on decades, belts and on going goals

10 years ago, yesterday evening, I landed in cleveland to restart my life.

time flies way too fast. it is time for the yearly report.

Hiking remain a major part of the year and the Burton section is near complete- i have about 10 miles of boring road sections left to do. the remaining parts are also on less friendly roads for walkers, winding, narrow and without a side walk, so i have been avoiding them. we have started the next section. Mogadore. which also has plenty of country road sections. the roads are nice, but not as pretty as a park. tomorrow is a warm day , high 40s.. and i intend to hike the trail again. I discovered uber this year. instead of hiking there and walk back. but in these rural areas there is no uber so once again i am slowed, this trail will literally take forever, but i knew it was a long project when i started. i hope this year to finish mogadoe and remain parts of Burton and with it the small loop of the trail around north east ohio.

Orienteering was usually a regular summer activity, but last season I had just one event. every time something would come up. several sitter less days, fell on vacation, and twice kids fell asleep in the car on the way preventing my exploration. but so far 2018 had a good start 2 evens including today. 2 hours solo in the woods, love it.

other sports comes are rare intervals. 0 tennis last year,  very little volley ball. only 2 5Ks, not a single adventure race. a low activity summer and that always goes with weight gain for me, but last few months are trending downwards.

Mattan began going to Taikuandu and i would be sitting there with parents doing pretty much nothing and i checked and found that i can join the class. in the last 3-4 months  

I wear that thick white costume, kick and run with kids half my height. 

it was a strange experience as i was the only grown up in that class. there are family classes with other grown up, but none other in Mattan's class. it took few weeks of strange stares but the kids are and i are used to each other, i am no longer an alien.

I really enjoy this class. fighting was never a skill for me and it feel good to kick targets. i am now a yellow belts and next week should proceed to orange. Mattan will get his green. the belts change every to months or so, by the next report we both should be fairly high belts.

one other activity i started is a crossfit like activity. it started with a 6 weeks challenge- 3 work outs a week at 5am. yes, there is a 5 am now. i now do it regularly. this class has a lot of weight lifting, lunges, squats, box jumping, jump rope. these are the activities I tended to avoid as they would make me near asthma. for the 1st month. i would finish each class mildly hyper ventilating and for the rest of the day i would feel mild dizziness, but that is over now, i am getting back to shape and can lift a little more. the 5 am things is still tough to get used too but its the only time i can commit without some kids activity to prevent me from going.

in parallel, i added one items to the forbidden list. its over 6 years since i stopped drinking diet coke and with it all the other sodas. i do miss it sometimes, especially in commercials in movies but i remain sober.  i did have a little stint with ginger ale for  a while but i kicked it as well. and now almost 2 months ago i gave up something more painful, chocolate.

this is difficult as i realize how much of it i would eat. Shachar, nuttela, chocolate cake, chocolate mile, chocolate bars of various kids. krembo, hamen tachen and the list goes on. so yummi. the best thing is that i have not replaced it with any other bad things. so far i am holding on strong but it is more of a challenge since the kids love sweets and it is ever present at the house and well any desert. i drove by my favorite custard ice cream place and did not stop...

The last year had some new destinations. off season Sardinia and Corsica were interesting. These are beach destinations, but not in march. instead my brother shay and my dad explored green hills, wild flowers and swimming in semi frozen waters of 2 different seas- yes there is a "Tyrrhenian Sea".

in the summer , i discovered the whole of russia. well 2 days walking st, petersburg.

two days is enough, right, there is nothing more fore russia to offer.

we visited the hermitage museum, gardens and All samples all sort of russian food.

we revisited for a short while the cities of Helsinki, Tallinn. riga and stockholm but this time with kids activities.

kids museums and just walking the towns.

in the fall, i took a little detour from a work meeting and explored eastern Minnesota. not for long, i visited a state park and hike for a couple of hours. i was pretty much alone and i was a bit bear cautious. there are bears in Minnesota but i didn't know if they were in this area.  i explored a small town and took a legs up mandatory photo. not the most detailed of trips, but a state park count as minimal requirement to check off Minnesota. 

in the fall we visited another state for a more detailed trip and that was just incredible.

walking over hot lava, literally, over red hot lava. amazing.

we swam with dolphins. held an actual octopus and let it grasp my hand, swam with giant manta rays , swam in ancient water holes. yes  lots of swimming. other then swimming we ate lots of good food, hiked volcano national park, drove to the peak of the world's tallest mountain and enjoy the glorious sun together.  Hawaii is awesome.

we also had shorter trips, at friends in Toronto including yummi shwarma and a short hike. 

this year is the year of Pokemon. I definitely spent a significant amount of time in the game. according to the game i walked almost 1000 km with it. i dont think i walked this much, since some of it is driving , but i definitely walked several hundred k this year. i now passed the half way mark in the game, i think its the longest game i ever played, should be done in a year or so. 

my dungeons and dragons campaign is now also at least two years old. but we do not play often, once a month in a good month, i do enjoy it tremendously.

cooking was enhanced this year by following lots of Blue Apron recipes. Asparagus is no no longer a stranger on my plate and this year i sample and survived bok choy, rad cabbage, colored greens and tomatoes in new forms in soups. Red cabbage is something i actually enjoy now- well with the sauce at cheese cake factory. i also learned how to better cook chicken and fish.

in public speaking i had a slower year, reaching the end of the program pretty much and as before when i get to this state i slow down. i have one little project to finish and i am seriously procrastinating... more more for DTM.. 

our apple house is having a fun year. Alla decided to paint the house and this project is already past its due date but should soon end with gray walls. weman have strange tastes. while the work continues, siding fell out of the out side walls and next week that project begins, replacing all the siding, luckily insurance is paying for this. and at the same time, our driveway broke and there is a a hole there. in the summer we have to redo the drive way, expensive year. 

on the good side , spring is creeping. the trees begin to bud and tomorrow is a warmer day after the long and very cold winter, i am ready for spring.

that is it, its almost tomorrow by the time i finish this entry and it has been a long while since I last wrote.

but now its plans for next year.

add at least 1 us state- the missing states are few and far between, one more this year will be good. north Carolina, north Dakota or Alabama.

a new country is coming up very soon... another new one in the summer, and i need to find  way to add one more...

do at least 7 orienteering events this year and one adventure race

get my DTM

get to above blue belt

finish the Burton section, pass half way on mogadore section.

try Gaelic football (its some mix of soccer and rugby , they have a club here)

and hopefully be lighter next year then i am right now

another year/decade begins...

on ski, sleep and nothing to do

Yesterday morning, we woke up, began to franticly pack up bags, winter gear and other stuff, and headed for a ski vacation. it only took 2.5 hours to pack. almost record time.

It rained when we left and then turned into snow, but the road were good, except a foggy part for 20 minutes or so and the kids were behaved as long as they had peppa pig to watch. After almost 3 hours I dropped Alla and Mattan off, they went to sign Mattan in Ski school and Alla rushed to enjoy ski after three slope less years.

 

That left me, the oper with Tal. We checked in, unpacked the car and now i had the assignment to get little cranky to sleep. yada yada yada.. 3 hours later, now i am cranky and Tal is not sleeping. Well, i took him to an alpine slide. It is about 4 minutes away by car. He was sleeping heavily before we got there. Now i spent another hour of doing mostly nothing.an hour or so later, i was relieved and headed for the pool. Ski school was over by then and we spent 2 hours at the pool. This is an indoor heated pool-, which is linked to an outside heated pool next to a hot tub. Most of the group were at the hot tub, but i was on lifeguard duty as Mattan is for the first time without a floatation device. He swims well, but too early to be left alone. in this time, the kids, Mattan some of his cousin played, and moved from one pool to the other, then we all set up to eat left over Turkish food, before Alla's sister and her family left for home and we stayed the night.

 

On day 2 of this exciting, action packed vacation. We had decent breakfast, then Mattan went to ski school and i struggled to convince Tal to get dressed to go to the alpine slide again. This time he was awake, all dressed up in his fleece and little whole body snowsuit. It opened at 11 and we were there 10 minutes early, listening to the safety instruction repeatedly from the monitors. They finally opened and then we had to do a height check. Tal was an inch too short. Oh, the look on his face, his little heart was shattered.

 

I had to use the big guns. Let's go tubing and then ice cream.

 

Off we went to the tubing hill on the other side of town. this place has 2 hills, big hill for age 7+ and the little hill. guess which one was closed?

 

Now all i had was ice cream. We drove into town and found a chocolate store that sells ice cream.

Tal for some reason likes Vanilla. I do not understand it. I am a chocolate kind of person, but we each get his own. Half way through his cup, he puts it aside and wants to eat mine. His happened before and yet he still chooses vanilla! He got some of mine plus some green sugared lime slice. Out of all the assortments of chocolates in this fancy store, he chooses the only green one, odd kid.

 

We headed for lunch, after they busy day we had and got there 30 minutes later due to a series of unfortunate miscommunications, which is totally Alla's fault.

here Mattan after ski school was giggling at everything with Ryel (she is his third cousin or something like that) and Tal was playing hide and seek and laying down next to elevators, under tables and doing a pretty decent hiding job.

 

Mattan returned to ski school and Alla tried to get Tal to ski, we got as far as putting him in ski boots, he would not go on the skis and i kept doing nothing.

I did not even bring along my ski stuff, after the continued failure to ski. It is seriously boring to come to a ski resort and not ski. The other issue is that there is not much else to do here, especially since Tal is just under 38 inches tall.

Worse of all, this is not a new destination...

 

Now, Alla is at the pool with Mattan and i sit here with a finally sleeping Tal.

Another exciting staycation day.

 

Tomorrow we go back, we have a 3-hour window to make a 3 hour drive before the snows hit.

 

Mary X-mess if you celebrate it and all have a great 2018

 

 

 

on Mongus, littering and creation

We land in Honolulu but some air china plane is at our gate. We must wait 20minutes on the plane ,. Let me out!!!..  Finally we are allowed out. Alla rushes to the agent and find out that our connecting flight is still good. We relax in this layover.  I stretch my legs for a long while. we try airport Chinese food and feel as the Chinese have wronged us twice in an hour. Yucky meal. I find a small ben and Gerry's cup and it helps dilute the oily meal. As we attempt to board and the agent says "wait, I don't have you on this flight!". The nerves begin. It takes a few minutes to sort things out and we board but there is a question if our luggage made it.  They do not know.

 

We depart in Hilo and right away see our luggage offloaded. Sigh of relief..

 

Quickly we get the car and head south surrounded by lush greenery and the shadow of the mountain. It will be dark soon. We stop at a small local chain called Walmart and stock up on water bread, Nutella and other essentials. We continue south while the sun sets rapidly and now it is very dark. There is not much in the way of street illumination, later we would learn that this is done to reduce air pollution to allow the mega telescopes on the mountain a better view of the heavens.

 

The drive is slow here, 55mph is the max and most places the max is 43 or 35 for long stretches. The mountain roads are not built for speed, but the roads themselves are well maintained. We reach the first hotel, which to me is more of a fancy hostel. A large house with 9-10 guest rooms, shared bathrooms, and a kitchen. Nice rooms but the feel is of a hostel, which is fine by me.

 

We crash.

 

The alarm wakes us before 3 AM. I head to the kitchen and make egg sandwiches and Nutella Sandwiches; we pack some water and supplies and drive for 30 minutes in the low illuminated roads. At four a.m., we meet John from Epic Lava. He gives us a backpack with water snacks, flashlight and gloves. We follow him for a while. Park, then, climb aboard his van with some other travelers and continue on dirt roads. We disembark, and walk quietly, since here in the lava fields there are actual houses. The hot Lava is 40 minutes' walk away, but still.  Too close to the heat. It is a bit after 4 a.m, I am wearing short pants and a Sleeveless t-shirt, and it feels nice and warm. The cold is left back home. We begin the hike, first on a dirt road, then on the lava field.

 

The now basalt is a large black field of interesting rock formations, the ground is very uneven and we go up down and sideways. The high calcite content makes the field glow as if made of glass and it crackles below our feet. The stars are brilliant above. The milky way is clearly visible, every now and again we stop for everyone to catch up and not get lost.in the dark it all looks the same, but in the distance we can see the red lava glow at times.

 

Dawn breaks and shortly after, we reach the gates of hell. A few meters away we stop awestricken. This is creation itself. Rock is born here. The lava spews out of the rock, crackles and forms beautiful shapes. We are near the source of this 1000 plus Celsius material. The cold lava is black, the lava from yesterday is sliver and the fresh is red hot. It pours out, and quickly cools and becomes silver, which helps determine where you can step and where you would better not. It's cool 10 meters away and gets real hot the closer you get. At first, we take photos with the Lava behind us. However, we get braver and get closer and closer. We hop above tendrils of the not super-hot stuff. I stand above it and there is a warm tendril just below me, a wrong step here would be disastrous. Alla by accident steps on one of the cooler tendrils. She has good shoes and quickly moves her feet without touching the real thing.

 

At one point, I almost slip and land very close to the magma. There are lots of camera here and they take a falling photo of me.

 

The lava flow is not linear. It would flow from one point, stop and then flow from another, and every new flow is an owww moments for us.

We begin exploring the area, examining more lava flows and finding more angles to shoot. At one point we see an area between flows. I go there to get a shot of me in between the slow moving flows. Wow, the heat at this point is beyond imaginable. I can feel myself burning alive and stay there for merely seconds. Too hot for me.

 

A few times, we moved away, just a few meters to cool down. This experience is dehydrating. The sun comes out gloriously over the pacific and god like beams of light hit the ocean through the clouds. It is expected to get warmer still as the hot sun shines on the black rock and the entire lava field becomes a furnace, but the rare clouds in this area spare us. After an hour plus near creation everyone is tired. We wish pelee (the goddess here) a wonderful day and we make our way back through the lava fields, enjoying the interesting rock formations. The sun is out now, it is hot, and we are both out of water. Alla, which usually drinks very little, has finished her 1.5 liters bottle, so did I, but I drink a lot anyways.

On the way back John's wife Jessica who is our back escort on this trip and came with her 10 year old daughter entertains us. Apparently she was a movie stunt person and an equestrian gymnast- those people that see a moving horse, jump on it from side to side... crazy people  , well she stopped after shattering her hip. Now everyday they take people to the Lava.

 

We reached the car and I consumed a water bottle in seconds.

 

Btw, I am sitting here on the porch of a nice home we found with airB&B overlooking the pacific from the Kona mountain side. Dawn is breaking and another exiting day will begin.

 

However, back to the past…

 

After the lava, we went to Uncle something. I forgot the name. This appears to be some sort of hippy colony with various food huts serving more natural food. At first, I try a great chocolate shake made from local ice cream. So good after the burning morning. I stay away from the healthy foods, lots of avocado, whole food and the like. Alla gets a bizarre soup and past combo, devours some then sends me to get burgers…, which were very good.

 

From here, we drive to ahalanui Beach Park. We change our clothes in the bushes, cooled down in the outdoor shower and enter a small pond of sorts. This is a tidal pool. Ocean water comes in on top of the wave breakers and create small wave pool. Kids are here on little boards and other people snorkel in here. The water is soothing, but leg cramps force me to get out and stretch. We are here for 30 minutes in between fish and crabs. Then head for kapoho tidal pools. We park outside a village and walk in. here the natural rocks has formed a series of small pools. In less than a minute, I see a little eel in a water crevice, so pretty. We go in and out of the pools where people snorkel, but we do not have snorkeling gear. We do see some nice fish here and there. We enjoy this snorkless paradise for an hour and then walk back to the car. Next stop, we head for Walmart again to get snorkeling gear, we stop at a few other shops for more essentials and make our way back to the hotel. Due to roadwork, there is a little traffic jam and I drive through back roads. In this little narrow road with no houses I see a sign- no littering 1000$ fine. A hefty sign. A bit after on this same nowhere road I see the sign again- 1000$ fine no littering. The high fine made it memorable. Later we would see similar signs in other places but for less.  If you litter in a national park 500, but on this nameless street it is double.

 

We shower in the hotel and I manage a 20 minutes power nap. We barely get up and head for Volcano national park. It is about 4 PM now; we choose an easy and popular rim hike.  At first, you go by various smoke vents of Sulphur fumes surrounded by lush rain forest with beautiful ferns and trees, and then we reach the caldera rim of this huge volcano and see the lava fields below. We walk for close to 2 hours and it rains on the way back, but we are supplied with rain coats and short pants and it is not cold at all. The Plan is to eat at Thai Thai, which is surprisingly a Thai food place. However, starving Alla opts for the volcano café in the park, though in her research it did not get raving reviews, but hunger does the talking and this place is closer.

 

I like edamame, but it does not work with Sesame oil. I get fish and chips and get some kind of fish sticks, they were decent Alla does not enjoy her chicken much but she does like the desert. We asked the server for a list and she said Kona coffee brown. We ask again, Kona coffee brown is the answer - so Alla gets it and devours it, I do not touch coffee in any form. All and all, not a horrible place, but Alla suggested going to the Thai food place next…

 

We wake up at around 4 am. I wake up, make hard-boiled eggs, and sunny side up breakfast with the mandatory Nutella sandwiches we check out and head back to Volcano Park after stocking up with oranges and snacks. We drive to Kilauea iki trailhead and begin hiking the gorgeous rain forest trail along the crater rim. The forest is bright green with ferns and on occasion, we see the caldera below in the misty morning. We extend our hike to Biron ledge, a trail that goes in between 2 Calderas. We imagine a narrow trail in between the two, but this trail is disappointing. It is beautiful, but shows little in caldera views. We return to the Iki trail and descend 400 feet into the caldera itself. This is not the big caldera, that one is closed, unstable ground, deadly fumes and the like. As we descend, we leave the lush forest and enter a lava desert. On the way down Alla reminisces "do you remember when we went to that amazing lava, it was so beautiful and that mazing crackling". I quickly reply, "I remember it like it was yesterday" we laugh, it was the day before…

Here in the caldera, there are some bushes and trees here and there; finding a place to survive in the cracks of the basalt and the green to black contrast is incredible. The mile + long trail in the caldera itself takes us from side to side and we can see huge cracks and strange rock formations. Nature's power in all its glory. There is smoke from various vents and we walk between the Ahu trail-markers (Ahu is a cairn- or a pile of rocks). We reach the far side and ascend up the lush forest once more.

 

We stop for a little snack and rest and I see Alla toss something on the ground. I ask what that was and she lies, something fell from the tree…  I get a closer look and I see something not from a tree.

I do not like littering, especially in a park so I chastise Alla for crimes against nature and give her a 1000$ fine…

 

We reach the top and go to another small trail of lava Tube. A large cavern, fairly rounded where Lava used to flow then slowly make our way on the rim path with spectacular views now that the mist has cleared.

 

We reach the car and take the rim drive. This road passed through many craters and lava field. This is the stop, take a picture and move on sort of road. Therefore, we do what tourists do and take photos. I nearly fall into one of the craters at one point, so many of them, almost missed the one.

 

We continue along this road with many stops and trailhead, the park is mostly on the mountain, but some of it is closer to the coast and we drive down to the coast and suddenly without the clouds protection it is boiling hot. We chose a short 1.5 miles hike to see petroglyphs. It is so hot that my feet are burning. We reach the end where the Polynesians carved art in the basalt. Lots of circles, perhaps the sun, and some drawings of people. It is unclear how and why they lived here, so hot. We go back to the car and again I finish a bottle in seconds. We continue to the end of the road and the ocean. There is no beach here. Instead, you have cliffs of basalt eaten away by the massive waves. The waves crash to the rocks and spray up 20-30 meters above. We take photos of this massive force in full display. There is a local Popsicle stand of sorts here and we devour the most expensive Popsicle in history. There is a ranger here telling people to slow down, she is guarding a pair of Nene's. There are lots of Nene crossing sings all over this park. Nene is a goose and we see a couple resting in the shade. They are an endangered species so the ranger is doing angels job in the scorching sun.

 

We would see a few more Nene's but I do not have a good shot of this white goose. There are also tons of Mongos here; we usually see them next to trashcans. This small khaki white predator is fast moving and does not like to pose. Nevertheless, they are abundant, I am sure I will get a good one.

 

We drive back the rim road up the mountain and head for lunch. Now we are wiser and go to the Thai place. Finally a good meal. I think this is the first time I am eating spring rolls (since cabbage is a new discovery), they are great with the nut sauce and later I devour my Pad-Thai and Alla consumes her egg-fried rice. Alla orders some mango desert and I am unable to withstand the lava cake desert, so fitting here.

 

We hit the road west along the southern side of the island, where volcano fields are replaced with lush green, and here and there, you can see horse and cattle farms. We pass by the most southern bakery in the US, they have a sign saying so. Alla Gets bread pudding. Then we pass the most southern dentist in the US. I nap a little as Alla drive to the most southern point in the US.

 

To be continued..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the story of the rabbit and the hair

I am sitting here in a small room on a large vessel. 2 days ago after a yummi breakfast of bread butter and cheese, we packed the kids, suitcases and took our not too many , but yet way to many suitcases and tried to uber our way to the port. the 1st car circled around us and didn't find the place, I cancelled it (got an uber refund for clueless driver) and replaced it with a larger car. 20 minutes later with kids crying and running around we were finally settled in a taxi that doubles as uber and we headed to port. the driver asked me for cash payment for the car seat, which is not uber like. i paid and reported him right after, waiting for my other refund... we then said good by to Amit, a short but awesome visit. and proceeded to checkin. 30 minutes later and we were on board the Serenade of the seas and astonished Mattan. Tal just wants to go home...

we toured the ship for a while, had lunch, Mattan went to the pool and all this while we pass the lovely Swedish archipelago - for a few hours we pass many tiny wooded islands. later we went for a trivia game with half the questions on the ship or company. we sucked.. and Tal managed to lose one of his little cars. nothing exciting happened and we turned it early and woke up at 10 am.. super late, we rushed the morning activities and left the ship at 15 minutes after the time we could have.. 15 minutes waste of land time.

it was raining in Helsinki. we took the shuttle to the city and walked for a while sharing the kids excitement, another car, another bus another train.. and reached the city museum for kids land.  both found the train set and began fighting over limited resources.there are about 5-6 rooms in this kids land, one is a finish old style class room and Mattan played with the old style calculator and tal climbed all over the chairs. there was a camera crew and a reporter. they took photos of them, but i dont know if it will be be broadcasted if you have finnish tv, let me know.

but the fun didnt last long, as hunger set in. the museum cafe had open face sandwich with shrimp and caviar for Alla and banana bread for the kids. i saved room for shwarma to be found later. and now fed, the monsters were more behaved. we went to the market and got some awesome apricots and real tasting strawberries ... so good. with no shwarma in sight i got wild salmon and potatoes and some unknown vegetables and devoured it. we took the ferry to the island of summoenlinna - i ma badly misspelling this name. this is an old fort island which is now a park, with wide trails and a few cannons, cafes, a play ground and a great place for the kids to run around in, if it didnt rain. the kids enjoyed it still but we didn't stay too long.

one thing of huge importance for those also addicted. in the world of Pokemon, there are those found ONLY in specific places. there is one only in Europe, one only in Australia. and yes i need to go everywhere to find them all... this is just an excuse. well outside the museum i found the European one... ok back to travel

we took the ferry back and Mattan loved it and asks many questions while Tal sleeps. we get back to shore and the market , get more apricots and strawberries and raspberries and a yummi crepe, we then walk a while in the parks and before you know it, the day is over and we shuttle back to the ship.we dress up for dinner, which means i wear a belt and a grown up shirt. but i wave the tie and jacket (most dont) , but the food in the served area is not good. lucky there is a buffet and i make other choices. we play a little ping with the kids. the pong part does not happen yet, still struggling to hit the ball. we turn in early while there is still light outside at 10 pm.

Yesterday we woke on time, had a quick breakfast, deposited Mattan with Grandma and went to shore, 10-15 minutes in russian passport control and we were on our speedy way to st petersburg. we had a brilliant plan fo using public transport. after 30 minutes of waiting for the 158 bus we started to question this plan. we walked to the port entrance and reached there as the bus finally arrived  and made our slow way to the imprssively deep metro. we stopped for hachi- purry - a Georgian  pitta with cheese and a cookie . the pitta should remain in georgia..

the cookie had nuts in it and was dry but good.

a short metro ride later and we reached the main street of st petersburg, we stopped by various small sites, some statues, some buildings with explanations. Helsinki has all the criteria to be a pretty city, yet something is off. it is the same period houses, parks the sea, but it is not.  it is not ugly by any means and compared with cleveland it is a super model. but not compared with other European cities.  but St petersburg can be on the run way, i liked it from the start. the various colors of the buildings, the artistry found on many building, little statues here and there, just superb. there is a statue of a cat on some corner , pretty hidden.  the locals throw a coin and if it lands on the small statue area you win some luck, my non existing basket ball skills kicked in. very lame three attempts and luck in the 4th... we had a hungry baby with us and we stopped in a super market for yogurts and such. i had something the looks like Milki and was decent. we reached the spectacular church of the spilled blood. it is incredible on the outside and overcrowded and ok on the inside. all its walls are mosaic, but this is an overdose of Jesus. we leave shortly after.   it started raining and we stopped at an ice cream place for a great cone.

the rain didn't last long and we kept our city discovery, we reached the magnificent winter palace and entered the hermitage staff building. this building holds the impressionist period, monet, manet, etc..  really not my style, Alla likes it and tal tries to climb various stools. i want to join him. after a cafe stop for katletka and mashed potatoes we enter the main palace, cut over the lines with our guide and her tickets from the staff building and enter the busy hermitage. the building is spectacular, inside and out and a good chunk of the art is interesting for me. there are droves of tourists , but we were without a group so it wasnt as bed for me as i've been told it might be. tal slept the whole museum ... a plus. i enjoyed this museum much and2 hours plus later we left, mostly out of thirst. you cant bring drinks in.

we stopped at Rasputin cafe . a semi underground location, with old arches for ceiling and what looks likes a mad scientist chemistry experiments as a decoration and then hopped on the river boat tour. the first 15 minutes were boring as it rained again and you cant see much , then it stopped and the city's wonders are revealed. pretty building all over, again hidden statues and small surprises, very pretty churches and army buildings. the 1 hour tour ended and we took a taxi back to the ship. we met the larger group had dinner and tried to convince others to go for a night tour in the city.. none came and i missed the night tour with sweet dreams.

in the morning we went out to the city, this time with a van and a larger group and drove to peterhoff gardens. these gardens are an attempt to copy versailles gardens in a Russian style. pretty building at the entrance and lovely gardens within with gravity based water fountains. some are spectacular and some are tricky, only function at certain times, or in some rotation. there is a fountain that lets you walk in a covered area and then starts, now you are stuck for a minute. another changes the way it sprays and can soak you. some are just very high , very interesting designs and all with gravity , no mechanics involved. we spent two hours in the gardens including a healthy hot dog/ ice cream stop an drove back. we stopped in a mall for cerenok. a russian chain of pancakes and such that alla really likes, i tried some toasted chicken sandwich which was very good and then ran around the kids in the mall. we then drove through the city and reached peter and paul cathedral. this is a fortress in an inner island caleld the hair island. besides the church where all the Russian tzars are buried, there are lots of statues of hairs (bunnies) all over. there was a big one on a bench and i saw it last second, stumbled and fell behind him, embarrassing... on the way back we sampled more ice cream and had to return to the ship. the ships evening all bland in. we had one night with Abba music and the rest just running around the kids...oh yeh and the whole of Russia makes 65...

next morning we stopped in Tallinn, at 7 am as it was allowed i went out with Moti for a city stroll. 15 minutes or so to the city and a careful walk in pretty Tallinn with its many towers and medieval feel. also a great place for pokemons. we finished our 90 minutes walk feeling a bit cold, it was chilly and beautiful. next to a Russian style church i stumble again i dont know what is wrong with me, i need to check it out, i keep ending up flat on the ground, there is a tiny square with three ghostly monk statues,  monks bow, but these status have no face, hence the ghostly look, it is a bit creepy early in the morning when there is no one but us. we went back, refreshing shower, yummi breakfast and we went out again to the city with the kids.on the way , in the ship Mattan lost his stuffed rabbit from Helsinki, oh the tears.. promises of new toys and stuff, but it took him a while to retain composure.  this was a slower pace trip. in the early morning the city was empty and you can appreciate it. now overloaded by the tourist invaders, it is harder. we just walked around ,seeing interesting  building , ghostly monks statues and later a stop at the schnitzel haus, where the chef went out, found eggs, made them hatch, raised them and then made them into schnitzels, so long of a wait, but yummi food. meanwhile all the cousins played and ran all over the place. the kids loved it. later we walked slowly for an hour through the city and back on board, a short visit to Tallin. but later, we found the rabbit, on the isle next to the room, oh the joy.

evening for us on board were entertainment free. i managed to see one bad ABBA cover band and 10 minutes of a Russian folklore show, the rest was with the kids, just running around and trying to convince them to sleep.

next morning we reached Riga. preciously i liked riga and was looking forward. the prior night we found out the ship lands in a remote port with a paid bus and 45 minutes ride. the info made us upset, its a short visit any way, add to that a long ride, and a paid one. after many passengers complained, the ride became free, and somehow only 25 minutes.. not sure how this change of the laws of traffic occured, but soon we were walking slowly in Riga. we went to the market first which is made for 4 huge old airplane hangers. lots of fruit on display and Alla gets currents, which you cant find here,  they are so sour that i dont know why you would want to, but my strange kids like it too. Alla gets some drink called Kevas, i dont try it. we roam the market, get some good berries and toy cars.

in our last visit we loved a place called lido, now we find its a chain and we go to the one in between all the tourist restaurants. this time it was Ok and they didnt have my Kefir, so i take back my recommendation and am still in search of that great Kefir.

we get some ice cream, walk around the pretty streets and Alla takes the kids to the ship an i take the next two hours to just walking around, walking by the nice city park. even without the kefir, i still like this city very much.i stumbled our our cousins in the city in a little bow and arrow activity and shot some, one hit the center, the rest, kind of on target, not ready for the next robin hood movies just yet. but a bit later next to a strange statue of a rooster sitting on an animal on top of another animal, shocked by this sight i fell over...    i return to the ship on the last bus with happy sore feet.

next day was a sea day. woke up early and went for a walk on deck, just going in circles listening t an audio book. Leaving time, an interesting read. the same big breakfast of omelet with kosher bacon and jelepinios and bread with butter and honey, simple and good.

dinners were not that great. it takes a long time for the food to arrive and it was simply not good the first day or two and slightly got better. in the buffet , not everything was good, but you could sample and find something good. except one lunch with unexceptional great steak,  so they can cook good food when they want to.

on the sea day i climbed the rock wall once and played volleyball for a while. after a few minutes someone launched the ball overboard. we all rushed to look for Wilson, we didnt see it. we asked for a new ball and without one we play with a soccer ball which was heavier of course, but the low level game continued till someone broke an arm. sadly its my mom. she felt pain and left for medical, didn't realize it was broken and came back with a plastic mobilization device, not a cast. and would be in pain for the next week.

before you know it, we returned to Stockholm and lleft the ship after  goodbye breakfast and an uber to the hotel, where we found that Alla forgot her purse and i ubered back to retrieve it. with a full day ahead we went to the astrid park a.k.a 

Junibacken.  

what a charming place. Astrid is the author of pipi long stockings and other children's books known locally. and they made this kids park by the books. i dont know most of these stories but the park is incredible. little houses, stores , planes, filled with ladders and slides, hidden passage ways and discoveries.  the kids could not stops exploring for 2-3 hours.  even the cafeteria inside was all by book design. this place also has a little Disney type ride where you pass various rooms that each is a story scene, very nicely done even for those who do not know these stories. when with kids in stockholm, do not miss this place, when without kids, you can still go.

we walked back to the hotel with winy over tired kids, enjoying a finally warm day. we went to a restaurant in the evening  that is next to an enclosed garden. i was on kids duty and once again they ran around the place with all the cousins, i managed to snick in a bite or two in between playing tag.

woke up early the next morning and went on a walk with Moti once again and tried to discover a new area. a lovely walk in the morning and actually saw a deer in a park. I didnt think such a large city would have them.

later in the morning we went to the amusement park. good amount of kids ride, but even a 10 minute line for some is too much for kids patience, well our kids.. they had lots of fun on the rides but too much wait in between. oh, the lasagna was good after a 20 minutes wait.

we returned for a hotel rest and went in the afternoon once again to the urban deli for early dinner and ended up giving hot dogs to the kids.  late in the day i took my one handed mom for a last walk in pretty Stockholm and headed for an early night only where Mattan is watching cartoons in Swedish. we woke up at three am packed and took the shuttle to the airport with a decent behaving kids, airport breakfast and the 1st leg of the flight passed ok. this is iceland air. and on arrival you each get a water bottle and a kids bags with head sets, colors and a little work book. also ,even with no food on this flight, the kids get a little sandwich and juice box. very good company for kids travel. next time no matter where the destination, alla wants iceland air.

on the lay over in Iceland, we had a short break and i found my Icelandic hot dogs and bought the appropriate mustard as well. we wait inline to board right next to an escalator, Mattan with a little kinder egg car and with tal both wanting to ride it and cant, there is a security rope. Mattan places his car on the stair and it goes for a ride, I hold mattan back from a rescue attempt and everyone is curious what will happen to the little car., a minute passes and nothing, it didn't go around and no shreds , meanwhile Tal gets a fit and does not stop crying, he knows what he wants and now a security rope is in his way .. finally the rope is removed and we proceed to board where we find the car safely at the top. Tal finally relaxes and both flights pass relatively well.  once again both Iceland and Sweden with the airport strollers are the best. so continent and great family considerations.

now in Canada, where there are no roaming strollers, we gather our things, the passport check just flows by and i go get the car out of parking. i dont have a discount code but the clerks say, "he, i cant use this, just 100$ off": with a nonchalant tone, i take it for sure. parking here is significantly cheaper then cleveland airport parking. we make our way slowly out of Toronto. we find a shwarma place, this place has no running water, problems with the main. this was ok, but since i was lafa deprived for a long time , i enjoy it much. but there is no kids food in this place and somehow we end up in the worse pace of all. the big M.  there is a play area here and kids run around while we get something that is supposed to be food. i dont know why this is the most successful restaurant in the world. that tasted so horrible , yuck.kids kind of fed. and now Alla needs to eat, so to Chipotle we go and finally we manage to leave Toronto and begin the long drive back, no lines at the border and the kids dose in and out and wine on occasion even in sleep, we stop twice for  a wake up rest stop and make it home by 8 30 PM, pretty much exhausted.

by 9 i am asleep.

1 new country for me, 5 new countries for the kids. none new for Alla. a lot of decent food and a bit very good. one broken hand and very good time with the family. not too mention 1 rabbit, 1 owl and a few toy cars.

till we meet again...

the 2nd half is written after the fact on the home couch, pics will be arriving this weekend

on fevers, niceness and hotdogs

I am sitting here in a dark hotel room while the kids and Alla sleep. all curtains are down since the sun rises at 3 am here in Stockholm.

the last or so proved challenging. it all started with wonder woman. Alla and i went on a date night, with little time to prep we had a cheese cake factory  early dinner followed by wonder woman. about half way in, alla gets a text that Tal threw up on the sitter, so  we left the movie. it was good but we didn't get to the wonder part. Tal caught a virus and would be home for a few days with fever. 24-48 hours and Mattan gets the same symptoms, then Alla...  next week i leave on a work trip to Wisconsin. I leave healthy , but early next morning the dizziness hits first and fever quickly follows. fever is rare for me and semi clue less i am working everyday and go for walks in the evening under fever removing medicine. after 3 such days i fly back and this is when the real fun begins, it starts with pressure in the diaphragm area and asthma like symptoms, but i shrug it off, the next day it gets worse, i am tired with very little exertion. this is after walking everyday, 8000 steps plus for over a month and now after 1 diaper change and i am breathless. i go to urgent care, get a breathing treatment and they send me to the ER, they want to send me by ambulance... since they dont want me to drive , but my neighbor Lisa gives me a ride and stays on during the ER visit. . blood work m EKG and CT later and i am released home with suspicion of an asthma attack, a first for me. i have it with exertion but not just out of no where and not this hard and long. a beautiful weekend  passed, not a drop of rain, perfect hiking weather. july 4th passes as well and i am stuck home doing nothing fun, not even a short walk outside.the next day, symptoms remain and i spent it at the cleveland clinic, now echo cardiogram and anything heart related is excluded. the next day with the pulmonalagistm who is nice but feels stumped but gives me inhalation and after 10 minutes i feel reborn, went from 60% to 80. ohh the relief. recovery has been slow. got just a tiny bit better everyday, i resume walking 3 days later and felt tiered after my usual walk, better with each passing day.

the pressure to get better was on with the upcoming trip. on Thursday we drove to hamilton Ontario and spent the night there with Tal wanting to go home and in the morning went to the airport, 5 hour flight to Iceland where Talziila is restless, finally he sleeps for the last minutes.  in the short layover is Iceland i manage to explore the hot dog conundrum. in my visit here a few years ago i stumbled on the most amazing hot dog in the main gas station stop, just superb i bought some and when i tried them on, they were terrible.. bad light/good light situation. i thought i may have gotten the wrong brand or something. but here i saw them in an airport store and spoke with the clerks. they knew about it. they do something to them, when they make it home it does not taste the same. i was told to cook it in a broth, and also use their specific mustered. armored with good advice i left this store with snacks for the kids and turned around to see the same hotdog in a cafeteria on the other side.. i rushed over and enjoyed a yummi dog.

the next leg was also a bit restless for both kids,  2 flight is above capacity. we landed in stockhol at 6 am, had a decent arrival and got a shuttle with sleeping kids to the hotel. the kids and alla Crashed right away and i managed to survive and go for breakfast with the family.

my friend Amit came over to me me from Berlin and yesterday we had a wonderfull walking day.

this city is not breathtaking , but it is very nice every where. nice palace, nice harbor, great weather, nice old town, nice food, nice people, very pleasant we walked to Gamla stan the old town. had below nice ice cream and had a nice time at noon i returned to the hotel for a little rest and in the after noon ,we went to  an urban deli where the kids after eating, just ran around and around the place, then we went to a lovely park with trains. and a carousel where the riders pedal, the parks here seem more thought out. we waled for 30 minutes to the restaurant. this place was not equipped for a large party and they limited our choices. but Hemma visistan - had very good bread, decent cod, great mash potatoes and good Halumi. much stuffed we went to another nearby park. this one had trampolines, slides where you climb a fake hill to get to, climbing wall, soccer fields, track, ping pong and mini golf. again a very well designed park for all ages. the kids ran up and down the slides, carousel and the small hills made of some soft material at around 10 PM we walked back to the hotel and crashed...

this morning at six, i walked up, snuck out of the room  and went for a walk with Amit and Moti and lots of Pokemon. the city is peaceful, hardly a soul in sight on this Sunday morning. we do 5-6 k to one of the many islands that make this city and back, taking in the scenery and taking photos. at one point i was very distracted by a new Pokemon, that i fell and nearly went overboard to the shallow waters. nearby a mother swan hissed at us as we approached an then we saw her 3 teen age gray feathered kids.

i returned to the hotel to find them all still napping and my breathing almost back to normal. i still feel the residue of what was probably a nasty virus, but i am at 90+ % now, so expecting lots of city walks in the upcoming week. we are boarding in a few hours. cheers from nice stockholm

on reports, Komodo and plans

I am sitting here in a Hampton inn in Bolton Ontario. The outlet is US style, nice since I did not bring a converter. It would be odd for Canadian to come here and have to look for an adapter tough.

While the little ones are fast asleep, it is time for a year and decade summary.

Ever since the last yearly report, I have taken on a new unplanned hobby. Cooking. We had several services bringing supplies and recipes and I find that I enjoy following it and trying out new things. I say things because some of these were not "food" for me before. Alla is the beneficiary of these meals, but I also enjoyed adding these mysteries to the food list. Broccoli, is probably the biggest addition, it has become edible, but others as well. Last week it was colored greens (why are they called colored greens, is this a racial thing?), Artichokes in the form of crème, cabbage! , the red kind (not a racial thing), dates (yes, I never likes dates… but in last week recipe, they were a nice sweet addition), snap peas, bok choy, ginger, capers, kale, blood orange (was never a fan of), quinoa (still not a fan of), figs and jam (yes jam! … as you can see, my culinary journey is quite intense. Looking ahead on what is yet on the menu scares the hek out of me … need another decade to process them (mushrooms, zucchini, eggplants…), shudder the thought

I also made first ever pumpkin bread and chocolate balls. The chocolate balls were devoured...

The next hobby last few months has been Pokémon go. Some people are early adopters. I am on the late adopters list, somewhere in the back of that list. As a kid, I once won some large Pokémon stuffed animals in a theme park and since then had no Pokémon interaction whatsoever. I saw someone using it on a plane and was intrigued, at first, it was just casual, catch a Pokémon here and there, and now it is a commitment. This app was made for me, it fits my nature.

As you may have observed I enjoy making lists of things. The app lets me track which Pokémon's were caught.  There are 248 of them , I have about 130+ so still ways away (caught a new one here in Canada, yesterday) . The app lets me hatch eggs when I walk. It prompts walking. And so do I.  Late last year I finished the Akron section of the buckeye trail and now working on the burton section, which will be my third, I am more than half way done with this section, but the buck eye trail is huge still years away from completion...  Notice the list aspect?   The app lets me experience new things. They have common creatures and on occasion, they will issue our rare once, and the hunt is on.

See, perfect app for me.

I have an addictive personality, lucky I dislike cigarettes and alcohol. Sometimes my addiction drive Alla insane, but if you take my addiction away I will have to find another, there are worse possibilities.

Kids have definitely been a major part of last year; most of my free time goes to them and lots of my not free time. However, this blog is about me… kids, better stay a sleep upstairs…

Travel, my favorite category saw the addition of 2 new destinations, Corsica and sardegna. While they are not formal countries. They both want to be, they both had been and they are both distinctly unique, so I decided to make them countries in my list.  This means that I need to get to much more that 206 formal countries or more… not sure how big the list truly ease, but I am sure going to love finding out. #65 is rapidly approaching…

I did my first duathlon- run 2.5m bike 10m, run 2.5m.  The third running part was deadly and filled with cramps.  Finished dead last, but finished without stopping (Except to undo cramps). Did a few 5Ks, not very fast this year. A canoe ride, some orienteering and that is it on the adventure part in the last year.  I do have something exciting and new in the adventure works upcoming.

For my late 39 birthday just a while ago, I got a few nice gifts. A puzzle with two friends, a photo from Iceland, the puzzle is done, but not yet hanging and a book of movie riddles.  Each unique and creative, had fun cracking almost all of them.  I also failed the second time to crack an escape room, help a private escape room for Alla's birthday, bought a van, drove a van and accepted that I am the main van driver

 

This sums my last year and now it is time to move to the decade report, reporting on major life changes.

 

Single > engaged > legally Married > ceremonially married > A father> a father x2 … short summery of demographic changes. Relocated to Cleveland, moved from the closed MDG medical to Philips.

My career growth graph in the last 10 years can be describe with the following image __________________________(4 months in 2011) _________________________________________

 

Travel- reached South America and Africa, leaving only 1 missing continent. New Countries in this decade are numerous, should I list them…. Of course… Kenya, Tanzania, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Denmark, Norway, the Galapagos, costa Rica, Ecuador, Belize, Corsica , sardegna, The canary islands , Honduras, Iceland, Jordan, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam , Cambodia .  Is that is?  Am I missing a few? I knew I should be travelling more

 

Had 1 surgery, 2 capped teeth , too many sprains, a blood clot, a P.E, 1 code blue event ( I wasn't truly dying, it just felt that way), witnessed 2 caesarians sections, been pooped on  peed on vomited on , boogered on  slobbered on, spitted upon and enough bodily functions…

Had many 5Ks, 8k, duathlon, few triathlons, one half marathon, regular orienteering, Rogaine orienteering, (I was last year actually ranked somewhere way down on the national orienteering list). Did and arrange scavenger hunts. Ran a half marathon (the trigger to some of the issues in the above paragraph) raise 3000+ dollars for chron's  (thanks to all of you who have donated or even reached this spot), played dungeons and dragons, flew a plane (even solo for 30 seconds). Drew chalk art on the side walk, wore freaky Halloween customs (African warrior, zombie, alligator king and some mixes of various things. Prepped scary things for Halloween, completed 2.5 sections of the buckeye trail, went snorkeling, and chased an iguana and silver eagle rays. Swam with dolphins, went fishing, played disk golf, went mountain biking, mountain biking orienteering, rode the valley train, did about 50-60 k on the bike. Almost was arrested for indecent exposure of a minor. Had 2 speeding tickets and a few parking ones\ missing tags. Sat on a pretrial jury (damn bias), shot bows and arrows, threw axes and actually hit the target…well some of the times, Ate a large roasted turkey thigh.  Sheltered from a tornado. Watched lightning storms. Kept a well bird feeders for the squirrels, went rafting. Kayaking, canoeing, cruise shipping, learned a little bit surfing, ran warrior dash, ran climb the tower, went to haunted houses and corn mazes, had a monkey climb all over me, went zip lining, wakeboarding  became a US citizen, voted for the popular majority candidate. drank kefir , acted as Hadrian in a self-made play,  climbed mount Washington, climb gladpeaken (highest point in Norway), reached the highest point in Indiana.  got drunk (1^st and only time… schnapps), rode a horse, saw a fainting goat, got a selfie with a Llama, a selfie with beauty queen contestant. Swam in one of the five great lakes (yes-new list). Swam in the Baltic sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, the med sea, the Atlantic, the pacific, Lake Victoria, the Gulf of Mexico and the South China Sea.

Watched Cambodian New Year's Eve. Shot and was shot at in paintball. Mowed the lawn, ate two bites of a mystery cookie. Almost became a distinguished toastmaster (in a few months). Shook off my crowd fear, spoke many times in public. Started my first toast master club. Buried my first toast master club. Mentored people, finished my MBA, summa cum laude, watch my first (and last so far) baseball game, and football game, watched a few Cavs games. Watch a euro semifinal (two off them). Took a selfie with a president (now ex), kicked off my coke addiction (sober for 5+ years), found out I am sensitive to garlic (makes me drowsy), ate flavored popcorn, swam a volcano in the buff and went to lots of local festivals and bought a house

I also maintained this blog

Is this a busy decade? I learnt that I must keep busy to maintain my sanity.

 

What does the next decade has in store? Lots of fantasy plans and possibilities

Many trips… finishing all 50 states, 10 countries would be a shameful list. Possibly a world cup game (2022?), another continent, see a komodo dragon in the wild, passing the half way mark on the buckeye trail. Hot air balloon, helicopter ride, invent something. Write something, find all Pokémon's.. . In short, go places and do things

That is it for very late 39…

Cheers from Bolton Ontario (now a new province for me, but yes for both kids and 3^rd country for them both…. Honey festival today