Ugh

This was a strange weekend. We set up the new pool (we had to get a new one because I was too lazy to bring the old one in for the winter) on Friday. First thing Saturday morning, the kids wanted to swim. I thought they were nuts because the water was freezing. Granted, it was 85 degrees outside, but dang that water is cold. They didn't seem to care much. At one point, we had as many as 8 kids in the pool.

While the kids were in the pool, we heard F-18's going by. They must have gone by about 8 times. Just circling the house. It was really cool. They were so low that you could almost read the writing on the plane. I guess there was an air show at one of the little local airports. Nothing like two F-18's going over your house to bring out the neighbors. Literally everyone was out on their decks, staring straight up in the air.

At some point in the afternoon, I pulled a message from Mike (he'd gone to the main academy for Saturday training like he usually does) off of the phone. He said that he was at the hospital because he'd taken a kick to the ribs and was having a hard time breathing. They ran a bunch of scans and stuff and nothing's broken but he's bruised up pretty bad. They wrote him some prescriptions and sent him home. I can't even imagine the pain. He did get calls from Master Dave and Grandmaster Lee this afternoon making sure he was okay. Yet another reason I like our TKD school.

While Mike was at the hospital, a hummingbird flew into our garage. It was neat, at first. But then, it became annoying. This was probably the dumbest bird I've ever seen. He couldn't figure out how to get out. He kept flying into the ceiling and walls. He'd hang out on top of the garage door and then fly into the wall. All he had to do was fly down about two feet and then go out the big garage door. How hard is that? He finally figured it out Sunday afternoon. Daniel had walked into the garage with a light up toy and the hummingbird followed that light right out. I didn't realize hummingbirds were that dumb. LOL!

Saturday, I also did 6 loads of laundry. I hate laundry with a passion. I managed to switch out most of the kids' winter clothes for summer ones and their closets are now stuffed with warm weather gear. It doesn't seem like they've grown much so all of the clothes they wore last year are getting another go-round. The only thing I need to get is more shorts for Hannah. She only has one pair. Good thing she has a lot of little sundresses.

Sunday was the kids' last day of Sunday School for the school year. Mike was having a hard time just sitting up, so I took them by myself. After classes were over, everyone met in the time for worship area (that's what Hannah called it since the Rabbi always yells "time for worship!" every Sunday). Each grade level did a skit or song telling everyone where their tzedakah (offering) money went. I honestly can't remember where the first graders sent their money (I think it was some Israeli dog and cat organization) but the third graders actually got in touch with a unit of the Israeli Army and their money went to them. They sent photos and exchanged letters throughout the year. After that, they showed a slide show of the kids throughout the year. It was very cute.

The synagogue also held their used book fair yesterday. Like I needed more books, but at 50 cents a piece, it was hard to resist. I picked up a book called Modern Jewish Cooking that was printed in 1952. A lot of the recipes call for a pressure cooker, which must have been the big gadget at the time. Most of the recipes were familiar but there were some really strange ones. The author goes into detail about the joy of cooking with calves' brains and lungs (you have to buy the whole lungs with the heart. Just remove the esophagus.) It's fun to go through it. All in all, I picked up 16 books for $8. A few books for summer reading and several books for the kids.

This is the last full week of school for the boys. I can't tell you how excited I am about that.

Daniel's Consecration Photo

We got Daniel's Hebrew School Consecration photo back today. We had completely forgotten that we even ordered one. Most of these kids are in kindergarten but there's a handful (including Daniel) that are in first grade. They all got to keep their little Torahs and yarmulkes. Here's the photo...you can click to enlarge. The adults are the teacher's aides (the teens on either end), the kindergarten teachers (on either end next to the aides) and (from left) the musical director (I feel bad that I don't remember her name), Rabbi L, Rabbi H, and Marcia (the educational director).