Driftwood Escape

When 2/3 of our kids had a 4-day weekend, we realized it was a great opportunity to sneak away. For 24 hours, we were grateful to have a convenient getaway spot at the Kaye Kompound. It was the first time our little family of 5 had the entire 10-bedroom house by ourselves, and it was enormously lovely.

Upon arrival, Reggie immediately declared herself Queen of the Castle and Nana's master bed as her own.

The water was cold, but the air temperature was hot. This was probably our very last swim of the season. (And by "ours," I mean theirs. This blogger sat out.) Thank you, Nana and Zayde!

We enjoyed a pizza dinner in the veranda.

When Nana's house came with apples that we were told to use, we made apple crisp!

After dinner, we went for an evening stroll, and we were greeted by a Texas Hill Country native citizen. It was so large, we seriously questioned whether it was someone's stranded Halloween costume. Yes, it was alive.



In the morning, Ethan was excited to practice his beginner roller skate skills begun in Driftwood on his birthday a few weeks earlier.


Meanwhile, back in the ranch-

Remote shul school:

Ethan's Hebrew name

rainbow from Noah's ark story

thinking of the Torah

On Day 2, the air temperature was significantly lower, and we chose not to brave the pool. (Other than our feet, that is.)

What happens at Nana and Zayde's house stays at Nana and Zayde's house...shhhhhh.

We headed down the road to the community playground.

We headed down the road to the community playground.

Lastly, we went to visit some very friendly neighborhood horses.



Good times had by all!

Gilden Love Commercial Break

We spend a LOT of time with the Gildens. We are very lucky to live just a few blocks away and have this phenomenal support system. The husbands may not always love the sitcom situation, but we sure do have some secure attachments to a lot of loving family members!

That time Aunt Syssa showed up to invite Cohens to the park. Shayna ended up in our backyard, and Gabi ended up with Syssa.

Gabi and Joey found a butterfly friend who hung around for a while.

Then, there's the newly budding love affair between a toddler and a puppy. It works, and it's pretty cute.

safety first

Soccer Start

Just about 2 years ago, then 5-year-old Ethan and 6.5-year-old Gabi were begging to play soccer. Sure, we said, and we signed them up for a season in the Spring of 2021, bought them shin guards, and got excited about getting out there and playing. Except nobody got out anywhere in the Spring of 2021. Fast forward a year and a half later, we decided it was time to get back out there and try again. We are now a few weeks into their first soccer season. They enjoy being on the same team; they do a whole lot of running; sometimes, they make contact with the ball. I feel very proud of their effort and determination, regardless of their skill.

cheering section

ready to go!

We were so excited and grateful that Nana and Zayde were still in town to join us on opening day!

As is the case with everything else in this family, we celebrated success with ice cream!


On weeks 2 and 3, Ethan and Gabi took home the sportsmanship awards for "Respect" and "Teamwork."

Like his mother before him, Ethan's coach figured out a great place for him playing defense. And like his mother before him, he has his own special beat to his own special dance.

Women's March

In this house, we believe that women's rights are human rights. Politicians do not get to make the decisions for anyone's body. Except that notion is very much in danger in Texas. So Syssa and I did a thing and joined the other reasonable, like-minded folks of Austin downtown at the capital.

"Texas, we need to talk about the elephant in the womb."

Take Your Daughter to Work Day

When I had my quarterly planning meeting with work and Gabi was quarantining from school and Jon needed to recover from working a mid-shift the night before and my boss planned the meeting at a ranch/barn/farm place and the owner let us feed and pet all the animals and took pictures of us with the longhorn and sent them to me later, this is what it looked like:

starting off simple checking out the chickens

As close as we assumed we'd be getting to the longhorns:

As close as we actually got to "Lonestar," the friendly 4-year-old LOOOOOONGhorn:





We didn't catch these 3 horses' names, but they sure were friendly. And hungry.