Great Expectasia: Big Catch Up - getting adjusted to America

It's been a long long time since I have blogged, and it's mostly because it's been a hard adjustment, and I'm quite sure it's not great to share each person's struggles in public. It turns out it's hard to move three kids to another country. Twice in three years. But I can do some overview of the last few months.

Maizey continues to be the light of all of our lives. She's the best dog ever. We just came back from a walk in Cold Spring Park where she is off leash but stays nearby. She says hi appropriately to dogs and then moves on. She's super socialized. She comes when I call her. She cuddles. She's sooooooo sweet. The only downside is that she eats he poopsicles. Disgusting. But no other negatives. She's the best.

Sam continues to do awesome in school and has been finding amazing friends. She finds the best people. She dog walks for cash (and love), and she has been working on some theater sets here and there. We found a place and instructor to help her ride, and she's LOVING that, but it's in Sudbury, MA, which is far, and it's a really hard thing for me and Matt. In the fall and when he travels, I take her, and when he's around and doesn't have soccer practice, he has been taking her. We leave the house at 3:30 and get back around 7:15 for an hour of riding. It's exhausting, but she loves it. She's also great with Maizey and has been babysitting a bit too. Thriving.

Elie continues to want more from school. He's intense. He started learning for his bar mitzvah, and he's doing a whole lot more than we expected. Turns out he's a super star torah reader. He's finding his old friends and also a few new ones. And he found two table tennis clubs he likes, though yesterday he had a terrible day playing and has decided he's never playing again. Never any drama here.

Koby continues to have a tough transition. His old friends have continued to show no interest in him, but he has found a few new awesome friends, including one who also goes to Hebrew School with him. He's also participating in a community theater program, which he LOVES and playing trumpet, which he HATES and basketball which he also loves.

Matt continues to find the life here less exciting, but he's doing his best. Playing soccer on Sundays. Meeting up with some neighborhood guys for dog walks and games nights and meeting up with colleagues for more intellectual and diverse conversations.

I have loved my time back in Newton. I have been running - and I found some people who were in the running club in London who now live in Boston. We were running together pretty regularly in the fall, but then I fell, and I haven't followed up with them. Hopefully we will pick it up again. I partially tore my calf last week, so I'm out for a few weeks, but I'll find them after. I also found a tennis team which has been a highlight of my life here. I LOVE the playing and the coaching and the ladies. I also love the competition. It's SOOOO fun. And a friend whom I know from Michigania started Hava NaBaby a few years ago. I have been working with her on strategy and trying to make it national, and we wrote a grant together that got funded! So now we are actually committed to working on growing this awesome organization to make great Jewish childbirthing classes available to more people around the country.

Other updates:

Boys both played travel soccer in the fall. They were both leading scorers on their teams and had a great experience.

We weren't able to get to Michigan for Rosh Hashana, because it was in the middle of the week, school had just started, and we just moved here. We had nice dinners here with friends and also Nancy and David.

Bubbie and Zaydie visited in the fall and also in January, and they experienced the insanity of life with three kids at these ages. It's very busy and different to life in your 70s! Papa and Savta came in the fall too. They too survived.

We have a subscription to Broadway in Boston, and we have seen a bunch of shows, which has been fun.

Sam and I had a fun weekend in New York seeing Heathers and visiting friends and family.

We built our sukkah, and no one wanted to eat in it but me. I don't think we'll be building it for the next few years. And by "we built," I mean "I built."

Matt traveled a bit but not a ton.

I've enjoyed being a (regular) part of my bookclub again. Great ladies, and I love the books and discussion.

Elie and I saw Herby Hancock. It was a privilege. And he was old.

We had a fun Friendsgiving and a good time in Michigan celebrating Thanksgiving. And got to go to the U of M OSU game. It was a big loss, but still fun.

I had a lovely weekend at Judah Wachter's bar mitzvah in Chicago in Dec.

We went to Costa Rica with my parents and brother, and it was beautiful and a lovely experience!

Both boys started orthodontics.

Maizey goes to the farm that Rainey went to when we traveled. She seems to love it.

And the pics...

London friend, Melissa, in Michigan!

London runners in MA. Beautiful fall

Mary, whom I used to play tennis with and run with, was in Boston. We ran together with some other WRW ladies as well. She and the other ladies we played a regular doubles game with got me that ridiculous London skirt I'm wearing in the pic.

Tennis team went out to dinner

Koby went trick or treating with friends (phew. It's hard to move and have friends)

Caleb and Hubble came over. Hubble is an old man now, and he isn't too interested in Maizey, but he still loves the rest of us

I started making my own challot, because it's about $9 for one now! sheesh!

love this

many runs with Alli and Caroline since I got back. So grateful to be back with them.

Maizey's favorite place in the world is Cold Spring Park. She chases all squirrels and knows every inch of the park. She goes off leash and doesn't stop running the entire time.

Koby made his own shofar! and he's super good at blowing it

guys enough.

meeting turkeys! what the hell are those?!?

Susie brought me dahlias basically all fall. I'm the luckiest ever

Sam started wearing my clothes. This does not fit me anymore, but I got it in Thailand and wore it for years. One pic here and another here.

Maizey got spayed. Poor baby. But she did fine, and it passed.

Sam in New York to see Heathers. Borrowed that top from her friend we went with. No one was looking at me!!

got in a run with Terese in New York!

Run along the Charles with Alli and Caroline

The local table tennis club

Mt Misery

Maizey meeting cows!

SOOO tired at Mt Misery. How long can that tongue get!?

Elie broke his toe fighting with Koby. Super affected his soccer season.

Look at those ears. in cold spring park

koby walking on Rainey's log

maizey meeting clover, my good friend, Sarah Grafman's new puppy. They're besties.

Maizey wakes up everyone in the morning. When Alexa goes off she gets a toy and runs up the stairs and waits for me to open a door and let her in.

Herby Hancock

Such a good girl while Koby sorts his Halloween stash

I mean, New England fall is amazing

Watching soccer right outside our house. Both boys played here as their home field this year. We have dreamt of this as we drove to so many other Newton "home" fields in previous years.

Larissa came for a few days as she got inducted into the Northeastern athletic hall of fame for volleyball! So great to see her and so proud of her

my office. My chair. I love it all.

And so does Maizey.

The kids and I raked so many leaves and brought them to the curb. Matt was away. We killed it.

lots of this going on. hours everyday. i love it. koby can't stand it, but luckily we also have a keyboard in the basement when he can't handle it anymore

the newton turkey trot. sam found a friend and ran with her. Koby was like, "mom is it ok if i run ahead?" and he finished in 24 minutes. I was recovering from being sick and did not RUN but did just fine. Sam finished. Was a fun morning and man I was proud of Sam and Koby.

Sam and Madeline

me and my usual tennis partner, Tonya. This week when I tore my calf (minorly) she was sooooooo helpful and she is the one who got me on the team. Grateful

Turkey trot with Alli and Caroline. Alli ran with Ethan, and Caroline and I ran together.

What a beautiful sunrise.

Driving Maizey and Hennessey to the farm for Thanksgiving. Maizey had no idea what was happening

but then she saw Clover there and hung out with her the whole time!

Matt and his frat brothers doing some sort of toast to the wolverines at a tailgate

Go Blue

Cold and SNOWY!

Meanwhile, Maizey was still having fun with Clover.

A common scene around here

Sam and her great friend, Stella. Seriously, she finds amazing people.

Haifa presentation at Hebrew school. Koby just loves Hebrew School so much!! (J/K)

She always finds the sun and cozy spots.

She found where the heat blows. We moved the furniture a bit farther away and put a beanbag for her, and now she is there nearly all day.

Chicago. We ate good food, hung out, played boggle and I got to go the bar mitzvah. quite a gift for me

Sam and I went to the nutcracker. it was beautiful. EVERYONE else was super dressed up. Oops.

Amy was our pace leader last year in the running group. She ran with me on heartbreak hill. I loved running with her and miss her!

Costa Rica! Manuel Antonio

"whoa!!!"

Through the scope

Quick break at the beach

this is so creepy, because she cut out the people behind her with AI!

Only group shot. Glad I made them do it on day one!!

our rooftop hot tub in our first place. with a view of the ocean on three sides!! and luckily two separate rooms with two separate bathrooms, because Elie and I had the FLU!

Fighting here too

GINORMOUS BUGS

This was the pool at my parents' and brother's building. No one else was there, so we had it all to ourselves!!

AMAZING birds while we were swimming!!

tucan!

learning sailing knots on the go!

who is this teenager!!!

and the other side of our rooftop in that place

i love my dad, but man can he look weird sometimes

fighting here too

and here in chachagua rainforest

they gave us three rooms that were not FINISHED!! this was my brother's door, and my parents had the same thing. so bizarre and not ok without admitting it up front!

fun day rafting

and floating

and another day ziplining

nah. they don't look alike.

at least the porch was mostly finished. lots of games out there and even some bowl games

random walk in the woods our last morning

van to the boat to the van to get to monteverde. this was a lovely part of the trip, since the roads were all so insane

this whole boat all to ourselves!b felt kinda silly!

watching michigan lose on my parents' porch

new years

these animals, coati, that made themselves at home on our pillows on our porch!!

HUGE trees

jer, my dad and i went for a lovely walk the last day. we saw an armadillo!

elie and his friend sy. elie makes sy teach him math. they also play table tennis and music. sy is awesome.

maizey's fav spot at home.

her field bestie, cassie

hike at mt misery with sarah grafman and clover and their family (and koby)

she loves the snow!

walk in beautiful webster woods after a big snow

sam fell on her face during that snow. Broke her glasses (Jonas Paul got us a new pair in less than 48 hours!) and cut herself pretty bad. hurt her nose a lot too. oy. but she's good (ish) now.