So -- we went to the synagogue for Purim this evening. (See below for more of an explanation.) It was noisy and crowded, but great. We assume Avi had a good time by the way he was smiling, clapping his hands, and otherwise keeping himself occupied.

This is a picture of Avi in costume holding his mom's hand and carrying a gragger (noisemaker) in the other. Avi's great-aunt and great-uncle gave him the penguin suit as a present when he was born; he finally fits into it just right. It was amazing seeing him walk around -- practically waddling -- on his own!

as you can see, there's a Superman in the background. The kids all had a great variety of costumes ranging from the traditional characters in the Purim story (Queen Esther, Mordechai, et al) to the offense of the New England Patriots to NASA astronauts -- and even one baby dressed up as an ear of corn! Many adults were dressed up as well.

Which brings us to the monstrosity that is my costume: True, the picture doesn't look all that 70s at first glance, but keep in mind that (a) that is my real hair on my head and face, (b) the collar of my shirt don't show as wide as they did in person, (c) my hair was much more 70s at the beginning of the evening, and (d) we didn't have enough time to find lots of ugly gold chains, a vest or platform shoes.

I still find this weird enough to be intriguing. Hell, I've decided to go into work on Monday with the moustache, hair and outfit -- just to mess with people's heads. (Besides, Kate said she needed proof that I would go through with all of this.) Chances are I'll shave and get a haircut early next week as I've needed a haircut for a while. This time I'm going to let it go back to its natural dark brown.

Possibly the weirdest moment through all of this was when I had shaved and showed the result to Kyra for the first time. She said she liked it. She really liked it, if you catch my drift. Ew! I mean, it's absolutely fine if she finds something complimentary she can say about me, but looking like Rob Reiner from his "All In The Family" days? No. It gives me a bit of this oogy feeling. <shudder>

All that being said -- isn't the boy adorable? I'll post more pictures to aviphotos.com when I get a chance.

Finishing up on a somber note: a water taxi capsized in Baltimore's Inner Harbor this afternoon -- one confirmed fatality, three are still missing. We were just up there two weeks ago and even felt the strong winds walking along the water. My thoughts are with those affected by this -- such a shocking surprise for friends and family everywhere.