On the beach

Yesterday afternoon, while I was at an Important Discussion about mindfulness and education, Mikael and Liya went to the beach with Ben and Noam.


The back of Noam's head

 

Ben and Mikael

 

Two more from the festival

Two more pictures, this time Savta Hava took them, from the festival

 

 

Watching the parade

I kid you not: the kibbutz has a parade every Shavuot. Each branch of the kibbutz has a "float" of sorts. Savta Hava (who took these pictures) mostly memorialized them with video, but we got a couple of pictures of the excited crowd and one of the float that won the competition.

 

 

 

Shavuot at Gan Indigo

Shavuot pictures that Caro forwarded to us from the party at day care.

Shavuot in Yiron

Mayan Shahar took some great pictures of Mikael enjoying the Shavuot festival in the kibbutz.

Indigo hike

Liya took lots of picture of the hike we organized (!) for our day care, but this is one I just got in the mail from our friend Eran. That's his daughter Noam in the foreground, and Noga is bringing up the rear.  Half of the day care came with us up to Beit Meir and the Masrek (the comb) .  We hiked, we blew soap bubbles, we flew kites, and, of course, we ate. 

Mikael was amazing and hiked the whole route and was even ready for more.

Birthday coming up

Mikael's third birthday is right around the corner. Very important things still need to be decided (like what Mommy and Daddy will get him for his birthday), but one thing we've known for a long time: we'll be re-visitng the birthday-on-the-beach tradition of the past two years. Tonight, instead of preparing my lecture, Liya and I worked together on the invite. It's below, and for those of you who don't know Hebrew:

Saturday, May 29, we will celebrate Mikael's birthday and officially open the beach season in the nature preserve at Beit Yanay.

Reception 16:30; Corn on the cob and watermelon: 17:30; Pojke-pot: 19:00; Turning off the sun: 19:40; Turning off the campfire: ??

We will be sleeping on the beach and would be happy to have your company

Summer is here

It's summer in Israel and Liya and Mikael are opening the season at the beach.

Technology is amazing. Liya shot the picture just minutes ago from the beach, beamed it to me on my cellphone on the train, and here it is in the blog already. If you're reading this in the next minute or so, then Mikael is probably still on the beach!

 

Independence Day

Independence day was a while ago. Mikael and I went to a party (Liya was sick and had to stay home) and then tried to see some fireworks at Rabin Square. We missed the fireworks but we did get to see a lot of people who seemed very, very happy that Israel was having a birthday. I was a little surprised to see the outpouring of patriotic joy, but Mikael was mostly just enchanted by the music and the dancing and the flags.

 

Noga and Mikael and ice cream

Noga is one of Mikael's good friends from Day Care.

 

With Ilan in the bird house

Ilan is one of Mikael's friends from Tampa and he and his mom Shura took us to the zoo when we were in Tampa. It was a lot of fun and I found this picture of the two truants stepping past the fence in the bird house.

 

Talia and Mikael

I have no real explanation for why I have a picture of Talia and Mikael and not any of the other people who work at the day care -- Tal, who especially spends a lot of time with Mikael in the afternoons, and Dubi and Liran who are also great. Still, Talia is also really wonderful and it's nice to have this picture, and it was in my camera and it seems just great, so I figured I'd post it.

The garbage truck

Garbage trucks are a big deal for Mikael. Last time Liya and I had a weekend 'date,' we brought hin a garbage truck toy that he'd wanted for a long time. Now he actually sleeps with it (although not every night). Here is a picture of the nightly bedtime ritual.

While mom and dad were away

While mommy and daddy were off in the north hiking and sleeping outdoors, Mikael had a good time with Savta Hava and Saba Rami. Doda Mayan Shahar took this great picture of Mikael chugging down some cocoa straight from the box. Doda Maya and her kids were also there on Friday as part of the whole party.

Playing at Gan

I was going over lots of great pictures that the day care has of Mikael. I'll try post more, but here is one very nice one.