Mimzy

Susan and Micha watched the movie so called "the last Mimzy''.

Susan liked it and gave it a:

but Micha didnt like it so he gave it

Monopoly game produces surprise winner

Micha's rendering of the Monopoly Guy, "Rich Uncle Pennybags"

For today's game, Micha selected Monopoly, a choice he came quickly to regret.  On the first turn round the board, Susan landed on Park Place, half of Micha's by-far favorite monopoly.  Only moments later, Susan landed on Chance, and received the "Take a Walk on the Boardwalk" card, a turn of events that gave her the priciest Monopoly on the board.  She wisely sank all her liquid assets into three houses on each property, and Noah immediately landed on Boardwalk, wiping out his liquid assets immediately, and forcing him to mortgage all non-essential properties.  Two turns later, Susan landed on "Free Parking," capping an incredible run of luck that gave her the resources quickly to build hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place.  

Her opponents had not been entirely without luck.  Noah purchased the light blue monopoly (Oriental, Vermont & Connecticut Avenues), and Micha managed to buy the burgundy monopoly (St. Charles, States & Virginia Avenues).  In time, Noah gained control of the tan monopoly (St. James, Tennessee & New York Avenues), and Micha got the purple one (Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues).  But it was not long before Noah landed once again on Boardwalk.  His financial future was destroyed with a roll of the dice.  Before declaring bankruptcy, however, he sold his two monopolies to Micha.  However, Micha had no money and was unlikely to beat Susan, who had clearly become the Donald Trump of Nordau Blvd.

It was then that the miracle happened.  For the next dozen rolls, Micha managed time and again to avoid Susan's properties.  Meanwhile, Susan's luck had soured.  Time and again she landed on Micha, who used the at-first modest rent she paid to enhance his real estate holdings, adding house to house and soon enough building hotels.  His investments paid off, as Susan landed time and again in his properties, eventually removing her hotels from her properties and mortgaging them.  It was not long before Micha, to the shock of all (himself included), had won the game.

Micha and Chen go Futurama!

While Chen was baby sitting, Micha and Chen watched Futurama.

When I said we should watch Futurama, Chen looked like this:

yet after watching Futurama, Chen looked like this:

Comment from Ella the Dog

Strange things are happening, and I don't much like it.  Two days ago, the shorter people disappeared from the house, carrying bags in their hands and on their backs.  The people leave all the time, but then usually they come back in time for my evening walk.  This time, after my evening walk I went into the shorter people's rooms, and there was no one.  

Then yesterday the fatter people went out before my evening walk, and when they came back they had with them one of the shorter people, the one with hair and eyes the color of the food they put in my bowl.  The other short person, the one with hair the color of the sand where I pee and eyes the color of the ocean did not come back.  This short person is the one who rubs between my eyes while she reads her book, and who lets me lick her snout.  

Today the short person with food-colored-hair-and-eyes was tying up a ball in a long purple string.  I don't know why.  Also, I don't know why the sand-hair and ocean-eyes short person had to go away.  It was better before she went away.

Kids-at-Camp-Crisis: Day 1

Yesterday morning, Dara and Micha went off to camp, Micha for 4 days, Dara for 14.  As you can see from the picture, it's always most difficult for those who remain at the home front.  

Lox, RIP

This morning, we found Lox dead in his tank.  He was a good fish, while he still was a fish.  He brought much joy into the life of Tuna, and the rest of us.  He was also very playful, as you can see from the video below.  We'll miss his orange presence.  ברוך דיין אמת

Dancing Robot Dances Robotically

But the Warchaizer-Efron family is more than just humans, dogs, bunnies and fish. There is also a robot who cleans our house, makes us meals and does the laundry. But for all that he works, he is also happy, as this video shows.

Tuna & Lox, the Warchaizer-Efron Goldfish, Do Lunch

Using the most advanced techniques of wildlife documentary film-making, Micha managed to capture a rare conversation in-the-wild between his two goldfish, Tuna & Lox.

(c) All rights reserved by Michasoft, a division of HyperGlobalMichaNet, Ltd.

Roller Surfer

For Micha's ninth birthday (for which he had a science party), he got a present.  It happened to be that he was snooping around and before he got the present he somehow found the present in Abba's closet.  At the start, Micha didn't really want it.  Then Micha thought, I probably won't get anything better in the short time before my birthday, so I should probably just take this pretty cool roller surfer.  (For the downlow on roller surfers, see www.rollersurferusa.com)

At the start, Micha started by doing rolls from one side of the living room to the other side of the living room.  His first time, he learned how to push himself off from the ground, and how to turn a little.  After that, he started to roll outside.  At the start, Micha started to practice just going downhill.  Yet, eventually, he started to do all sorts of missions.  Like, "touch three leaves of a tree" or "touch three trees on each side" or "do a loop-de-loop".  And then, Micha one day started just from a roll down, yet one he turned around, he started to ride uphill and up and up.  Somewhere a quarter the way back, he stopped.  He practiced and practiced, and then reached the record of three whole laps with no stop.  

(c) All rights reserved by MICHACO, a subsidiary of MICHACORP, which is fully owned by Micha Industries

Brief message from Ella the Dog

All I ask is to be taken out four or five times a day, and would it hurt if I ate one stinkin' cat?  The place is lousy with 'em.  I'm just saying.

Micha Dreams of Money

   

("Cold cash is like blood running through our veins," says Micha)

 

 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

One day at camp, a day before it happened, they told us that we had to pick an imaginary nation.  We picked "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."  Each guy had to dress as a character or as chocolate, and to come with chocolate. 

At the start, Micha had an idea.  You just take a pan, put in the chocolate, take skewers, put marshmallow on the skewers, and then dip it in the chocolate and eat.  Yet what Noah said was: "Preposterous! Stupid! Crazy!". So Micha had another idea.  For this idea, Micha bought 46 Riesen candies:

And a big box of Kinder chocolates:

In the Kinder, Noah and Micha carefully opened two of the Kinders and put in each a "golden ticket":

The only way to get a whole, huge chocolate bar as a prize was to open the right kinder and find the golden ticket.

With the 46 Riesens, Abba cut a bottle in half, put them all in the bottle and then closed the bottle with tape.  The idea was that the person had to guess how much candies there was in the bottle, and if they were right, they would get the whole bottle filled with all the candy.  

We went to the AM-PM Market to get all the things.  We came back and by that time, Micha remembered that he had to dress as Charlie.  Yet Eema couldn't find anything in his big, messy closet of clothes that looked like Charlie.  Using some bandaids and dirt, Micha got close enough to Charlie.  But everyone else forgot to dress up like they needed to.  

At the sale, the kinders were all sold out and the golden tickets were found in the last two.  By the end all the candy was sold out.  Each bit, except the candy bottle.  The closest number to what they needed to guess was 46, which happens to be the exact number of candies in the bottle.  Twenty-seven people guessed, and the kid who won was some kid from handball.   After he won, we wanted to give him the prize, but we didn't know where handball was, so we walked in circles and circles and we went from one side to the other to the other and we asked all the people, even the people who were actually next to handball, and noone knew where it was until finally some guy found it.

At the end of the fair, we counted our money and the total was 360 fake dollars.  

Camp

To camp, we (that is, Micha) go on bus five, the bus we are always late to.  Once we get there, we go to a big sign that says "Comics" on it.  (Comics is my area of specialization, therefore my group is the comics kids).  At the start, you change clothes and go to the pool.  There you have free time. Micha can only go to the middle of the pool, not the deep end.  After that, everybody gets dry and we eat breakfast.  That is, either chocolate milk and a roll or cornflakes and a roll.  After breakfast, we go to our specialization.  We learn comics there.  Sometimes the teacher teaches a couple of stuff, but mostly you just draw comics and all kinds of stuff like that.  But not always.  One time, we even saw a movie.  Then we come back for activities.  At the end, the people that finish at 1:00 leave, and all the rest stay.  By that time, every day there is a different day.  By that I mean, one day there is a "survivor" day, when you do all sorts of cool missions.  One day, there is a color day.  One day, there was a sport day.  After all of that, we go back to our bus stop and leave on bus five and go back home.  

The Wii FIFA Game

In the Wii FIFA game, Micha (Manchester United) vs. Chen (Chelsey), the long game began.  The game had lots and lots of fouls made by Chen on Micha, and Micha just kept getting lucky.

"One time even, I stopped him, and the ball flew over to one of my players and I headed it by mistake and it went in my own goal, yet the game said 'offsides: goalie kick," said Micha

The game didn't have no goals till the extra time, and in the extra time, Micha, on the first half of the extra time got one goal.  And then after him, Chen got one.  At the end of the game, the game went to goalie kicks.  Chen with his major skills, didn't really know how to be the goalie.  Therefore, Micha got all of his goals.  Chen didn't know how to kick well either.  But he lucked out, and Micha only stopped one ball.  But that was enough to win the game.

Tense Shabbat Game of "Scrambled States of America" Leaves Dara Undisputed Winner

For reasons not easily explained, the weekly Shabbat game selected this week was "The Scrambled States of America", in which contestants compete to most quickly answer questions of geography, including the locations of States, their capitals and slogans.  Susan, who has superior grasp of such matters, was emcee.  (Noah, whose grasp is not superior, was judged an equal match to 8 year old Micha, who has never studied American geography and who reads English as a second language).  

In the event, Dara had almost to be bound and gagged in order for Micha or Noah to answer any questions at all.  By the end of the game, she had more points than both her competitors combined, much to Micha's consternation.  "It's really not fair, I mean really not fair," opined Micha.

Micha Draws Abba

(Note the bulked-up biceps)

Ayelet & Chen to View the Blog

Chen just called asking for the URL of the Warchaizer-Efron Family Blog.  This may be the beginning of a W-E Family Blog viewing craze.

Chen & Ayelet before viewing the blog

(For Illustration Only; Photo May Not be of Chen & Ayelet)

Micha Sees Kung Fu Panda for 2nd Time in a Week

Attending Barak's birthday party at the Azrieli Center, Micha was taken to see the movie Kung Fu Panda for the second time in a week.  This time, he'll be able to notice the subtleties.

She's Back!

Dara, Susan & Micha Watching the Cool Slide Show Micha Prepared for Susan's Return

We welcome Eema home with bananas

As always we decided to write a sign for the weary traveller coming home.  This time, Dara had a great idea: writing on bananas! Welcome home, Eema, we missed you and went bananas without you!

The New House Keeper Didn't Show!

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley," wrote Robert Burns in his poem, "To a Mouse."  You can say that again, especially the "Gang aft a-gley" part (which in the olden days meant "go awry").  The house cleaner that Noah arranged to come today, just in time to spruce up the place before Susan comes home, called this morning to say that her sister is sick in the hospital so she cannot come.  

High pitched cheers could be heard arising from the housefly colonies, now spread thickly throughout the living room and rumpus room.

Warchaizer Efron family end risk game without finishing it

After a very long and hard game (see risk game in blog for full information) Micha decides to end the game before it is over.

"We will never know who would have won." said Dara  immediately after the destruction of the game "but I think I had a great chance" (the last sentence was said sarcastically).

Susan's flying home

As we write these lines, Susan is probably passing through passport control in Newark, getting ready to come home.   It's been pretty nice in a lot of ways while she was gone, but deep inside we feel like this:

After she comes home, though, we're going to feel like this:

Watching the Gilmore Girls

Apres-la-burgers bar, which was apres-la-Wii-game, Merav, Ayelet and Dara relax with the Gilmore Girls.

 

Rachel may read the blog!

In a phone conversation from Columbia University, Noah told Rachel about the blog, and in all likelihood, she will view the blog soon!

Dara, Ayelet, Chen & Merav visit Burgers Bar

With 150 shekels in hand, the younger set went off to the Burgers Bar to buy an apres-la-Wii-game late lunch.

Phyllis & Stanley Coming to Visit Susan in Princeton

In just half an hour, Susan's mom & dad will be visiting her at Princeton University Medical Center.

Chen not in picture of people viewing blog!

Only seconds before he was in the room, yet somehow, he's not in the picture.  Weird!!!!

Ayelet & Merav Come; See the blog!

Ayelet, fresh from Italy (more or less), came to visit, and so did Merav, who hasn't been to Italy in lots and lots of months!

Dara & Chen play tennis on the Wii

Chen wins three straight sets.  Says Dara, "It's really not my fault."

Chen coming to visit!

After his whirlwind trip to Italy, Chen Schwartz is coming to visit Dara.  Among other things, he is escaping the eight Noam chums of Ayelet who have overrun his own apartment.

Susan in Lafayette Hill But has not Yet Seen the Blog

While Susan has now returned from bathing suit shopping to her parent's home, she has not yet seen the blog.  Hopefully it will happen soon! 

Susan and the French Horn

Dara went to music lessons with her friend Merav on Monday, and Merav's teacher told Dara that she had a perfect mouth to play the french horn.  Problem is, you cannot sing while playing the french horn, and with Dara, it's all about the singing.  In recounting this over Jajah to Susan, Susan let loose the bombshell that when she was younger she played the french horn.   Piano we knew.  Guitar we knew.  Flute, we knew.  But french horn?  Who knew?  

The Gift from Rachel

It's not a toy or a game or a book, but it possibly might be clothes.  What are we referring to?  Rachel's gift for Dara.

Buying Bathing Suits

Susan is on a mission to buy bathing suits for Dara, and she's got lots.  She's at Coles as we write this.  She's been to Target, and feels that she needs to move on, so that's how she ended up at Coles.  She's been to Marshall's already.  America is a great place to buy bathing suits in general, Susan feels, although finds this particular effort disappointing.

Missing Eema

Making money in Princeton is all good and well, but we would prefer to have Eema here with us.  The days without her have been long and sad and like a thousand daggers in our hearts and we miss her a lot.

The Risk Game

The Risk Game

All eyes where on the kitchen table as the big Risk Game began on Shabbat afternoon.  Dara, as always, tried to control Asia. Yet, Micha, her lovely brother, kept her from Asia, attacking her brutally from the very first turn, seeking revenge for sibling attrocities one might have thought had long ago been forgotten.  By Sunday, Dara's forces were weakened.  By that time, Abba controlled the most territories: three whole continents: Europe, S. America and N. America.  Micha, for his part, controlled Australia, Africa and had the fewest missions left.  

By Monday night, it seemed certain that Abba would win.  Micha even threw in the towel saying we should put away the game.  But Dara had other ideas.  She got ten reinforcements and with only twelve troops she beat Abba's multitudes, moving from territory to territory, eviscerating Abba.  It was a massacre.

Yet on Tuesday, the tide again turned for Abba.  He was about to win, for his last mission was simply to control any two islands.  At the start, Abba had Great Britain and Greenland Iceland.  In the second call, Abba had Japan and Great Britain and Iceland.  Each time, however, he was stripped of his Islands at the last minute.  This time, Dara captured one Island, and lent her cards to Micha, and this managed to save the game from the juicy clutches of Abba.  Micha got 18 reinforcements, thereby fulfilling one of his two remaining missions.  And the last one was the simple mission of gaining 5 reinforcements.  Suddenly it looked like Micha would win the game.

But Abba and Dara were not to be denied.  Abba swept through Micha's continents, so that on his next turn he received only three reinforcements.  Now Abba controlled three islands, and was poised to win.  Dara & Micha had one more chance to stop Abba from winning the game.  Dara hoped to give Micha reinforcement cards that would help him liberate islands from Abba.  But it was not to be.  The children only had two out of the three cards they needed, and therefore their only chance to win was in the card they would receive at the end of Dara's turn.  

But the fates were against them.  Dara received a card that could not be used to make a set.

At that moment, Micha said that he would not continue to play for another 99 years.  By then, Abba will surely be dead, and his countries and continents will have been inherited by the children.  For now, and for the next 99 years, the game remains on the kitchen table.