A midsummer night's nightmare

Shabbat in the air

Remember when I said that my husband was wonderfully amazingly creative, and thinks up field trips that I would never have even considered without him? Well, last night we went to a car and plane show at a local airport, hosted by MiniCooper/BMW and Cirrus aircraft. We ate great BBQ, schmoozed with salespeople, checked out the hugely expensive cars and planes, and - best of all - got to go for a demonstration flight!! It was my very first time in a private plane (or, as Jonathan insists I say, a single prop passenger plane).

Here are my top five, below.

Plane posing.

Walking out to the tarmac.

Sitting in the cockpit. (Note: the lines on his cheek and black on his nose are leftover kitty costume from earlier in the day).

The plane being moved is the one we flew in. He signs "more" at the end.

Getting all settled before take-off.

It was a really, really wonderful flight.

The rest of the pictures are in a slideshow. Click here to see.

The Harry Potter park opens on the 18th!

And it looks AMAZING. Read the NY Times article here.

Antonio and some other Whittier College people are going together as a big group, but the timing and finances don't work out for us so we won't be joining them. The next time we go on vacation, though, it's all about Florida!

I am officially...

a chaplain on the Cardiology floor of Good Samaritan Hospital. This includes the Cardiac ICU.

We meet 8:30-11:30 in class, then an hour lunch, then 12:30-5 on the floor. It's fascinating, but I admit I'm enjoying the interfaith group dynamics of the morning more than I am visiting patients in the afternoon. In fact, while I can be good at this, I don't think I'll ever be truly great.

You know who would be, though?

Jonathan.

I told him that I think I'm doing this internship so that HE can find his calling!

CPE so far

Equals me, another HUC student, a Pentecostal minister, a Baptist preacher, a gay Unitarian Universalist, and a Catholic seminary student who wears the collar every day. We're meeting the last member of our team today, Father somebody.

Lunch conversation yesterday revolved around anointing oil. Is it okay to baptize or anoint somebody if they believe in the words, but you don't? How far does "interfaith chaplaincy" really go?

Also, I decided to splurge on really comfy shoes (before I only had non-comfy heels). I thought it would take over an hour, but Jonathan suggested we go to a department store. We went to Dillard's, the saleslady brought out five different options within five minutes of hearing what I wanted. I bought a cheaper version of this shoe from Ecco's, and they're amazing. THE WHOLE PROCESS TOOK LESS THAN FIFTEEN MINUTES. I was amazed. I'm used to shopping at Payless!

Crazy weekend

Rabbinical school friends are now ordained, and grad student and rabbinical friends have MAs and PhDs. It was a very celebratory weekend. Other things of note:

1) It was great to hang out with Anne and Carl. Their youngest can now say my name! She was barely talking last time we saw her. Time goes fast.

2) We now know NOT to keep Xander up past his bedtime when other children are involved. Let's just say it's a good thing that Anne and Carl's girls are so good-natured. We felt very embarrassed when 8pm rolled around and Xander kept hitting them with LEGOs.

3) Laundry sucks. Not that that has to do with anything, it was just on my mind so I thought I'd throw it out there. It feels like we just did 5 loads and already the darn basket is full again. Does it never end?!

4) I finished my summer class! At least, all the classwork part. I still have to write a long final paper. Oh well. It's progress.

5) It's a good thing I'm done, too, as CPE, my chaplaincy internship, starts tomorrow. 8:30-5 five days a week. It'll be just like being in the working world again. I just bought new comfy shoes for the occasion. Next up, I'm thinking, is some new business casual clothes. I'm looking forward to learning, but am a little scared at the same time. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Happy Sunday!

Xander's day

Getting dressed in the morning (before I brushed my hair, obviously)

The white towel you see on the couch is to decrease the amount of fur in our lives. That's Simcha's favorite spot, so we change the towel every week and replace it with a clean one.

Bubbles quickly morphed into a falling game.

And bouncing commences!

Animals, swimming, and kickin' back

Xander LOVES our new daycare arrangement! Jonathan and I love it too. Angela, the nanny, is awesome, and it's great to see him in the day but be able to go back to our offices to do work. He adores being with his friends, we hear them laugh and play all day. There's nothing like toddler giggles to warm one's heart.

Before Xander left the old place, however, they had graduation! This is the speech his teacher gave when handing him his "graduation diploma."

Afterwards there was a petting zoo outside. A pig, sheep, goat, rabbit, duck, chickens... I know there were more animals, I just can't remember them now. They were a big hit with the kids.

Fluffy bunny.

"Quack, quack" goes the duck.

(Not of Xander, obviously, but this was too cute!)

Brushing the pig.

Saying hi to the goat.

The next day was swimming. The indoor swimming pool at the JCC is awesome! It's like a whole water park, complete with slide. The normal pool is good too... but man, I am out of shape. I swam 5 laps and nearly collapsed.

Having a serious talk with Jeffrey.

I have a TURTLE and a BALL!!







I think the below video is kind of boring, but Mom, it is long, as you requested.

And how do we relax when we hang out at home? Here Jonathan and Simcha are playing a video game.


I, of course, read. I just finished a book Gwen sent me, Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul, and now I'm onto the Emotional Life of the Toddler. Next up I think is The Yiddish Policeman's Union.

And Xander.. he just chills.

More videos to come. Tomorrow.

Not as applicable now that he's older. But I still love it.

Toddler emotions

At 5:58am Xander got up, walked into our room and climbed into our bed to snuggle. This didn't last very long, because Simcha joined us, and Xander wanted to pet the kitty. Simcha then jumped off the bed. Xander was sad.

He told us he needed his diaper changed. We changed it. He signed "thank you" and was grateful.

Next was time to get dressed. He picked the blue shirt over the yellow one. He was joyous.

A minute later he got very upset when I said that he couldn't wear his winter boots in the upstairs carpeting. But he was mollified when I suggested his kitty slippers instead.

When we went to the bathroom to brush our hair, he climbed up the step next to the counter to wash his hands. He giggled with glee. This again turned into a crisis a minute later - he was NOT happy when we had to leave the water.

We went downstairs for breakfast. I asked what he wanted: he requested banana, eggs, and yogurt. Eating was great. But face-washing afterward was painful.

We did a puzzle. He couldn't fit one piece in and got very frustrated. I offered to help and his eyes lit up. We completed the puzzle. He clapped with joy.

Dropping him off at our friend's house, he saw Yasha and squealed. They gave each other hugs and immediately started to play with trucks. But when we left, we could hear him cry through the door.

All in all, it was a very typical morning.