CT - Westport and Hamden

We're in Connecticut! On Friday, Aviva's Grandma Ellen picked us up from the airport and very kindly shuttled us to the home of Peter's brother Jeff and his family (Brianne, Seamus, Rory, and Hank the Dog.) We had a laid back Shabbat dinner and crashed. The three of us were very excited to meet Baby Rory. Photos to come. We spent a lovely Saturday in Hamden with Aviva's Grandpa Richard, Grandma Susan, and Great Grandma Miriam.



She enjoyed playing with Grandpa Richard...








...and eating a snack with Grandma Susan.



After a nice long nap, Aviva showed us that she really is a very happy child (at least when she gets to run around wearing no pants.)

Sorry about the quality of this next clip, but our camera had run out of memory and we had to take this on a BlackBerry.  You can see, however, Aviva showing off her sign language skills at the end.
Aviva also had a great time wearing Susan's reading glasses, which she did for several minutes. Maybe she can see better with them on? More footage from Hamden to come...

E'ville - Aviva's first art project!

Last week in Edwardsville, Aviva's Sarah Ayi (Aunt Sarah) taught her how to finger paint, using edible finger paint. Thanks to Henry Jiu Jiu (Uncle Henry) for this photo.



Here's a short video of the artist in action:




Thanks also to the web site makeandtakes.com, where we got the great idea.

E'ville - laughing

There has been a lot of laughing on this trip. In addition to lots of giggling when she played in the baby doll cradle, Aviva also started laughing sort of maniacally. She sounds like a cross between Agong and Eddie Murphy. This clip doesn't quite capture it, so I'll try to get some more footage of it later in the week.




She really enjoyed laughing and snuggling with Agong.

E'ville - Aviva's first haircut!

I've been hesitating to cut Aviva's hair for a long time. For one thing, I didn't think I could do it by myself, and I didn't think I would do it well. Her hair really was getting too long, though, so I thought it would be a good thing to do with my family in Edwardsville.

Here's what happened.



It was pretty funny looking, but Aviva can pull it off. I have to admit it does look much better now than before! Maybe we'll always have Sarah Ayi cut it.

Edwardsville in Spring and Grandparents!

Last Friday (March 16), we got to my (Callista's) parents' house in Edwardsville. Many flowers were in bloom, but the prettiest was the weeping cherry tree behind the house. You can also see another beautiful tree to the side (a redbud tree?)



Aviva had a great time in Edwardsville.

She played outside with Agong and Ama. Agong fed her some dried persimmon.



We found an old baby doll cradle, and Aviva loved playing with (and in) it.



She especially loved it when Agong tickled her with her new panda (one of Sarah's old stuffed animals that we found in the cradle.)

While Aviva played with Ama, I took the opportunity to give her a mini-Chinese lesson.

Atlanta - Chao Hu and Ethiopian Food!

While we were relaxing in the hotel room, Aviva watched some of her favorite Chinese DVDs. She found a new favorite TV watching spot.




One of the real treats of going to Atlanta is terrific Ethiopian food. There is a substantial Ethiopian population there, and there are many excellent restaurants as a result. Last Friday we stopped by Ghion Cultural Hall on our way to the airport.

To get to the seating area, we walked through the attached business (California Mart), where several Ethiopian taxi drivers were eating and watching soccer.

Aviva also had a great time roaming around the restaurant, which was empty (at least the formal seating area was, because clearly the informal takeout/cafe area was very busy.)





The injera was soft and tasty, and the many dishes we tried were fabulous. We highly recommend it.

I'm already dreaming about the collard greens and beef...

Atlanta - Dinner with Roger and Barbara

Last week, we had a great dinner with Roger and Barbara at their beautiful home.
Roger gave us a quick tour of their garden, where the azaleas were blooming.
Later, Roger and Aviva played the piano together.

Here Aviva looks a bit dazed (it was quite late, and her parents kept promising "just 10 more minutes."

As always, it was marvelous to catch up with them, and we are so glad that Peter's work trips have given us an excuse to come to Atlanta each year!

Atlanta - Visiting the Reilly Family

We arrived in Atlanta on Tuesday of last week.

On Wednesday, we visited our cousins, the Reilly family. Aviva got ready to go out by putting (someone's) shoes on.






We had a lovely time meeting Baby Aidan, and Aviva loved playing with Julia. Julia was super generous and shared all of her toys with Aviva (even when Aviva didn't know how to use them!)

Baby Aidan went to bed a little earlier than the rest of us.



Aviva also had a great time giggling and playing with John and Nancy.



It was so wonderful to spend time with them, and we wish we were able to do so more often!

Florida!

Two Saturdays ago, we arrived in Florida, to visit Nana Frances (Aviva's Great Grandmother.)

We were only there for a few days, but we were very busy!

Aviva had a great time playing with a coloring book that belongs to her cousins, and eating lunch with Nana.




On Sunday, we went to one of Nana's favorite places, an excellent deli/diner called Bagel Snack. Aviva enjoyed her scrambled eggs and lox (and all the attention from adoring grandparents, even if they weren't her own!)




Later that day, we were visited by two of Nana Frances' terrific friends, Elizabeth and Ruth. Aviva shared her strawberry with Elizabeth and climbed on the couch with Ruth (though I unfortunately didn't get a clip of her with Ruth.) She also discovered that Nana's walker is fun to push around.


On Monday, we had a very nice lunch with our cousins Pam and LeeAnn, who were in town for LeeAnn's spring break.


Here's Pam, LeeAnn, Aviva, Peter, and Frances.


In between all those social events, we spent time down at the pool and at a fabulous public playground just down the street from Nana's house. We were very impressed with Pompano Beach's public facilities for kids. We had a great time, and can't wait to go back!

It's the Asher and Aviva show!

We were very lucky to have our good friends Jessi and her son Asher staying with us for the last 10 days. Asher and Aviva had a great time together:

They ate popsicles (really they just shared one.) Watch Asher in the background of the first part of this clip deciding he doesn't really want what he's eating. "Cold" doesn't seem to be widely understood yet.




They got cleaned up.


And they danced. Aviva shared her favorite Chinese language DVD with Asher.




Asher had a terrific time "breaking" a cracker over and over.



We had a great time with them and can't wait for them to come back!

Afternoon with the Neighbors.

Last weekend we took some kids from our neighborhood up to Waterford (a private high school close to our house) to play soccer. There are three two boys, Bandile, 10, and Bahle, 6; and a girl, Nonhle, 8. This clip isn't especially exciting, but you can see how beautiful the setting is.

On the way home, the kids shared their cheese curl snacks with Aviva. Nonhle told me they would only give her very little pieces...but somehow she still ended up looking like she scarfed a whole bag. Hm. I guess that's what I get for trusting an 8 year old babysitter.



The kids area great with Aviva, and she loves hanging out with them.

Joburg/Pretoria: Old Friends and New Friends

A month ago (yes, it's been that long already!) we went to Joburg for my (Callista's) birthday. Every year, I try to spend the night of my birthday in a different city. Aviva was reunited with her friend Asher, and we were reunited with Asher's parents, Jessi and Uri!

The toddlers had a great time messing around before bedtime.



On Saturday we went to the Neighbourgoods Market, a wonderful indoor market full of independent food stalls. Yum! Aviva made friends fast (with a woman willing to share her ice cream.)



That afternoon we enjoyed a great lunch at 44 Stanley, with Uri, Jessi, Asher, and our other friends, Rob and Nida. More pictures of that to come.

On Sunday we went to visit my cousin's husband's cousin (basically, our cousin!) in Pretoria. We had a fabulous meal at a nearby restaurant (possibly the only Taiwanese-run restaurant in the Joburg-Pretoria area), and then visited their home. Aviva had a great time playing with Melody, and baby Abraham was very cute.



Thanks to Allen and his family for a lovely afternoon!

We had a great weekend and can't wait to go back.