Happy 5782

Hello friends and family! Happy 5782 and Fall of 2021!

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We hope this email finds you well, and that the start of the school year has gone well for all.  We've had an eventful year, although like many, it had its share of frustrations.

As for us, Yasmine enjoyed her first year at West Point--it's been an inspiring place to work where our Army's commitment to a better world and character is so clear.  Yasmine works as the Lead Integrator at the Character Integration Advisory Group and is not ever bored.  She also loved teaching cadets.

 Her typical attire is the uniform on the right, not left :)

She even helped coach the coxswains on West Point Crew.

Adam is also at West Point and just got full professor this year, a promotion that is the highest level in academia. His favorite memory was his severe weather trip, where he took a group of cadets to go find a tornado (I think Yasmine just simplified that one a lot).  Check out usmaweatheraid.blogspot.com if you want to see his adventures)

We enjoyed skiing this winter.

This Spring, we finally reunited family after a LONG hiatus for Pesach.

This May, we celebrated the life of Grandma Sylvia, who we all miss.

And we took trips to see the grandparents this Summer, and also celebrated Yasmine's dad 80th birthday and Adam's parents 50th anniversary.

We have plans to move about 25 minutes south next year to Suffern, NY--choosing to do so for better educational opportunities and community for our kids. Our future backyard is Harriman State Park, so apparently we will be celebrating the holidays next year with bears and rattle snakes.

Okay, enough of us.  I know you are waiting for updates from the more interesting members of the family.

Maya! Maya is alive and well completing her 8th birthday this October (8 for a Bernese Mountain dog is a very senior citizen).  She has probably snuck about seven loaves of bread in the past year and about 197 tissues.  She continues to prefer snow to summer.

It has been a tough year trying to give kids a sense of normality.  We were grateful school was mostly in-person, although it was pretty stressful to never know when we'd go into some quarantine, and the kids had a tough time not being able to have the typical social experiences of school.  

Sivan Reyna completed her 7th grade year in Tuxedo Park School with some presidential excellence academic award, and we are hoping she'll complete her 8th year there as well.  She has a very hard time with mask-wearing, so we are in a "trial period". Braces got removed (lucky child only had them for about 1 year!).

Sivan's favorite subject was History, and she loves discussing politics, and well, anything.  Her favorite school book she read last year was Animal Farm.  Last year, she started competitive swimming, and is now on the Gold team for NY Sharks, where she has two-hour long swim practices. It is strange to see your kid get way better than you, but really amazing too.  We are so proud of her dedication and ambitions!  If Sivan could do anything all day, it would be hang out with her friends, and swim.

Both kids tried fencing last year. Fortunately, they mostly heeded the "no swordfighting in the living room" rule. Matan David started Tuxedo Park School in 4th grade and is now entering 5th grade.  Turns out he inherited Adam's math genes, and was selected for Math League. He also played drums in the band, took coding classes, and horseback rode.  

He won a "gold medal" in the JewQ competition.

 

Matan's favorite school books were A Long Walk to the Water and Number the Stars.  This summer though, he really enjoyed Ender's Game . Yasmine has finally found someone in her family, Matan, that appreciates I Love Lucy as much as her (besides Orrin).  If Matan could do anything all day, it would be to play Minecraft with his friends.  Only swimming with a dolphin might rank ahead (what a gift from the grandparents this was!)

We had some other adventures this year.  Hikes around the Hudson Valley...

An 80s Murder Mystery Dinner party..

Matan's 10th birthday party at a lake...

Family time in Great Neck (and a last visit to Dod Shlomo, z"l)...

We were particularly proud of our Purim costume this year (Goldilox and the three bears):

The best part of the year for the kids was probably giving them the normality of Summer Camp.  Matan went to Camp Nahjeewah with one of his best friends for two weeks.  He did great (Yasmine, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck checking pictures every 2 minutes--but she'll be better next time). 

 Sivan went to Camp Yavnah, in New Hampshire for 3 weeks, and really enjoyed it.  I honestly wish I could send the kids to camp all year--the socialization is so needed!  

This also meant that Yasmine could cross off two items on her bucket list--see Maine (although my small-couple-of-hours taste of Southern Maine only whetted my appetite) and go whale watching (which, sadly, was such a disappointment--apparently the Humpback whales were here: Stunning images capture rare "megapod" of humpback whales (msn.com)!)  New Hampshire is wonderful.

we even got to see cousins in NH!

We also enjoyed introducing our kids to the Olympics, and cheering for the United States and Israel.

Ronnee, our snake, is a bit blind these days (and sorta maybe took a bite of Adam instead of a mouse), but seems to be thriving otherwise.  

We did sell a 2007 car and upgraded to our first electric car--our Kona electric, which is like a little toy.  I think we are sold on electric cars for the future.

As for now, Sivan is researching high school options, we are celebrating sukkot, and the kids are already mapping out the most productive trick-or-treat plans.

This is a year that tested our patience and fortitude as individuals, communities, a nation, and world. We are hoping this year makes up for the challenges of the past year and a half, particularly for our children. We wish you a great new school year, happy new year, happy Fall, happy equinox, and may this year be sweeter, brighter, healthier, more social for all.

Love, 

Yasmine, Adam, Sivan Reyna, Matan David, Maya, and Ronnee

PS: Whenever the going got tough this year, Yasmine would just instagram Bernese puppies.  Come on Adam...whaddaya say?