We're not Wordsworthy!

As usual, I totally fell down on updating the blog. So up front, a few key events, which will be explained in more detail below.

Josie turned 4. Hugo rolled back to front. Anne, Lew, and Roger Rothman visited. Hugo began transferring objects from hand to hand. We celebrated Yom Kippur and began the new Jewish Year with aplomb. Hugo began eating solid foods and dancing in his exersaucer. Josie performed in her 2nd Annual Harvest Festival sans Accessory Malfunction. We visited the Lake District, home to Wordsworth, Beatrix Potter, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the origin of the pencil. Hugo took the MCATs and scored in the 93rd percentile. OK, I kid about that last one, but seriously the second one grows up fast.

Yesterday I'm all, "wow, he can sit up on his own. When did he start doing that?" YIKES. I've already had that "Friends" moment where I put him on his "play gym" (cloth mat with weird animals dangling in his face for him largely to bat away and berate loudly) to answer the door and returned to find him across the floor, body rolling halfway into the fireplace.

Don't worry, it is an empty, nonfunctioning fireplace that serves as a big cubby for his toys. But still.

Josie's birthday week was fab. Anne, Lew and Roger all made the flight to be with us, not just for the birthday but also for Rosh Hashanah Services, which was really special. Roger delighted everyone at the kids' service with a lively telling of Sammy the Spider Celebrates Rosh Hashanah, and we joined friends from the synagogue for Tashlisch, casting bread crumbs (and our sins) into the River Avon.

Shana Tovah, everyone!

Then, because I was plumb exhausted, we celebrated with the Traditional Rosh Hashanah Wagamama Takeaway. (thankfully we're Reconstructionist and can come up with all these great new practices!)

We did lots of other fun stuff, like a Thomas the Tank Engine Party as part of the Bath Children's Literature Festival, the Building of Bath Museum (now I know the little iron features next to some front doorsteps are for scraping the horse poo off your boots before entering a home of Bath's gentry), and given the gorgeous weather, visited Parade Gardens and did as many outdoor activities as possible.

Hugo Raj with Uncle Rog (LMR)

Happiness is Grandparents and Parade Gardens (LMR)

Aaaah, Parade Gardens

And as for the party itself? was fab. It was undersea-themed, per her request, complete with Sea Life-Bouncy Castle, Storyteller, Face Painter, and Awesomest Mermaid Cake You've Ever Seen.

"Ariel Human" and 2 of her little human pals (LMR)

Now is that a cake, or is that a cake? I did not make it.

As you'll see from the attached pics, it was a full house -- a full Bouncy House, that is! The day was made even more special with an appearance by Parisienne-now-Londonian pal Constance, along with her parents Harold and Emily, which are a welcome addition to any fete! It was a great party. Josie is not getting another, however, until her 6th birthday, which she has informed us will be a "Belle Party." Good grief. Must Jeff dress as the Beast? Do I have to be Mrs. Potts? Hugo can be Chip, I guess, so that works. Will I need to procure an Enchanted Objects Cake? Stay tuned.

In our determination to seize every opportunity while Meatball is still exceedingly portable -- and relatively good natured -- to pack up the cartop carrier and tour this beautiful country, we headed to the Lake District for a long weekend. The Lake District is about 4.5 hours north, on the Scottish border. We'd heard from our old neighbors and others that it was some of the most beautiful terrain, well, anywhere. Having fallen victim many a time now to British hyperbole (we have the best mash in England, it rains every day from September to July -- well, OK, that one's true -- this baby will be out before you feel a twinge, etc.), I'll admit we were a bit skeptical.

I'm happy to report we were wrong.

Josie has hit a great age for travel. She loves museums as long as they have princesses, fashion, or apparently, rabbits, rats, foxes or Tiggy-Winkles.

I said hey diddle, diddle, with the Tiggy in the Winkle

Don't ask Jeff how much I spent at the Beatrix Potter Experience Gift Shop. Just look at them posing next to Peter's coat and shoes hanging in Mr. MacGregor's Fake Garden!


Sadly, I did not remember to capture the National Pencil Museum for posterity, but she liked that too! We also did a fabulous hike around Grasmere, where William Wordsworth lived and called "the loveliest spot that man hath e'er found." We felt, for perhaps the first time, veddy veddy British as we donned our wellies and layers of fleece and traipsed through mud, mist, and whipping winds -- and past plenty of doubting, more seasoned traipsers -- to finish the 2.5-hr hike (which thankfully ended at the doorstep of an apparently world-famous Gingerbread shop). We were quite proud of ourselves!

I know none of this guy's poems

Soooo this post has pretty much wandered haphazardly all over the month of October, so I'll sign off before things get any more confusing. I'll try to circle back before Valentine's Day.

Coming soon: vid from Josie's Harvest Festival II: Electric Boogaloo.