The last few weeks were filled with meaningful, enjoyable Yom Tov experiences.
For Yom Kippur, we went to the Chabad in Oklahoma City. It would have been nice to go to Dallas, but the drive back on Monday night would have been a bit too taxing. Regardless, we had a very enjoyable, meaningful experience with the Goldmans and the whole Oklahoma City community.
The very next day, on Tuesday, September 29, Yoni hit the flight line! In his first week and a half, he flew five times. Thank G-d, he's really enjoying it and - while working unbelievably hard - doing well. Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated so nicely the past week or so, and it's been almost a week since his last flight. As a result, he still has seven more flights to go before he gets to solo.
During his first week on the flight line, I worked like a busy bee to get the sukkah and house ready for our special ushpizin!! (Well, our guests weren't quite Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov...but they were pretty special Sukkot guests).
Yoni's parents, Shuki, Cyrel, Sara Na'ava, and Gavi all came up on Friday and spent the first days with us here. It was wonderful having them all visit, especially for Yom Tov. The weather cooperated for the most part while they were here and with a bit of rain on Sunday, we still ate all of our meals in the sukkah and had ample time at the playground so lovingly described by Sara Na'ava as, "My favorite playground ever!"
Here are some pictures of the sukkah:
(From the entrance)
(Looking out the entrance)
We enjoyed many meals in there throughout the week, and it still stands in our yard awaiting a few dry days so that we can put it away and prevent mold from growing over the course of the year.
For the end of Sukkot - Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, we once again went down to Oklahoma City to spend the weekend with the Chabad community. There were a lot of people visiting for the weekend, so it was really great spending time with everybody! Naomi and Yaakov, the couple that we met in Colorado back in May, a couple from New York, Victoria, many more, AND all the regulars were there. Saturday night was FILLED with Simcha and Torah! Hakafot (dancing with the Torah) lasted at least 2-3 hours, and even ventured out the front doors to dance alongside Hefner Ave. Mrs. Goldman said she really wished she could take a picture of me, because I followed the crowd out into the cold donning Yoni's pilot jacket and snuggling with a stuffed Torah. That was my way of staying comfy and being a part of the festivities!
The celebration carried through Sunday and we came home late Sunday night ready to return (almost) to real life. Fortunately, Yoni had Monday off - for Columbus Day. I still had to work in the afternoon, but we got to sleep in a bit and spend a good few hours getting different parts of the house in order. We organized our storage shed, moved a lot of stuff to the attic, rearranged our bedroom ... all those good things that are saved for a day off.
I guess that mood kind of carried over to today for me a bit, because even though Yoni's back at work I rearranged the living room, scrubbed the whole house, and plan to hopefully clean out the fridge before teh day's end. Amazing how much I can find to do (including catching up on the blog) when I have a midterm to study for....
