on records, zombies and rides

a rather interesting week

Tal started crawling... well he more or like pulls himself onward with his hands,still no real crawl but a most exiting moment.

a new bird came to the yard, it was a pack of them, 4-5 together, a bit smaller then a robin and  slimmer, with kind of polka dots on the nets and strange patterns on the wings, took a while to search the book to find it, a Starling i think. i didn't get a snap shot...

We went to boo at the zoo, a non scary Halloween event, still lots of pumpkins, ghosts, staff and many of the guests in customs. I took my crock outfit , fitting for the zoo, but added an extra hand sticking out of my mouth, you know, finger food. for 2 hours or so i chased mattan around and enjoy the great atmosphere. they had a little dance party, hay maze, dancing light show , a fun event but mattan refused his Thomas outfit.

yesterday, an event was held in a university dorms, trick or treating. the students sit outside their rooms and give candy. they also decorate the halls, this is done for charity, the visitors bring used clothing for donation. Elmo (nathan) came as well and Mattan finally agreed to wear a custom and took my crock head. the kids are 5 months a part, share some DNA but are so different. Mattan rushes forward and i have to chase him, while nathan takes his time and enjoys the moment.  we go from dorm to dorm , in each a floor or tow is filled with students and candy. one floor was a scary one with spider webs and students make things rattle. both were scared and i carried them through it, informing the students not to play tricks. but most floors were cheerful and the kids more not then often say trick or treat, say thank you and get lots of Ohhhs. both look adorable. i wore a custom my self, a zombie. well just the pants and shirt. it is hard enough to follow these runaways even without having the mask obscure my vision. but this suit is super hot, and i go up and down the stairs, chase them around and sweat hard, in minutes i smell like a zombie.. mean while mattan asks for candy and i open it for him, then he is eating lolly pops, has them for a while then gives them to me and asks for "new candy". with one student, i hand her the used lolly and have her give it to mattan, but he is not fooled.

on the way back, Tal is crying in the car and mattan says "poor Tal, he wants milk papa "(in hebrew) so cute.

the other day i went to a class at the J. Rip n Ride, its a spin class, but you make "stops" for squats, sprints, lifts , jumps and other forms of torture. next morning i was fine, but now 48 hours later i a a wreck.. so hard returning to shape.

Alla tried to make a cake. i am usually the every day cook, and alla makes the specials.

she got the material, and couldn't find to make it, and on occasion i pilfered materials for pasta, she got more materials and the cycle continued. a month later, last weekend she finally had ingredients and time and create a masterpiece... there is nothing left after two days... we now try to find more time for this cake, you must try it.

i am addicted to words with friends and i do ok. i average 375 points and above 400 is uncommon, over 500 is very rare. a month ago i had a 580 game and thought i would never have a better one and then this week. it started with lazier z on Triple letter and word, 122 points, decorator on a double and triple word 80+, noisier - 7 word bonus score 70+ points. but there was a zap by a triple word score and both of us of hoping for the miracle S. and when it did, i had Aqua with Q on the triple letter. new word record of 153 and new game score of 683. amazing personal best for me. i looked up scores online- someone did 1233 with a single word!!!! . the thing is that before i finished the game, i had 1 i left, i saw a message that i resigned this game. i was shocked!!! the app has some glitches but this, on my best game ever, the pain in the the rip and ride class that followed was not as bad as this. i didn't see it in my games to play or in the completed games, it vanished. a few hours later it appeared again and i was able to complete and have a huge sigh of relief.. 

enjoy some photos

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipMEHOaugYEpnUdJxAD1Sb1LZ63rjZhVON6m5Mpn

on 24601

blog began a few days ago...

in case you missed it, today is back to the future day, very exciting. 

on a trip to universal studio's once, we went to the tourist show and i volunteered, they put me in a Doc brown suit and the stage looked like the final clock scene, and i stood on the clock balcony and shouted "Marty, i am sending you back to the future", this is my only movie credit and it wasn't even the real movie, they do it multiple times a day but i loved it.

today is the date that in the 2nd movie they went to the future, with flying cars, hover board and large screen TV that work like phones. well we kind of have the last one with Skype, but i have not seen hover boards or flying car. well perhaps in 30 more years..

started to work out a bit, went to spinning and had a soar butt in about a minute and exhaustion in 30. it is so hard to return, body aches. next day i tried body sculpt, lots of easy moves that get pain full quick and now i am sore all over, the good kind of sore, but a bit much.

went to see a movie, in the Jewish film fest. dough - kind of funny. 

sometimes i re watch old Simpsons seasons, it is unbelievable how much details was overlooked by me in the past. for example, the prisoner number of Side show bob , where he corresponds withe Selma is 24601. as a kid i missed this reference to les miserable. when principal Skinner find a face mask that looks like -the man from the iron mask, that too had the number 24601 on it. i really enjoy spotting new details.

i spent the day in a toast masters convention. we had several lectures including one fro, a world champion of public speaking. some of these speakers are amazing. many of the speakers state that you can be good, its takes time and practice, but it is a whole new level to be "gooder" as one speaker noted. my vantage point is that i always wanted to be good in many things but i don't know if i want to spend that much time in any one area to be gooder. before i started my role this year as an area governor, i declared a goal and that is to be comfortable introducing my self to strangers. i am too self conscious. with these conferences i am making baby steps towards the goal. i felt more comfortable today.

at one point i stand by the gift raffle bags, trying to see which one to put my ticket on and i begin to talk with this elderly woman on diapers and bottles that were given with this specific gift bag. a few minutes later when the key note speaker of the convention is announced i find that this was his wive, but just a casual conversation is a big step for me. well worth the convention price.

in the convention prizes are awarded, one of them is are Governor of the year, my current role. and the winner is... not me of-course, this is a prize for last years.. is my predecessor in the role. there are about 30 areas in our district, and this year i am in her shoes. funny that she is a teacher and knows Inna's kids from there school. small world (janet wasserman). my goal this year was not this awards, but now that she won it, i feel obliged to try as well. see what happens in next year awards.

it is incredibly beautiful outside. the fall colors are amazing. in the after noon light the red tree glisten and in the morning cloudy days, the yellow trees have a halo. already we can see many trees without leaves, this period want last forever and some frozen-ness will strike again.

i did some yoga yesterday, my activeness cycle slowly kick starts and i can see the symptoms, i googled a trip, i blog more, i have event ideas in mind, the good momentum is here and i need to keep it going....

tomorrow we may even hike ....

beautiful photos will arrive shortly

good night

little bit on Poop and other bits

poop is usually a funny subject, but as parents it is an uphill battle. how do you get the little one to sit on the toilette? diaper money set aside, Mattan has a sensitive skin and Baboons are envious of him if we don't change him in time. he was doing very well till Taltal came along and regressed.

now when we ask him if he pooped he says no, always no. he said no the other day as well, but my nose detected something pre-flushed. i lifted his shirt for an inspection and saw the evidence gushing out from above the pants. i asked him if he is sure that he didn't poop and he reaches back with his hand and touches his back (which is usually poop-less), but not this time. he is alarmed by the unexpected material and i laugh, it is funny. i rush him up to the bathroom trying to avoid him touching my white shirt. i placed him on the sink and tried to carefully remove his shirt, bit to no avail. the material was filling his shirt and now the removal of the shirt smudged them all over his back, neck, hair and bits on both his arms. as hilarious a sight as the best Simpsons episode. he he was watching his mushy back in the mirror and complained about all the little its wanting to get them out. but still he resisted the bath, but i explained that he must use the shower, he does not like the shower in the bathtub, he likes the bath part of the dush, but not the combo, but a bath now would be a stinking sewage. so i washed him down and the bat was filled with bits and pieces.

after that i recorded his reaction and tried to have him explain what happened- the movie is here

(https://youtu.be/7pwALox9JW0)- movie should be available in 10 min

the next day when i asked him if he pooped. he still said no.

festival season is going on.

yesterday we went to a farm, then boarded a tractor trailer, holding a refusing to be held child and riding for a minute or two.the fun continued with a barn filled with hay and slides, Mattan went none stop up and down, walking inside huge hoses and sliding down. at one location they had three slides next to each other and three kids got on ready to slide, Mattan slid over a girl, sat in-front of her and had the gull to push her back then took his sweet time become sliding down.

after the hay, he played in a mock tractor, got in to a pool of large corn kernels and kept hurling the kernels out of the pool, the running in and out of the kids corn maze, and more sliding on very long slides in the woods ending with a pony ride. great time for him and fun for us chasing him up and down with a beautiful views of the fall

Last week i was solo with both poop makers and we went to another farm (so many festivals here...great) this one was a 19th century farm. first Mattan painted a pumpkin, he gets his drawing skills from me, the pumpkin looks like a purple mess. then we hiked around the farm and in various old barns and houses, local vendors were displaying ancient wares. one lady was making brooms from wheat, from the stems. mattan enjoyed sweeping a bit. then he totally ignored the black smith (What is wrong with him?) , the horse drawn carriage scared him, he didnt go into the big corn maze , despite my requests and was pushing the stroller all the time (and I carried Tal). we saw a pottery presentation, some chickens, goats and flowers. one guy was showing games from 2 centuries ago, all made of woods, a wheel with a stick to role it. things with horses hooves. i tried getting mattan to play but he cared only for the stroller. this guy's display was somewhat over the trail and Mattan tried to push it up. he couldn't do it and i helped him, he didn't like that so he pushed the stroller down back to the trail and then pushed it up again all on his own.  we walked back after this 2 hours farm walk and enjoyed fresh lemonade and locally made flavored milk (orange, berries, grape and some others) mattan sampled 4 sips and liked them all so i got a bottle. 

at home, when i tried to get him the orange milk, he rejected and asked for the red milk (4%) , if you want orange flavored milk, we have a bottle.

cheers

p.s the movie Mr turner, a slow English quality drama, good acting by the guy who played the rat dude in Harry potter (he did not need make up) . watched it while writing this and may have impacted my style. it is here by recommended

fall pictures will arrive later today.