Passover this year was an adventure. Kerstin had to teach class during the holiday and couldn't come down to Maryland with us, so Alden and I flew solo. It actually went better than I'd anticipated. He was quiet and charming during most of the flight and only threw up two times during the descent. Alden managed to fill 2 airline barf bags, handily beating my all time record. The good Sumerians in the row behind us passed up their travel-sized bottle of Purell and wet wipes. "Keep 'em" they told me, "You'll need them more than us". They were right. The unfortunate, slightly traumatized women in the seat next to us endured the upheaval with polite consternation. As my hands and lap were coated in sick, she was kind enough to riffle through the diaper bag for a ill-fated change of clothes (soiled minutes later -- note to self: Always travel with
two sets of clothes in the diaper bag). She was nice enough about helping me, but she still gave me the hairy eyeball, especially after vomit #2 and was more than obsessive about sanitizing her own hands as I wiped down the walls, window and armrest. I think she thought I was risking contagion upon my fellow travelers, when Alden wasn't sick at all. Our descent was a little choppy and he had trouble anytime we experienced a sudden pressure change. All in all, it was the best experience I've had with Alden in an airplane since maybe ever.
Alden and Jessie really bonded this year. It was so cute to watch the two of them play together. This game is called "night-night", where the couch cushions are removed to the floor and Alden tells Jessie when and where they are to sleep and to wake up. There was also much fort-making with cushions and hiding under cushions and Where's Alden? merriment. It was seriously adorable.
Kay and my Mom couldn't resist a little shopping trip with Alden and bought him these fabulous green galoshes. He was so excited to try them out in some puddles. Once the puddles around my Aunt and Uncle's house were no longer sufficient, he wanted to stomp about in the stream. There was some disappointment when he was not allowed to go into the stream by himself, nor was he allowed to go into the deep parts. Despite our draconian rules, he still managed to soak his pants all the way up to the crotch. Kid has talent.
We had a nice time at the playground and Alden enjoyed the tube slide immensely. The grass had that amazing electric green quality that comes with the first blades of spring. I love that time when everything is an intense green and it was a treat to get a preview of spring, even if it was still pretty cold outside.
We spent one afternoon at a nature center, complete with a small farm, a rehabilitation center for injured birds of prey, and an obstacle course in the woods.
My Grandfather is really struggling to walk these days, but still managed to venture into the woods with us.
The obstacle course was really interesting. The stations looked like the sort of trust-building exercises you used to do at summer camp. In the center was an enormous tree house with a spiral staircase and a very steep homemade slide made out of several intact oil barrels soldered together. From a distance it looked like it might have been fun, but up close it was way too steep and the barrels were too small. Someone had even nailed a plank across the lower third of the barrel opening at the bottom. I don't know what purpose this plank could serve other than breaking legs or feet. I imagined this slide not as a station where friendship or trust is built, but rather where punishment is meted out on the nerdiest students by the school thugs while the counselor's back was turned. It looked brutal. Pity I didn't take any pictures of it.
The animals were the most exciting part for Alden. We stumbled upon a pen housing two goats and one bitter sheep. When we fed the animals a few handfuls of chives sprouting by the barn, it soon became clear why. The goats rushed the fence and refused passage to the sheep, who tried in vein to sneak around their flanks to get in a nibble. We tried distracting the goats with false promises of chives so that Alden could feed the sheep but as soon as the goats got wind of what was going on, they charged her and butted her away from the fence. The sheep finally gave up and lumbered over to the far corner of the pen where she furiously headbutted a maple tree. Clearly her life is a living hell.
The poor downtrodden sheep begging for a treat while the goats are distracted.
A view of the goats from Alden's vantage point. He was a little nervous around them (rightly so).
We took a nice walk around the woods and through the nature trail. Alden was content to ride in the stroller until he saw a tractor in the barn.
The Seder went much the same as most years, minus a whole lot of folks. In past years when my Aunt has hosted 20+ folks, a whole lot of time would pass between your turns at the responsive readings, leaving ample opportunity for sneaking a sip of wine or (when Seder was running late and the stomach was growlin') a soup nut or two. When Alden appeared on the scene, we usually had time to take him away when he got fussy and come back to the table just in time for our turn in the Hagadah. Having only 8 people meant I had to actually keep up with the text.
Sam and my Mom brought a whole bunch of wine this year, and they set it up so that you could have a different varietal for each cup. I really liked this new wine tasting approach to Pesach.
Kay made amazing food - no surprise there! The big hit this year was lemon blueberry green tea sorbet. My Mom flew the lemons in from her backyard and helped Kay make the sorbet too. It was awesome! I hope we'll be seeing it again in future Seders.
Geoff joined us for the second night and also brought some wine. His bottle was the best and went very quickly. Elijah bore most of the blame.
Kay's Dad Bill joined us this year as well. He has a great voice! I don't think I've ever really heard him sing before, but I was really impressed. Bill enjoyed watching Alden shred the tablecloth and bang on the table with the butter knives to his own rendition of
Ran Kan Kan during the responsive readings.
Alden's postprandial leavings. Most of the organic matter was consumed by Charlie the dog.
It was great fun to be with everyone this year. Passover is such an awesome family event and a nice tradition. Next year in Rockville!
Alden has taken an interest in the ruins of the barbecue pit. He likes to break off crumbly stones and toss them down the "tube" at the top. Kerstin thinks this is cruel - feeding the barbecue to itself.
We've been working in the garden any chance we can get, which is not much. So far I've only managed to plant peas and fava beans earlier this month. Their little hopeful heads popped up a few weeks ago. We have hundreds of seedlings on the front porch waiting until the frost danger subsides before they can go in the ground. Alden has really shown an interest in gardening, so we decided to give him a row and let him plant whatever he wanted. We have about 30,000 varieties of seeds and I thought he'd have a field day trying to mash as many varieties as he could into his little plot, but no, he was only interested in peas, one of the few vegetables he'll eat. It's a little late in the season for peas, but we'll see what happens.
