Sam, the (Kosher) Ham

This was the fourth summer that we were blessed to visit our friends who have a house in Green Lake, Wisconsin. It is truly amazing to be with them, especially now that these friends have moved away from Chicago - we hadn't spent time with them since last summer! My kids love their kids and vice-versa, and it is always a wonderful couple of days together. We spent a lot of time out on their boat, and it's been really amazing to watch, as over the years, my children have become more and more comfortable with the various boating activities. In previous years, Yael loved to watch but would not go on the tube. This year she was so excited to go with the "big boys" (and she had them wrapped around her little finger, let me tell you). But the real star of the show was, in my mind, Sam.

He was fearless, taking turns on the tube and also the knee board (like a stepping stone toward water skiing). Here he is, showing off his skills... "look, no hands!" And we could hear him shout, "is that all you got?" and flash the "faster" sign. He was singing to himself and smiling and clearly enjoying every moment of this experience. The kid is a (kosher) ham. He could tell that we were having a great time watching him and that fueled his fire.

 He looks so little and far away when he's out on the board, being towed by the boat. It's such a moment of release for me, to put my kid out there and watch him, huge grin on his face, so far away. (Of course, I really have no worries in terms of safety - our friends are incredibly safety-conscious and take very good care of our family and theirs!) To see my little boy growing up into a funny, daredevil, fun-loving person is so remarkable. Here he is getting a big hug on his return to the boat. We all laughed with delight at his antics. I think the kid is truly ready to leave the nest for kindergarten. He'll be the class funnyman for sure.

Of course, not everyone was impressed with the whole experience.

See more Summer Stock Sunday (which I haven't gotten around to much this summer!) over by Robin's place.

Day at the Beach

 
See more Summer Stock Sunday shots at Robin's place. 

Perfection in a Sunday Morning

Yep.

It was a perfect Sunday.

See more Summer Stock Sunday over by Robin.

Summer Stock Sunday: At the Park

It hasn't been very warm around here, but at least the sun came out...so we went to the park!
See more Summer Stock Sunday pictures at Robin's place!

Summer's Not Over Yet!

A good day at the park means that summer isn't quite over yet.
Even though we're thinking about Elul.
Even though school starts on Tuesday.
Even though it's getting darker earlier now.

There's still time for a day at the park.

What signifies the END of summer for you?

Summer Stock Sunday still has some more weeks left...so check it out over at Robin's place!

What I did on my Summer Vacation

We spent four days in Wisconsin Dells last week. I'm embarrassed to tell you that I've never actually spent more than an afternoon there in my whole life - and I grew up in the state of Wisconsin!

It was a great vacation. We hardly ever left our resort and we visited only half the water parks available to us! We're already making plans for our next trip. (And of course, making lists of things to do differently or not to forget.) We did such a nice job of not over-doing it - we ate most of our breakfast and lunch meals in our room (it had a full kitchen) and we didn't buy into all the hype of all the attractions that we really didn't need. (Even though some of them sounded pretty darn cool.) We also had Uncle Harry with us - he was visiting from Israel and it was great for the kids to spend time with him and just hang out. Yael definitely had him wrapped around her little finger!

The hardest part was taking pictures - I didn't want to drop the camera in the water and I couldn't figure out how to leave it with our shoes without living in constant fear of it getting stolen. So I only brought it to the water parks one day. Anyone have any good tips on how to make this work?

We stopped in Madison on the way home, and had Babcock Hall ice cream on the Union Terrace. (No one wanted to order my favorite flavor - Orange Custard Chocolate Chip - but it tasted just as good as I remembered from my college days.) It was too hot to do anything other than eat ice cream and take a few pictures, and then we were on our way back...

And that's what we did on our summer vacation!

See more Summer Stock Sunday over at Robin's kitchen island.

Fruits of our Labors

I really meant to put up pictures of my garden as it has grown...but I didn't.

And things didn't go the way I had hoped. It started out so nicely, lush and beautiful. But I lost about half of my "crops" - my corn and zucchini, my pumpkins - they all turned to mush. So I really thought the garden was just a lost cause this year.

But things seem to be perking up! Look what we harvested this week:
(Yes, those are purple beans - it was a tri-color planting.)

Um, look what happened when I tried to take this picture!

And it all tasted very yummy too!
See more Summer Stock Sundays over at Robin's place.

Not-So-Secret Summer Sundays

Most rabbis I know have a dirty little secret:

We love Sundays in the summer.

Because most of us, for most of the year, have a little thing known as Sunday School. So every Sunday, we're up at the crack of dawn with our enthusiastic smiles on, ready to impart Jewish knowledge and wisdom to the next generation....

But in the summer, we get to experience Sunday mornings. Lazy and delightful.

So today, I made chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes (not together, but separately), drank a cup of (decaf) coffee, read the newspaper, and then we went to a pool party sponsored by my younger kids' day camp. Wonderful!

What is better than popsicles at the pool?

P.S. This is late for Robin's Summer Stock Sunday and early for Tracey's Best Shot Monday.

Scenes from Shabbat at Camp....

On Shabbat at camp, everyone gets dressed up in their finest (camp) Shabbat clothes, and greets each other with smiles and happy hugs. Here's David, waiting outside his tent, doing what he loves to do best:

In the dining hall, waiting for dinner...

Dinner is followed by Shabbat Shira, a rockin' and crazy song session. Can you see all those kids in the distance? They're lining up to go into Port Hall, that building right there, to start the fun. And yes, Michael has a bear on his head.

On Shabbat, we don't swim in our pool, but instead spend the day on the waterfront. Here are my littles, enjoying the sand and the sun....

A restful and lovely Shabbat was had by all!

How was your Shabbat?

See more great Summer photos at Summer Stock Sunday.

A Little Lovin'....

With one kid away at camp, I get to snuggle a little more with the other ones.

Gotta keep your blessings close.

See more Summer Stock Sunday over at Robin's pad.
P.S. Robin, does this count? It's taken outside in the summer!

I feel so blessed to be able to snuggle with my boy. I hope that Gilad's mother gets the pleasure soon.

Early Man

"Seriously, Mom, the fish was this big."

Uh-huh.

See more summertime fun at Summer Stock Sunday.

Family Photo - Summer Stock Sunday

There are a couple of bloggers out there doing monthly family photos. A great idea, in theory. Getting us all in front of another person with a camera on a monthly basis? Much trickier than it sounds!

So...since I like to play along and support my pal Robin, here's my Summer Stock Sunday for this week. Even though it wasn't taken this week. Oh yeah, and I didn't really take it, my dad took it.

Okay, but with all that said, doesn't it look nice and summery!?
Humor me, people.

Finding Joy

All it takes is a summery dress (hand-me-down, no less!) and a little sunshine to brighten up a little girl's day.

Summer Stock Sundays are back!
Check out all the other happy summer people over at Robin's Island...

Is it over already?

It's back to school week.

There, I wrote it.

It's almost more shocking than the fact that it's the month of Elul, the Hebrew month that precedes Rosh HaShanah.

It just snuck up on me.

So, in honor of Back-To-School week, and to give me something to distract myself from the impending craziness, I'll be hosting giveaways all week long!

So come back and visit.

It will take your mind off the fact that the flip-flop season is almost officially over.

Maybe.

See more last-of-summer stuff over at Summer Stock Sundays. And come back all week!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Robin has been at this Summer Stock Sunday thing for a while now but we're having trouble with summer it seems this year here in the Chicagoland area.

Last summer, for the first time, I planted a vegetable garden. This year I added a few pots because it had been so successful and fun. But growing things just don't seem to be growing so well this year. I've heard this from veteran gardeners as well as newbies like myself. So...an update on my growing things:

Here's a cucumber. It's cute, isn't it? There's a few more that are starting to grow but this is the biggest so far.

These will be yellow grape tomatoes when they're done. I hope.

And my pepper plant, which has a few of these pretty things growing on it. I thought they would be a little wider.

Does anyone know what the black stuff is at the joint of the branch of my pepper plant? Just wondering if anyone out there can tell me.

I know that we're coming into August but I was hoping to have some tomatoes to show for it. I do have a bumper crop of mint and basil, so I'll have to make something with all of that. Pesto, anyone? What do you do with a LOT of mint besides um...tea?

See more Summer Stock Photos here.

How many brownies did you eat?

I love the summertime. Inevitably we go to family parties and the kids run wild have a great time. They have a lot of different adults around who think they're really cute and will give them whatever they want. And they've learned to work the system. After you get a brownie from your mom, you go and ask your grandmother. And then your dad, and then your grandfather. Eventually you've eaten a week's worth of brownies and you're not even old enough (in the case of Sam and Yael) to actually recall how many brownies you ate.

How many brownies do you think each of them ate?

David - I think 4.

Sam - I think he had at least 3.

I caught this one on camera and I know there was at least one more.

Just a side bar - this photo my father entitled "Future Metorologist."
Yes, she's checking if it's raining.

See more Summer Stock Photos (any other brownies?) and more Best Shots here.
More about the party and why we were holding it later...and more about BlogHer eventually too.

Oh, and P.S. Haveil Havalim is up over at Jewschool. And it's great.

High-Flying Experience

We had a swinging good time at camp.
Now home to the piles of laundry...I always think we need a vacation after camp to recuperate!

See more great photography:
Summer Stock by Robin's place
and
Best Shot Monday over at Tracey's...

What I've Done at Summer Camp So Far

Now that I've got things working again (certificates, blogger?!) here is a quick update of all the fun we're having at summer camp...

We welcomed Rick Recht to a concert on Wednesday night. He was great and the whole camp had a fabulous time.

My husband (on the right) and our friend (and colleague) Rabbi Eric Siroka of South Bend, Indiana, at the Rick Recht concert.

Ahem, um, you know you're a blogger when you ask someone to take their picture with you so you can post it on your blog. That's ME with Rick Recht and his son Koby.

My own little camper, deep in contemplation of a blade of grass.

My middle guy, on a horse. This was a huge highlight for him, and he keeps asking when we can go back.

In preparation for Shabbat, our campers created a mural of words of praise and thanks to God. It came out really cool. Eventually I'll get to pictures of the finished product.

Celebrating Shabbat, a hug from Ima.

Our all-camp Shira, song session. We are usually indoors but this year experimented with an outdoor song session. The bugs were bad but there was so much more fresh air! Videos coming soon....

And my littlest camper, dressed up for Shabbat.

Whew! A quick recap as I run to teach my Hebrew group. Today's lesson: opposites.

What are you up to this summer?
P.S. I haven't had time to read it but I hear Haveil Havalim is up over here.