A Lot's Been Going On...

Alright, it's been a while. I've been getting complaints and dirty looks through Skype, so I decided that it's time to update the blog. I believe that my last post was from my first Shabbat here with the kids before Mira arrived. So, without further ado I'll recap the past month and a half with the major highlights...

First and foremost, Mira's here (just in case you didn't hear). About the same time that Mira arrived we lost our newest member of the family, Hamsty. He was missing for around 36 hours when we heard some scraping behind the oven in the kitchen. We pulled the oven out and Mira nursed him back to health- I've never seen him drink as much water as he did that day. Since then, Hamsty has been a cherished member of our family and is the constant distraction for the kids whenever they get bored. We look forward to many years of playing with Hamsty (as long as PETA doesn't see exactly how much "fun" the kids have with him).

The holidays went off pretty well. It was somewhat nerve-wracking to prepare for a 3-day Rosh HaShana, but I somehow pulled it off. Over Yom Kippur we reserved a babysitter through some website. Of course, she never showed up, but Mira did very well with the kids on her own. We had about a 25 minute break in shul between the morning and the afternoon- things to change for next year, I guess...

The cake that no one ate :(

For Sukkot, Mira organized a very nice Succah decorating event by the shul. We had a whole bunch of kids come in from the community. We bought yummy treats and cake. It was at this point that we realized that we're the only ones that actually would eat the food we brought. Everyone else needs it to be Chalav Yisroel, Pat Yisroel, Heimishe Shechita, etc, etc, etc... All in all, though, it was a fun day and everyone left happy.

A few weeks ago, Mira's parents came over. It was very nice to have them (I'm assuming that they are going to read this so I'll watch what I write). The kids had a great time hanging out with them and got to see things that we never saw. before For instance, who would have known that there is a family with a chicken coup around the corner from us. After a couple of days, though, I was getting a little stir crazy so we went on a trip to Verizon for iPhones. After that, Siri became everyone's best friend and the tensions eased. I left on Sunday (see next paragraph), but I heard that the everyone had a great time going to the Colombia Gorge and seeing the waterfalls.

Over the past three weeks, Mira and I became frequent fliers. I flew out to St. Louis for the day (Game 6) and then went the following week to Kansas City for 3 days for a conference. Last week, Mira went to New Jersey for 3 days for a Rebbetzin conference. I'm not sure what they discussed, but her cooking has definitely improved since she came back (that's going to cost me, but worth it...).

The kids have been adapting to life here wonderfully. They have tons of friends and are invited to play dates almost every day. Dina's school is run by Chabad so we get to hear her take on the Parsha every week. While discussing Avraham's relationship with his nephew, Dina told me about how he got into an argument with "Lite". At first I tried to correct her to tell her that his name isn't Lite, but Lot. Then I realized that they do things differently around here. Don't worry if this last paragraph didn't make any sense- it shouldn't...

Yesterday, I went up to the country to do some shooting (it's normal for Portland people, or so I'm told). I got to shoot a .22, an AK-47, a handgun, shotgun, and an elephant gun. Yes, it's a gun used to kill elephants. I'm not sure how many bullets it takes to put it down, but the gun can only hold 5 at a time. I guess that you just hope for the best.

I would be remiss not to welcome the newest member to our family, no it's not a hamster this time. Olivia Kopp was born on Saturday and we're very excited to get to meet her in person. Mazel Tov to Sally, Randy, Eddie, and (for the very first time) big brother Max.

First Shabbat as Rabbi

Our first Shabbat in Portland went better than I could have hoped for. I was very nervous about being alone with both kids and acting as the rabbi. The kids don't have any friends in the neighborhood where we're currently living, so it was bracing for the worst. Thankfully, the kids made friends with two boys that came Friday night and Saturday morning. They ran around and played games together. The best was hide and seek. One would usually think that this is a nice, quiet game that would be very appropriate for a shul where there are many places to hide in the hallways and downstairs. The kids figured out that there are also more places to hide in the sanctuary which made the game all the more exciting... Eventually, I got the kids to only hide in the hallway. I didn't anticipate that this meant that the "counter" (1,2,3... ready or not, here I come...) would remain in the sanctuary so that he wouldn't see where any of the other kids were hiding. Naturally, he made sure to count loud enough so that everyone in the building could hear him so that they would be prepared before he began his seeking.

Like clockwork, the kids came running in to me in the middle of my speech. Everyone was very pleased to have little kids running around so no one seemed to mind. If anyone was nodding off during the sermon, it definitely woke them up. I should probably schedule them to come in every week at that time... In the afternoon we found our new "Shabbos Park". We had a good time for a while, then went home for dinner, havdallah, Hamsty time (new rule: no Hamsty on Shabbat), and bed.

Sunday, we found the Portland Children's Museum. It was great for the kids, they didn't want to leave. There was do it yourself face painting, water works, rock climbing, and anything else that kids would want to do. I posted all the pictures on Facebook in case anyone's interested. At night we had a Sheva Brachot at our shul. Now that we have a garage, I've been taking advantage and leaving the keys in the car (guess I learned it from my dad). I got the kids all dressed up and we were ready to go and found out that Dina decided to be extra cautious and she made sure to lock the car doors the last time she was in it (unlike my dad who just locked me in the car). Fifty-seven dollars later we were back in the car and I learned my lesson and now take the keys with me wherever I go.

The kids have been adjusting to their new schools. It's the first time that Dina and Yoel haven't been in the same building for the entire day. Yoel is only in a half-day program, so he's my "helper" from 12:30-3:45 when we pick up Dina. He usually falls asleep in the car and naps for an hour and then we go on to some activity. Today, we went to a park where he played for around an hour. We then went home to play with Hamsty. Yoel fell asleep on the car ride home (takes around 5 minutes) and woke up with a few minutes to play with Hamsty before it was time to pick up Dina. Tomorrow, Yoel and I are going to serve as chaperones for Dina's class as they go on a trip to the Bee Farm in the afternoon. Will let you know how that goes. And because I don't have anywhere else to put it, here's a picture from Dina and Yoel's first day of school last week...

Welcome to Portland

We landed in Portland on Tuesday afternoon and tomorrow (Thursday) morning the kids are going to start their first day of school. We had a pretty good full day here. We walked around, found a park, were too shy to play with any of the other kids, then found some swings that no one was using. Dina and Yoel kept nudging me, but I was just too shy to go on the slide with the other kids there. After that, we rented a car that we will have for the next week and did our big shopping trips. You never really think twice about what you buy in Costco when you have a minivan. After driving a Corolla you start to appreciate that extra trunk size that the Odyssey affords.

Ever since we decided to move out of Riverdale to Teaneck (yeah, I think we got off at the wrong exit) Yoel has been asking for a hamster. We told him that when we move into a house he can have a hamster because it's too tight in an apartment. Like all things said to a 3-4 year old we were hoping that that would satisfy him and he would move on to something else. But he didn't, he persisted. Now that we are living in a "big house" he hasn't really stopped asking for the hamster, so I decided that it was about time (sorry Mira, we didn't wait for you). The kids have already proclaimed their undying love for Hamsty. They've told me that they don't need me anymore in the house because they have Hamsty. Obviously, I'm not showing him to anyone in the shul lest they have the same feelings...

Little know fact- hamsters are nocturnal. If they sleep all day why do they make good pets? Good question, the girl in the pet store also didn't have a good answer. Well it's 9:30 Portland time and Hamsty just woke up and is currently running on top of his wheel. Either he's an overachiever or he can't figure out that he's supposed to run inside of the wheel. Now he's climbing up the walls (literally) of his cage. I'm interested to see what other tricks this hamster is capable of.

Anyway, as this is the first of (hopefully) many posts about life for the Kaplans in Portland I hope that you enjoy. And just in case you were wondering, Hamsty just tipped over his food bowl, spilling it all to the ground (he has a duplex cage- he's living the good life).