Eitan in rare form-turning 2 next week!

Grandma

I found this cute video of Grandma from a year and a half ago. Just something to remind us of her sweet disposition.

Ice in Teaneck

For those out of the country, the ice is messy but also pretty.

Winter in Teaneck

Snow in Manhattan

Aaron's been having a lot of fun in the snow these past few days:

Aaron in the snow

We had a fun day in the blowing winds on Monday morning. Aaron was a little annoyed at Mindy for making it so windy though.

New Pilots, Future Pilots

From New Pilots, Future Pilots

No volcanoes or rain forests here, but from the Negev Desert, an only-in-Israel experience today for Keren, Talya, Isak, their Daddy and Dodi. We went to the rank-giving ceremony and airshow for the newest pilots in the air force, graduates of the most demanding and prestigious course in Tzahal. We got to see Israel's current combat aircraft close up and talk with current pilots. Lots of fun. Then at the ceremony for the few pilots who successfully make it through the three-year course, we heard a little about each new pilot, and then watched an incredible airshow of acrobatic planes doing loops, flying sideways and upside-down, and performing precision stunts. All thanks to Nefesh b'Nefesh. We'll be back when the Agus kids graduate.

Update from Costa Rica!

Hi all! We are all having a splendid time in Costa Rica, even though we've had enough rainfall to last a lifetime. We are currently in Arenal, which is famous for its volcano. Here's a taste of some of what we've done so far (in backwards chronological order):

Here we are at the Hanging Bridges walk in Arenal, which we did yesterday. We crossed a series of 16 suspension bridges, each increasingly higher, to get a great, unique perspective of the rainforest. Here we are at the very top of the canopy. We loved this.
Photo below is us at an ecological reserve outside Arenal. Pa is quite the hiker! We all loved the walk through the rainforest. We saw many birds, frogs and a two-toed sloth.

Next photo is Pa with the volcano after we landed in Arenal. Pretty incredible sight. It's still active, though we haven't had a chance to see any ash or lava (sometimes you can see this at night). This next photo is us after landing in Arenal. We were very happy to be in a place with no rain (though it didn't last long...just one day without rain so far).

Here I am ziplining through the rainforest in Tortuguero, our first destination. Eric and I did the canopy tour, which took us on various ziplines between different trees. We loved it. Mom and I are going ziplining / canopying again before our Backroads trip begins on Thursday.

Me and Eric before our canopy tour:

Mom, Eric and me on a jungle walk in Tortuguero. You can see that we're wearing big rubber boots so we could walk through the muddy path.

That's it for now. We obviously have many more photos but will probably wait till we get home to post them all. In the meantime, you can browse Eric's facebook photos.
We love and miss you all!