on united we stand

i got an email from united, notifying of a flight change. i hate those mails since they never highlight the change. as i scan it closer i see the change, instead of returning on Sunday evening, i return Monday evening... a whole day delay.  now if the delay was in Vietnam or in my short stop to japan i would have gladly accepted the will of the travel gods but an extra day in Denver when i cant ski is less then ideal. lucky the united guy was able to again change my flight giving me extra 45 minutes in japan and arriving late on Sunday, so the end result is fine. anyone know how to be spend 7 hours in Tokyo?

while recuperating from the travel shock, i got a mail from group on about a certain artist coming to town. on youtube i have created a while ago 2 play lists, one for Hebrew songs and the other English, my favorites. i tried very hard not to pick the same artist more then once, made it difficult to pick just one song from several great choices for some artists. i have a couple of slips, one guy sand solo and once in a duet i like and another - i liked a song not realizing who the artist was. and now he is coming next week. just got two tickets..cant wait, i will be practicing for the show all week

i will share my excitement after the show next week. my play list is here 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR_Y9679to-jybWHO-JzpeUj4RSFkwJBz

i took the little one to Barnes and noble today to play with the train set , i sometimes take him there on Friday when the library (that has a similar train set) is closed. i think he is starting to get over trains and plays with books, chair and everything he can knock off the shelves. after that we went to trader Joe's, and they have these little shopping carts, smaller then the usual and mattan loves taking them for a walk in the store. dressed in his pink and purple full body fleece suit he looks like a girl to everyone. he goes in front of me and pushes the cart to astonished looks. am i biased?, strangers always gape at him, or do always babies attract such attention?. he is so adorable.

the last six months of craziness at work are starting to die down. i have time for group on, time to blog, a trip in the horizon, just enough to recharge before project baby part two begins...

that's it, will see if its possible to enjoy another freezing weekend.

on nothing really

what I knew would happen, has happened. i am learning Russian from Mattan!

i started with tapki, which is now the 1st official word he says in three languages (naal= shoe, tapki slipper and boot). moved to kurtka .a.k.a coat and now isho adna one more.i need to be writing this down since he picks up more than i do.

there is little time lately for fun and the weather doesn't make it easier so we time is spent teaching Mattan how to do pull ups, today he did three, chase him around as he knocks over books at the library or follow the chuchu train.  he just learned to put his shoe on , take his coat off and becoming much more functioning just in time to start it all over again... the debate over the name continues and now i think i have a new proposal... final revelation in may.

well, that's it- nothing interesting to tell.

the story continues

i as still digesting the events of the previous battle and the last few months of captivity.

we spent months in chains and picking turnips and being in bad shape all in the hands of the titus vaul , then leather head mike rescued us and was killed soon after in the strangest battle i head ever seen and again it was just us. now that we were free once more , thought still in Titus vaul controlled territory, we spoke often of revenge. a few days after clang sea whiskers left us in search of his family heirloom , leaving me with Artemis the rouge. in town we met up with shana kai , we told her the sad news about leather head mike and she was saddend. we spent the next few days recuperating and i was frantically rewriting my spell books. being without it for some months felt awkward, stripped of my power, it is back now. but i am still so weak compared to others we have encountered on the way, i need to be stronger, much stronger. recent ordeal have made me stronger, i have new capabilities now, but i am too far from where i should be.  

losing sea whiskers is a blow, he was a capable fighter. lucky artemis brother destin was also freed by leather head months before and he was waiting fir us with shana kai. he is also a big guy that i can use as a shield. well , destin will have to be my shield now. i cant seem to retain my body guards. 

as we consider revenge options and wait for our ship to be ready and return us to the sea dragon, we discuss striking a slave revolution, raiding Titus vaul supporters and some other random acts of violence. in the end we decide on something creative. we get barrels of oil and load our ship, we also leave some at critical places on the docks. i also added grease at on the docks just before we leave. the ship sails and we simpy lit the docs on fire, it was beautiful. the wind was blowing in the right directions and 8 schooners of the titus vaul were burned. this is not a decisive blow in the war but without a doubt a painful blow and revenge is sweet. but we were not over yet, we left a note from the spectral hand, made up name that revenge is coming and we blamed Ragnar, the general who betrayed us months ago and led to us captivity , we need to close the score with him.

after a few days the sea dragon met up with us and we retold the story of our captivity and rescue. the captain stasha gave us our share finally after delivering the helmet to Ivan months before. with the new fortune, i replenished my spell book and felt stronger then before, but still i lost the amazing device that allowed me to store many spell, that was invaluable. we sailed with the sea dragon for a few days and reach the town of <add town name> and went with Stash to meet Ivan.

Ivan who discarded the help, who was behind us releasing the five lords, the one we suspected was evil. well he might be, but he fights the titus vaul, my captors, so for now we are on the same side.

Stasha also gained my trust, she rescued us and paid her debts, i prefer her on my side. so when Ivan offered us a mission to rescue lutaria from the titus vaul, (lutaria who was captured with us) i agreed right away but artemis was seriously reluctant. they were kept in some keep and we were to break in and rescue them. the keep is in the forests of the giants, sounds easy right? artemis was scared and we had to convince him to join, a thief is useful when you try to sneak in. Ivan equipped us for this mission. he  gave us invisibility rings and cloaks of silent. did i say that i like this new benefactor? he took us to his temple and said he would show us the power of his godess, ishtar. he tapped his diamond hammer on the alter and tapped us and we felt a surge of health, it was impressive. i wont say i believe in Ishtar, but i was impressed. Artemis was given a new bow and Destin was given armor and new axes and shana was given armor as well.

we were bold to ask lordship of the lands we are to free once the titus vaul were defeated and Ivan agreed, well he has nothing to lose by promising lands he does not yet control . artemis asked for rights to the silver mine we passed in months before with the ants and he got it. wow we lucked out. now all we have to do is deliver.

on one of the nights we were there relaxing at the bar and a familiar female face was seen, we went to say hi and saw [add name ], the girl with the amazing staff who slayed the titans. what was she doing here. she mentioned that she promised us a favor , but we didnt ask anything, someone this powerful you want to keep as friends, she is awesome. she drank some wine and seemed buzz and we told her about our mission. she said her family out west and their nation also do not like the titus vaul. after a nice long chat she said we would meet again and disappeared.

the next morning,we took our goodies and made our way to our transport ship, while Stasha and the rest of the sea dragon crew went for another mission.

after a few days of quiet sneaky sailing to our destination island. we were let off ad a port village where no one knew anything about a keep. but we had a rough map of the area, people did say that there are giants that way and that we should stay away. so of course, we got horses and headed that way. three quiet days later we reached the big swamp. we debated what to do with the horses and we sent destin to scout ahead, he reported that there is a path way over the swamp with narrow bridges in bad shape, and the horses will not make it across. we tied the horses, put our rings and cloaks on and slowly went on the path. several times it got real narrow but we didnt fall over. at some points the water stirred and we saw huge claws of something underneath, we stayed away from that. we also saw giants, but we snuk hidden and stayed away. the swamp became narrower and woods became more dense,  then we reached the end of the swamp and saw a lonely tower with nothing around it. we debated what to do and how to breach the place. it did not have 25 archers as artemis feared , it almost seemed abandoned. then we heard voices behind us on the trail and saw three gourds approach. they didnt see us with our rings, it was easy to ambush them and slay them all without resistance, artemis and shana slayed the first and i put the other two to sleep and in that shape they were no opposition. then we wanted to go in fast to the tower before the guards are missed, but we didnt know how many foes inside. artemis climbed the tower and entered from the window while the three of us entered slowly from the front door using a key one of the guards held. 

at the 2nd floor artemis saw our prisoners tied to racks and screaming, but no one else was at that floor, so he headed down to meet us on the 1st floor. we entered slowly, it is somewhat difficult to fight when we are all invisible, what awesome rings. the 1st floor had four small room, the 2 to my side seemed empty but i couldn't see clearly on the other side as three gourds were sitting by a table, without shields and weapons. we had the surprise impact and took one out quickly and dispatch the other two in seconds. then we went up the 2nd floor and then i saw our prisoners tied to the wrack. this big room seemed too empty. these are important prisoners, there must be more guards. i cast detect magic and then i saw him, someone familiar on the other side of the room, i hat him, so i cast my strongest spell and failed, why did i fail, general ragnar, the betrayer, who killed half of the southern armies of ishtar on the same night he turned and had us enslaved. i cant believe my spell failed.

this general seemed very formidable, well he is a general for a reason, artemis hit him with an arrow but he laughed at that then he was about to do something nasty, then from nowhere she appeared- the girl and cast something that froze the general in place. she said that he is shielded but not defeated and he would be out soon. i have seen what she did to those giants, and she cant beat him, what the heck is he? we debated how to unfree the captured from the magic rack that tortured them all day and then healed them, and again and again. shana casted some other disabling spell on the general which allowed the girl to dispel the magic of the trapped and we slowly pulled them out of those torture devices and didnt have time to search the loot the place. we left the tower and ran north towards the trees, it will not be long before the general escapes.

 

on learning , kings and shoulders

a little while ago we went to the pancake house. after enjoying a burrito, i moved to sitter duty, following the little one around the place. if you come on the weekend to this place at 10:30 you can come in quickly, no lines, come at 11, and you can wait 30 min or more. we came on time and when Mattan walked to the entrance area full of waiters all excited for some distraction. mattan came to the door and tried to escape, but the door was too heavy for him. we walked back and forth in the restaurant and then he tried the door again, and still no luck, the same people were waiting and saying awe... when he couldn't. 10 minutes later same thing. we walked over to the bathroom door and i showed him how to push the door with 2 hands and using his legs for leverage. for a few minutes later , he was pushing the door which was also heavy and finally he made it, so he moved to the door of the ladies room... i stopped him, after several attempts he became and expert in heavy door opening. then it was time to leave and on the way out of the restaurant much to the joy of those poor people still waiting, he just blazed through the main door without giving it a second thought. 

for new years we went for a fancy place. the concert hall had an evening with the mambo kings. i am not a mambo expert but i expected a fun musical evening.

the first part of the show was a 30 min concert by the Cleveland pops, playing some familiar songs, and i sang along bohemian rhapsody. this concert is a tradition, and the crowd came prepared and brought duck whistles. we had no idea about this tradition and in a couple of songs the conductor also used the crowd with the duck calls to enhance the effect which was lots of fun, note to self, next time bring a whistle.

the 2nd part was the mambo kings, they played mambo jazz and i started falling a sleep. isn't mambo fast pace? well it was not. after that a band named the "no name

band was playing and we danced to music of all decades- mostly 50,60,70 - and in the main hall of the building they had lots of balloons that fell down on everyone at midnight. nice fun evening. will we come back next year, perhaps, if the mambo kings are not there.

 

this winter is mostly mild, decent snow but not to many storms, on a warm day of 4C last weekend , I took Mattan back on the buck eye trail, after months of hikelessness, the next section was a road section and the sidewalks were all snowed in, so the road it was and i carried him on my shoulders. he was cooperating most of the time, but needed distraction. passing dogs proved useful but not for long. on the way back, he had enough kept trying to get off and when i let him, he walked to the snow, the other directions , the side, any way but going forward. finishing this trail with this opposition will be a major challenge. might take a few more years to complete then originally planned, now waiting for more over 0c days to proceed.

Alla was trying to teach me the difference between soap. well, there is organic soap for mattan's dishes , this soap is being fed nothing but grass when it grows up and without antibiotics. then there is the hand soap, which must be not farm fresh and finally the soap for the rest of us mortals.  i just tell her, soap is soap i cant tell them apart.

I went with the little cub to the zoo, we take him there often but he is still more interested in going up and down stairs and walk ways then the animals, but this is a work in progress. we went to the wolf den which is usually empty, the wolves are  napping out of site and the beaver in the pool in their enclosure is hiding, but today it was different. a wold was one meter away from me, on the other side of the glass and the beaver was swimming back and forth in plain sight. i was excited, but mattanchuk couldn't care less. i need to make a request to the zoo to move the stairs away from the wolves so i (and the hounds) would stand a chance.

recently 2 series came to an end. the books of Narnia which i started just  before the movie franchise started about 7-10 years ago- way too long for relatively short books. strange ending.

the 2nd series was  breaking bad, i am only a year behind, but definitely a good ending here

that is it on current events, hope to be able to write more often...

cheers

Fwd: on veterans, marbles and the wind

some time not log ago i had a chance to travel with my brother shai, we didn't have much time and as always we looked for a new destination. Minnesota was mentioned as it is one of the missing states, but time did not allow and we ended up choosing another exciting destination.

after a short 6.5 hours drive, i picked my brother at the airport in Chicago and we started heading north, and hour later we stopped way passed dinner time at a small steak house and enjoyed a rib eye with some potatoes and kept driving north.

just under around an hour less we arrived at our destination, Milwaukee. we found a good conference hotel down town and decided to part. the hotel had a 25$ parking and a 32$ valet parking, no way i am paying that much for parking, i will show them and parked a block away for free. i saw a do not park here type of sign and parked more down the street where it is safe.

we entered a hotel for freaks. people were dressed like ferries , ponies and the like. blue ribbons every where, wings and the like. we asked around and there as a "my little pony convention" never seen the show myself, but people were dressed as characters of the show. we decided to call it a night and explore the city in the morning.

some hours later, i found a nice place for breakfast and a hiking tour of the city and we were ready to explore. we left the hotel, took our luggage outside and saw dozens of bikers. what seemed as a gang of hoodlums at first, turned out to veterans. this was veteran's day and the city was holding its annual parade. we watched these bikers slow pass by and then something annoyed me in the background, no cars...

i looked again and confirmed it, the space where my cars stood was vacant. we rushed over and saw the do not park here sign i saw yesterday and saw more of those signs. the entire area was cleared for the parade. the signs didn't even specify a towing number. it was November and arctic winds were blowing. lucky some parade official knew the towing company and we now took a cab some 15 minutes away. 

the towing office was full of lucky people, we took a number and waited, we needed ID which i had and insurance , lucky for the phone app and aprox six times the parking fee and an hour later we were back in control and headed downtown.

we made it to the breakfast place and the parking next to it was free, so the sign says we parked an i had some nice eggs Benedict and hot chocolate. we also checked on the parking and while it is true it is free, there is a 2 hour limit... a known city trap! so we moved the car to a full day pay and avoided further risks.

we finally began walking on this extremely cold day, it was the start of the |coldest November since ...19xx. we found a walking tour of the main sites and started walking. we passed the parade on the way and enjoyed some music from the man marching bands and teen groups in various uniforms. we walked around a city park overlooking the lake and joined the crowds in the parade. 

we stopped by the art museum. which had one special exhibit from some museum in Europe, i don't recall which one, not all art is my type, this was not and soon we kept walking. there was a discovery museum which was so full of kids you couldn't even move so we skipped that and walked the lake shore for a freezing hour. we stopped at a local market and tried some local healthy food and decided that there is no more for this city worth exploring and we drove south again.

since this is Wisconsin, we stopped at a cheese castle, a shop resembling a castle that turned out be be just a regular market so we left without getting cheese and drove back to Chicago.

2 guys out on the town, where to go?, what to do?, so many choices. after checking in to our hotel, we went to the mall...

this was a premium outlet mall, all the expensive brands have stores that at major discounts, still to expensive for my taste, but i did get a bunch of clothes for Mattan and a wallet, after using my pockets only for a couple of years.

we dined at a surprisingly good bar restaurant inside the mall and crashed. Shay was tired post a hectic election in san Jose after finally making it to the right one and i was tired from over working so a day of nothing is is good.

next morning we stopped at a trendy breakfast place then went to the an out door freezing flee market. we barely had cash, which was good, not much to get, but i did get a hat for my freezing ears. after an hour or so in the market we decided to go to sears tower, which has a different name now and parked, again paying, no more tows please.

the wind in the windy city was brutal, it moved us literally a meter forward at some point.

the line to the tower on a cold empty day was an hour and a half, so we skipped it. we passed by a dip dish pizza place , signed up, and left, since it takes 45 min to make a pizza, we walked around and stumbled on a movie set, several square blocks were closed and a bunch of staffers were taking measurements to the curious crowds. they all said that these are preliminary and  shooting will be later, i don't know which movie, they told us something which is probably wrong. since its Chicago, perhaps the 3rd divergent movie? who knows, 40 cold minutes later we met for a warm dip dish pizza at the most famous place, so the menu says, it was ok for me, not something worth coming back to. well it was now time to go. i dropped him off at his hotel for a few more days of his convention and i began the 6 hours drive back home.

as you may remember, i am finishing my ancient biology degree and for one of the assignments i had to find some nature tour in the area of conservation. I found one. bird counting. rangers all over the great lake count water fowl and the species to determined movement patterns to identify what areas to preserve. i got to see some duck species i never even heard about before , some gulls and spent 2 hours by the lake.

Mattanchuck had a bad 10 days not long ago. on a Thursday he slipped in the pool and bled from his chin, a nice little cut. 2 days later we brought in boxes of floor lamination for Mattan's new room. we leaned some on the walls while we brought the rest in and Mattanchuck moved one of them and it fell on him, the box weighs more then he does and it is much taller and basically hit him all over , in the face as well. so we spent an evening at the ER. he was fine other than a nasty bruise on his chick and next to the eye and experienced an almost CT. you need to be still for a CT, so for babies they bind them, poor thing didn't like that and was fighting the restraint they couldn't do it in the end. a week later, i was with him and i think he swallowed a marble, well i have no proof, but he had marbles nearby and he was making strange sounds, so i rushed him to the ER again. you come there, rush in and then wait... very troubling, Mattan was acting fine by then, and started playing around the toys of the kids er and i was a nervous wrack. Inna came by to help and we held the poor guy down for an X-Ray which revealed nothing. for a few days later were were doing number 2 examinations for lost marbles and found none.

yesterday he fell down some stairs twice! once blooding his chin again and the other hitting his head. he is fine and is starting to climb up and down the stairs without holding the rails. while he is pushing his limits, he pushes our anxiety. 

well those were the recent events..

see you next year

winter photos

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/6087153562532867889?authkey=COr_r62T5YrU8QE

18 month report

18 months have passed so quickly, hard to believe Mattanchuck has grown so much. Its time for the annual 18 month report.

 

Hair color still blond J and eyes still blue JJ .

Likes: the stair are still a huge attractions, so are cars- especially red, since both of our cars are red, he recognizes that and also gray for Ira, his new nanny.

He loves taking his tiny red car or bicycle for a walk, he doesn't really ride the yet, but pushes them along and loves to get in and out even if the car is moving, action style.

The light is a huge hit- he tries to figure which light goes where and asks (loud) to be lifted up to higher lights like the oven light for more advanced research into the on/off world.

Music is also big- he asks to turn it on- he has not figured that one yet, and then like to turn volume low, then very high.

He like opening the blinds, loves his DDDD (DVD player) and can sit and watch the same tune over and over and over and over and over again and over again.

Lately , he loves company especially when going to sleep which makes us lose sleep, we now have a mattress by his bed and stay with him till he falls asleep – its obvious we are suckers 1^st time parents. If we are not there he can wail very loud nonstop- serious lungs.

He likes milk- must have 4 times a day, lemonade, water as well but not as much. All manner of fruits and vegetable are good including those I cannot touch like zucchini, yuck. But his taste changes by the day, some days he will eat yogurt and other days not. While distracted by activities we can jam more food into him

 

Favorite fruit- blueberries, 2^nd place blueberries, and way below banana and peach.

He likes kasha, and is very good in general with potatoes, bread, meats, rice, soup. Good eater.

He outweighs his cousin (4 month older) , but not as tall.

He loves train and will begin to steal from other babies in the library.

Best friend – Allen – who is 2 months older then him- and they shout ooowwwww to one another- they communicate well.

He loves bridges and going up and down things, cross the road then cross back. He knows to mimic dog, monkey, owl , rooster, lion (a bit) but not cat. He points to him self when we say his name and clearly points to us and his grand parents and nanny.

You can see him thinking all the time, he likes to stand and watch as things unfold ( my fault) slightly less social with other kids, but it gets better. He cant sit still in classes for babies (same as me).

He is likely right handed but shows left tendencies as well.

He will sometimes sit on the couch next to me, mimicking me, adorable. He climbs ladders and goes up the slide, good climber.

He is sometimes brave and sometimes afraid of dogs, with cats he is still cautious.

His arch nemesis – Johnny 5 a.k.a romba the mobile vacuum – he is terrified of that, but not from the regular vacuum.

His new fetish is shoes- he tries ours on, still did not start walking in them and he would bring shoes to us as a sign that he wants to go outside. He understand when we want to dress him to go outside.

He is an expert of floor peeing if I take the diaper off and let him road before the shower.

He does like the shower itself, especially putting the shampoo bottles on the hanger and back down.

He knows how to open caps and scares the hell out of me and also tries to dismount his high chair and that also scares me.

He falls often , barely cries and moves on, he will sometimes cry for attention , not long – but he will cry when he can't do something- frustration cry for help. As mentioned before, he will scream when he doesn't want to go to bad.

 

He can fall asleep easy in the car, same as I. he mimics hand gestures, my favorite is when he curls his hand "what" kind of gesture, just precious.  He does high five and we now try to teach him to five in both hands.

He tries something and tries again till he gets it right, very impressive persist-ency.

He likes to run around our kitchen island and play some sort of hide and seek with chases.

He starts to get in to cars, which is good.

His says hi, bye, mama, papa, baba, lion,  and understand Russian and Hebrew- we try to keep the English at minimum at this point. At the library he says bye to everyone and gets a lot of well-deserved attention. At the local market he begins to get stickers from the clerks but does not understand what to do with them yet. Magnets are a new discovery, he has not figured out why the trains stick on just one side. But he likes to create a long train and take it for a ride in the library.

He has been to 2 countries so far and 2 states. Already more than the average American.

Ah, he has high a whole section of the buck eye trail- the Bedford section from Brecksville reservation till Lake Erie in Mentor. Over 67 miles!!!

Well that's it for tonight.

My son, don't stop surprising, can't wait to see what come's next.

And don't be upset when you see us taking you out of your crib soon, it is needed for the next one…..