Field Trip to Firehouse

In November, Jennifer joined her Intown Playgroup classmates for a field trip to the firehouse. She had a great time and here are the photos. The guys at the firehouse were great with the kids -- they gave a demonstration of how a fireman can put on all of his equipment in 60 seconds. They also demonstrated going down the firepole. The trip was made more interesting by the fact that there was a real fire call while we were there and the firemen all jumped on two trucks and rushed out of the station while we were there. They ended up coming back after 15 minutes (it was a false alarm) but it was exciting for the kids to see that. J.

Visit to Asian Art Show In NYC

We had a really nice visit with Marion, Alan, and Illisa in NYC several weeks ago when we drove up for an Asian Art Show. Jennifer loved seeing the art but even more she enjoyed being with Marion, Alan, and Illisa! Here are a few photos. J.

Jennifer's Second Halloween

Jennifer had a good time dressing up as a fairy princess (I think that was what the official costume was) for Halloween. In addition to walking around the neighborhood, we also had a good time hanging out with our next door neighbors Dan and Allison and their daughter Miriam (dressed as a bumble bee). There was also a party at the Intown Playgroup. Here are the photos.

J.

Jenny's Second Birthday Party at Hillandale

It seems like we are constantly celebrating birthdays these last few weeks but we wanted to host a birthday party for Jennifer so we could celebrate with family, friends, and neighbors. So we had a nice celebration at at the Hillandale clubhouse (located just up the street from our house). It was wonderful to have our special friends Marion, Allen, and Ilissa Herskowitz come down from NY for the event. Here are the pics. I especially like the one with R holding both Jennifer (wearing her birthday tiara!) and Jessica. I also like the one with Debbie and Alex smiling at each other.

J.

Second Birthday Get Together with Sullivans and Heverins

We had our annual birthday celebration with the three girls at the Sullivan's house to celebrate the girls' second birthdays. It was great seeing everyone and I got some great pics. All of the girls are just beautiful.

J.

Birthday Piano and Intown B-day Party

Since Jennifer has always admired pianos (she loved the piano player at the Four Seaons in Georgetown), we got her a mini-piano for her second birthday that we celebrated in September. Here are some good photos of her with the piano, as well as a few pics with R and Ellen. It's so funny how she totally fits on the mini piano bench! I also included a few photos of Jennifer at the little b-day celebration at the Intown Playgroup.

J.

Apple Picking with Intown Playgroup

Jennifer had a great time a few weeks ago on an apple picking field trip with her pre-preschool -- Intown Playgroup. Ellen, Rachel, and Etu also had a good time. Here is the photo I liked the most from the day -- of Jennifer in her Intown t-shirt.

J.

Celebrating Family Day - August 5 2008

We just got back from a quick overnight trip to NY where we celebrated the one year anniversary of the day we all became a family -- what we are calling "family day". We had a wonderful time and celebrated with Ilissa, Marion, and Alan Herskowitz. Since it's late and I have a very early flight tomorrow morning (as in 6 a.m. early), I'll just get the photos up but I do want to come back and update the posting since it was such a special time in NY. In addition to having a really nice lunch, we also walked around the dinosaur exhibit of the Museum of Natural History. There was a lot of love to go around and Jennifer was so happy to be the center of it. Thanks to Ilissa for sending me some of these photos that she took on her camera!

J.

Girls Get Together in July

We had a really nice time getting together with the Sullivans and the Heverins to celebrate Katie's baptism on July 12th. I have been wanting to post these photos for some time. I'll try to do more commentary later - but it was a great party and the girls all looked happy and wonderful playing together.

J.

Going to Court

We had a really nice adoption finalization hearing on Thursday, July 10th. Sorry it has taken us so long to post the photos. The hearing was required to get official English language birth documents from the D.C. government. All went great -and we are no have an official birth record in the eyes of D.C. Rachel, Jennifer, and I sat at the table in front of the judge and of course Jennifer charmed the judge. We had quite the gathering of family and friends sitting in the gallery - including Etu, Elana and David Cohen with Adam, Jane and Greg with Alex, Debbie, and Ellen. After the hearing, we had a nice lunch celebration at Jaleo with Jane, Greg, Alex, Etu, Debbie, and Ellen. I will try to post more commentary later but wanted to get a few photos up now.

J.

July 2008 Trip to Berlin and Munich (continued)

After five days in Berlin, we flew to Munich for a four day stay. In Munich, the hotel was right in the center of the City near the train station. At first, we were worried (ok, very worried) that the hotel location would be too hectic and crowded and after the amazing experience at the Ritz Carlton in Berlin, it was hard to find anything that was as nice. But it turned out to be a great hotel and the location was perfect. Our first full day in Munich, we started the day with a walking tour (also arranged through Milk and Honey tours) of the City. Our guide (Chaim) was great -- a professor of history in Munich but also a very worldly man (was a citizen of Germany, Italy, and Israel). I won't list all of the sites he took us to but it was a very powerful and informative view. The next morning, we met up with Chaim early and he drove us to the Dachau concentration camp. That was difficult and moving but something we had to see. It was particularly touching visiting together with Jennifer.

For our last full day before returning home, we took a 1.5 hour train ride from Munich to Salzburg, Austria and spent the day walking around and seeing the sights. It was well worth the trip and Jennifer loved it as well. We were all tired when we flew home yesterday but felt like the trip was special for all of us. Although Jennifer may not remember a lot of it when she gets older, we think she got a lot out of the trip and she certainly made it wonderful for us. Yesterday, as we cleared customs at the Dulles airport, we were both reminded of how happy we felt almost one year ago when we walked through those same doors with Jennifer on the way home from China.

J.

July 2008 Trip to Berlin and Munich

We just returned yesterday from an amazing trip to Berlin and Munich and it was our first trip to Europe with Jennifer. We were so happy with how everything worked out and Jennifer was an absolute joy to travel with. It's hard to even describe the trip since we had so many amazing memories and sights - so I'll just do a quick rundown now of where we went and I'll post some photos - first of Berlin and then in a second post for Munich. We started in Berlin and stayed in a really amazing part of town -- near Potsdamer Platz -- an area that is being completely rebuilt and has a lot of impressive and really beautiful modern architecture. The Ritz Carlton in Berlin was fantastic and that made the trip start on such a positive note. The staff there just loved Jennifer and we had a good time interacting with them. We did a lot of walking which was good because the food was not light (can you say "snawsauge"?). On the first full day we were in Berlin, we walked to the Holocaust Memorial -- a very impressive and moving memorial that takes up an entire city block and is made up of blocks of stone of differing sizes that you can walk between. You walk down into the memorial so that you can no longer see the outside and the path between the stones reminded me of narrow streets in the old neighborhoods. I have posted a photo of the memorial. We then walked to the Brandenburg Gate and had lunch in a cafe near the Gate.

The next day, we did a lot of walking on our own -- including spending a lot of time (I think more then 6 hours!) in the new Jewish museum. The building itself is a piece of art - a modern building designed by the same architect that is designing the New York September 11 Memorial. And the exhibits (both the permanent collection and the special exhibit) were really well done and thought provoking. Jennifer did really well -- she slept in the stroller for part of the time and then when she was awake we took turns walking with her and/or carrying her. Having her there really made the experience special for both of us. She was her typical outgoing self at the cafe and she sat with a group of French high school girls who just adored her and took turns having her sit on their laps! She also met another little girl her age and they played in the big atrium of the cafe.

The next day, we met our tour guide from Milk and Honey tours - a group that specializes in touring Jewish sites. The tour was a really interesting experience and well worth it since we saw a number of sites that we would have never found on our own. The guide (Robert) was a young guy from Brooklyn, NY who was studying in Berlin and was planning to get a Masters and/or PhD in German political history. He was a really nice guy and it was great hearing his perspective on what we were seeing. He took us on the train from Potsdamer Platz to Alexanderplatz -- on the East side of the former wall -- and we saw a number of memorials. One of the most moving was the site of the shop of a non-Jewish German man who helped save many blind Jewish workers by giving them jobs in his factory (the workshop made brushes) and also helped a number of families hide and escape. We ended the tour with a visit to the New Synagogue in Berlin that was significantly destroyed in the war but has been partially rebuilt. It is such an impressive structure (see photo). We ended the day with dinner in the kosher restaurant next to the synagogue and had just a wonderful time with Jennifer.

One of the days we were in Berlin, we worked with the Ritz Carlton concierge to get tickets to a classical music concert in the same location that the Berlin Philharmonic plays. We had originally worked with the concierge to arrange for a babysitter to come to the hotel to take care of Jennifer but we weren't feeling comfortable about doing that. We mentioned this to one of the managers at the hotel who loved playing with Jennifer and she offered to babysit for us. It turned out to be great - Jennifer had a great time and we were able to enjoy a night out. The concert was really beautiful -- a baroque program of Bach chamber music performed on period instruments. It was such an elegant setting being in the modern concert hall listening to the beautiful music. More later - and pictures/description of our Munich visit.

J.

First Fathers Day

Sunday was my first Fathers Day since we came back from China and it was amazing. R and Jennifer surprised me in bed with two cards and a box of Polo shirts. Jennifer was so excited - she did her normal routine of trying to scare me (she says "boo!" and I pretend I'm scared) and then helped me open the cards and the present. It was such a happy moment. After I got up, I took Jennifer outside and we had a great time hanging out at the duck pond, going up to the pool and watching the lifeguard remove leaves (believe it or not, an exciting activity for Jennifer) and meeting/talking to every neighbor we walked by. At one point, Jennifer said "happy". I told her I was happy too. It was one of those special moments that you know is good right when it's happening rather than having to look back on it and only realize it was special in retrospect. Here are some photos from our Fathers Day with the family.

J.

Jennifer's First Day at Intown Summer Camp

Today was Jennifer's first day at the summer camp run by Intown Playgroup -- the pre-preschool that Jennifer will be starting in September. The camp meets in Georgetown every day in June from 9 a.m. - noon and I accompanied Ellen and Jennifer this morning. Jennifer had a great time! I have posted a few photos of her running around -- in the sandbox, in the pool, etc. It was so nice seeing how comfortable Jennifer was being there. She loved the outdoor area (with a sandbox, slide, play house, baby pools, play cars, etc). She also liked the indoor area (including place to play with clay, do fingerpainting, story area, etc.) She did her usual dancing routine (pointing one leg forward in her ballet pose, taking a bow, etc.), she climbed into the teacher's lap during story time, and she was great with the other kids in the baby pool. It was so fun seeing her being herself and having fun. She tired herself out so much that she fell asleep in the car on the way home. I dropped her and Ellen off back and home and made my way into work. It was quite the contrast to go from the Intown summer camp scene to the adult work world of Fannie Mae. I hope I can join Jennifer and Ellen another day this summer to take more photos and just be part of her world. In addition to the Intown Summer Camp photos, I posted one photo from the Barker Foundation picnic this Sunday.

J.

Another Museum Day

On Sunday, we had a family playdate with Alex, Greg, and Jane at the Museum of Natural History where they have a special live butterfly exhibit going on now. Jennifer has been going through a major butterfly stage (she likes flapping her arms like butterfly wings and was excited to see them flapping around in person). The girls had an awesome time running around making butterfly wings with their arms and just observing the little creatures. We ended the day with a really nice dinner out. The girls were having a blast and Alex introduced Jennifer to blueberries. Now that's her favorite fruit and strawberries are on the back burner along with grapes. Here are some photos from the day.

J.

More Jennifer Photos

Here are some photos of Jennifer's trip to the National Gallery of Art from several weeks ago where we met up with her good friend Alex (see photos in bathtub from previous post). This was one of our Saturday daddy outings so it was fitting that we met up with Alex and her dad Greg. A good time was had by all -- we ate lunch in the museum restaurant where both girls made quick friends with the young woman at the next table who was trying to study for an accounting exam but ended up with Alex on her lap and both girls trying on her bracelets. Jennifer and Alex proceeded to spend a good amount of time admiring the fountain and amusing strangers. We then proceeded to the modern art section of the museum where the girls had a good time running around. We knew that it was probably time to call it a day when Jennifer and Alex both decided it would be fun to lie down in the middle of the floor. In addition to the museum outing photos, I have attached one photo of Jennifer standing on her Winnie the Pooh car.

J.

She Walks, She Talks!

Ok, so we let a few weeks go by since the last post. Next thing we know, we have a walking, talking child! Her "conversation" is a running commentary on all manner of things -- her favorite animals (the leading animal seems to be the bunny and all other animals that hop), her desire to go outside, her friends (currently, Alex and Roni are the leading mentions), the temperature (hot is a favorite word), her favorite foods (her first muli-word sentence was "more orange"), etc. It's wonderful to see the ideas come together and she picks up on everything -- even hand gestures or facial expressions. She is also mobile and can now walk from point a to point b without help. We sense a more exhausting phase coming on but we're ready for it.

I have posted some photos from several different get togethers -- the most recent ones are from this past Sunday night's Easter dinner we had with our friends Jane and Greg and their beautiful daughter Alex. The girls ran around chasing each other all night. Although they weren't much into eating dinner, they did do a pretty good job eating a cake that Greg made that was in the shape of a bunny. They ended the night in the bathtub together getting all the dirt and cake off! There is also a photo of Alex and Jennifer at the American Museum of Natural History on Rachel and Jane's most recent outing there. And finally there are a few photos of Jennifer, Etu, Rachel, Elana, and Jessica at a Purim decorating party that we went to where Jennifer and Jessica decorated Purim masks and groggers. Everyone had a good time at that get together and Etu loved being there with both of her granddaughters. Jennifer brings so much happiness into our lives and also to our friends and family.

J.

A Day In Georgetown

R.was getting her nails done this afternoon at the Four Seasons salon in Georgetown so we made an outing of it and had coffee in the Four Seasons restaurant while R was waiting for her nails to dry. Everyone loves Jennifer there and it's a great place for all of us to relax as a family. Jennifer enjoyed watching the piano player and saying "hi" to everyone. She is so social and cute that random people come up to her and say hello. It's so much fun to be with her! Here are some good photos of the day.

Jennifer is in a wonderful stage - she's learning a lot of new words every week and -- as Ellen says -- she knows everything. She knows the name of every animal and can make almost all of the animal sounds. She makes connections every day -- like pointing to the coat closet when she wants to go outside or pointing to the refrigerator when she is hungry. When we are reading to her, she can identify every different thing on the page -- the animals, the objects, etc. It's amazing to watch her grow and develop. She continues to have a wonderful, fun, happy personality. Ok - I'll stop the gushing of a proud poppa!

J.

Jennifer Rose Cayman Islands Vacation - December 2007

We are in the Cayman Islands with Grandma Theda and Grandpa Oscar. We are having a wonderful time. Getting here was tiring - we basically slept one hour before we got picked up at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning to go to the airport. We also had a lot of stuff! We had one entire suitcase filled with baby stuff -- diapers, wipes, formula, ziplock bags, clothes, etc. As a result, we had to pay an overweight baggage charge of $50 for both of our suitcases! We had a very smooth flight -- our first one with Jennifer Rose since we got back from China -- and Jennifer seemed to enjoy it.

The resort is beautiful and the setup is really good for Jennifer. She has gotten to know everyone here and we can't go anywhere without people saying, "Hi Jennifer!" A few funny things: one is that the lobby of the hotel has a Santa doll that dances the twist to the tune of Jingle Bells. Jennifer loves it and makes us go down and turn it on every evening. The second one (also kind of nasty) is that yesterday we were talking to another family and Jennifer was playing on the ground and the woman we were talking to noticed that Jennifer had something in her mouth (Jennifer's fingers have been in her mouth constantly because she has four new teeth coming in). It turned out that she had a used bandaid in her mouth that she had found on the ground! Can you say "nasty!?" We were all horrified. We also caught her right before she was about to put a used cigarette butt in her mouth! Nasty! This putting things in her mouth stage is new so we're going to have to watch her closely.

Here are some wonderful photos that we have taken over the last few days. Enjoy!

Love, J and R

Breaking the Radio Silence

Ok - we've gotten lazy again. R tells me that she has gotten a few comments saying, "we need a blog update!" I can't believe it's been since Halloween since we had a photo posted. No excuse, other than we have been having such a nice time just being with Jennifer Rose. So today I'll break the radio silence with a few good photos -- a few from a visit that we had to Etu and Eugenios I believe for Thanksgiving (could that be right!), plus one from our first Hannukah with Jennifer Rose, plus a few that I took this afternoon (Sunday, December 16) when Steve and Cathy Cook came over with their daughter Rebecca (check out their blog at http://daughterfromchina.blogspot.com/).

As for this afternoon's visit with the Cooks, we had a nice time -- mainly watching the two girls take out all of the toys! My favorite was the one of Rachel and Jennifer looking at each other and laughing!

Ok - more later. But I had to post something.

J.

New Meaning to the word Thanksgiving

Today was our first Thanksgiving with Jennifer Rose and I could not stop thinking about how thankful we are to have her in our lives. What a blessing to have her so happy and healthy and in our lives. We had a really nice Thanksgiving at Etu and Eugenios with a lot of family -- about 18 people total. Jennifer loved being there -- playing with Talia, taking turns being held by various aunts, uncles, grandparents, parents, etc. It was nice to be able be part of that and just take in the love and happiness. Of course, there was a ton of food and I ate a tad too much! I have to go running tomorrow. I took some videos of J Ro this morning (using the video function on our regular camera). Had not done that since we were in China. I liked how it came out and will try to upload it here if I can remember how. Was the China trip even this year? It feels like 3 years ago! Ok - signing off now.

J.

J Ro's First Halloween

We had a great time on Halloween. R and Ellen found two cute ladybug costumes so of course they had to get both of them! So J Ro wore outfit #1 during the day to meet me at work and go to the library; she then wore outfit #2 for the evening festivities walking around our neighborhood and visiting with neighbors. Here are the photos.

J.

J Ro Birthday Celebration

I know it seems like we've had 3 or 4 J Ro Birthday celebrations -- but since we had lots of family and friends in town on Saturday for the baby naming, we wanted to have a big party to celebrate (we talked about having a big party like that even before we went to China!). So we had 100+ people at the restaurant Tragara in Bethesda, MD. Here are some photos.

J.

J Ro Baby Naming

After the wonderful conversion ceremony on Wednesday, October 10, we had a really beautiful baby naming ceremony on Saturday, October 13. It was extra special because it involved the naming of four cousins: Jennifer, Jessica, Noa, and Eli. It was so nice to have friends and family from near and far at the event. R's college roommate Andrea stayed with us on Friday night and we had a great time (see photo of her feeding J Ro on Saturday morning). We were also honored to have the Herskowitz family join us for all of the weekend festivities. Here are some of our favorite photos from the day. On Saturday night, Etu and Eugenio hosted dinner at a neighborhood Italian restaurant and everyone had a great time visiting and passing the baby around!

J.

J Ro Conversion Ceremony

Ok - yet again we have let several weeks pass without updating the blog with some of the wonderful photos we have taken of J Ro and the supporting cast. So many amazing things have taken place over the past couple of weeks. On October 10, we participated in a conversion ceremony at Temple Adas Israel for Jennifer Rose. In addition to Rabbi Seidel and the two other Rabbis, we were joined by both sets of grandparents plus Elana and Adam as well as Ellen. Ellen and R picked out a really beautiful outfit that was one of the really nice Guangzhou purchases so Jennifer looked very special for the ceremony. The ceremony itself involved R taking the baby in the mikvah (with R in her bathing suit and J Ro in her birthday suit!) and dunking her three times followed by blessings. It was a little traumatic seeing Jennifer get dunked under water (R did an awesome job making it more fun and less scary for her). But Jennifer seemed to take the whole thing in stride (perhaps the swimming classes helped) and it was a very special ceremony for all of us. We finished the afternoon by having afternoon tea at the Four Seasons in Georgetown. Here are some photos of the day.

J.