to work on our fashion poses, it couldn’t be beat!
Oliver, you’ll see, has been watching some of the World Cup and figures himself a bit of a “soccer ball” player (as he says).
And, we couldn’t leave Jerusalem without a couple of trips to our favorite Mediterranean beach spot. Beit Yannai was clearly one of the great finds of our three years. No secret (we went the day after school got out, and it looked like a giant teenage block party), but still so much fun on Sundays and other “quieter” days. Great ice pops.
That’s it for now. We’re on a great vacation in South Carolina with our cousins — in search of more beaches and buckets.
Today is Leighton’s first birthday. Happy Birthday Baby LeiLei!
We’ve had a fun couple of days. TT, Oliver, and I threw a party for him. We brought out the tractor, and generally hung around having a good time. For some reason, Dad took photos of us, and not the birthday boy… but I think that’s ’cause he was inside eating pizza the whole time (LeiLei, not Dad!).
Then it was off to a day at the beach…
I found this big soft pillow on the beach to lie down on. It was all nice and comfy until TT attacked (that’s him in the yellow shorts — he doesn’t spend much time on his feet!). Luckily I got out of the way in time – but I think Dad got kind of roughed up.
Back at the house, it was a bit more civilized affair. Talia and I got to introduce the birthday boy to the fun of bubbles.
Greetings from England! Mom and Dad packed us up for the school holidays this year and we flew out here earlier this week. We left behind warm, Spring-like weather for the hail and driving, cold rain that is England in April… But that’s ok – because this place is a three-year old boy’s dream. In the past 72 hours, we’ve seen cows born, fed pigs, rode down the field in Land Rovers and ATVs, and jumped in more puddles than you can count…
Oliver’s probably the most skeptical of the rain, but we’ve all found a fast friend in the family dog, Boris, who’s clearly not a fan of long walks down the farm in the rain — but he doesn’t really have a choice.
TT’s clearly had the most fun in the rain. Doesn’t bother him a bit.
But, oh, the tractors! Diggers, excavators, ATVs, front-end loaders… They’re everywhere (and seemingly, all unlocked!). And when there’s someone driving one, we often get a lift. Nirvana.
And then the animals. Here’s Auntie Liz introducing us to a newborn lamb. And Cousin Annie helping us to feed the pigs. And the aforementioned Boris, again being coaxed into a walk that he doesn’t want to take…
Here are my brothers coming back from dropping off the vegetable shavings in the cow shed. Though, I think it looks like they’ve either just buried a body, or are planning to knock off a bank. Trust me – it’s not that they just look guilty, they normally are…
Though clearly this adventure is all about TT, Oliver, and me — I should note that there are others here… Leighton seems to take it all in stride (and try to eat it all, too). Mom’s not so thrilled about the weather, but bundles up nicely. And then a little video below — not very well edited – my tech crew didn’t travel. But I think you get the point. I’m just glad someone else does my laundry!
We made one last trip to the beach before the weather turned sour. It had already started to cool off (hence the sweater look modeled by my baby brother below — but still pretty nice for February.
It was a good day to stand on the edge of the water and chuck rocks in — rather than get in ourselves. Oliver’s got good form. He might turn out to be Dad’s one hope for a decent fastball in the family. Was a cool new beach north of Tel Aviv, that we’ll have to explore when the weather turns nice again.
But then the weather turned pretty nasty. Four days trapped inside can make a monkey out of the best of boys!
Just kidding, of course. It’s Purim. Which is like Halloween, except that it’s in the spring. And it goes on for a week. And you get off school for it. And all the adults seem to do more dressing up than the kids (and drink “daddy’s apple juice” as we call it around the house). And for those of you following along at home, that gorilla suit that LeiLei’s wearing is the same outfit that I was swimming in at 11 months old for my first Halloween… He could barely fit in it.
I did a bit of a re-run on the outfit thing (which is so against everything my Mom used to stand for — but around here, it’s good value, as the Purim and Halloween crowds don’t overlap much). We had a parade at school. Very fun.
The great weather here continues, and my brothers and I have taken full advantage of the past week. We went back to the beach on Friday. Even Baby LeiLei got into the act on the swings.
My brothers then got into tit-for-tat exchanges in the sand. It all turned out ok — nothing that won’t come out in the wash, or the bathtub!
Leighton’s also getting good with a shovel.
Anyway, we clearly all had a great time. And those of us that can walk, took a nice sunset stroll with Sanaa along the beach… Life is good.
Dad had to work yesterday, so Mom and Sanaa took us down to Jericho for a day at the pool and playground. If anything, the weather was even better! We could even swim, and we definitely needed our shades.
The hotel has a great playground… that I particularly enjoyed. I even paraded around in some free advertising for a West Bank housing project. It’s the “must have” sweatshirt in Ramallah these days…
Hope everyone’s having a good February — and dug out of the East Coast snow. See you soon!
We’ve been back from the States now for a couple of weeks. It’s taken us that long to (mostly) get over the jet lag, and get the chill out of our bones. It was nice to be back — I had a great time at the Air and Space Museum with my brothers — but it was hard to deal with the cold… And we even managed to sneak out of there before Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse, Snownormo, or whatever it’s being called these days.
I have to say — life out here does have its advantages. And spending February 14 at the beach with 85 degree weather is clearly one of them. Oliver was very serious about everything today, including an effort to empty the Med, one John Deere bucket at a time. Tristan not so much — but definitely willing to show off the physique.
Leighton didn’t get out on the sand much, but he had a grand old time goofing off on the blanket. I think it’s not too soon to ask: Does anyone know a good orthodontist?!
He’s a happy guy, I’ll give him that. But he’s going to have to get some relaxer for those curls if he wants to spend much time in the sea air at the beach…
Here’s to more February days at the beach! And some in March. And April too…
Wow. In the course of one week, we celebrated Christmas, my brothers’ birthdays, and went to the beach to ring in the New Year! I don’t even know where to begin…
So perhaps it’s best to start with the annual Christmas sweater wearing extravaganza, brought to us this year by Grandma. You’ll note that one of us is not like the other — it’s because Baby Leighton is simply too large for the clothes he should be wearing… the new sweater would not fit over his head, so he’s wearing mine from last year.
Then it’s on to a morning full of great gifts. We were definitely spoiled — but one of the favorites turns out to be the kitchen set. We’re actually quite good cooks — and fascinated by it. Can’t be nature or nurture — so it’s hard to explain. But good hours spent here arguing over who gets to ladle out the pancake mix… And you can never go wrong in hats and goggles.
By the time we had managed to dig out of the Christmas gifts, it was time to celebrate TT and Oliver’s birthdays at school. The best part about it — since I was on vacation from school, I got to go too! There were great cupcakes! (And I got to see some old friends at the YMCA). Here we are looking good, along with some of my brothers’ new friends at school enjoying their snacks. I like the hats around here…
Before the icing was even wiped off our faces, we had loaded up the car to head south. Mom and Dad booked us in a cool beach resort in Aqaba, Jordan… which means we had to drive all the way down to the Red Sea, and then hang a left.
I don’t remember much about the drive down — except the border, more on that later — but once we were at the beach, we got to use our new John Deere buckets and pails. Everything’s better when John Deere’s involved. TT and Leighton were good fun. Oliver, it turns out, seems to be more of a book worm.
We even got to ride a boat — to go out over the reef to try to find some fish. I got to ride up front. Leighton was having fun — but it doesn’t seem like the sea air agrees with his hair! It also seems like he’s inherited the extra medium wardrobe…
Later on in the vacation, Leighton seemingly got attacked by a mad mosquito in the middle of the night — and he now looks really funny! I’d post a photo of him, but Dad says that it makes him look like a bad parent. Mom took Leighton to the supermarket today, and everyone had suggestions for a good ointment! I told Dad he should just keep the screen door closed next time. But at least in Jerusalem — no bugs!
Unfortunately, our time at the beach (and in the warm, sunny weather) had to come to an end. We had to go back across the border into Israel. Turns out we had to do it on foot, because Dad couldn’t convince the Jordanians to let our car into the country. He says it was about the car’s smog certificate, but I think it might have to do with some unpaid parking tickets from when he lived there before we were born! So, all of us, and our luggage got dumped on the pavement…
… where we had to wait in the scorching sun for Dad to go get a trolley. And here were are traipsing across the border like some castoffs on a forced march. That’s me doing the heavy pushing on the luggage card. TT had enough and made Sanaa carry him.
But we made it. And Mom has almost forgiven Dad. Almost.
It was a great way to close out 2009 and a fun start to 2010 (insects and hot walks on the tarmac aside). Hope everyone celebrated in style! Happy New Year! And all the best from me and my brothers for 2010.
My brothers and I had a birthday party today – in Jericho, at our favorite horse club. It was my birthday this week — and the twins are still a month away from theirs – but I thought it would be nice to include them.
It won’t surprise you that it was a green and yellow theme. Tractors everywhere! Here we are with our super cool cake.
It was a fun day all around – lots of our friends came and joined us. We got to ride tractors and horses. Here’s Oliver up for a ride on Sukar. We all taunted him for the rest of the day about his choice in helmet colors.
And our baby brother came too – even though he wasn’t feeling so well. He still manages to crank out a smile with Sanaa.
The weather was great – and so Hassan took us for a ride behind his great blue tractor. Unfortunately it seems like we were too heavy a load, and the wheel gave out right beneath Dad and TT. TT got out to have a look, but he didn’t volunteer to fix it. Frankly, he looked a little peeved about the whole thing.
By the end – we were exhausted. Not even mouthfuls of that green cake icing could keep us awake (but there are apparently leftovers!). Thanks to everyone who made the trip down – we hope you had as much fun as we did! JPC
It’s the beginning of a full week of celebrations in honor of my 3rd birthday. (All very much deserved, if I do say so myself.)
A few photos from today’s party at school. You can tell that I do just fine with all the attention (wonder where that comes from?!) and that there’s a serious green, yellow, and horse theme currently going on in my life.
Thanks to all for the great birthday wishes. And will post more photos as the week of me unfolds! JPC
