Weekend Round-up

Thanks for everyone's concern about my presentation. I actually think it went really well. Just my luck, my professor was more into intervention free birth :) One of the girls said I "almost convinced her." To me, it was not really about convincing anybody, just about giving them access to information they may not get otherwise. I may summarize some of the things I spoke about in a different post.
We just came back from a weekend away with our whole crew. We had a family bar mitzvah. I was a bit concerned because taking our kids out of their routine and into a new place is always a bit challenging.
Especially when you are eating long meals in a big shul and the kids do not have the patience to sit through it all.
I brought along way too many things for just over 24 hours- clothing, diapers, toys, etc but my friend always says it is better to be over-prepared rather than under-prepared.
Thankfully, the weekend worked out very well. A friend referred me to a babysitter, who helped out during the meals. She played with the kids outside when they were done eating and made sure noone went wandering off. She was very sweet and did her job well. And the peace of mind of knowing there is another set of hands and eyes to keep tabs on everyone is invaluable.
The kids actually had a lot of fun playing with their second cousins, whom they do not know so well. I am glad they had a chance to spend time with them but it made me kind of wistful,wishing they had more opportunities to interact and play with their cousins in Israel.
Our kids are such city-kids. Getting in a car and driving 20 minutes to New Jersey was a huge adventure for them. A. was talking about it for weeks, counting down to it and telling all her friends. The boys were excited that they got to drive in a car. A. was asking lots of questions- where are the traffic lights, why are there houses and not apartment buildings, why do the side-walks look different. I joked around with my husband that we need to take them out of the city more often :)
The only mishap over the weekend was that M. took a nasty fall on the way home from lunch. He was running down the sidewalk, when he tripped over an uneven part of the pavement. He fell forward straight onto his head. I was already having visions of a repeat from last summer, stitches and all. Thank goodness, he just had superficial scrapes and some bruising. He still looks pretty awful though.

AY was the star of the show this past weekend. Everyone was marveling at his spiky hair and saying how cute he is. I definitely agree with this assessment :)

This week, both boys are off from school for President's Week. I am still not sure how I am going to entertain them or where to take them. Suggestions welcome.