Fall things

After a summer full of travels, we mostly stayed home this fall.  Kids went back to the bus stop

and started school again (5th, 4th, 2nd, kindergarten)

with some field trips to boot,

And I went back to D.C. with my class first time in a couple of years.

Mike managed the synagogue garden this year.

And we had birthdays for Eytan, Pa, Nana, Noa, Mike, and a half-birthday for Li'el.

There's been some oreo making (and comparing) and some hair braiding...

And Li'el had a dinsoaur from her class who joined us for a week.

We had visits from D.C. cousins

Some tortilla makings and art projects...

Some friend time

Mike and I went to a wedding (with a cookie table, it's a Pittsburgh thing) in October, right around at the 10-year mark of us living here,

Nana helped everyone with some way-more-impressive-than-we-would-have-ever-done-on-our-own Halloween costumes,

And we did take a quick trip to NY for Thanksgiving.

Our synagogue had a Chanukiah-making contest so there were a lot of assorted construction projects at home plus, eventually, a lot of candles to be lit.

As I was looking at photos, I found some older ones too, and Oren and Noa are noticeably older the last year or two -- everyone has gotten older, I suppose, but here are comparisons.

We lucked out with a little early snow, getting enough to play in for a bit in December (some days really cold, some days less so).

And then we packed up, left our house in the hands of sub-letters/animal-sitters, and picked up on the sabbatical that had been planned for 2020... So oddly enough we're in Costa Rica now, trying to get adjusted and figure out how to navigate buses and phones and internet and grocery stores and the campus we're staying at. I'm supposed to help work on re-thinking some of the approach to masters programs at CATIE (Center for Tropical Agriculture Research and Education), and kids start school in February.

So... next updates may bring some novelty.  Will keep you posted (eventually).