Alschuler Family Reunion 2008

Amazing foresight and generosity on the part of the late Al Alschuler facilitated yet another fantastic family get together. Britt's family, Alfie's family, Elena and Cathy, Zoe and Cloade, Lise and Ann and Irene... we all flew to Playa del Carmen for a week of fun in the warmth. The warmth was the best part of the whole trip. The winter this year has not been particularly cold but we have been bombarded by snow storms which have really taken its toll on the vitamin D production facilites.

It was such a joy to be in shorts and flip flops for a week. I reached my goal for the week of no deoderant or underwear for the entire week and we spent 90 percent of the time in the water with the boys... pool and ocean.

There were excursions to the driving range (Mason and Aman are really getting good), tennis courts, ping pong and pool tables, snorkeling, archery, lizard hunting with plenty of wild life around. I went for a 4-5 mile run on the beach on two separate mornings before people got up and then finished off with a cooling swim in the ocean... exquisite! One day we went off campus to the Mayan ruins called Cobá and went swimming in a cenote (sinkhole). A very well appreciated time off from reality. Thanks Al.

Energy Release

Last sunday we had Aman's friend Ethan over after children's class. We were bored so we asked if the across-the-street neighbors Jodi and Sol wanted to go see if we could sneak into "the cage" with us at Umass. It is the old gymnasium that only gets used for basketball practice and dances and such. It was open as students use the running track and there were 4 women practicing a dance routine but otherwise it was ours... the kids played a bunch of games that mainly involved running on the running track while Sarah (Sol and Jodi's Mom) and I chatted. Then the kids found two mats that they were jumping on. At this point I got involved and we played some "daddy's a monster and if he catches us we're in jail". Then we found more mats and the launch-fest took off. These guys must have climbed those bleachers and launched themselves on to the mats below 75 times or more! It was a lot of fun and we were thoroughly tired and happy at the end of the 3 hours. Britt enjoyed it also as she had the chance to get some coffee and hang with Jill, Ethan's mom. All is well here. We are all gearing up for the Alschuler family reunion that starts this weekend. Off to a sunny, warm part of the world for a week. I will write about it when we get back

Winter Thunder

I think the storm system that caused all those tornados in Tennessee rolled through here last night… with less fury though but still intense. We had some major lighting and thunder and hard rain which put us to sleep last night. We were all missing spring. We were so blessed to have Mom here for a visit. She flew back yesterday after a 3.5 week visit after her pilgrimage with David, Gianni and Ela. She was very weak and tired due to bad flu that she got while in the Holy Land. She stayed a week with us and the rest with James, Aria and Sasha in West Roxbury. It was super nice especially since we got to see Aria and James and Sasha every weekend. They made the drive out and we hung, romped and ate some amazing meals that James cooked for us. Anyway, we had some museum, pool and other assorted romps included are an assortment of images of Mom’s stay, the Pyburn visits and other. I also include some recent drawings and my head xrays from when I got that surf board in my eye 2 years ago (just in case you were curious... I find them fascinating)