Fun in Los Angeles

It's Official ~ Sheridan gets carsick! We had a big day planned today. We drove up to Los Angeles to have lunch with cousins Noah and Asher, and then went across town to have dinner with my grandfather and my mom's brother, Jon and his family. We left Orange County around 10:15 am and had an hour free before we were expected at Jody's around 12:30 pm. We were pulling into a mall parking lot at Old Navy when Sheridan announced that she was going to vomit. Without going into any details, let's just say that I wasn't able to get her out of the car in time and she ruined her brand new outfit that I just purchased for her the day before. It took me about 25 minutes to get her and the car seat cleaned up enough before we were able to walk into the Old Navy (with her dressed in the only clothes for her I had in the car - a pair of lime green pajamas) and buy her another new outfit.

After arriving to Jody's about 45 minutes late, we immediately threw everything in the wash, let the kids eat a little lunch, and sent them off to play, play, play. We stayed until our laundry was done and the kids were pooped out, and then we packed up and moved to our next location, my Uncle Jon's house.

The kids had another great evening playing with MORE cousins. It was wonderful to see Jon, Julie, and their 4 beautiful kidlets (who we haven't seen in about 2.5 years), my grandfather Jerry, and my brother Scott. Julie made a delicious dinner for us while her kids entertained Riley and Sheridan the entire time. They even helped feed them dinner! It was a real treat to get to see them after so long.

Riley and Sheridan with Lieba, Esti, Sruly, and the baby

Posing separately with Julie and then with Jon


Grandpa Jerry posing with both his grandchildren and
great grand children

Another Day With Friends and Family

We had a lovely day today visiting with Neil's family and Micky and Neil's friends. We had lunch with cousins from Florida, followed by a visit from my brother Scott and an afternoon nosh with their friends. The girls ran around all day, playing, arguing, laughing, and ending with eating several pieces of pizza.

Oh Yes - Another Night Out With The Cousins!

Last night we went to dinner at Jody and Darin's house with the whole gang; Cynthia and Marv, Uncle Marty, Shelley, Doug, Morgan, and Evan, and the Katz gang - Heather, Stu, et al. Jody hosted a great evening filled with chili, grilled cheese paninis, raviolis, salad, and of course, cake to celebrate Sheridan's 3rd birthday (again), Asher's 1st birthday, and Andrew's 5th birthday. Cousin Morgan even made cupcakes for all the kids. The kids ran around for over 5 hours without a single meltdown - it was amazing!!! They had an unbelievable time playing with all their cousins; we enjoyed schmoozing until 10:45 pm. A fantastic time was had by ALL. Tons of photos below.

Dinner with the Kreitenbergs

Saturday night we went to dinner with Matt's first cousins Melissa, Archie, and their kids Mo and Zoe. They took us to Island's (another chain restaurant that we love to go to that we can now check off on our list for this trip...). We hung out at their house afterwards, had cookies and ice cream for dessert, and let the kids run around until 9:30 pm. Another great night.

Visiting the Katz Cousins

We spent Friday night having a nice Shabbat Dinner with our cousins Heather and Stu, and 2 of their 3 children, Justin and Andrew. The girls had an absolute blast and ran around crazy until we left at 10:30 pm! It was a nice time catching up and letting the kids play and get reacquainted with their cousins.

Sheridan Turns 3

After much preparation and several pre-parties, Sheridan's 3rd birthday has finally arrived. She celebrated her special day by going to "Story Time" at the public library, taking a nice nap, walking the dog to the park, and then having take-out Chinese dinner with Grandma and Poppa, great grandmother Vera, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Sandy and Uncle Geoff. She had a great time opening up a few more gifts - all princess themed of course. She finished off her day with this yummy cake (exactly like the one from last week at Bubbie and Zadie's), and went to bed in a sugar coma.

Israel Reunion Dinner

In 1989 I went with 38 kids from the San Francisco Bay Area on a 6-week trip to Israel organized by the Jewish Federation. We had a fantastic trip and an amazing bonding experience that kept us in touch for the rest of our Junior and Senior years of high school. However, as we got older and time moved on, we all slowly went our separate ways. Within the last few years I began communicating with a few people from the trip, and when we decided to come out to California now for our last R&R, one of the girls suggested we do a mini reunion dinner. One catch was that we didn't have many people's contact information. Through the magic of "friend finder" sites; Classmates.com, Reunion.com, Facebook, Myspace, and of course google, we were able to track several people down.

Last Saturday night we met up in Pleasanton for dinner. While only 6 people (not including significant others) from the trip could make it, we had a great time reminiscing, catching up, and re-bonding. We're going to try to do this again this summer when we're back in town and I'm sure that we'll get many more to come. What fun.

L to R: Sol, Mihal, Michael, Justin, Jennifer, and me

Group with Spouses

The Nutcracker

On Saturday, December 15th, my mom took me and the girls to see an afternoon ballet performance of The Nutcracker at the local Junior College near their home. She bought them new dresses (at Target of course) and they got all dolled up for a day at the ballet. The performance was done by a local troupe, and as it was done by children and teens, the ballet was the perfect length for them to sit through. They had a nice time, and surprisingly, so did I.

Another Blog from the Vomit Files

Last night uncle Randy came down from San Francisco to help celebrate Sheridan's birthday (still not until next week). My mom ordered a special cake and we decided to go to Chevy's for dinner. We called ahead to put our name on the waiting list, and hopped in the mini van at 6:15 pm. We got to the restaurant and had to wait for a few minutes before our table was ready. My dad was holding Sheridan, but she was screaming for me to hold her. Not more than 10 seconds after I grabbed her, she threw up all over my shoulder. We quickly ran outside where she continued to get sick. I signaled for everyone to come out as we weren't going to be staying at the restaurant, and as soon as we were all outside, the hostess came out to tell us our table was ready.

We got into the car, drove home, and ordered take-in from a local Mexican restaurant. While we were waiting for the food, the girls took baths and I did the laundry. We then sang Happy Birthday and the girls ate the cake.

We're Here!

Well we made it to California AND it was almost an enjoyable experience... Except the part about getting up at 2 am, taking 2 airplanes, having a 5 hour layover in Germany, and paying almost 1 Euro for 2 extra ketchup's in MacDonald's.

The girls were amazing - not a single meltdown on the airplane (of course they were pooped and drugged). However, when we got into the terminal in San Francisco, Sheridan let a serious meltdown fly about wanting to pull Riley's bag and something else I can't remember. It was a doozy of a scream fest, but at least it wasn't on the plane.

It wouldn't be a Perlman trip without a little vomit. Right when we got to Ben Gurion airport, Sheridan stuck her finger down her throat a little too much and puked all over herself and the stroller. Thankfully we had our luggage right there and after cleaning her up in the bathroom, we were able to ditch the sweater, clean the stroller and the pants, and throw the stuff in our bags. Of course, it was the only sweater I brought for her...

Sheridan woke up this morning at 4:30 am, Riley woke up at 5 am, and I finally got up at 5:15 am. I think we're all a little pooped. I've already had a Starbucks coffee, been to Target, had Mexican for lunch, and am about to head out to Old Navy. What a great first day!

A Side Note

Hey Randy - I'm starting to pack my things, and guess what I already put aside? My tickets... AND... you finish the sentence!

Happy "Almost" Birthday Sheridan!

Can you believe that my little peanut is almost 3 years old? While next Thursday is her actual birthday, we had her party at school today. I got to sit through her birthday circle where we sang songs, her teacher read a birthday book, and she received a small gift and card from her class. We then went outside for a small snack - I made pink cupcakes, specifically requested by my munchkin. As you can see she was the belle of the ball and had a great day!

Cinderella

Last night we took the girls to see a live performance of Cinderella at the Tel Aviv Community Theatre. We went with our friends John and Christine and their daughter Kit (Gabby was home sick). The girls got dressed in their snappiest outfits and took naps during the day so they could stay awake for the 7:30 pm show.

The show was performed by a local British Comedic acting troupe, with humor along the lines as Monty Python. The show was great - very funny, though not entirely geared towards young kids. The stepmother and stepsisters were played by BIG burly men, while the role of Prince Charming was played by a female. At the end of the show they were able to take photos with the cast. We were quick to get them to pose with Cinderella and Prince Charming, although they cried when we tried to get them take a picture with the ugly stepsisters.

The girls really enjoyed the show and managed to stay up until they got back into the car at 10:30 pm. Then they crashed...and Sheridan woke up early, while Riley slept until almost 9am.

Happy Hanukkah!

Here are the girls lighting their menorah's on the first night of Hanukkah. Happy Holidays!

Is Ballet Really Her Sport?

Here we are with another installment of the ballet files. It's a good thing we didn't name her Riley Grace Perlman... Too bad we'll be missing 3 lessons while we're in California. We sure could have used them! Enjoy the video as much as we did.

The Passport

What is a Passport? Wikipedia describes it as a travel document issued by a national government that identifies the bearer as a national of the issuing state and requests that the bearer be permitted to enter and pass through other countries.

When do you need a Passport? Wikipedia states that it is usually required for international travel (except in the EU).

What is usually the first thing, besides the airline ticket, that one would put in their bag on the day they travel? Hmmmmm.... do I really need to continue looking at Wikipedia for the answers? It's a freakin' Passport!!

Clearly my brother Randy forgot all this as I took him to the airport on his return flight back to California at 5:45 am. About 5 minutes away from the airport he suddenly panicked when he realized that the passport, which he thought he had in his jacket pocket, was not there.

A phone call to Matt (who was already in the shower getting ready for work) confirmed this. Randy left his passport in the bag he took to Jerusalem - and we had to return back to the house to get it.

The silence in the car on the twenty minute drive back to the house to get the passport and additional 25 minutes back to the airport was deafening. We were both nervous that he'd miss his flight. However, he checked in for his flight with 1 hour and 15 minutes to spare and was able to get coffee and a little breakfast before boarding. I, on the other hand spent the next 50 minutes in traffic getting home. What sisterly love.

Masada and Ein Gedi

On Randy's last day in Israel we hiked Masada and watched Randy float in the Dead Sea. We left our house around 9 am and got to Masada by 11:30 am. It took us awhile to gather our stuff together, but we were ready to hike the mountain by noon. We climbed the mountain in 1 hour 28 minutes ~ with all 5 of us hiking. While we took the backpack for Sheridan, she ended up walking the whole way! She complained a bit about being too tired, but she was a real trooper and continued to climb. While Randy took an audio tour at the top, we took a few photos of the girls, and then we all headed down the mountain.

Our next stop was the Dead Sea. We found a small beach area where Randy was able to strip down and float for a few. He said he could have stayed there for several more hours.

On our trip back home we stopped in Jerusalem to have dinner with our cousin Katie. She wasn't able to break away for Thanksgiving, so we had to fit in a quick visit with Randy before he left. We ate dinner at her Kibbutz and spent an hour + with her, though we were all so crocked from the day that I'm not sure anything we said was coherent.

We just got back and are preparing for Randy's departure EARLY tomorrow morning. He crammed a heck of a lot into his 10 day trip and I think it was very successful. Lucky for us, we'll see him again when we head out to California in two short weeks.