Welcome Backy and Sam!

The long-awaited American Girl/Boy Dolls were waiting for Jaffa and Eben at memere's house.. and we arrived just in time for Hannukah.  (I did have a day or so to do Sam's sex change.. phew! Come to find out, American Girl Doll doesn't make boys, so you have to change their.. hair. What were you thinking?!)

 

 

We got back to Jakarta just in time for Bethah's birthday, and so we all celebrated!!

A very cold day in NYC

I couldn't be that close to New York City and not walk the sidewalks a little and go to Zabars.  So, we decided to make a day of it.. Memere with her four kids and four grandkids.  And we started at the Natural Museum of History.  Cool!!!

 

We saw loads of animals.. and then headed off for a very fancy coffee / crepe / cake break.

And then I bought loads of cheese and olives at Zabars.  And then we met Zach for Italian for dinner.  It was a lovely day!!

Lots of snuggles for Elliot!

Nevermind the frozen toes and the Ben's chili fries and the massive Target run, the biggest reason that we came across the ocean was to meet Elliot.  And to check in on his big brother Jonah-the-sand-flea. it was a great visit!! (and I did let a few other people give Elliot snuggles too)

 

So glad we had a little time with everyone :D

Back at Ben's

We only had a few days in DC, but--of course--we had to make a stop at Ben's Chili Bowl.

And, it was sooooooo yummy .. we had vast quantities of chili cheese fries, and milkshakes.

 

Eben loves Ben's.

 

Jaffa loves Obama ;)

We all love the bear!!

We [heart] Fiddler

For Hanukkah, Zeric gave us tickets to see Fiddler on the Roof at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC.  Memere joined  us too!  It was performed in the round, and it was just great.. the acting and the singing, and the costumes.  The kids just loved it.  Jaffa had all the words of all the songs down after the first go. It's been 'Tradition' and 'Matchmaker' ever since!  A thespian in the making.. Just sad that Zeric wasn't there too :(

Narita's soft serve ice cream

Haven't had soft serve in a very long time... but we scored some in the airport in Japan.  They only had vanilla, but it was sooo yummy.  And Jaf even gave me a lick :)

Some last days with Amira

The weeks before the holidays were