Independence Day pt. II - More Manly Endeavors

Ok, commercial break for some of our successful fireworks.....


And now back to our heroes - here we find Yeshi scaling the fence to the airfield after calling the fire department. We managed to get two hoses hooked together and Yeshi grabbed a couple old towels to throw over the barbed wire, then went over the fence with a little help from Dad. It took him about 5 minutes to put the fire out and the fire truck showed up just after he finished. They came over and had a look at it, shone their flashlights around and then asked Yeshi if he'd be willing to go back over and give the ground a good soaking. Apparently they had bigger fish to fry than our little grass fire. They were really nice guys - I was concerned we would be in trouble but they were actually glad we called. After they left and Yehsi finished soaking the ground we went back to our fireworks. This time just the more reliable stuff though! This is Yeshi scaling the fence the second time to wet the grass down. Nope, I didn't get any pictures of the fire - I had to help with hoses....seemed like the better idea...

Independence Day - A day of Manly Endeavors

It all began with a trip to Lowe's where we purchased an amped-up hedge-trimmer. Naturally, Yeshi wanted to be the first to dig into the shrubs in our back yard - which he did with gusto. Once he worked up a good sweat he turned it over to Dad so he could have some fun too. It looks really nice and open back there now. We plan to put up a hammock back there in the trees and I've been looking at some NICE plants to replace the undergrowth. Probably some hydrangeas and some sweetgrass and papyrus (yes! real papyrus! how cool is that?!!)

Later on we grilled burgers...a bit of non-traditional fare for Shabbat but it is the 4th after alll...

And then the fireworks! Which are legal here! (G-d bless the Great State of South Carolina!) Unfortunately a few of ours went awry....

Most of them were pretty good though and it was great fun to be setting them off in the comfort of our own backyard. Gloria and I sat on the patio and the boys fired them off. After a little while Danny informed us there was a fire. I thought he meant like off in the distance. But no, it seems one of our errant explosives had set the marsh grass on fire behind the house on the airfield. While it might have helped illumine the runway we felt it best to try and put it out. So Danny hooked up the hose while Yeshi called the FD on his cell phone (we were all pretty, um, excited by now). Well, the hose wouldn't reach so we had to disconnect and add another hose in ...flames were going pretty good now and smoke was rolling into the neighbors back yard. Stay tuned for part II...

Father's Day Frisbee

In which Danny shows Yeshi the finer points frisbee tossing...

Yeshi of the Glorious Hair

State Track Meet pt. 2 - State Champions!

At Monday night's practice we found out the team won the State Championship and the coaches passed out the ribbons. These are a few shots from the meet "aftermath". Yeshi put on his superman jammies over his track shorts - the ladies thought this was cool.

This is our setup at the meet. It's a long day (in this case weekend - the meet started Friday and ended Sunday) so everyone just camps out. Those are my feet on the cooler and that's Yeshi's practice discus. It was in the mid-90's and humid. You have to shift your chair around as the day wears on to stay in the shade. Danny was out in the sun all day. He volunteered to help with discus so he just got a break for lunch and that was it.

And this is hauling all the stuff back to the car...then a 3 hour drive home. Quite a difference from football season when we spent a mere 2 or 3 hours at the field!

South Carolina State Track Meet pt. 1

Here's Yeshi and his buddy Liam running the 1500. Yeshi did great, knocked 20 seconds off his time and got a 5:42. 

He placed 7th in discus....only the top 5 advance to regionals however, one of the kids has dropped out and if one more drops he will get to go. His technique is looking really good and he's really added some distance in the past two weeks. We got him a discus to practice with at home (track practice is 3 times a week) and he's been out there every day working on it. 

Here he is with some of his buddies in the  Mount Pleasant Track Club.

All Hail

Once again, woefully behind on the blog....this is hail from a thunderstorm we had while Atalya was here. Yeshi, Atalya, Ray and I were on our way back from the store when a decent storm blew up. Something hit the road and then I thought a rock hit the windshield. Next thing we knew, little balls of ice were hitting us. It was like being shot! Really loud and we tried to find someplace under the trees....hoping it would protect us from the hail. No such luck. It wasn't as bad under the trees but it still seemed like rocks were just raining down on us. Fortunately we were ok and the car was intact. Danny saved some of the hail for pictures. Oh, the other weird thing was after the hail stopped, the heat caused fog to come up over the hail-strewn yards. So it's hot out, there's hail all over the place (like spotty snow) and a low fog hanging over it all. Strange....

I have to backtrack here a bit - my laptop got a virus and Danny had to clean it up for me so I didn't have access to some of these pictures. Anyway...here's the family in Arkansas. This was taken the night before Gloria and I left for SC. We're at Sam and Kristy's house (my bro/sis-in-law, in the center) and my stepdaughter Dusti and grandkids Izabella and Jacob are on the left. Just a short visit with them since we had to get on the road the next morning but it was so nice to see them. I haven't seen Dusti and Izabella since Atalya's wedding and it was my first time seeing Jacob. They are so sweet. Izabella is so good with her little brother. Uncle Sam had some big plastic barrels in the front yard that they were playing in and Dusti told Izabella she could roll Jacob in the barrel but she was reluctant to do it - didn't want to hurt him! Dusti is a police officer now - just finished the police academy - and had to get the kids home and to bed before her shift so we didn't get to visit long but it was so good to see her. Atalya following our Ray of Sunshine up the stairs. I'm a good Grandma. There is no coke in there. This baby gets nothing but breastmilk, organic crackers and home made baby food.

Here are my babies in the swamp.
Atalya gives ROS a kiss - he is such a cuddle bunny!
Atalya and I walking back to the house.

Atalya with Grandma Gloria and ROS.

Me and my little guy.
Ray loves his Mama!
He also likes my Star of David. When I went to Spain for his birth he kept grabbing my star until it finally fell off. I never found it and had to buy a new one when I got back to the states. Here he is working on my new one. I think he wants one.
Atalya and Ray on the dock.

Track and Field - Huzzah!!

Today was Yeshi's first track meet at Summerville, SC. This is a picture of him running the 1500.
He also did the long jump. His best jump was 12'6". The last picture is of him running the 400.
Atalya and our little Ray of Sunshine came along to cheer for Uncle/Bro Yeshi.
As always, the spring sun was hotter than we expected and Yeshi got a sunburn. Fortunately Grandma Gloria had the cure - ICE.

Road Trip Respite

Ah, home at last. For awhile. Gloria and I got here Thursday after two days of driving from Arkansas. We drove a rather large Budget truck with a trailer hitched to it towing her Ford Explorer. Cheaper than driving two vehicles and better for the drivers too. It would have been really rough if we had both had to drive. BC (her cat) wasn't too thrilled with the arrangements but he settled down after an hour or two. Friday we unloaded the truck - most of it went in the garage and Kristjan and I were pretty proud that we managed to get it all in and still have room for Danny's motorcycle (it's a one-car garage). Saturday we took Gloria for a drive through Charleston. There are some Senior apartments on Market Street (in the historic district) and hopefully she will be able to move there soon. It's a nice section of town, just a short couple blocks from the open air Market - I'd like to be there!
Today was spent doing some re-arranging around the house and getting some groceries. Now I just have to get the upstairs bedroom ready. Atalya and our little ray of sunshine arrive on Wednesday. They will be staying for the rest of the month of May.