Girl's Weekend

Since "what happens on Girl's Weekend STAYS at Girl's Weekend", I can't post too many details. Suffice it to say, we had a lovely time. The most basic details:

My husband didn't get home until 4:20 (having been told I needed to be somewhere by 4:00) and he was "exhausted". So when I got to my friend's house (decided to just leave his car at her house), I was FURIOUS. Took me more than 24 hours to get over it.

Took us nearly an hour to get from her house to the Pike because of traffic. But we also stopped for hot chocolate, and those of us not driving added some Malibu Rum, which made the drive very nice indeed.

Went for a light dinner near the house, then back to hang out.
Slept late. Pouring rain all day. Noshed and drank and talked and read and hung out all day.

Out for a drink in evening, then 3 girls went to a show while two of us stayed at the bar, and got home early for sleep (the other 3 stayed out late!).

Two of us got massages in the morning, while the others shopped. Then more shopping, lunch, clean up, and home.

But wonderful.

In the mean time, my husband had the children all weekend. Poor Sofia apparently missed me, and spent much of the time moaning "mama". When I called on Sunday, they were driving out to the Berkshires to see his folks, so he put me on speaker-phone. And from the back of the car I hear "Help Me...." in the most pathetic little voice!

Back to normal now. Sofia and Sam still have stuffy noses, but no fevers, so they both went to school. Just now, after school, I tried to have Sofia wear real underwear, but now those are soaked and she's back in a pull-up. For someone who missed me all weekend, she certainly is arguing a lot!

A hearty Mazal Tov to my friends L&K on the birth this morning of their daughter. YEAH, a new baby!!!!!!

The rest of our trip to London

So Friday evening after the Internet Cafe, we ate at Wagamama, a popular noodle shop (there's one here in Cambridge, too!). Then we managed sleep a solid 12 hours - that's what happens in a very dark room with no children!

(Friday pictures:

David with Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes' sitting room:



Majestic Theater


Trafalgar Square:


So we got up later than expected Saturday morning, and took our time getting ready and finding breakfast. Figured out how to use the free internet at Pret-a-Manger (I wish we had more of that store around here!).

Then we walked across the bridge to the south side of the river. It was a lovely, clear day:


Both of us had been to The Museum of The Moving Image many years ago, and we wanted to go back. We spotted it on one map, but no one seemed to know where it was...

Finally, we discovered it had closed 4 years earlier, and the exhibits had been rolled into The Movium, so we went there.




Walked back past Big Ben, meandered around town, had a lovely late lunch, returned to rest and change, and then off to the theater.

We saw "The 39 Steps", which is a hysterically funny take on the old murder mystery. Very cleverly done. 4 actors, but at least 20 characters.

Had a late Indian meal after the show, which was marred by several things: the drunk guy at the next table screaming "F&CK" over and over, the restaurant's inability to uphold their promise of "we can customize", and the overall greasiness. Oh, and the fact that I ordered a whole bottle of sparkling water and they only brought me a glass, 'because they'd run out'!

Ok, Sunday was The Event. The MPH Auto Show at Earl's Court, featuring Top Gear Live!



We had Platinum tickets, which gave us access to this upper section (including lunch and drinks). The show was all about sporty cars. NICE sporty cars. High End stuff.

Then it was time for TOP GEAR LIVE!


The Boys:


James May (aka Captain Slow)'s car:


Me with The Stig (the "tamed race car driver"):


It was waaay cool. And I only wanted to bludgeon David for the first part of the day - he likes different cars than me, and he kept getting angry when I walked away to see something. Ugh, men.

Anyway, we realy did have a nice time overall. Landed in Boston at 1:20 Monday after a very bumpy flight. Kids immediately went into melt-down, and my parents fled.

Sam had no fever after Sunday, but Sofia started fever Tuesday night. Which means I've been up with her the past 2 nights, and she's home with me now. But she had to come with me this morning to my haircut, and then she charmed the nail lady into giving her a manicure:


Yesterday was Conferences at the day school. I'm thrilled to report that Sam made twice as much progress in reading as we had dared hope for on his IEP last May. They are both doing really well (although Micah continues to talk too much in Hebrew class).

And I'm off to a Girls' Weekend tomorrow, in Maine. Yeah! (Oh, yeah, I had an interesting and somewhat disturbing dream while in London. Sofia had run off, and been found by an older couple from my shul. But I kept "forgetting" to go pick her up from their house! I guess I really need a break from the kids, huh?!)

Greetings from London!

Our plane landed early, butvwe "made up" the time standing in line at customs. Landed at 5:00, got to hotel at 8:00.

Napped (passed out) for an hour, showered, and started walking. David's dear friend, who lives in our town, was here for the week on business, so we called and made a plane to meet for lunch.

Walked. And walked. And walked some more.

2 hours to walk to Baker Street from Strand. Then wait for our friend. Then delicious (and enormous) kosher meal at Reubin's restaurant.

More walking. Took nearly another two hours, through Regent Park, until we got to next destination, Camden Lockes Market (oh, and first, the Sherlock Holmes museum).

The Market was ultra-funky, so we spent quite a while there, although by then it was raining. Took underground back to hotel, rested, and now finally at an Internet cafe, typing madly.

Meanwhile, Sam was sent home with fever. Babysitter called, caring for him now.

Packing!

Yes, David and I are off to London tomorrow evening! Just a really quick jaunt (really, it's a whole lot easier than flying to the West Coast). We'll be back Monday. But on Sunday, we are going to see Top Gear!!!!

The kids are being parcelled out. Tomorrow night, Sofia will be at my neighbor's house (with her best buddy), while both boys will be at my friend D's house. Sam was supposed to go to his chum's house, but said chum now has a fever.

Friday, my sitter will come here to watch Sofia in the afternoon and add Sam in to the evening, while Micah heads to Wellesely for 2 days at his friend's house. My sister-in-law, Laura, will come up Friday night, sleep over, and on Saturday take Sam and Sofia down to CT. It's cousin H's younger son's 2nd birthday party that afternoon, so at least Sam will get some quality family time, and maybe even drive from central CT to southern with his grandparents.

They'll sleep at Laura's house, and then she'll get them to my parents, who will bring them back, retrieve Micah, and do the Sunday night shift. And Monday, we'll be home!

So we're packing, and downloading movies (well, I seem to be having much better luck than David - but of course it's all about the platform [I use a Mac], isn't it?!).

For those of you NOT on Facebook with me, my funny story for the week was from yesterday. Micah woke up complaining. "My throat hurts. I don't feel good. I think I'm going to faint." That's what tipped his hand - he said that 'cause Sam's chum had fainted over the weekend. He was cool as a cucumber, and nothing out of the ordinary. His throat hurts because his nose drips, because he's allergic to everything. Nothing to be done about that.

But he's such a drama queen. So David was in the shower, and I was in the bathroom using the sink, and we were giggling about all Micah's symptoms. We decided that it was very likely that he was pregnant. Or maybe approaching menopause.

But as we were giggling, suddenly Micah opened the door and popped his head in: "I Can Hear You, Ya Know!"

More somber note, I went to CT for the funeral of my brother-in-law's uncle, also my friend's stepfather. Sad time, although I was glad to be there to help B out with her kids (3 kids require 3 adults at a funeral, especially when two are extra sad and one is too young to comprehend).

I also helped run the Whimsical Wednesday program at the day school this morning. It's the program for preschoolers. We had a really good turnout, and an excellent art program, courtesy of another mom/volunteer. Sand-art Shabbos Candleholders.

Poor David. The tiny computer he borrowed will not play a DVD movie! He'd counted on it. Meanwhile, I think I've figured out how to get some more movies on my iPod, so at least we'll be able to watch something.

Ok, have a smashing weekend, y'all!

Happy November!

That was a lovely Halloween. I think that Halloween should ALWAYS be on a Saturday evening, and the weather should ALWAYS be warm and mild. Even the brisk wind was fun, blowing all the leaves around.

Miss Sofia was some sort of mermaid/princess:


While Samuel was The Scream:


And Micah was a Headless Guy:

(Note his shirt, which David got him a while back: "G-d's Busy, May I Help You?")

Since my neighbor has such a great decoration setup we pose on their lawn:


And that's where the Dads convene for the walk-about:


(Although David and the one other dad with a little kid rapidly lost the rest of the gang, ages 8-10, who went MUCH faster than the little ladies).

Meanwhile, I sat on my porch, along with some neighbors (who left their candy unattended on their own porches), and our pumpkins, which I cut "to spec" for each kid:


We sat on the porch for 2 hours, and then, when the kids came back, a few families came over. I put Sofia to sleep, and the grownups stayed inside, but the kids stayed OUTSIDE playing in the dark!

it was really really lovely and fun.

Today, Sofia and I went to a Baby Shower for my friend L. We had a nice time, since we'd been to Bridal Shower and Wedding with many of the same people in the past year. Miss Sofia had a grand time directing the opening of the gifts.

Tonight I had my DS Mommies dinner. Only two of use showed up, due to my not getting the notice out until this Thursday, but we had a great time.

Friday was busy, but ultimately nice. In the morning, David took Micah to school, while I took Sam to Ashland, then Sofia to preschool, then back to the Ashland school to meet with Sam and the OT Tech Team about his tech needs. They installed Co-Writer, a word prediction utility, on his laptop, to see if that helps.

After that, I took him back to school, got his laptop set up, spoke to the Networking lady who happened to be there, and had a quick Gala meeting. Then off to get Sofia, lunch, Gala Auction work at home while Sofia helped the cleaning ladies, and back to school for a lovely memorial by the kids for Hamoreh Yosef, the teacher who died last weekend. It was very moving.

Then Micah had his 8 year checkup. Sam stayed at school for tutoring, and was driven home by the Office Administrator, who lives not far from us. Micah was very very bouncy and silly at his checkup, which made it difficult to get straight answers out of him. The only worrisome thing was that he scored much worse in vision than last year, enough for the pediatrician to recommend a new vision checkup with the ophthalmologist even though he was "dismissed" until next year.

Home for a while, more Gala work, then we went to Shabbos dinner at the home of a couple from shul. Had a very very nice time. He is an engineer, and was able to get Micah out of a bad mood instantly, by knowing the square root of 18.

My kids are silly, aren't they?

I'm hearing more reports of sick kids at the day school. I hope none of mine get sick, at least until after I get back from London!!!

I'm off to yet another funeral tomorrow, down in Manchester, CT. This is my brother-in-law's uncle, and also the stepfather of one of my best friends since 7th grade. My neighbor will pick Sofia up from school, and then L's cousin, who threw the baby shower today, will come take over. I hope this is the last funeral for a while!

Sad, then Happy

Life is a continuous whirlwind. Certainly never boring!

The funeral was enormous. More than 700 people crammed into the Sanctuary & Social Hall at TBS. I had to sit up front with the other singers; the quartet was the cantor, his wife, and another friend of ours singing tenor - his wife is usually the alto, but couldn't make it. Tenor said they didn't even get that size crowd for Kol Nidre, which is usually the biggest service of the year.

Beautiful service. Hamoreh Yosef would have been very pleased. His best friend (since they were 17) spoke eloquently for half an hour. His four granddaughters spoke. His two daughters and their husbands. The executive director of the Cohen Camps, where he was very very active for many years. The rabbi. The cantor sang a special Yiddish song, about a teacher and a young student. We sang Psalm 23. And the El Moley Rachamim, the traditional memorial prayer.

The whole thing took about 2 hours, which is very long, but it was lovely. The kids sat nicely in back; Sam said it totally did not feel like 2 hours, because he was listening so carefully to every word.

D left in time to pick up Micah and the younger daughter, and retrieve Sofia from our other friend. After the service, I took Sam and A (in D's car) to the cemetery. Somehow we got ahead of the car procession, so we arrived early. I parked around the back, and we walked in the rain through the older section of the cemetery, which I'd never been in before. It was beautiful. It was also pouring! But Sam and I are both interested in cemeteries, and A had never actually been in one, so we explored a bit and discussed some of the rituals involved.

The burial service also had a huge crowd (although certainly not all 700!). One of the rituals in a Jewish funeral is that everyone helps to shovel the dirt - it's the last thing you can do for the person. The shovel starts inverted, and you don't pass the shovel to the next person but rather stick it back in the pile of dirt. So I walked the kids through that (although Sam remembered it from Grandma Ruth's funeral last year).

They are both such good souls, so respectful of the traditions and so caring about people. It was a privilege to be able to share that time with them.

Of course, we didn't get back to D's house untl after 5:30! What a long day!

Today, I had a chance for a happier event. David drove Sofia to school, so after I dropped off the boys, I headed in to Boston, back to Children's Hospital. This time, however, I had a "taxi" in my trunk!



I went up to the 6th floor and found my friend and her son, William. He was SO excited to see the taxi:




His mom got the buckle done, and we were off. "Hurry, Mom!"


Racing up and down the halls:


"Yeah, I'm Cool, Man!"


Thank you to everyone who participated in getting this for William!

Logistics

When they said "It Takes A Village", they certainly had my family in mind!

Back up to Sunday. David took Sofia with him to the neighbor's house to watch football. That's the house where she will be sleeping over the first night of our London trip, and her best friend S lives there, so she had a blast.

I took Micah to the Arcade, where we played skee-ball and had a nice time. He is so well behaved at the Arcade. He shares his tokens (in this case, more like forced me to play!), when he's out of tokens he's done, and he picks his prizes efficiently. Such a difference from his brother.

After the arcade, we went to the mall for a while. There is a Toys R Us express set up for the next few months, and he got a webkinz (walrus) and a Sonic playfigure (which broke in the car!).

So we had some nice Mommy & Micah time. When we got home, he logged on to Webkinz and I went over to check on David and Sofia (but there is a big dog, so I can't stay there long).

David pickup up Sam at 7pm from the bus. Unfortunately, Sam did not have a great time on the boat ride. And he was tired. And he was upset about all the deaths. And he was jealous of Micah getting birthday presents.

Early to bed for everyone. But I still spent 2am to 4am in Sofia's room again.

Monday was a little calmer. After I dropped the kids at school, I went to the Wellesley library, because I had to renew a book for my class. I got about 2 hours of work done on my thesis, although then my computer almost died (but I did manage to save the files elsewhere).

Hung out at home with Sofia until pickup time. It was nice out, so the kids played at the day school until about 4pm (Sam had Hebrew tutoring after school, so we had to wait anyway). It was nice to see Sofia playing with her buddies, too, and Micah is fully involved in the football game the boys play every day.

Got home, helped Sam with his Torah homework, and then left as soon as the babysitter arrived. Met David at Children's Hospital. We were there for a discussion/presentation for the Down syndrome clinic, about DS and Behavior and Discipline. Usually there are about a dozen people at these events. This time, there were closer to 100 people! We actually had to move from the conference room to the auditorium!

It was a good presentation, and I got some ideas for how to handle Miss Sofia (especially regarding biting her toe nails). After the meeting, we stayed outside talking to another mom for a while, which was also nice.

Tuesday, I finally had a little time to myself. After I dropped Sofia at school, I went grocery shopping, and then got a manicure and pedicure! AHHHHHHHH.

Picked her up, cleaned the house, and did more computer based work. Then went to get the boys when the sitter arrived for Sofia.

Got to play for a few minutes, then Micah went home with his friend while I took Sam to the OCD doctor. Good session. He's really making a lot of progress. Being aware of the problem has helped him face it. There are still a few things he won't touch, but he is getting a lot better. He has even skipped a few pre-bed showers!

After the appointment, I did take Sam to get a Webkinz, since he was owed a treat for the OCD sticker chart. So he was happier.

Picked up Micah, then off to Tae Kwan Do. Then dropped the boys home, and David and I went out. He bought a tuxedo! (Jos. A. Banks was having a sale). I wanted him to have a tux, because I am co-chairing the gala. And he picked out a purple cumberbund set, which means now I know what color dress i need!

We also got to go to dinner at Legals, which was fun. I like hanging out with my husband without any children. He's cute.

Today is a bit insane. I got them all to school, and I'm home now. Had to blow dry my hair (which I have given up on most days). I'm singing at the funeral today - got a call last night to see if I knew the alto part for Psalm 23.

So I have to pick up Sofia at 12:30 from lunch bunch, and take her to her friend A's house. A's mom (my friend) will take her to the gymnastics class, and then bring her back to the day school for pick up. Meanwhile, my other friend D will pick up her older daughter and Sam and meet me at the shul for the service. Then one of us will leave in time to pick up Micah and the younger daughter (and maybe Sofia), while the other takes the older kids to the cemetery. I needed the school admin to talk to Micah about whether he was going or not - he only wanted to go to the cemetery, not to the service.

Whew.

And I just made the whole "who goes where and when and with whom" listing for our trip to London. 7 other families are involved in the process!