Work is around the corner (details to be revealed shortly), so we are trying to make the most of having extra family time. We had a nice picnic in the park on Sunday morning next to the lake. Everyone had a great time.
So it seemed like the major work I needed to do to get my job situation and other things were taken care of, a long Easter weekend was coming up, and British Airways was having a fare sale. So there seems little reason not to jump over to see the family in Japan for a week. I think it was one of the better decisions of recent times, as we all had a great time and got to all relax outside the pressures of day to day life. And of course, there was lots and lots of eating great food. I am already looking forward to the next trip.
Teo has become such a part of our daily lives that the concept of time before Teo is a bit of a blur (that might be because with the 2 boys we have been mentally and phyically pushed into a completely different zone, or just that we can’t relate to time without our lovely brothers). While the party may have been on the smaller side, it was certainly sweet. Great food and drink and a very special present for Teo (and his brother Kai it seems) from Grandma and Pop Pop. Arigato!
You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect early spring Sunday. The morning was a bit crisp, but the afternoon was perfect for enjoying the sun without being baked. A Japanese friend had organized a Hanami (flower blooming) party and we had a fantastic picnic under the cherry blossom trees. It was paradise.
Teo has started walking. And yes, he has my ipod in his mouth. Power of Apple products?
Apologies for the long delay in posting. Both boys had gotten sick, and Teo was infected for almost 3 weeks. Now it seems like we may have finally crossed over with 2 normal healthy boys. Fingers crossed, as Teo needs to get his measles shot next week and then the long flight to Japan on April 6th.
Somehow Mother Nature decided to be kind to us (or perhaps just Global Warming) and gave us a beautiful spring-like day at the beginning of February which was especially nice after a deep freeze. So we came out of our shell and got the boys out for their first every swing together. Looking forward to when the real spring arrives!
I knew that Chika was off on a business trip to Paris, but what I didn’t realize was that Kai’s school was going to be closed on Monday. Oh, and in addition we were having sub-freezing temperatures reducing the options for entertaining our two boys even further. I was in the last days of my German class, but since I wasn’t getting as much out of it as I would have liked I decided to have a mini-adventure instead. About 70km from Berlin is Tropical Islands, the largest free standing dome in the world with an indoor beach resort operating 24 hours a day, 364 days a year.
I suggested to my friend Joerg (his son also goes to the same school as Kai) since he is quite the adventurer, and also invited Maki our au pair to join. Joerg had just bought a new 7-seater car, so we managed to all pile in together for the journey. When you first arrive, it is almost out of a science fiction movie — a giant dome in the middle of nowhere. But as soon as you walk inside, you feel like you are in the tropics. It was a great day for the family and much better than staying home in the cold. Big thanks to Joerg for the excellent transportation and food services.
It was an unexpected holiday. There was a flash 48 hour Internet sale and there happened to be a hotel on the beach in Tel Aviv for $87 per night. And then there also happened to be some frequent flyer tickets available. So without much investigation we were suddenly off to Tel Aviv for 4 nights. We started doing our homework, checking in with friends and contacts, and researching the Internet. We read the news reports that it snowed in Jerusalem just the week before (wondering if our beach front hotel was now an out of the way destination). Even as we were taking off, we didn’t know what really to expect.
We were more than pleasantly surprised. Our fears of intense airport security policies were completely wrong (in fact when Kai fell asleep during check-in on the way home they never asked us to take him out of the stroller). Weather was sunny in the 60’s the whole time. The city and the people were incredibly child friendly — the candy hawker in the market was more upset with us than with Kai when he kept sampling the candy — “let him enjoy, he’s a kid”.
We ate well through the trip. Our friend Babak took us to a great local hummus place built in an old synagogue. We dined with our friend Matan a local chef’s place which could have rivaled any joint in Soho. When we sat down at the Old Man and the Sea at the Jaffa Port, with two minutes we were presented with the obligatory 20 salads (yes 20). And they were fantastic. And we even managed to indulge in some fine patisserie delights at a beautiful restaurant/bakery.
We decided to take a day trip to Jerusalem even though we couldn’t find a babysitter for Kai. We rented a car which worked out fine — the traffic however was intense both ways. Both boys cooperated for the most part during our explorations in old city Jerusalem. Kai slept shortly after arriving. Needless to day, the old city was not the ideal place for a stroller. Overall, it was a bit heavy on the tourist souvenirs (the entire inner city is a middle eastern marketplace) but it was good to connect with the past. When we were flying in, the Israeli next to me commented on my first trip to Israel, “you are closing the loop that is over 2000 years old”.
It was a great trip, and certainly on the radar for a revisit.
It’s amazing to watch Teo methodically and patiently bring in the helicopter.