"You have Got to Try this Carrot!" or Steven Loses His Pants

The following Tuesday was a wonderful day at sea.  We began with breakfast in the dining room (an invaluable cruise tip!) and headed to deck 11 to procure lounge chairs in a good spot.  We sat and enjoyed the views and the weather while JoJo worked out, including a pool-side Zumba class.  Eventually Morgan and Steven got up to play and while waiting in line for some ice cream met Melody, a fun, outgoing girl from South Carolina.  JoJo and Romi cavorted in the splash zone before we hurried off to lunch in the dining room.  Following quiet time, Rob headed off to yoga and Romi played with his brand-spanking new toy ship set up on deck. 

Before dinner we enjoyed the talented a cappella group Voice Play, had some pre-dinner drinks, and splurged on dinner at Portofino, one of the fancy restaurants on board (all in memory of mom/grandma).  The two-hour meal was incredible, from the gorgeous room, the impeccable service, the scrumptious tapenade to the potatoes, antipasto, lamb chops and lobster tails.  We indulged and enjoyed and laughed heartily when, surrounded by all this gourmet food, JoJo emphatically exclaimed to the table, "You have got to try this carrot!"

Dessert was no understated affair, with the plate of chocolates followed by a sampler.  When we asked Romi which was his favorite, he enthusiastically exclaimed, "All of them!"  The meal came to an end when I realized you really shouldn't give tiramisu to a four-year old.  We aren't sure if it was the alcohol or the caffeine, but our boy went more than a little crazy. 

Rob and Romi headed off to bed while the rest of the family ventured to The Quest.  This adult-orientated game was a hit with all of us, including Melody.  Steven did his mama proud when he took one for the team by taking off his pants in front of hundreds of people.


When I returned to our stateroom I was momentarily surprised to find the bed empty, but quickly located my two boys, snug as bugs in a rug, cuddled up together in the teeny-tiny pull-down bunk.  Another great day in life on the Freedom of the Seas!

First Port o' Call: Cococay, Bahamas

The Freedom of the Seas as seen from Cococay

Kelley woke up first and spent some wonderful time out on the balcony, watching as we pulled into Cococay, our first stop.  When Rob and Romi woke up we got dressed, grabbed some breakfast and headed down to the first deck to catch the tender, leaving the rest of the family happily asleep in their stateroom.  We enjoyed the short boat ride to the private island.  With such an early start, we not only didn't have to wait long for a ride but the day was cool and breezy.  Two minutes after hitting the island Kelley was talked into braids by Stacey, who has been braiding tourist's hair for more than 20 years.  I didn't have enough money on me to pay her, but she told me not to worry about it, that I could find her later in the day.  Within 15-minutes I had a whole new do!  I chose a multitude of colorful beads, which I loved, but I forgot that I would have to sleep on them.  Stacey carefully sunscreened my white-girl scalp and the three of us set off to find the perfect set up. 

We checked out the island's amenities and settled down in three lounge chairs inthe shade.  Rob rented a float and while we enjoyed the lovely water, the sand was gooey and there was way too much sea grass.  After a while I decided to check out the bamboo market.  As I headed toward the stands, I looked up at the tender coming in and who did I happen to see just getting off? Seriously, with 4000 people on board, what are the odds that I'd run into the rest of the family at just that moment?!  I took them to our happy hideout and we played, ate and relaxed all day.  When it turned out that JoJo also had no cash on her to pay for my stylin' head, my awesome and loving husband schlepped back to the ship to retrieve some cash.

Romi fell asleep on the tender on the way back home, hard enough  that he stayed asleep through security and up in the elevator.  Of course, he woke up just as arrived at the stateroom.  It figures!  Steven did his manny best to get the little guy to go back to sleep but the two just ended up watching Shrek.   We spent the remainder of the day relaxing, sleeping, noshing on pizza, drinking soda water (well, I did anyway), and hanging out by the pool.  JoJo tried a singles mixer without luck, but we were glad to get her back early.  Steven and Kelley fulfilled a lifelong dream of playing cribbage on our cruise balconies with the incredible ocean as our backdrop, after which Morgan and Kelley dorked out and made a color-coded Excel calendar of all our planned activities!

Monday night was Captain's Night, the most formal of all.  It was easy to get dressed with beads in my hair!  We all looked stunning and took pictures with the captain before a lovely dinner.  Romi wore his Shabbas hat and received many a well-deserved compliment.  After eating, Kelley and Romi hit the bunks while the rest of the crew enjoyed a "Broadway" review.  (What Broadway play included Karen Carpenter's "We've Only Just Begun"?) 

Another truly wonderful vacation day!

Bon Voyage!

We spent a perfectly lovely Shabbat at the Doubletree in Melbourne, FL.  The rain cleared up, leaving us beautiful beach weather. JoJo invested in two lounge chairs and an umbrella, and we were set for the day.  We swam, we ate, we swam some more, we slept.  It was a truly relaxing family day.  

The boys all play in the water

On Sunday we breakfasted at The Blueberry Muffin and impatiently headed off to Port Canaveral.  The only "good" thing about Cocoa Beach was it afforded us the first glimpse of the Freedom of the Seas--beautiful!  Henry had arranged for us to have priority in boarding, we breezed through security and all crossed the gangplank together.  Talk about excitement!  We were all bouncing.

We quickly located staterooms 8620 and 8622 and fell in love.  They were a good size, well designed and, best of all, had adjoining balconies!  We got the best rooms by far (our balconies jutted about just a bit to line up with the Solarium above).  We did some exploring and snacking but made certain to show up on time and in the right place for our muster drill, something they take very seriously.  We returned to our rooms, broke open the champagne and prepared to sail away.

Steven enjoying the view from our balcony

As we made our way out of the harbor, we waved and smiled to people on shore, at water-side restaurants and on other ships and boats. JoJo managed to get an entire boat to "who-hoo" back.  We did some more exploring, unpacked our bags and headed down to dinner.  The dining room was beautiful, but the best hing in it was Mervyn, our waiter par excellence.  Not only did he take such good care of us, he made certain we knew what not to miss and steered us toward the best of everything.  The food was yummy, not overboard (pun intended) with loads of vegetarian options. We all left happy.  We tried to find the parade on the Promenade but Romi was done in. When we returned to our stateroom (which Romi referred to as our "hotel" all week) Jacquline had opened the bunk and Romi had a blast scurrying up and down the ladder.  In the end, however, he decided his bunk was too scary and slept in our very comfortable king-sized bed, with the ocean rocking us all to a good-night's sleep.

A Great Start to a Great Vacation

Following the hustle and bustle of packing up, cleaning out and preparing for a vacation away, Morgan, Steven, Romi, Ima and Abba (aka Auntie and Uncle) loaded up the luggage and headed off in Yoshi for a great breakfast at Miss Shirley's Cafe.  Between the breakfast sliders and cinnamon roll French toast, it was a totally indulgent way to begin our fancy-schmancy Caribbean trip.  We made it to the airport in plenty of time for Steven to treat the family to Jamba Juice.  We had a short, easy flight (Romi napped) and had no trouble finding JoJo at the Orlando airport.  We gathered up all the luggage (Oy!), loaded up the minivan and headed out on the Florida toll roads in search of some fun, sun and relaxation.  We hit no traffic (hooray) and easily made our way to Melbourne, even if it was raining.  Following a quick stop for Shabbat food supplies, we headed to the Doubletree.  The cookies were delicious and helped tide us over for dinner.  We loaded up a luggage cart, Kelley slipped on the wet walkway (good to get the injury out of the way), and we settled into our rooms.  What a great view!  We got to enjoy not only the beach and the soothing sound of the waves, but we even saw dolphins!

The view from our room

Needing to eat before sundown, we jumped into the van and headed to Squid Lips.  What a find!  Kelley got her much-desired dinner on the water at sunset and we feasted on coconut-pineapple bread, homemade potato ships with balsamic vinegar and bleu cheese, and the most amazing twice-baked sweet potato covered in maple syrup, spices and whipped cream.  Really.

Dinner at Squid Lips

 JoJo and Romi explored the pirate ship while we admired more dolphins.  It was a great start to what would turn out to be a truly incredible week!

Smells Like JoJo

Romi Amiel Gludt may still be my baby, but he's no baby. Yep, our little guy is four. FOUR. How in the world did that happen? He has been very excited about his birthday and has made it clear that he would like a celebratory hat. He also wants people to sing to him. And he wants presents. Last night we had this conversation:

Romi: Me have an idea. You drive me to Target. I go by myself and get a present.

Ima: How will you pay for it?

Romi: Me take your wallet. After some serious contemplation: Huh. No one to pick me up. Me talk to Abba about that.

I love a kid with a plan!

Romi has been loving all the company we've had the last month. He had a blast when the Brunks came for a long weekend (they drove 15 hours from Chicago!). We love the Brunks and Romi took to them immediately. They walked in and he grabbed his guitar to serenade their arrival. He followed Max and Lauren around the house and the Brunk kids did their parents proud by playing so nicely with our little guy. We spent the day at the Inner Harbor and when Romi needed to navigate down the steep ladder he immediately spurned my offer for help, exclaimed, "No, Bob!" and turned and held his arms out to him. Later, in the aquarium, Romi grabbed on to a nice, friendly and understanding blond women who turned out not to be Jacki. It didn't faze the Romster at all, he just looked at me and requested, "Show me my Jacki." So I did.

Now he's loving the Dindsale crew who are staying in the basement. He gleefully wakes up Mark and Nathalie and each morning waits impatiently for Grandma Virginia to get up and play with him.

One more tidbit: In the pre-Passover bread-arama, Steven, Romi and I went out for a fabulous meal at the Cheesecake Factory. It was seriously some of the best salmon and rice I have ever had (with miso sauce). Of course, salmon is one of Romi's favorite foods so we split the meal. Afterwards we explored the really large mall for the first time. Making our way back to the parking lot through Macy's, the three of us were cutting through the cosmetics department when Romi looked around, sniffed and declared, "Smells like Aunt JoJo!" Priceless!

What's in a Waffle?

For a kid who doesn't want to go to a birthday party, Romi is awfully excited about turning four. He knows that his birthday is April 11th and that he's up next for a celebration. And while he doesn't have many plans for commemorating the actual day, he does have some grandiose ideas about what will happen when he reaches the big four. He even asked me the other day if he could drive when he was four. When I told him he'd have to wait until he was much older, he shot back, "Like eight?"

I'm beginning to think we need to expand his horizons a bit, but Romi is still passionate about airplanes, playing his guitar, swimming and cooking. The other morning when I asked what he wanted for first breakfast (there can be up to three) he requested waffles. Where he learned about waffles is a complete mystery seeing as I didn't even recall if we had schlepped the waffle iron with us to Maryland. We went on a hunt for the little-used appliance, finally locating it on a top shelf in a dark corner. To be honest, I wasn't even sure it would work (especially after I recalled it had been a wedding shower present 20-plus years ago). We plugged it in and after a short wait the little orange light went on--waffle iron success! Next we headed to the fridge to get started on batter. Unfortunately, that's when I discovered that Rob must have used up the last of the Bisquick. No matter, I thought, how complex could waffles be?

Waffle batter takes a bit more work than I expected. The particular recipe I alighted on instructed me to melt the butter, separate the eggs, beat the whites. It wasn't as labor-intensive as souffle, but it certainly wasn't a one-step process either. We persevered, made beautiful waffles and enjoyed a lovely breakfast. The odd part was that while the waffles were perfectly tasty, I missed the old-style Bisquick batch. I pointed this out to Romi and asked (rhetorically), "Where's the irony?" I never expected a response, but I certainly appreciated it when Romi lifted his arm, gestured to the kitchen counter and declared, "There it is" all the while pointing at the waffle iron.

I love this kid.

Me, Me, Me

I realized the other day that we live in Baltimore. I know, it doesn’t come as a shock to the rest of you, but it actually took me a bit by surprise. A part of me (and not even a small one) keeps wondering when we’re going home. Romi misses Tucson too. More often than not he picks a pre-bed book with Tucson photos. He talks about our family and friends, our old house and his old school, the synagogue. It’s amazing how much he remembers. That being said, our little guy has adjusted quite well. He loves his new school and his teachers, seems perfectly happy in the new house and thinks that having his very own Steven living in the basement is the best thing, well, ever.

Romi’s airplane obsession remains unabated. We’ve visited the truly beautiful observation deck at BWI numerous times, his airplane collection can never be large enough (for him) and we’ve even schlepped to DC to see Concorde. When he flies his planes (most often a MD-80 or Boeing 747) the destination is either Tucson or Taiwan, with a bit of Charlotte to visit Aunt JoJo thrown in for good measure. He acts the part of the air traffic controller (complete with pretend voice) and loves when his planes hit turbulence. And of course, the kid is still outsmarting his parents. When I asked if he wanted to take the bus, go to the airport or visit the zoo, he gave it some thought before replying, “Take the bus to the airport.”

He is growing up way too fast. The other day he calmly reported his future plans to Steven and I as he sat in the car seat: “When me get older me going to be a teacher, not a swim teacher, a regular teacher, but me have a big problem. Me can’t read.” And then there was this wonderful proposal: “When me get older me going to be a fireman so me can help people.” And then it got scary: “When me get older, me cross the street by myself, go to a kids’ movie, play angry birds and wear Thomas tzitzit.” I would have freaked out but I figure if he can’t use pronouns he can’t play video games.

We are working hard on saying “I” instead of me following this conversation:

Romi: Me have no dump truck.
Ima; Romi, I don’t have a dump truck.
Romi (with sympathy): Me don’t have one either.

Of course, this led to the conversational gemstone, “Me trying to say I!”

And the one that had Steven and I desperately trying not to react: “Abba in Texas. That sucks.”

Greetings from Baltimore!

Greetings from Baltimore! I apologize both for the mass e-mail and if you haven't heard from us; moving is a bit overwhelming. Also, we don't have internet yet (Gary, don't look so mortified), but we are making do.

Here's a recap of what's been going on: Romi and I had an uneventful but loooooong drive to CA, the horrors of which we quickly forgot in the excitement of seeing everyone. We received amazing hospitality (thank you again Austin for so kindly giving up your bed). We played and ate with Gludts, Dinsdales, Bermans, and a slew of Shiffletts. We took a few meals outside while we could and appreciated a last long look at the “correct” ocean.

As Romi and I visited and enjoyed loved ones' company, Rob, Joel and Penny made great time across the country (even if if did take them forever to cross Texas). They drove 2300 miles with only one speeding ticket and are still friends...a miracle! Romi and I flew to MD on a direct flight out of LAX. Once again, he was an amazing traveler. We jumped in our rental car and relied on the GPS (not easy for me) to get us to Daniel and Miriam's, who made us feel welcome as we once again invaded their home. On Tuesday we picked up the keys to our new home, did some shopping and spent a truly lovely afternoon with our Chuckle Cousin, who so lovingly fought traffic both ways from DC to make sure we weren't lonely on our first day (a real act of loving kindness Suzanne!). Rob, Penny and Joel arrived Wednesday morning, and our belongings came by in a big old moving truck shortly after that. Once Joel got the lock squared away, we headed downtown to Fells Point for lunch and a bit of sight seeing. We spent the first night in our new home with pilfered blankets and pillows on a variety of air mattresses. A bit like camping, but at least we were home!

We may be living amid a myriad of boxes, but we love our new house and are settling in. The house here is completely different from our home in Tucson, yet we fit in the space well (even the kitchen). The move went fairly well (Kim, we had very little breakage and all of the china made it!). The basement has proved to be the biggest challenge: nothing fits down the stairs. And by nothing, I mean nothing. We couldn't get the mattress, dressers, washer or dryer down there, so we are working on a new game plan (mainly involving Ikea furniture which can be constructed down there). As a result, Romi has inherited the queen mattress, which is quite a bit of space for someone three-feet tall. (Not that it matters anyway, since he's still sleeping in our bed.) After way too much hard driving and even harder work, on Friday Joel headed safely home to Hallie while Jodi and Steven headed up to help us (the five hour drive took 10 hours, poor things). Romi is in heaven with his Aunt JoJo and cousins to play with while Rob and I scramble around, trying to make our home habitable before he leaves tomorrow for Texas. Romi and I have great plans for next week, including visiting his new school, taking the train to DC, and unpacking more boxes. He's holding up well, although he misses Tucson and everyone and everything in it (as do we).

We hope everything is well with all of you. Call, write, e-mail...we miss everyone!

Much love,

Kelley

507 East Lake Ave.

Baltimore MD 21212

What Romi Likes

Romi likes playing his guitar with a pick and a capo (OK, it's really a clothespin, but it works), finding photos and drawings of Asian children in books (he always calls them Romi), asking the name of everything (literally everything, from food to engines), airplanes (he can identify quite a few by the salient details, including engine location, the type of tail and if it has winglets), and swimming. Over the past few months he has been found sleeping all over the house, albeit mostly in our bed, although he has made special appearances on the floor of the guest room when Aunt JoJo was staying there and with Penny in her bed. (We figured that one out when he smelled like cedar chips. When asked why he slept on the dog's bed, he replied, "Comfortable." Hard to argue with logic like that.) He likes dancing in the monsoon with his umbrella (thanks Sharon!) and our full attention--he recently admonished Rob, "No reading!" and promptly confiscated his newspaper and put it in the sunroom.

Romi also likes his birthday. He had a wonderful time, especially when his music teacher sang to him at school. It's been three months and he still talks about it. He loved his party at Pump-It-Up (0nce he warmed up to the experience). He was a bit like his Aunt Heather that day, running into our room and finding me in bed announcing, "Wake up Ima! My birthday!"

Our little man likes to say, "I don't like it," "I have a question" and "Ima tell." He never tires of hearing the same stories, including the branch breaking at the school, the two-day sprinkler marathon and how the Airbus 380 scraped a wing at the Paris airshow. He likes the fact that he's potty trained, although lately he asks for help when he needs to go, only to ask us to leave when we actually get to the bathroom. (Gone are the days when I asked if he needed help as he ran by and he replied, "No, I got it!)

But what Romi likes above all else is his Aunt JoJo. He was lucky to get two recent visits, one in May and one in July. He is not alone in thinking she is one of the funniest people on the face of the planet. When she is here, he not so gently or kindly asks Ima and Abba to go away. We've seen him run to get something only to return to the guest room, throw open the door, and announce to his beloved Auntie, "I'm back!" For her, Romi will wear tags in his clothes, put lotion on his body and tolerate mouse in his hair.

Romi's favorite child at school is baby Zachary, so called because he is the youngest of all the students. He isn't in Romi's class, but they get to see each other throughout the day. I have come to pick Romi up to find him sitting by his friend's mat (Zachary stays for nap), patting his back to put him to sleep. One day, Romi and baby Zachary where on the playground, standing on the bridge connecting two pieces of play equipment. Another child pushed baby Zachary, who headed for the edge. While not a huge fall, the height is significant enough. Romi, however, was not going to let anything happen to his best bud and threw himself on top of baby Zachary, preventing him from falling. Romi stayed there until a teacher, who saw the whole incident, managed to get to them. He's his father's son!

Lest you think our little fella has no mischievous side, never fear, he would also make his grandmother proud. We let Romi roam naked through the house and backyard. (He has to have on clothes to go out front or when we eat.) This drives Papa nuts, a tidbit which Romi picked up on. One night, when Nana and Papa arrived to visit, a clothed Romi ran to greet them, immediately stripped down and proudly announced, "Papa, I'm naked!" Go Romi!

The Score: Ima and Abba = 72, Romi = 54,987

We have a real problem: Romi is, hands down and without a doubt, winning and the kicker is we just don't care. He is so cute and fun and funny and sweet and amazing, that we cave way too often. Our friends tell us that we will all grow out of it, which is good, but at the same time sad because today I realized today that if he goes off to college at the age of 18, than we've already had Romi for one-sixth of the time he will live with us. This sort of thinking isn't helping to fortify resilience to the Romster.

The most astonishing thing about our Little Man is how much his vocabulary has increased in the last two months. Romi has always been a toddler of few words, but he worked hard to make the best of his repertoire. Lately, new and mind-boggling words are falling out of his mouth daily. He has used correctly and in context such gems as "blinking," "stripes" and "trade." His favorite question used to be "What's this?" which he asked ad nauseam. That has morphed into "What you doing?" His articulation is pretty darn good, although he does say "told" for "cold." He also doesn't use the word small, but prefers to call anything little "baby," as in baby bus, baby bowl and baby dog. When he wants to claim something he makes sure we know it is his by his emphatic "me's!" He still refers to M&Ms as "blues" and calls Penny just "dog," and yes, I am still most stubbornly "mommy" even though he points at me if you ask him who Ima is. He understands certain concepts, like "broken" and even recently switched his vegetable-laden dinner plate for Rob's plate full of french fries with the command, "Abba--trade!" And the other night we figured out that Romi wanted to head out to a restaurant for dinner and not just stay at home when he looked at us and exclaimed, "eat bye-bye!"


Romi has the annoying but sweet habit of asking us if we're happy precisely when he know swe're upset with him (like after he takes a swipe at us--something we do can and do resist). Sometimes he even makes a list to check to see who is happy. It often goes like this, with a cute little lilt at the end of the sentence: "Happy Mommy? Happy Abba? Happy dog?" JoJo has made the list, as has Max, Michael Hoffman and Mike Harris. One night the list even got longer, like this: "Happy Mommy? Happy Abba? Happy dog? Happy Nana? Happy Papa? Happy Nana dog?" I reassured the little guy that Rusty, Nana's dog, is indeed happy.

The cardinal rule in the house of late is that Romi gets to turn on the washer and dryer and clean out the lint screen. You can ignore this injunction at your own risk. He still sings and dances (he does one damn cute Hokie Pokie) about the house, but his true love remains the guitar. He has moved up from the ukulele to a small guitar that used to belong to my sister. He gives her her due and calls it "JoJo 'tar." He insists on using a pick, the neck strap and my recipe books that are spiral bound for music. His favorite songs are "Happy new," "two eight," "bim bom" and "Trees are blowing in the wind." The last one comes complete with hand motions and the "woosh" sound at the end.

A final word on yet again why babies could not live in the wild: we were going into school the other day and to draw attention to the Scholastic Book Fair going on inside one of the dads dressed up in a seven-foot Clifford the Red Dog costume. I was convinced that Romi would freak. The guy was huge and red and a dog and Romi has no concept about this character that was waving so vigorously and energetically at him. I was wrong in my assumptions, however, and Romi didn't even flinch when the large hairy red thing reached for him. Unfortunately, that was also the moment the mailman drove up in his truck, which completely terrifies my Hamster and he proceeded to freak out. Like I said, no survival skills...none at all.