After leaving Seoul, we spent a busy and social fortnight in Los Angeles. Tamar and two of her siblings organized a mountain getaway for twelve of us near Sequoia National Park; the girls swam, mini-golfed and did chin-ups in Balboa Park; Tamar's parents showed us a good time and showered us with delicious fruits. All too soon, we headed to Ottawa for a month in Jakob's hometown: family fun, skating, sledding, hockey, and endlessly wrestling Levi into and out of winterwear. It was so wonderful to spend lots of time with family after a long time away!
The last day of 2024 was a busy one. We went to Carleton Pool, home of the high-dive tower Jakob braved when he was a kid, and has been talking about ever since. Tova managed to jump off, after a high-elevation pep talk from a varsity diver, and made such a tiny splash on landing it would have garnered high scores in the Olympics. She resurfaced with a smile on her face and headed straight back up. Sophia wrung her hands and peered anxiously down for about five minutes before summoning every last scrap of courage and making the jump too. Zadie was content to hop off the diving board, just a couple of metres above the water.
Meanwhile, Aurora took Levana to the library while Tamar got a much-needed break from the 18-month old tyrant. Levi had a great time reading books and playing with the baby toys there. After lunch she was stuffed back into the stroller, and it was off to Lansdowne for skating, The ice was pretty slushy on such a warm day, but Sophia practiced hockey stops, Tova skating backwards, Zadie falling down, and Aurora just whizzed around, lap after lap. Tamar went climbing in the meantime at a local gym.
We celebrated New Year's Eve with sisters, cousins and parents. We enjoyed a huge dinner of tacos and fondue; Aurora, Tova and Jakob got swept 3-0 in Code Names; later, Tova and Zadie convinced Jakob to take them to Lansdowne Park at 10:30PM to play in the rain. The night wrapped up with 2025 Goals, a game of Bohnanza, Aurora feverishly finishing her 100th book of the year (Reasons to be Cheerful, fully half of which she blazed through on the 31st), and midnight fireworks.
2024 was an amazing year - Tamar would say something incredibly poetic and insightful right now, if she were writing this; but since she's not, here's hoping that 2025 is even richer in fun, growth and adventures!
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| Nothing better than dress-up and watermelon! |
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| Tova sleds the slopes |
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| Sophia and Mari with matching hats, bathing suits and core temperatures |
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Crossing sticks with a legend of the rink
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| The vaersagodbligaern tradition continues! |
Ummmm ... swept in Code Names should be replaced with 'beaten by the Queens of Codenames' :)
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