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.
It was a very pleasant celebration for me this year with a lovely dinner at home followed by a nice dinner with friends. With a family as lovely as this, there isn’t much more that you need.
It’s taken a couple of weeks to recover from the adventures and get to posting. While we did have some challenges, it was so great to spend time with family and friends who we can’t get enough of…
So we had a fairly smooth start (although Chika and I barely slept). Check-in went smoothly and we made it through the first flight without much issue. A nice break in Heathrow (a great kids play area in Terminal 5), and then had the perfect setup with bassinet for the flight. The kids even slept a bit. But by the time we descended Kai’s cold had stepped up and then Kai’s ears were hurting 🙁
We spent the next 2 days in Boston attending to our patient, but getting a bit of time to catch up with our friends there (even some shopping too). Luckily we had gotten an upgrade to a junior suite at the Westin so it was like a big indoor playground.
On Saturday we drove down to Mystic to meet the grandparents and had a nice (but windy!) day exploring the aquarium before heading to Foxwoods for our friend Cat’s wedding. It was a beautiful event at a winery, but still cold. Mom and dad watched Kai (who in just a few hours wore them out completelly, but we brought Teo to the event. He was a great trooper and slept though most of the event.
Less than 24 hours later we we off to NYC. As we checked into the new hotel in midtown, it began to feel a bit cramped after the luxurious space in Boston. But we got cosy and made do. Unfortunately now, Teo had gotten Kai’s cold. Which meant we ending up spending more time than planned in the tiny hotel room. Thanfully the boys didn’t mind as much as we did.
Thursday was the big event however, Kai’s first Halloween. This year was the year of Spiderman. And Spiderman got the royal treatment with his Cousin Sydney (aka Princess Kate) and together they conquered the neighborhood.
We spend the last days relaxing and enjoying good food at mom and dad’s house. By the end, it was hard to say goodbye, but we know we will be coming back again.
It’s scary how as your children grow, there is an ever-growing list of maintenance reviews that needs to be taken care of. First, it was the doctor. Then the parent reviews at the kita on progress. And now we are in up and running with the dentist. I have to say that I am envious of Kai’s experience. A quick 5 minute check, no real poking or prodding, and then getting a toy parting gift. And then papa takes you to the bakery for pretzels and foamed milk. But hopefully Kai will be more proactive on his teeth care and not suffer the 8 visits this year that his papa had.
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Playing with the Lumia Smart Camera.
It was a slow start morning and then the tram was severely delayed. The result was we missed the morning circle start, which meant we had to wait. Rather than just sit around, we went to a local coffee shop, Oslo Coffee, which Kai had been before. It was a great time just hanging out and having a morning break. The barrista was extra nice and didn’t even charge for Kai’s steamed milk. As the saying goes, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade.
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