Trotz Family Hannukah, originally uploaded by jetrotz.
Well, better late than never. This photo comes courtesy of the photographic skills of my good friend Joel Silverman and our first annual Hannukah photo shoot exchange. He shot my family, and I shot his. I think this one turned out beautifully and hope mine did as well.
Happy Hannukah everyone!
Close on the heels of Noah’s arrival, the latest addition to the extended Trotz/Handelman clan arrived on Thanksgiving-eve, a bouncing baby boy to Amy’s brother Eric and his wife, the ‘other’ Amy Handelman. At 7 pounds 3.8 ounces, baby and mom are doing just fine. This new Rochester resident quickly increases the grandparent factor from 8X to 9X in just a few short weeks for Marty and Sherrie. Will they be great-grandparents next? That’s probably at least ten years down the line though…
So Sam joined us for some quality time this afternoon, and Joel was able to grab several great photos of the Trotz family all together. I love this photo of Amy looking on at the trio of boys who now comprise a majority in the household! (Amy still rules, of course!) Sam was so sweet - getting super excited about giving Noah his first present ever - a cute JellyCat duck Dad picked up on a business trip in September at the Laguna Niguel Ritz (Sam’s first stuffed animal was a monkey from the same company on a trip Amy and I took to the Ritz on Amelia Island). Sam was equally excited that Noah had thought ahead and bought Sam a gift of two books as well. The gallery is here.
So we are in the final stretch. That’s getting quite literal for Amy - her belly seems to be straining to unheralded proportions, but she looks and feels great. There are some more oopmhs and groans this week as Trotz 2.0 adjusts positions, and we’ve seen some great Alien-esque effects as a knee or elbow strain for room inside the womb and extrude from her stomach. No signs of any activity yet - stay tuned here or via my Twitter page or Facebook profile or Flickr gallery to get the first notification that we are on our way. Sam seems a little stressed these last few days, being a bit more tantrum-prone than usual - I think he realizes his solo gig is soon to end. I still know he’s going to be a fabulous big brother.
This year’s Admonsters excursion (to conference #17 to be exact) took me out to the environs of Albequerque and Santa Fe at the Hyatt Tamaya resort in Bernalillo, New Mexico. We decided to make this a family affair since very soon Amy will be on a no-travel regimen (due date is October 31, only 10 weeks away). Amy’s parents also joined us for a bit of R&R&Sam. To top that all off, Amy’s aunt (who is from Albequerque) and uncle came down from Denver - and their son Jonathan came out from LA. So all in all it turned into a little Handelman/Siegel/Gardenswartz reunion.
We had a great dinner with Bobbi’s 90-year-old father and the rest of the clan on Friday night, headed up to Santa Fe on Saturday along with 100,000 of our closest friends for the annual Indian Market and Art Show. It was a madhouse, but a great way to see the full scope of what the area’s artistans have to offer. One celebrity spotting, Curtis Stone of TLC’s Take Home Chef. Despite rumors of both Oprah and Dennis Hopper being seen around our hotel, neither was confirmed.
Check out this photo gallery of our time there.
Tags: advertising, Family, new-mexico, santa-fe, Travel
My very talented sisters-in-law who both live up in Amy’s hometown of Rochester, NY have launched a website for their already-thriving hancrafted jewelry business there. Amy and Lisa are marketing and sales professionals who, with the inspiration of Amy’s mother SueAnn, decided to launch this venture. icandyjewelrydesigns.com recently went online, and showcases a wide variety of styles they create. They have a wide variety of original designs with the latest trends well represented, included custom beaded designs, lariats, turquoise and other styles. Anyway, I took many of the photos for the site, so check it out. Visit them here.
Tags: Family
The last leg of our vacation began 
with a 7-hour trek with Amy’s folks down the Mass Pike to Rochester. Sam was our main source of entertainment, shunning even the mention of taking a nap, instead regaling us with songs and stories most of the way. Once in Rochester, we had a great time - heading down to Bristol to see Uncle Stan and Ruth as well as more Handelman cousins than I’ve ever seen in one location. Sam enjoyed his first time in a lake, and on this trip, the male cousins of Boston were replaced by girls, girls and more girls. Sam did not mind one bit. We also took in a game at Rochester’s Frontier Field, and despite anticipation that Giambi was going to appear in the course of his rehab before joining the bigs again, that didn’t happen. More photos can be found here.
Tags: canandaigua-lake, Family, rochester, sam
We gathered the clan and headed into Boston 
on Friday of our vacation. Sam has been talking about meeting Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings for weeks now, those famous avian stars of Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings. He was not dissapointed! We explored much of the Boston Public Garden, visited the bronze statue of Mrs. Mallard and Lack, Mack, Quack, etc., rode the ’strange enormous birds’ (aka the Swan Boats) and swam in the Frog Pond - a great respite from the 90+ degree heat wave hitting the city. We also walked Newbury Street from the park all the way to Comm Ave - something I don’t think I’d done for almost 20 years. I’m not sure how I ever afforded shopping there back in the day. We met up with more extended family including Lauren and her husband David plus their kids, as well as Peggy and Mary who are now living in Sommerville. We capped off the day with some yummy ice cream at JP Licks, next door to the Newbury Comics, still going strong after all these years. More photos can be found here.
Tags: Boston, Family, make-way-for-ducklings, newbury, sam
So for the first leg of our vacation, we stayed at Julie and Scott’s place in Swampscott. Amy’s sister is always the best host, and her two sons Austin and Mason are the best playmates for Sam ever! He loves chasing them around, which takes plenty of pressure off Mom and Dad. Highlights included simply hanging around and chilling, a fabulous backyard lobstah fest (from the Barnacle, of course), time spent at the pool at Kernwood, as well as a great outing to Devereux Beach in Marblehead with my brother Seth and his boys Caleb, Gabe and Zach. See the full slideshow here.
Tags: Boston, Family, marblehead, sagan, swampscott
Rita recently marked a significant milestone - her 80th birthday. The actual day was during the last week of June when I was in the midst of the CNN.com relaunch. We did manage to head down to Savannah to celebrate with a kiddush at my mom’s synagogue, Mickve Israel a few weeks back. The picture at right is by my brother Jerry, and catches us as we head into the kiddush. More photos are here.
