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!
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.
We love Kai’s kita (the pre-school here in Germany). Except when it comes to holidays when they always seem to be taking the liberty of staying closed even when the holiday is over just because its Friday. So since Kai was out of school, we decided to make a long weekend of it. Our friends suggested a beachside resort on the Baltic a few hours drive away. A good alternative to getting us all on a plane somewhere, and had been on the agenda for some time so we were in. It was a good first run experience — overall, the car rides went smoothly — the biggest issue was missing on of the exits on the way up (and getting stuck in massive traffic jam for 40 minutes). The place was nice and really well prepared for kids. They had a kids club where we could drop the older kids off after 9am — good fun for them, and a bit more freedom for us. The sit down meals weren’t perfectly serene, but we managed to enjoy part of it. And the town was quaint with a nice promenade in front of the beach. We had some fun, learned a lot, and got to forget about some of the day-to-day issues which don’t add much value.
We are getting quite comfy with our Sunday morning routine — our friends drop their kids at our place whom we leave with Kai’s teacher, and then we head off with Teo for a relaxing brunch. This week we decided to venture to the California Breakfast Slam. It’s not in a neighborhood we traditionally head to, but we are growing more bold/confident in our Sunday excursions. It is actually housed in a place which is a bar in the evening — the large communal table in the room where we sat was actually the pool table under cover. But it turned out to be fitting environment — homey, cozy, with good portions of comfort food. They even provided you with water without having to order it by the bottle — almost unheard of in Berlin. Not all the eats were perfect — the poached eggs on the eggs benedict were a bit overpoached — but still a good change of pace from the traditional Berlin brunch fare. Will venture again.
So we decided to experiment going to the Street Food Thursday with the whole family. We figured there was a play area and enough variety to find something for Kai to eat. Overall, would give the experience a B — we did eat good food, no casualties from the excursion (I did stain my shirt with taco sauce, but some quick spot work at home did the job), and I think everyone managed to have something special (personally, the cheesecake from Elephant was checked on my wish list and was as good as I anticipated). With hindsight, I think we can make the next trip even better.
Going from one child to two children was hard, but we had help along the way. Yukie and Meg were there from the very first day, and Yukie stayed for the first 3 months and then helped bring Chika and the boys to Japan. In Japan, there was extended support with aunties and uncles about. But then reality crept in and we were flying back on our own — without a net. And then (thanks to Chika) we found Maki, whom we both liked immediately. And now it is official — Maki has joined the family to enjoy the joys and challenges of Kai and Teo.
