Family Affair

My sister-in-law, we'll call her Molly, is here in Israel for an intensive 2 week seminar. Her days (and many evenings) are packed with lectures and meetings, and unfortunately it doesn't leave a lot of time for non-seminar touring and certainly doesn't leave a lot of time to visit family.

The last time we saw Molly in person was the summer of 2012, when Zach, the boys, and I flew to the States for a family visit. Nati was 5, Elchanan was 3. Neither were toilet trained... oh, that was fun. So the last time Molly saw my boys, they were barely out of toddlerhood. And it had been even longer since Molly saw my daughters, and she'd never met my son-in-law or my grandsons.

Needless to say, I wanted to arrange a family get together, despite Molly's tight schedule.

My original idea was everyone come to Jerusalem, where Molly was based, and we'd go to a restaurant. But then I started picturing the get together.

First of all, it would mean that my daughter and her family would have to travel by bus, minimum of 90 minutes, just to get to Jerusalem, and then depending on where the restaurant was, would have to get there as well.

Five minutes after arriving, Nati would start complaining that he wants to go home.

Ten minutes after that, Elchanan would start complaining that he's bored. And when he gets bored, he starts picking on... well, everyone.

We'd have to make sure that my grandsons (ages 6 and 3) would sit at the table for the meal, and the schmoozing.

Yeah, none of that seemed appealing.

But then I realized that this get together wasn't going to be about the food, it was about the family. The people, gathering together for the company and the conversation, reconnecting.

So then I suggested having a BBQ at my daughter's house. We'd pick up Molly in Jerusalem and then drive further north to where my daughter lives. By car, it's about 45 minutes. I made cole slaw, potato salad, a batch of chocolate chip cookies, brought burger and hot dog buns, and bag of chicken wings marinading in a home made sauce. I told my daughter to buy the burgers and hot dogs, and I'd reimburse her. The reason behind that was so those items would be cooked and ready (especially for the kids) when we got there. See, sometimes I have a good idea.

And it was amazing. The kids all got to eat and run, play as they wished, where they wished. The grown ups got to have pleasant conversation. And as a bonus, Molly got to see a part of the country that she'd otherwise not have had an opportunity to visit. And we took a 5 minute pause to do some amazing star gazing in mostly dark skies.

What kind of family get together have you been to that ended up being fantastic and amazing, despite being nothing like what you first planned it to be?

Different route to school

Elchanan and I started off on walking a different route to school, so he could find different things to photograph. But after only about 5 minutes, he decided he wanted to take the city bus. So he got a few photos taken, but not as many as he'd taken in the past.

When you were a kid, how did you get to school?

Shuk with a camera

Words cannot express the absolute pride and joy I felt while watching Elchanan experience the local shuk with a camera in his hand. He was like a bee in a flower garden, flitting from one stall to another and snapping away. None of the vendors scolded or yelled at him to stop (which has happened to me on more than one occasion), and a couple of them even gave Elchanan encouragement.

What hobbies do you share with your children?

Behind the dried pineapple is dried (and probably sugared) watermelon, rind and all.

Abstract of lettuce.

Apparently dog poop is interesting

On today's walk to school with his dad, Elchanan decided to photograph a poop-covered rock. When I asked him why he chose to take that photo, he just laughed. Typical of an almost 9 year-old, methinks.

Give a child a camera...

Here are today's photos taken by Elchanan on our way to his school. The first and last photos have some great leading lines.

Elchanan's photos

Here are Elchanan's photos from today (he'll be 9 the end of March).

Photography with kids

Yesterday Elchanan started his photo project with Zach. Here are two photos he took.

I'm hoping that in addition to it feeding his creativity, and my teaching him the art of photography will make him a great photographer, it will also set a positive tone for his day that he can carry into the classroom. We have issues with him refusing to cooperate in class, and there's the ongoing morning tantrums about not wanting to go to school and/or the after school program. But I'm hoping that if we can distract him with something positive and fun in the morning, he'll carry that feeling throughout the day and behave better in class.

And tomorrow, I'm DEFINITELY taking my own camera on our walk to school.

Deflection

Not sure where Zach has been driving, but the car has TWO flat tires. And neither one of us has gotten paid yet, so for now, the car is sitting in its parking spot.

Tuesdays is a bit of a mess with regards to getting Elchanan to and from school because Tuesdays is a 12:30 dismissal and there's no after school program. And today, he has an added 3 p.m. visit to the dental hygienist for a much need cleaning.

The usual schedule of getting Elchanan to school would be a few days a week, Zach drives to work, so he takes Elchanan to school, and I take Netanel to his bus stop. On days when Zach cycles to work, we switch - I take Elchanan to school via city bus, and Zach waits with Netanel for his van and then Zach cycles to work. On Tuesdays, because it's a short day for Elchanan, we try and make a point of Zach takes him to school, and then I pick him up at 12:30.

For some reason, Zach thought I'd be okay with taking Elchanan to school by bus today, and picking him up at 12:30, AND taking him to his dental appointment. Needless to say, I wasn't okay with it.

The problem is, you're not allowed to take a bike onto the city buses, and either the front of the bus racks don't exist in Israel at all, or at least they don't exist on the local buses.

So it means Zach and Elchanan would have to walk (it's about a 15 minute walk to his school).

Which Elchanan was NOT happy about.

However, I DID manage to mostly deflect his tantrum, and make walking to school interesting, by telling him he could take his camera with him on his walk to school and take photos. Zach would then take the camera to work with him, and I would upload the photos he took to his own Facebook album. He resisted the idea at first, but soon warmed to it.

I'm looking forward to this project.