The Great Outdoors

One of the great things about moving here to Utah is the outdoor life. EVERYONE is outside all the time. I'm talking 8am to 10pm on the weekends - kids EVERYWHERE. They are riding their bikes or scooters (or, with one 5 year old on our block, a motorcycle with training wheels) up and down the block and in the circle (we live in a cul-de-sac). It's amazing. Last Sunday, Elijah was riding his bike for four hours outside and was really getting the hang of it. His bike is a few years old now and is just big enough to fit him. Anyway, after coming inside for the night on Sunday, he accidentaly left the bike on the driveway. Not that big a deal around here - there is not much of a threat for it to be stolen. However, he left it ON IT'S SIDE. It was raining on Monday morning when I got in my car to leave for work and....well....you can probably guess what I didn't see behind me in the driveway...

Good thing the bike was not newer. It works out, kinda, because we are going to pick him up a scooter now to replace the bike. A lot of the kids have scooters here because it's more like snowboarding. Bikes are popular for sure, but you see more skateboards and scooters around then anything else. A good summer of "scootering" around will suit him well when the snow returns and he learns how to ski.

Deb had a productive weekend - she assembled a closet organizer in the girl's room all by herself! She was very proud! At one point, she borrowed a level from our neighbor and then needed his assistance to cut a pipe to fit in the closet, but I am giving her full credit for the job and it looks good!

We celebrated our wedding anniversary on Tuesday night by taking the kids to a restaurant here called The Mayan. It's Mexican food but the setting is in a jungle and there are cliff divers and magicians all over the place. The divers jump from about 20 feet and the kids love to watch them. There was a balloon lady and all kinds of distractions for the kids. The food was rather crappy but at least we didn't have an issue with the kids. Going to a nicer restaurant would have been a challenge. Deb and I agreed - we would save our anniversary date for when our parents come here so they can watch the kids for us.

I think I mentioned that Hannah gave up her pacifier a few weeks back. She's been sleeping great at night but, for some reason, has completely given up napping. Not good. Some of you can relate to this I'm sure - but being around a three year old who gets up at 7am and does not nap is like someone smearing wasabe on an open cut on your scrotum. It hurts.

So, as I type this, Deb is home trying to lure Hannah to her bed (or any bed for that matter). She's walking around the house with a fishing rod with fruit snacks on the hook saying, "come on girl - COME ON!!" but Hannah ain't biting. Looks like she's done napping for life.

It's 70 degrees and breezy and there is not a cloud in the sky here. It's going to be like this for the next SEVEN days. Are you jealous?

Click over to the recently completed 100 Things About Me page and contribute to the list!!

THE ZOO!!

Made our first trip to the great Utah Hogle Zoo Saturday! Check out the photo album by clicking HERE!

I'll write later in the week!

Stay Away From That New Family...

Elijah and I have always had a tradition of going to Target together on Saturdays. Back in NJ we would run some errands together just about every week and usually end up in Target for 10-15 minutes. This past Saturday, we went to the Target here in Salt Lake for the first time. This Target is maybe 3 miles from the house and it's one of those GREATLAND Targets...which means they have an entire grocery store with Salad Bar and everything. It could take 4 hours to walk through the place.

I don't know if we will ever be allowed to go back.

As soon as we get there, Elijah tells me he has to go potty so we walk in to the most vile smelling bathroom EVER. Imagine dunking your head in a vat of Jabba the Hut's doody.

"OH MY GOD - IT SMELLS SO BAD IN HERE!" said my honest boy.

"OK, Elijah, it IS a bathroom so lets go over here to the urinal and go pee pee."

"I think someone is making a POOP in here, Daddy!"

So I practically cut him off and raise my voice louder than his, which, if you know Elijah, is like shouting off the top of Mt. Rushmore. "OK sweet boy - are you done going pee pee?"

He backs off from the urinal and goes to wash his hands....but before he does, he walks up to the door of the stall and literally gets on his hands and knees to look UNDER THE DOOR. Before I could grab him, the words were already out.

"YEP!! THERE IS SOMEBODY MAKING A POOP IN HERE RIGHT NOW!"

At that point, my nervousness got to me so bad that I had to poop. We were home pretty quickly after that.

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We went to our first Salt Lake Bees game today! They are the Triple A affiliate of the Angels and they play in a magnificent stadium about 15 miles from our house. It was a great day and the kids loved it. Click here to see all the pictures. I will leave you with one of my favorites...and no, the background is NOT a painting... We live in a pretty cool place...

Home

It's been so long since I posted and yet it feels like yesterday. So much is going on and every day is so busy!! Let's see if I can get you up to date...

• We are about 70% complete with our unpacking. Deb did a magnificent job in the playroom upstairs this past weekend and now all we really have, aside from decorating, is the basement. There are about 20 boxes down there. I'll post some more pics in the coming weeks.
• Sadie sits up! She's five months tomorrow and she can sit on her own for 15-20 seconds or so.
• Work is going well and my staff of three begins with me on the 17th full time. They have spent the last two weeks in Philadelphia training. We go live on the 17th!!!
• It snowed 20 inches this weekend ten miles from here and we got nothing.
• Elijah is liking school here. Today I went through his backpack and there were seven papers in there. Some were coloring pages and some were words and stories that he was to read. Every single one of them was Easter themed. One of the pictures Elijah drew was the Easter bunny delivering eggs under a rainbow. I said that we don't celebrate Easter and Elijah said they don't talk about Passover in the school. So Deb told the teacher she would love to come in and talk to the class about Passover and the teacher thought that would be a great idea. We will see if that happens. Talk about a difference!
• Elijah is also liking Sunday school at the Synagogue. We've met some nice people already from there. In fact, this Wednesday for the first Seder we are going to someone's house and then on Thursday to ANOTHER person's house. THEN, to complete the trifecta, we are going to Shabbat dinner on Friday to yet ANOTHER person's house who has a son in Elijah's Sunday school. Three free dinners in a row - AWESOME!
• The TV repairman is coming on Thursday morning to take the TV and see if he can fix it (not). Then the arguing will begin with the movers on why they should (better) replace my TV. It's all kind of messed up.
• Hannah follows Elijah around like she IDOLOZES him. She makes the sounds he makes, imitates his moves and everything. It's amazing....except when he's being bad cause then she's bad with him. Deb said the only thing she does differently than him is eat. She eats EVERYTHING. Elijah eats 5 things....6 if you count macaroni and cheese as two.
• Our cars are not here. Yes, that's correct - OUR FUCKING CARS ARE NOT HERE. Sorry - got angry for a second there. The car moving company said April 13th or possibly as late as the 17th. It sucks. Oh and by the way - its $448 per week for the minivan we are renting. Nice.
• We ate at Rich's Bagels this weekend. Besides Einstein, it's the only bagel shop we have seen. "Born and Raised in Utah" is their slogan. Not bad! A little different - they claim they use no fat or oil in the bagels. Certainly edible!
• Mom and Dad are coming for 10 days in July. Bobe and Zeide are coming for two weeks in August. Spencer and Lynne are planning a trip at the end of June. Excellent!

Some more interesting facts about our new home...

• There is no such thing as Pepper Steak here and NO Chinese restaurants here have ever heard of Chinese Pizza. This leads me to believe that Pepper Steak and Chinese Pizza are Jewish creations.
• We found Saturday Night Live!! It's on the WB at 10:30pm. COOL!!
• Nobody uses turn signals here. It's like driving behind my father ALL THE TIME.
• Still the most interesting thing about the people here is the way everyone adapts to the weather. I wrote about this before but EVERYONE is in shorts and flip-flops all the time. This past weekend I drove Elijah to Sunday school and it was 42 degrees when we left the house. Elijah reluctantly wore his sweat jacket. When we got to the Synagogue, there were tons of kids walking in with TANK TOPS and shorts on. No jackets. It was 42 degrees!!!! Parents too! Walking in with their kids in tank tops and flip-flops. So Elijah took off his jacket! So far, the kids have not worn their winter coats ONCE here. It's so different - I can't explain it. It's awesome for sure.

I am so tired now. I would write more but, to tell you the truth, I already had and lost 80% of this post to an errant key click...I had to type it all again and now I am pooped!!

Everyone have happy and healthy Pesach and I hope you all find the afikomen!