Yom Haatzma'ut

This Independence Day, I had the first fireworks-with-your-child experience of my life. I got very excited myself imagining how exciting it was for Mikael.

These pictures were taken by Adi with her cell phone camera (what a great invention, eh?). Sadly, we didn't manage to get Mikael hurtling happily through the crowds wandering around Rabin Square. He really got into a high and ran back and forth and back and forth chortling wildly. It's such a crowded, funny scene in Rabin Square on Independence Day, it's probably a little hard to imagine if you haven't seen it.

Saba Emi's bathtime pictures

I suppose that child photography competitions have a Bath Time category.

 

 

 

Saba Emi's photos from the aquarium

Here we are at the Tampa Bay Aquarium. Saba Emi clearly has a lot more experience and talent with photography than some of his children.

Saba Emi's pool pictures

Saba Emi just sent us a bunch of pictures he took while we were in Tampa. They're quite lovely. Here are the ones from the pool.

 

 

 

Tampa Zoo

The Tampa Zoo is probably the best zoo in ... well ... in Tampa, anyway. There were only a few things about it that we really liked, and almost none that got photographed. However, some things are worth noting:

1) The hotdog was quite good

2) The manatee exhibit was excellent

3) We enjoyed watching the penguin handlers playing with the penguins

4) Petting the rays was also kind of fun

For me, though, the best part of the experience came when me and Mikael went to feed the giraffe.


Vimeo.

Play-doh

I really love the mood of these two videos of Savta Rina and Mikael enjoying play-doh together.


Vimeo.



Vimeo.

Three generations

Here you have three generations of Donchins. You can compare this to an earlier picture of the three of us and see which of us is changing most quickly.

 

Tampa train ride

Pajamas with footsies are definitely part of my father fantasy. Cheesy train rides for kids at the mall are definitely not. Somehow, though, I found myself explaining to Liya that these would be four dollars well spent and sitting through one of the least interesting train rides I've ever had after many long years of riding the train. I figured that even Mikael, who has ridden real trains quite a bit, would think this was silly, but he totally loved it. Still, this priceless video that Liya took does make it almost worth the while for me, too.


Vimeo.

Tampa: lounging around

This is probably also from the quiet morning of Passover day. Liya and Mikael relaxed in lounge chairs by the pool.

 

 

The morning after Passover

The morning after passover, we did a lot of cleanup, and I produced a disk of the Grammar songs from the venerable Schoolhouse Rock! It was kind of fun for me and Ayala to be able to share 'Conjunction Junction' with our parents generation (who had somehow missed it even though it was such a big part of our childhood), with Liya (who, of course, had only heard of it through me) and Mikael (who already really liked it, but had never seen it on such a big screen).


Vimeo.

Passover wanderings

Mikael, of course, didn't follow the intricacies of the calculations of the number of plagues that God, in his wisdom and mercy, visited upon the poor Egyptians. He spent quite a bit of time out by the pool while everyone else was deep in religious contemplation, and we had no choice but to reluctantly put the weighty issues aside and keep him company.

 

 

 

Passover 5769: Tampa

This is continuing the Tampa series that Saba Emi and Doda Ayala started already. Here are pictures from the actual Passover feast. Mikael, Liya and I sat down at the children's end of the table while the important theological discussions were held up at the high brow end near my dad.

 

 

 

Footsies

I suppose everyone has their weird, idiosyncratic images of what it means to be a dad. For me, seeing my child in pajamas with footsies has always been a big part of what I thought daddy-ing was all about. Sadly, Mikael has had strong negative feelings about this sort of pajama, and my fantasy remained unfulfilled. In these pictures, we see the fruits of persistence. For months, I've been taken the occasional opportunity to suggest to Mikael that he might like to try them, but no luck. I don't know what I did differently that last time, or whether something changed in his perspective; it may have been my pointing out the soccer ball and football pictures. Anyway, when he said he wanted to try them on, I was so surprised I had to ask him three times in order to be sure. I got a camera right away and we looked in the mirror and showed off to Mommy when she came home. The following morning, he didn't want to take them off!

Sadly, it's getting into summer now, and we're going to have to retire them. Doda Ayala bought him some lovely light-weight pajamas in Florida, but apparently it'll be a few months before he warms up to them. Anyway, he may sleep in diapers in the summer in Tel Aviv. It gets really hot.

 

 

Lunch at the Florida Aquarium

The Cafeteria at the Florida Aquarium from Emanuel Donchin on Vimeo.

Ba-Ambatya Be-Tampa

Ambatya in Tampa from Emanuel Donchin on Vimeo.

Bye Bye Tampa

and so saba, savta, a-yah-yah, eema and mikael all piled into the toyota and headed to tampa international airport. bags checked, mikael makes sure he has all his passports and chats briefly with savta before saba, liya and mikael board the train to the plane. Saba returned after about 20 minutes to report that liya and mikael had safely taken off...and so the 2009 Spring Tampa visit came to a close. Next family gathering Israel, Summer 2009...

Chillaxing at the Pool

the pool and linai area offered many hours of fun for the whole family. Mikael was king of the linai with his own play area, a basket of toys, many adults willing to hang out and play in the water with him, etc. In these pictures he shows erica his magic wand of running beads, hangs out on a-yah-yahs floating mattress and gets warm after his pool time in a pile of towels...

Ophers Birthday

the family went to Bonefish Grill on April 13th to celebrate Ophers 40 something birthday. Mikael had the requiste american kids meal of spaghetti and meatballs and then spent as much time as possible saying 'ET EEEMA! ET EEEMA!' and ensuring that Liya would not be able to sit at the table for more then 30 seconds at a time. After some negotiating, Opher worked out a deal with him, that had something to do with sitting down and chilling out so that Liya could eat her food. it worked pretty well for about 5 minutes...and then Saba entertained Mikael by watching him open and close the to go menu box about 362 times. Bonefish was a great restaurant and we ordered tons of appetizers and great dinners and dessert with a birthday candle...

mikael weigs in on the long standing debate of iphone vs blackberry