The Holiday of Huts and Happiness

Wow. I know it's been a long time, but we've been quite busy, surprisingly so, considering we're not even building our own sukkah (due to that pesky covered mirpeset and unwillingness to schlep down five flights of stairs to the courtyard while holding hot chicken soup).

So we foisted ourselves off on Robbie and Jenny "Real Israelis" Sassoons for Shabbat/Chag. An excellent time was had by all at the Sassoons' home in Ma'ale Adumim. We even contributed s'chach and decorations to the construction of the sukkah. The highlight of our stay, at least for Donny (well, besides for drinking wine with Robbie in the sukkah), was the TWO sukkot the Sassoons built. One for eating, one for sleeping. Donny had two restful nights in the Sukkah, conveniently absent from various child-related crises going on in the rest of the house. After Shabbat, the children had movie night in the Sukkah, then went to sleep and the adults ate Jenny's Magical Lasagna and shmoozed. On Sunday, the fun continued in the Central Park of Ma'aleh Adumim when Donny and Robbie played an intense game of baseball/soccer with the kids (it was really a baseball game, but Yaakov kept running in and out of the game with his soccer ball, happily oblivious to anything else). We really appreciated Robbie and Jenny accepting our invitation to their house.

Speaking of Jenny, I would like to point out Jenny's blog which I added to my blogroll. If you recall, Jenny is one of those special people that uses her blog to actually make a difference in the world and help people, instead of making fun of and offending them, like some other blogs which shall remain nameless. So hop on over to Jenny's blog, http://getrealstayreal.com/ and make sure to leave a comment!

Anyway, after we bade farewell to the Sassoons, we headed to Kiryat Moshe for a BBQ with the Samson family. On the menu was a side of a cow, grilled. Yum! We ate a hearty lunch and enjoyed seeing all the assorted family members. Then we went to visit Great-Zaidy and after that, we drove back to our sukkah-less home in Modi'in. (Ariella, Yaakov and I will be using our "Women and Children Get Out of Eating In the Sukkah Free" card many times this week; I envision a lot of cornflakes for Donny.)

In other news, the 'rents have arrived for a week of grandkids and rugelach. Ariella is super excited to show Bubby and Zaidy her TWO missing teeth, especially the little grownup teeth starting to poke through. Yaakov is just super excited, because he's Yaakov.

Speaking of Yaakov: Yaakov asked for tzedakah last week. I obliged and gave him some agurot. After gan, I asked him, "Did you put the money in a kupat tzedakah?"
"Nope!" he replied blissfully.
"Um, where IS the money, Yaakov?"
"Up!" he says helpfully.
"Up, where?"
"Up!"
The next day, Wednesday, I give him a baggie with tzedakah. Though he prefers putting his money in the pocket of his shirt, we had no clean pocket shirts left. I told him to put the baggie in the drawer in gan with his kippah and tzitzit, and when he goes to get them for tefilah, he can get the bag of money as well. I thought this was a logical plan. Come Wednesday afternoon - the baggie, with the money, is still there. However, Thursday it was gone, and Yaakov informed me that the money did in fact make it into the kupat tzedakah. Not sure whether to believe him or not.
So I'm not quite sure what is going on in Yaakovland ("Where Kids Can Fly And It's Always Breakfast Time!"). As long as he's not using the money to buy counterfeit Yuval videos, I guess it's okay.

And speaking of his kippah and tzitzit, gan has become Yaakov's personal Chabad-on-the-street-corner. He refuses to wear his K&T, but his morahs have convinced him to put them on for tefillah. So now I can rest assured that he puts on his kippah and tzitzit at least once a day. If I can't convince him to wear them, at least someone can.

Today we head out to the Biblical Zoo with the Kleins and Bubby and Zaidy. Party on!