And we're back!

Hopefully... Now that we're having a baby (surprise if you haven't heard yet!) I've decided to try and post at least once a week (we've all heard that before!) So, here's the first post of 2009. We have 1200 pictures from Israel (literally), so I need to do some harsh editing and choose just a couple to put up here. Look for that next week! In the meantime, here's a picture I took today to tide you over in the meantime.

24 weeks, 6 days

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays and a great new year. Here's looking forward to a 2009 full of new things!

earthquake

Holy moly there was just an earthquake - the first one I've really felt since we moved here. And boy did it scare the living daylights out of me. There was swaying and shaking and what did I do - um, just stood there. I'm definitely going to have to work on that... Oh, and if you're wondering, the dog is not good at predicting earthquakes.

Here's the info: http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/nc40204628.htm

Summary of the week

Isaac and I went to our first CERT class last night (Community Emergency Response Team). Isaac wants to eventually do search and rescue and this is his first step. If there is really an emergency though, there is no way I could let him go help the community while I sat at home and twiddled my thumbs. Moving from DC, where terrorism is always on your mind to Northern California, where earthquakes are now my #1 fear, this class will help me be ready and able to help in an emergency instead of freaking out. The class is pretty fun. Here's some of what we did last night - built 5 foot towers out of 40 sheets of paper, tape and cardboard. Isaac and I were on separate teams.

Here's my team's tower.
Here's Isaac's team's tower.
That piece of paper says Team 2's Tower.

To make up for those boring pictures, here are some cute dog pictures.
We enrolled him in a Grumpy Pup class, which treats dogs with dog-dog aggression issues, because we've found he is afraid of other dogs and tends to lunge and snarl at them when they try to sniff him. He was actually able to meet a couple of dogs at the trainer's and interact with them, which was quite impressive. We've had our first class, but it was without the dog. Next weekend we'll be taking him with us. The trainer said he is a very mild case and we should be able to let him off leash by the end of the class. Yeah!!!

The other big event of the night was Passover. We actually had 2 seders this year - one on Saturday in Santa Cruz with Isaac's parents at Isaac's cousin's house in Santa Cruz and the other at our house on Tuesday night with a college friend, her husband and two of their friends. Since I don't have a job currently, I did the cooking - brisket, asparagus and chocolate and plain macaroons (brisket and macaroon recipes courtesy of my friend Martha). It turned out pretty well and was our first dinner party (ever - even in DC) and Passover seder. Can't wait for next year's seder.

That's it so far for this week! The rest of the week involves hiking, bike riding and dog washing.