How Is This Night Different From All Other Nights?

(He's thinking very hard.)


Answer: It's Jake's very first Passover Seder.

On Monday we went into the Marais to shop for Passover. I don't know how to spell most of the things we bought, but suffice to say that we were able to get the sweet things we needed, the bitter things we needed, the book to explain it all, and Jake's first yarmulke, too.






Colin led the Seder in Hebrew and I read the French translations of all the blessings. Jake and Merlin lent their moral support.


It may have the been the shortest Seder ever, due to a certain someone's flagging interest. But I'm not pointing fingers.


Jake's favorite part of the evening was the search for the afikoman, the last piece of matzo. Colin hid it at the start of the meal and once we were done, I helped Jake find it among his toys.




Jake's becoming quite the adventurous eater, and now he's added matzo to his repertoire. Which is a good thing, because we have plenty left over.

We had a joyous evening, especially knowing that we had just celebrated another of Jake's 'firsts.'

Chag samaech! Happy Pesach!

Liverpool!

Three weeks ago (already?!) we flew to Liverpool to hang with the British contingent. Jake got to meet one of his great-grandmothers for the first time, and he also happens to be her first great-grandchild.


First, the flight. We weren't too worried about it because Jake is a good sport and is more likely to be curious about new things than to get upset, but he exceeded our expectations. Not a single complaint had he. (Colin behaved, too.)

At the end of the flight we got to take a photo with the pilot (I called him the Captain and addressed him in the third person, "Could we please take a photo with the Captain?" which he seemed to like very much.)



When we got to Grandma's house, it was full of Blundells, all of whom were quite excited to greet their newest addition.



After a while, Jake got a bit overwhelmed by all the attention and needed a breather, so we took a stroll along the waterfront. Here are a few family shots and landscape shots of our promenade.







By the second day of our trip, Jake had settled into visiting at Grandma's house and had a grand old time.












There was also the family reunion dinner, of course, where over twenty of us filled our bellies with roast beef and yorkshire pudding, and the occasional late-coming salmon. (The evening before was a smaller, fish and chips affair.)







Soon enough it was time to return to Paris so we got back on the plane at John Lennon Airport and journeyed back to Charles de Gaulle.


All in all, Jake was perfectly satisfied with his first international jaunt.