Monday, September 23, 2013

Solomons in Jersey - Week 3

Every day and every week we get a little more settled in and what we keep asking ourselves is "how long have we been here now?"  While last week marks the 3rd week, it seems like it has been so much longer than that.   The kids are into their new routines at school and they each have made a number of new friends so that is helping their sense of comfort.   We have still been getting the house together on weekends, so not too many adventures outside the area, but now that the house is pretty much done (including pictures are the walls) we hope to get back out and about next weekend.  Here is Rachel posing in her Pinkalicious Room and Ian taking full advantage of our backyard doing his best DeSean Jackson impression.  His "team" practices every day and that is the closest to a real football team he will see, but in his 9 year old mind he is on track to play wideout for the Eagles after college.


Back To School
We met the kids teachers at Back to School nights this past week and either the teachers at Dorchester are all great or we have beginner's luck.  Ian's teacher has a ton of gusto and passion and I see why Ian likes her so much.  We loved how she is stressing building independence and accountability in the classroom this year to get the kids ready for middle school in 2 years. Rachel's teacher seems like a great match for her personality and we are seeing her creativity thrive in the classroom.

Soccer
This was our first full weekend of soccer.  Rachel's league does a 90 minute session every Saturday highlighted by 70 minutes of drills and a 20 minute scrimmage.  It is less about being on a team and more about building skills.  Rachel has really grown since last year and is showing a better nose for the ball.  She even scored a goal in the scrimmage which was very exciting.  Oh, and as you can see, she is having the time of her life laughing it up with Brooke, who is one of her new buddies that is also in her 1st grade classes at Dorchester and Hebrew School.


Ian finally got on the field for his new team, Arsenal.  They supposedly lost to the first place team 11-1 the prior week, but on Saturday they came away with a 1-0 win.  Ian is playing mainly defense on this team as they need someone to plug up the back line and he is doing that and then some.  He understands this team needs him there even though I think he prefers playing midfield.  We are really proud of how he has taken on this challenge.  Do you love his kicks or what???

Sukkot
Hag Sameach!  We love our new synagogue.  They did a Sukkah Social yesterday, which was a great way to meet more families out here and get to know the opportunities at the Temple Emanuel a little better.  There were arts and crafts and games for the kids plus a full on barbecue complete with hamburgers and hot dogs.  Rabbi Kanaz, who heads up the education, is one of a kind and has been so helpful in getting us connected with other families.  She has also been a great source of support and has a great spirit about her.




Google
I was knee deep in sales training last week - all 5 days.  While I knew a great deal of the material, it is never bad to review all that Google does.  The week concluded with forming teams of 5 for a sales pitch competition - sort of like the Internship, but we did get to play Quidditch.  For all of you TSAers, I even got to take a new certification exam that I had not seen before which was kind of like the Google Mashup complete with questions about everything from AdWords to GDN to GA to YouTube.


The highlight continues to be food.  I ventured out to the "other side" last week and went Hemispheres, which features a Food Truck parked in the building (not sure how they got it there) and deck with a view of Midtown (which is the same view in my Google+ profile picture).  The food truck has two daily FroYo specials.  On Wednesday is was a concoction of vanilla, pomegranate, and a hint of mint. On Thursday is was pumpkin, graham cracker with a hint of nutmeg.  I didn't get a picture of the FroYo, so here is a sampling of the salads on Wednesday and the breakfast spread on Friday.  

Funny Signs
This was one Beth found that is just hysterical.  It is next to the hill of our synagogue pictured above. There is probably not a better hill for sledding in 3 counties, so the sign makes sense, but still cannot get my head around it snowing (but we will!).



Visitors
We get to welcome our first visitor to our new home on Wednesday when my mom, affectionately known as Bubbe to our kids, comes to town.  We feel pretty set up and have a few adventures planned including a trip to the city and our first apple picking adventure, which everyone keeps telling us about.  Figure we better get outside before the weather starts to turn.

Have a great week!

6 comments:

  1. Looking good, Solomons! Loving Ian's soccer shoes, and Rachel's pink room. :)

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  2. hi it's jesse. i hope you're having a wonderful time in nj. i've been thinking about you and miss you and rachel sooooo much! i hope your new school is great. love, jesse

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  3. I am just surprised that the certification exam did not have any questions on Quidditch. Or did it?

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  4. No Quidditch questions or Harry Potter trivia, but I did have to know the AdWords UI pretty well. Ok, just lost 99% of my audience.

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  5. Love the updates. So glad everyone's doing well. :)

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