Obviously I haven't had a whole lot of time to blog lately - and honestly, I haven't really had the inclination to write witty things about what's going on in our lives when things are anything but witty. However, sometimes there are things that I just HAVE to pass on because it would be a crime not to...

This is Rory's latest passion - pretending to be "Ro Ro, the Superhero". My brother was the EXACT SAME WAY when he was a kid (Jer ran around with a cape for several years and even tried to "throw" our dog across the room once with his "superhuman strength". Sorry Jer, I just couldn't resist!), so for me, this is sort of like one big hysterical flashback. We have always said that Rory was a "mini-Jer" in the making, now here's the proof:


The following video shows the launch of the bottle rocket that Hoby and Rory made over the weekend using 2 liter soda bottles, a bike pump, and of course, some duct tape! Hoby and I were pretty skeptical that this was actually going to fly, but as you can see from the video, we were proven wrong - and the whole neighborhood got in on the act!

A White Mariposa Christmas

Okay, so I'm writing about Christmas in January, but better late than never, right? We had an absolutely amazing trip up to Mariposa, which is a rural little town near Yosemite where my in-laws live. We always go up there to spend Christmas with my husband's family, which is hands down one of Rory's favorite times of the year. Sure he loves that this trip includes tons of Christmas presents (check out the loot he scored below):




but more importantly, he gets to hang out with his two cousins, run around in the woods with a BB gun and eat an endless supply of sugar supplied by his Grandma Judy. Basically, little boy Nirvana. But as awesome as this sounds, something happened this year that made it more awesome - it SNOWED!

Here is a picture of Rory and his cousin Marin outside when the first snowflakes began to fall. Rory had seen snow on the ground once before, but he had never seen it actually coming down. He was in total awe - he kept saying, "I didn't know that snow came from the SKY!"



It didn't take long before it REALLY began to come down, and then it started sticking to the ground. It was freezing out, but Rory refused to come inside, he didn't want to miss a thing!







After a full day and night of snow, we were invited to go to the next town over for some sledding. Now when I was growing up, the good sledding hills were always packed with people. But the bonus of being in the middle of nowhere is that we had this beautiful valley all to ourselves!



Here's Rory on one of his first rides down the hill:



And of course we had to build a snow man!



Needless to say, we were in winter heaven!



As you can probably tell from the pictures, this Christmas was the best we've had yet. What better way to spend the holiday than having fun with family and friends in the snow?! Rory is already counting down the days until next Christmas - I just hope that Grandma Judy and Papa Stan can make it snow again next year!

The Training Wheels Come Off

Today, Hoby got Rory's bike out and realized that Rory had grown so much since summer time (almost TWO WHOLE INCHES!! Yikes!) that he needed to raise the bike seat as far as it could go. "He's almost outgrown his birthday bike already," Hoby said shaking his head "and we haven't even taken the training wheels off yet." We both sort of looked at each other and so I said, "What the heck? Why not try taking them off now?"

So out came the tools - which of course instantly got Rory excited (he's such a BOY!) - and before we knew it, he was ready to jump on and give it shot.





I thought for sure that this would be an all day affair. The two of us would probably be running up and down the street behind Rory's bike for hours, right? I held my breath, preparing myself for what was sure to be some major wipe outs, and hoped I was stocked up on my Superman band-aids. Then before I knew it, they were off!

The first try looked a little something like this:


Okay, not too bad for his first attempt! I was impressed... and I couldn't help saying a quick prayer of thanks that my kid is obviously much more coordinated than I am. Then after a few more tries, he did this:



HOLY COW! Did he just DO that?! ALREADY?!

And just like that, he was off and riding on his own:



Not only are we positively BURSTING with parental pride, but Rory is obviously so totally proud of himself. He has the most amazing smile on his face... his BIG BOY FACE. I don't know exactly when it happened, but suddenly it's very clear that my baby is not a baby anymore... and it kind of takes my breath away.

Way to go, kiddo - we're SO proud of you!

"Police Navidad"

Rory had his preschool Holiday Concert this past Wednesday night, and although we video taped it (like every other parent there!), the video didn't turn very well and you couldn't really hear Rory singing. And since I've had the distinct pleasure of listening to him practice over and over for the past couple of weeks, I didn't think it would be fair if you couldn't experience it as well. (I know, I know, I'm just TOO kind!) So, here he is, singing his little heart out (in Spanglish, no less!):

Learning the Fine Art of Total Embarassment

A few weeks ago, Rory and I are at church looking for Hoby. Rory is running around going, "Daddy? Daddy? Where are you?!". Finally, a man turns around and points to some guy with a mustache and says, "Hey there, little guy - is THAT your daddy?" So Rory says very matter of factly, "Nope, my daddy doesn't have a mustache... but my mommy does! She shaves hers off though." I thought I would DIE from embarassment! And as if that wasn't bad enough, I now get to see that guy EVERY FREAKIN' SUNDAY.

Thanks alot, Ro.

Michigan Trip 2008

Last weekend I took at trip to Michigan.
Yup, you heard that right.
MICHIGAN.

Now, when I say that to most people, their response is usually, "Hmmmm, Michigan? Why would you want to go there? In NOVEMBER?". So I end up explaining that I grew up just outside of Detroit, and that Erika, a good friend of the family - someone I actually consider to be family - got married and it was our good fortune that the wedding was taking place right near our old family stomping grounds. I spent the first thirteen years of my life in Michigan, and believe it or not, I LOVED growing up there as you will probably be able to tell by the ridiculously large amount of pictures to follow. Having the opportunity to go back there after all these years was amazing and at the risk of sounding like a complete sap, it was quite possibly one of the best family trips I've ever taken.

Okay, prepare yourself for a pictorial essay on my childhood!
Are you ready?

Well, to start with, here is how we officially knew we had entered the Midwest - below was the sign outside the door of our hotel's lobby:


You won't see that in California!

Below is the West Bloomfield Jewish Community Center (otherwise known as the JCC) which was where we spent the majority of our childhood. My mom worked here for years, and this enormous building was essentially our playground. Growing up in this place was the reason why I went to college and got a degree in Recreation Administration and Business. It was always my dream to come back and work here someday (but alas, Michigan is kind of a far commute from California!):


This is the first house I ever lived in on Tammerlane Drive in a subdivision called Old Farm. Boy, it seemed so much bigger when I was little!


Here I am in front of where I went to kindergarten at Ealy Elementary School:


This is the house on Strathdale Lane that we moved to when I was in third grade. We lovingly refer to it as "The Sinking House" because the foundation was actually sinking, something that we didn't realize until we spent several years having to trim our vertical blinds like hair because they kept "growing" and hitting the floor. Ah, good times!



We lived right down the street from a park that was located on Moon Lake. I used to ride my bike to the park, walk down the path to the dock, and catch tad poles for hours. I never realized how breathtakingly beautiful it was down at the lake!:









The next place we went was our old elementary school, Pine Lake, that had an awesome wooded path that we used to walk through everyday on our way to school. It looked exactly like it did when we were kids:







And not only did the path and the school look the same, but we were amazed to find that they even still had the same playground equipment that had been there when we were kids twenty something years ago! Unbelievable! Of course, I had to take pictures to prove it:







After freezing our butts off playing on old school yard equipment, we headed out to one of our favorite childhood restaurants, Olga's.



The last time we were at this particular Olga's, about 25 years ago, our whole family got a nasty case of food poisoning. We figured that by now they probably got that worked out and we wolfed down some deliscious food that tasted better than I remembered it. But in an odd (and somewhat amusing) twist of fate, Jer ended up getting food poisoning AGAIN later that night. Okay, well, maybe it wasn't that funny to Jer (sorry, Bro!), but I figured we could all laugh a bit at his expense.

After lunch, we decided that we couldn't truly experience fall in Michigan without stopping by the old Franklin Cider Mill, the site of countless school field trips and autumn weekends during my childhood. The Cider Mill uses an old fashioned water wheel to power the apple presses that are used to make the cider.





They have the BEST apple cider and homemade old fashioned donuts I've ever tasted - it is AMAZING. Of course, we had to take some to go!



Later that night, we got dressed up and headed to the wedding, which was beautiful:




Here's a picture of the happy couple - Erika and Ron, who, as I write this, are probably having drinks on a beach in Buenos Aires! Congrats, you two!:


The entire weekend I walked around with a big sappy smile on my face. What was so darn great about a weekend near Detroit? Well, I got the chance to see old friends that mean the world to me:

Amy Jablin with Baby Mia and "The Kids" together again, Jer, Amy, Erika and Me


My dad and his best buddy, Alan Jablin, and my mom with her old friend Margery Jablin


But more importantly, I had the opportunity to spend some quality time walking down memory lane with my brother Jeremy and my parents (Rory and Hoby sat this trip out and stayed home.) I don't think the four of us have been alone together on a trip in years and it was bittersweet considering all that we've been going through this year since my dad's cancer diagnosis. I think that we were able to wrap ourselves up in a warm, fuzzy blanket of nostalgia and take our minds off the harshness of reality, even if it was only for a little while.

So, yes, I spent the weekend in Michigan - cold, run down, middle of no where Michigan. And you know what, I wouldn't have missed it for the world...

Halloween 2008

Ah, Halloween - is there anything better for a three year old? Dressing up in costume, knocking on random doors, strangers giving out candy, and your parents actually letting you eat some! As Rory would say, Halloween is "pure awesomeness"! We are still in the process of detoxing that three year old from eating his weight in candy...

The lead up to Halloween this year was pretty entertaining. At the beginning of October, I asked Rory what he wanted to be, and his answer was "a Starbucks Maker"(which translates to a Starbucks barista). Not hard to tell that this kid practically grew up in a Starbucks, is it? It sounded kind of odd to me until I realized that this costume basically required only a green apron and a pair of tan pants - it doesn't get much more low maintenence than that! - so I was totally onboard. However, about a week later, I went to pick Rory up from school and his teacher came up and said, "I asked your son what he wanted to be for Halloween and do you know what he said?" I smiled politely, thinking that she meant a Starbucks barista, but she started to laugh and said, "He wants to be a Chuck E. Cheese token!" Uh, WHAT?? Where on Earth did THAT come from? Rory had only been to Chuck E. Cheese once before when he was much younger, and they don't even have tokens anymore! I had no idea where he got the idea, but from then on, he was totally stuck on it.

There went my low mainetenece costume! I had to figure out how to turn my kid into a token! My idea was to use cardboard and cut out two large circles to create a sort of sandwich board that he could wear over his shoulders, then take a picture of a token and have it blown up to cover the cardboard. Sounds good in theory, doesn't it? However, I quickly realized that this was going to be heavy and hard to move around in - and trust me, my child NEEDS to move! On to Plan B. I bought some light weight poster board, figuring this might be easier to get around in, but when I did a test drive with it, Rory ended up crushing it within the first five minutes of wearing it. This was turning out to be even harder than I thought. Darn that Chuck E Cheese and his tokens!

So enter Plan C - convince Rory that he REALLY wanted to be a barista after all! I quickly ordered a little Starbucks apron online and started talking it up like it was going to be the best costume in the world. And you know what? It worked!!!

Check out the cutest "Starbucks Maker" you've ever seen:





Can't wait to see what he comes up with for next year...