Monday, September 30, 2013

Week 4 - First Visitors from California

Another eventful week back here as we welcomed our first visitors from California, I traveled back to California, and we had our first apple picking experience.

Bubbe comes to town
On Wednesday night our mom and Bubbe arrived and the kids were over the top excited.  Even though we did not get back until nearly 9pm from the airport, there was no telling them to go to bed until they gave her a hug.  It reminds me of when my Grandma Ruthie used to visit us in LA from Philly.  While we miss being so close to all of our family, there is something special about out of town visitors.  She is in town for another week and we have more adventures planned.


Pizza lunch at school
Not much of a story here, but a great picture of Rachel and some of her new friends at school for hot lunch.  Beth, as everyone expects, volunteered and helped serve pizza to the kids.

Simchas Torah
This holiday always reminds me of the funny line from the little known movie Top Secret with a young Val Kilmer.  In any case, the family celebrated on Thursday night and Bubbe even got the honor or carrying a torah.  The kids got into the action as well.

City by the Bay
One of my clients is in San Francisco, so I hopped on a flight on Thursday to visit them. Definitely a strange feeling flying West for business as you end up spending a very, very long day due to the time change.  The upside is when you leave, you go East instead of South which provides a great view of both bridges, the city and Berkeley as you fly back home.  I had a chance to see Mark Graham for dinner on Friday which was a real treat and for the other Bay Area natives, there will be more trips.

Ian starts to read Hebrew
Ian came home from Hebrew School yesterday and was so excited as something clicked at school yesterday and he started to read Hebrew.  I have to admit that I was wondering when it would all start to come together after 3 years of Jewish Pre-School and 4+ years of Hebrew School, but I guess
everything is a process.  They loaned him a Siddur so he could practice and there is no better reading buddy than Bubbe, so they had a good time with that yesterday.  Pretty neat to watch the light go on and there was a funny moment when he was reading to a prayer and was trying to read the word Eloheynu.  He was truly reading it and Rachel said "Eloheynu" on queue because that is just the pattern she is used to hearing.  I guess it does sink in.

Party Bus & Great Wolf Lodge
Ian got invited to a birthday party for one of his new friends and they took a bus to the Poconos and went to an indoor water slide park.  The way Ian described it, it sounded like Hurricane Harbor condensed into an indoor facility.  He had the time of his life!!

Apple Picking
Thanks to Tim Roy, our local expert on everything to do in New Jersey, who pointed us in the direction of Masker's Orchards to go apple picking.  It was about an hour drive to the Northwest in Warrick County where it is located.  For those that have done this before, I am sure this is just a normal activity, but none of us have ever been to an apple orchard before.  The coolest parts were simply having the experience of picking an apple off a tree, giving it a little rub on your shirt and taking a bite.  We came back with a huge bag of Macintosh and Red Delicious apples.






Homemade Ice Cream
Another insider tip was to stop at the creamery on the way back.  I kept thinking to myself, "how will I know where it is?".  Hard to miss a line of 50 people snaking around a house with the words "Local = Good" on the side.

The best news of the day was they don't use eggs in their ice cream so Ian could enjoy it.  All flavors were big hits including Bellvue Bog which was chocolate with brownie bits and fudge swirl, but Bubbe loved her coffee ice cream and Beth went for a peanut butter concoction and Butter Pecan.  They sit on top of a hill overlooking Warrick Valley which is just the most amazing view you will ever see, especially on the clear day we had.  We can only imagine what that would look like when the trees start to turn.

Another great week in the books and we look forward to more fun next weekend with Bubbe after she returns from a side trip to Philly.

4 comments:

  1. You're making me hungry with all the food mentioned in this post! Loving these Solomon updates. Keep 'em coming!

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  2. I need to make a reservation at Solomon's Cove. Lots of activity and excitement from the brochure. :)
    Glad all are enjoying the Garden State. Your painting of it is nothing like the Jersey Shore. Keep the posts coming.

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  3. My name didn't show but put the reservation under Palmer please. :)

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  4. Aw man - looks like you guys are having a lot of fun!

    Homemade Ice Cream? DOOOD!

    You better be planning on taking Itsuka and me there when we visit Mikey!

    -Mark

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