Before the Big Event

Well, this is probably the last blog from me before the big invasion, I mean visit, of the whole family.  In case my mother has not told someone, my youngest son is becoming a Bar Mitzvah soon.  Which of course means that he has decided to grow much taller in the past month and another child is about to outgrow me  Oh well, we can't all stay 5'2" forever (unless you are one of my bitter daughters).

So anyway, preparations are in full swing.  Sort of.  Because I am not an over-planner in general.  We kept the Bar/Bat mitzvah simple in the USA, and we are keeping it simple here.  I did however, make sure the Bar Mitzvah boy himself has pants that are not three inches too short.  I am good like that.

Here is a nice flashback photo of that kid: (obviously he is not alone in this picture because, well, he is the youngest so he has never been alone.

I even shlepped my girls to Jerusalem to buy dresses because I was assured via Facebook that this was the store to go to, to be sure your teen walks out with a dress.  They were right and we did.


But more importantly, let us discuss a few funny things that have happened.

WORK
Because this is always an amusing topic.

Nurse from another department enters our unit
Her: hi, what is your name
Me: Arielle
Her: what?
Me: Arielle
Her: again?
Me: yeah, its Arielle but I cant say the letter Reish so it's hard
Her: umm, okay
Co-Worker: giggling next to me

This scenario repeats itself over and over,.  Unless of course they understand me on the first try and then proceed to call me Ariella forever!

I really should have chosen a work name when I made aliyah.

RAIN
We ave finally started to get some rain here which is always a welcome blessing.  Of course, I still like to pretend that it is 80 degrees Fahrenheit every single day.  Which led me to be waiting for the work van one day in short sleeves and sandals, and then needing to hop over the raging street river to get into the van.  The driver looked at me like I was an alien.  When he asked me why I am not dressed for the winter, I said, I am from NJ, this is not winter (as I shivered in my seat)  Because I will not admit defeat!!  It was more of a problem after work when the wind and my skirt had a fight and the wind won.

My dog apparently does not mind the rain.  My daughter insists on putting on her doggie jacket anyway but my dog doesn't seem to care.  She actually prefers getting a nice amount of muddy paw-prints in my house.  The joke is on you Goldie, because we have all tile floors!

DOG
Well yeah we have the cutest puppy ever.  And she is supposed to be a super smart breed but sometimes I wonder if we received the dunce of the litter.  Or more likely she is just stubborn like a few members of this family.  Either way, she has never met a stranger and acts like a bucking bronco when you take her somewhere fun.  And fun for her means basically everywhere.  Example:  yesterday I had to take her to the vet.  A few days earlier she had just been to the groomer which is next to the vet.  We came up the stairs and the vet and the groomer were sitting outside together.  Well, Goldie about lost her mind.  She jumped into the groomer's lap and basically digested her face.  Then we walked into the vet and she licked every part of the vet's face as well.  She loves them almost as much as she loves tuna fish.  Because she is part cat.  Anyway, Goldie is just fine.

LET'S WRAP THIS UP
Okay, this blog too me longer (as usual) so I need to wrap this up because the Bar Mitzvah invasion has already begun.

I shall end with a tidbit from this past shabbat.  As most of all of you already know, here in Israel, religious (and non religious and non Jewish, etc..) nurses work on Shabbat.  This is permitted as it is considered saving a life.  This is not the case in America in general for nurses, as Jews make up such a small percentage of the population.  Anyway, when I first started working this seemed so weird but now it is a more normal part of my life here in Israel. I mean, I won't say it is without its awkward moments, like taking a charedi father and newborn on an elevator to a different unit, but anyway that's a story for another time. 

This past shabbat I worked the Friday morning shift as I often do.  We have transportation to and from the hospital for all shifts (and non Jewish drivers on Shabbat).  It is getting to be winter now so shabbat starts very early.  I was dropped off by the van, just a few minutes after shabbat began.  I got off of the van, and could not see who was across the street that I was waiting to cross, as it was blocked by the van.

Once the van moves on, I almost walked right into none other than the Chief Rabbi of Israel.  Awkward Shabbat Shalom.

And with that, Shabbat Shalom to everyone!

Is anyone hungry?

Sometimes nothing interesting happens and I go longer between blogs.  And then also sometimes, lots of funny things happen so I have new blogs in my head.

FOOD

Let us begin with food, because why not?  In case you were wondering, Israel is neither lacking food, nor is it lacking kosher food, nor kosher restaurants.  I could go on and on, but I will cut to the chase.  It is dangerous here in Israel.  I mean, every type of kosher food and it is all so nearby!  Be aware before you move here, you will need to be trained to be on the lookout for suspicious restaurants and neighbors trying to feed you!  Also, our mall has a new restaurant in the food court (which by the way, has all kosher restaurants in the food court).  Anyway this new restaurant is a Mexican food place.  I have heard it is pretty decent.  But I also heard that they make margaritas, a drink that is oddly hard to find in Israel.  Well, one day last week I was at the mall with my kids shopping for shoes and we decided to get dinner from a sandwich place at the mall.  On my way out I spied the Mexican restaurant, and in a moment of boldness I walk up and only order a margarita.  After being asked for ID because I obviously look to be under age 18, I get my delicious frozen margarita.  Ole!

DATE NIGHT (aka more food)

We have been trying to go out with friends of ours for a while.  But between my work schedule and her husband's travel schedule it has not worked out.  But finally, a date was agreed upon and we decided to head to this totally awesome restaurant which is close by.  You might remember it from my reports on the Summer 2017 restaurant crawl, AKA what we do when our kids go to tzofim camp.  This restaurant is basically a giant all you can eat BBQ.  Literally they have barbecues set up behind the restaurant and they cook whatever they have decided to purchase or prepare that day.  It is at least 5+ salads and 10+ types of meat.  Did I mention the beverages?  They brew their own beers and serve two types of wine and of course, sodas and such.  Now this place is not cheap, but it is all inclusive, so don't feel badly about ordering a drink (oh, is that something only I feel guilty about?)  (You'll basically never see me order a drink or allow my kids to order a drink.  I am weird like that)

Perhaps I should mention what this restaurant looks like.  When we went in 2017, it was basically a giant covered patio.  Now it has walls but still retains its outdoors rustic look.  Its also just sort of plopped into the middle of a little town/village.  You drive in, pass a few houses and then park wherever.  But when you walk into the place, you get a nice surprise that this little gem actually has probably the best service I have received in a restaurant in Israel.  So don't be turned off that it's a bit rustic.

Anyway, we arrive a bit late because life with four teens can be unpredictable.  Our friends had already become besties with the owners/managers of the restaurant.  And the food had already started arriving.  I honestly have no idea what we ate, except that it was everything.  Like, we ate all of the things.  I definitely had liver, heart of something, lots of interesting kebabas, ribs, sausages, other types of steak things, chickens, etc..  The atmosphere is super fun and even though we are all old people (just ask our collective 8 kids) we managed to keep having fun and hanging out until they actually closed the entire restaurant around us.  So, if you are in Israel, like meat and beer and want to try a fun place,head to BishiQ HaMivshala.  And no, they did not pay me.  I actually paid them.

SCHOOL FOOD

Now onto a different type of food (I mean, lets be honest, this is a country where everyone wants to feed you) SCHOOL FOOD.
As you may or may not know, the entire country of Israel is basically run by WhatsApp groups (joking, sort of)  There is a WhatsApp group for everything.  I am in one for 3/4 of my kids classes.  Thankfully to of those kids groups are just for the teachers to send class messages and the parents cannot type anything.  Then comes my 4th child.  I am in a group for his class and a group for his grade.  And in a group for a special school program he does.  Because apparently I need to know everything.  The main topics of discussion are food.  Like, why don't we have a meal plan?  Then once the meal plan began, so did the complaints.  Why are we all surprised that during the first few days of a school lunch program, there is chaos???  My kids have been to school before.  Every new thing usually begins with chaos.

Maybe I am heartless because I did not sign up y kids for this meal plan because I know
#1 they would still need to pack food for the 10:00 snack
#2 the food usually isn't great
#3 it's expensive
#4 I do not need one more form to stay on top of

So I was so surprised when I began getting the frantic WhatsApp messages
#1 there was chaos
#2 there was not enough food
#3 the food was not good
#4 what can we do?

I texted a friend who has lived her for about fifteen years, to ask if I am too laid back or what the heck?  She said, oh Israelis and food, they get a little crazy.

Fast forward to the class trip last week.  The boys (this is 7th grade) went away for two days, AKA one night.  The instructions on the permission slip said they needed to pack breakfast and lunch for the first day.  My son also came home with instructions for what he was assigned to bring for the dinner BBQ (sliced onion, lettuce and a can of pickles in case you were wondering).  Well, apparently some of the parents were convinced that after breakfast and lunch the first day, no one would eat again for the next day.  The WhatsApp messages began, with tons of questions about food, where they would sleep, what if it rained, etc...  I am like, ummmm, the school will provide food guys. (Okay this was in my head, I usually do not jump into the WhatsApp unless necessary)  I text my same friend again to ask, what in the world?  Is everyone in his class a first born?  A I too chill because he is my 4th?  Am I too chill because I don't understand the messages?  Or am I too trusting?  Nah.  I trust his teacher and his school to return him back to me alive, smelly and dirty.  And that is basically what happened. He came back dirty, smelly and with a huge smile.  So let us all calm down and not worry so much that our kids will starve.  Because let's face it.  Half of those kids (at least) had their phones.  If they were hungry they would call and in a flash, some Jewish mother/father would be drive go Jerusalem with Schnitzel for 30 kids.


SCHOOL TRIPS

And that brings me to the next topic.  My kids take the coolest school trips.  Two weeks ago my eldest went on a five day trip.  Last week my girls went on a three day trip and at the same time, my youngest went on a two day trip.  I should add that all of  these trips are included in the school fees we pay, the school does not request extra money for this.  My girls went on a trip to the north, My eldest went on a trip all around Israel and the little guy went to Jerusalem, but not into the Old City.  They all came back after having lots of fun, lots of hiking and after eating lots of sandwiches.  No one ever called me to tell me they were hungry :-)

FUN ADULT TRIP DAY

And their trips allow for another nice little perk of Israel.  I call it, "Hey the kids are all on trips so the adults should take a day off for a fun day." Okay, in reality only 3/4 of the kids were on trips, but the last remaining child at home barely notices me unless he needs food (you know who you are!) and I was not scheduled to work that day.  So hubby took a vacation day, we dropped the dog off at the dog sitter and headed up north to a Winery and Restaurant.

Anyway, we get to the winery and check in for our tour.  I thought we'd have our own little private tour since it was mid-day on a weekday.  Nope, it was us old people and a group of like 10 girls who seemed to be on a bachelorette trip.  They were so cute.  This place pairs their wines with delicious chocolates.  I am still not a wine connoisseur but I do love chocolate.  Also, I am not picky about that.  All in all, a fun tasting and tour.  Then we ate lunch in their restaurant because we had heard lots of good things. Seems like a nice romantic day, right?  Well yeah, except after eating we spent like two hours discussing Bar Mitzvah plans and trying to juggle the needs of everyone coming from abroad for the Bar Mitzvah.

In the end, the kids all had great school trips, and the boy returned home dirty and happy and the girls returned home with tons of stories about the trip.  No one starved and no one was left out in the rain.

SHOPPING

When my kids were little, they were like, really little. Except my eldest, but even he didn't grow that quickly.  Like, my girls would wear the same clothing for over a year, same with shoes.  I did not understand what people meant when they said they were always having to buy clothing.  Well, the joke is on me guys.  I now have two teenage girls who always claim they don't have any clothing.  Well, one complains about it and one refuses to wear anything new (you know who you are).  And my younger son is prepared for any sudden flooding,  His pants will not get wet.  Eldest child has plenty of clothing but likes to tell me he needs clothing.  Dude, first we handle the kid in flood pants.

Anyway, I woke up one day and decided that today was the day I would take myself shopping.  So after texting ten friends to get advice, I headed off to this outlet mall sort of place.  It's possible that I have been there before and it is also possible that I still got lost finding it.  You'll never know.  Anyway, I find success in the second store.  Bought myself a dress for my child's bar mitzvah.  I even asked if it was on sale, and the owner seemed slightly offended and told me, it just arrived last week, the designer only made five of these, it is very special.  But okay, I will give you 10% off.  Okay then.

Then last week, after again interviewing friends about where to take my teen girls shopping for the bar mitzvah, we head into Jerusalem.  Now, in case you do not know me that well, here are a few facts.

#1 I work in Jerusalem every day
#2 But I try to never drive there, work provides transportation
#3 When I do have to drive, I slightly freak out about parking
#4 So for me to drive my girls to Jerusalem after school was huge
#5 I was desperate to find dresses on the first try

Anyway, after interviewing one friends who seems to know how and where to park everywhere in Jerusalem, I am armed with a plan.  We head straight for the parking garage because yeah, I will pay money not to stress over parking.  I find a sweet spot (aka, I could back in without much difficulty) and we hike back to the store.  And, after many bored faces by my girls, we eventually find dresses.  Here is my current secret to having teenage girls and living in Israel.  Pay any price if it fits and they like it.  Also, the dresses cost less than I had assumed.

I guess soon I need to shop for the bar mitzvah boy.


WORK

Well,  continue to really like my job.  I still have a lot to learn, but I do feel more confident, usually.  Generally until I have to answer the phone.  Seriously the phone is my nemesis.  There are basically three types of calls.
#1 Parents calling to check on their babies.  No problems there, I either am taking care of their baby or I hand the phone to the nurse who is.
#2 People calling but getting the wrong department.  Usually no problem until they ask me to connect them elsewhere and I'm like, well that's above my skill level.
#3 People who really need us, like the delivery room calling for us, someone looking for the doctor, some other unit needing our supplies, etc..

Those are the calls that are really hard for me.  I have trouble understanding Hebrew on the phone because it is usually so fast because there is some urgency or because people just speak quickly.  If anyone else is available I ask them to answer, but often it is me closest to the phone.  Hopefully this will improve with time. For now I keep asking people to repeat themselves.

I love the babies so much, even when they spit up on me or it comes from the other end and I need to change uniforms mid shift.  I still love them.  I love when they smile in their sleep, I love teaching them English (okay, I mean I speak to them in English so I assume it is good for their brains) and I love helping their parents learn how to hold them and care for them.  I also love when I occasionally get an English speaking family.

I am starting to learn the names of all of the doctors, and I have mastered most of the names of the nurses.  I mean, someone I call a Rahel, Rivka, and when all else fails, I can just yell out Michal because that is the most common name.  I have also learned that the plural of Michal is not Michalim or Michalot, it is Michaliot.  So there is that!  Work comes with grammar lessons.  I have even learned how to sort of pronounce my name while causing the last amount of confusion.  I cannot say the R like Israelis do and considering my age, that is not likely to happen.  But I have learned how to say it so that they usually understand me.


OTHER STUFF

Okay this has already been really long so I will finish up.

I attended a huge challah bake with my girls.  It was so fun and so fun to be there with so many of my friends that I have been lucky enough to meet since starting our life over here.  And my favorite mayor came to speak so I might have taken a selfie on the sly.  Sort of like how I took a selfie with Bibi two years ago.

Our youngest had his first time putting on tefillin and we chose to celebrate it at school.  His classmates were adorable, his teacher seems to know how to handle all of those boys and it was just a fun morning.

We voted in our first Israeli election.  After some confusion (obviously) we found the correct location and room.  At our polling place in NJ, all of the poll workers were well over 70 years old and always seemed suspicious when I would stuff my kid with me into the voting booth.  This time, we did not take our kids, but almost everyone else did.  And the poll workers were all like 25 year old guys.  And outside of the polling place, a mom was stumping for her son.  Nice Jewish mother touch!

It has arrived! (after the chagim that is)

Basically, everything in Israel begins acharei hachagim, AKA after the holidays.  That means basically that noting happens here from about mid August until sometime in October. At least nothing administrative happens, nothing with school is set, etc..

Yes, that is a sukkah at the beach

And I was so excited that on the Tuesday after the holidays, the kids would go back to school and I would be able to start getting into a better routine with work, family and puppy.  But oh no.  Even though the holidays here ended Monday night, school does not begin until Wednesday.  Sigh. One more day....  Currently my kids are fighting over laundry or something similar, whatever teens like to fight about.

Although technically, one child goes back to school at 3am tonight, aka he has a school trip that leaves from school at 3am.  Well, once I heard that time, I pulled an Israeli move.  I asked him to text his teacher (who lives on the street next to us) and ask him for a ride at 3am to school.  So he did and hopefully that all works out.  Because I am not a pleasant taxi driver at that time of night.  I can pretty confidently say that

#1 - in our old schools in America, you don't text the teacher.
 #2 you don't ask the teacher for a ride

Update, since I have been working on this blog for a while.  The teacher then decided to walk to school at 2am, and told Eli they could walk together.  But because my son is more Israeli than I will ever be, went on his class Whatsapp group to ask for a ride.  And he got one.

Sukkot:
As usual I had big plans for all of the fun stuff we would do over the holiday break.  But then real life got in the way, such as work, needing to cook, etc..  We did manage one day at the beach.  Except the waves were the biggest I have ever seen in Israel, the black flags were out all day (no swimming) and everyone near us was smoking on the beach.  The fun highlights were:

#1 intense frisbee game
#2 a random dog joining that game

#3 eavesdropping on a conversation where they said the word Jachnun (type of food) about 20 times in one minute
#4 hearing the lifeguards repeatedly getting on the speakers yelling to get out of the water
#5 why do people think underwear is a bathing suit?

Even though we did not have many sukkot adventures, we still had fun.  My girls have been teaching the hubby how to cook.  Now that I am working and my hours are always weird, they have all had to step up and take over for me sometimes.  We also hosted a kiddush in our sukkah because we did it last year and it was fun, so why not?

And we also kicked off the girls' birthday month with a breakfast at a restaurant in a sukkah of course. 

School!!!

Have I mentioned yet how nice it is that school is back in session?  I can finally feel like my weird schedule at least gives me a bit of time alone.  Of course, what do I do on basically their first day back?  I schedule a meeting with their teachers since I cant make back to school night.  Oh well, eventually I will get some free time.

Extracurricular Activities AKA Chugim

Yes, every year I say, we are only going to do a few activities this year, let's keep it low key.  And then somehow I get myself into a pickle.

Let me begin with a recap of our life in the USA:  Until we began homeschooling we did very few extras.  They all did baseball which was a few months once a week or so.  Once the girls took ballet at a community program, but it turned out that one just wanted to twirl in the back of the room alone and well, I let her do that for free at home.  So that was short lived.  Once we did swimming but that was a huge pain with all of the kids.  And finally, we settled on taekwondo.  Between their longer school hours and the cost of their schooling in the USA, we did not have time, money or energy for activities.

So this years schedule:

Boy #1 - scouts and guitar, but studying for a special school certificate in guitar so it will take up a lot more time I assume (he already spends all of his free time with the guitar anyway)

Girl #1 - scouts, taekwondo x2, one class locally and one on the team in Jerusalem.  Hopefully she gets to travel this year if she keeps working hard.  Remind me that I said hopefully when I come here to complain about her travelling.

Girl #2 - scouts and Netball and a special computer course

Boy #2 - this is apparently my activity addict
scouts, taekwondo, guitar and art classes and a once a week day away from school for some other classes run by the city

He also wanted to do gymnastics because apparently it is his lifelong dream to learn how to flip.  But all of the gymnastics classes are twice a week and we do not have the time.  I told him maybe next year?  Because I also thought art classes were his lifelong dream.  It is hard to keep up with the dreams.  Also, I wish he would just take Flamenco dancing because honestly I think he would do really well.  But oh well.  Maybe next year.

Obviously the dog needs a selfie at well

Work:

Work is good and I am still enjoying the job.  But I think I have lost my understanding about the size of a normal baby.  The other day I picked up a baby who was about 7 lbs and I was like, whoa, chubby, slow down on the milk intake!  It will be another shift for me when they start training me for the more acute unit,.  SO far the smallest baby I have held is probably 2.5 lbs +.  But eventually I will work with the smaller and sicker babies.  For now though, I am very happy with my job and I am so glad I decided to pursue my dream here in Israel.

Every day I speak Hebrew basically for 8.5 hours at work, but yet I still fear making phone calls in Hebrew.  I have no idea why.  I assume I will get over that one eventually.  Please say yes.

Well, that is all for now.  I guess it is good that nothing too crazy has happened to us recently.  I am sure it will not be long until something strange occurs.

Bar Mitzvah

And in case you haven't heard from my mother, my youngest son's bar mitzvah is coming up.  Let me know if you'll be in Israel just before Chanukah.  Or just let me know if you will be in Israel at all.  Flights go in and out every day of the week (ElAl only six days a week)We would love to see you and probably will try and convince you why you should live here. 

Summer has come and gone

I would love to say that I have not had time to write because we were busy being Israeli and vacationing all of August.  I mean, you are welcome to think that. But...

The reality was that we were busy being crazy people this summer and while we did sneak in a few short trips, we were mostly working, staying out of the heat, sending kids to various camps, working and occasionally, sleeping.  In the air conditioning of course.  It is still really hot here.

Work Update:

Well, I am still so happy that I switched jobs.  I really love working in the NICU.  I finished my training, so now I usually only ask approximately 20 questions per shift instead of my previous 50.  I love the work that I do, even when every baby is crying and I am trying my best to keep up with what everyone needs.  I love dressing the babies in the stash of preemie clothing we keep there.  And I love it when the parents come in and they see their babies in real baby clothing and not naked in an incubator or in the hospital issued baby clothing.  I still struggle with the language a lot.  But the parents are almost always very understanding and helpful.  Hopefully my Hebrew will continue to improve because next, I want to study Arabic.

What I don't love: I don't love the part of my job which involves caring for babies that are born with fatal conditions.  It was not really an aspect I thought about.  I knew there would be babies that would not make it because of their size or they were born too early.  But so far I am only working on the step-down unit so I have not dealt with the teeny babies yet.  It is hard not to get too attached to babies that we have for months and months, especially if they do not have any visitors.  So I just do my best to give them and their parents the best care that I can while we can. But that is definitely hard.

Summer plans:

Everyone had a different schedule this summer. One worked at a Judaica Store.  He has learned the lesson that work can be really boring and you have to work a lot to make money.

One child was home all summer aside from the week at tzofim camp and the week of netball Maccabiah.  She learned that she likes to pass her time with baking.

One child was at Hacker camp, tzofim camp and then two weeks of surf camp.  Israel is cool.

One child was at Hacker camp for most of the summer, save one week of tzofim camp and two weeks of being at home bored camp.

Both boys had a guitar concert which was really fun.  But the funniest picture I got was when I was taking a picture of the vice mayor, sort of on the sly.  One child was less than pleased.

Family Trips:

One day, I had the brilliant idea that we should all go camping on the night of this huge meteor shower.  And we should take the dog.  And we should do all of this at the beach.  So we did.  It was basically a comedy.  First, the dog was having too much fun.  Our puppy is kind of overly friendly and wants to lick everyone.  She is offended if you don't come over and give her belly rubs.  So while she loved the beach, she couldn't chill.  So after a few frantic texts, hubby drover her back to a friend to keep for the night.

Then all went really well.  Kids played in the water, I took fun pictures, we ate delicious food and we did some stargazing.  Or sort of searching for stars behind clouds, because during the big meteor shower night, it was cloudy and we saw basically nothing.  I saw one shooting star and one child saw two.  But anyway, we were having a fun family time...until it was time to go to sleep.

I was under the impression that once it got dark, it would cool off.  Umm, I am quite sure that it got hotter out.  I could not sleep at all.  Four family members were sort of sleeping and one daughter and I could not sleep at all.  So after a few hours of sweating and not sleeping, I woke up everyone at 2am and we packed everything up and came home.  Camping fail!!!


The next family trip was better.  This one was heading down south to Mizpe Ramon to do stargazing and see the Machtesh Ramon which is a giant crater, of a type that exists only in Israel.  This time I was smarter and made reservations at a youth hostel.  After a long drive down, where us generous parents let them buy whatever junk they wanted at the gas station, we arrived in time to watch the sunset in the Crater. 

My choice was ice cream and Arak

We asked for directions at the youth hostel and they sent us to a great space to take pictures.  But they also said, there is water there but do not go in, it has been standing already for four months.  No problem, we weren't about to go into water anyway.  We arrive at said spot, and what do we see?  Tons of Israelis not only in the water but with inner tubes and arm floaties for the kids. Guess no one warned them or they didn't care.  We were satisfied with looking around and taking pictures.  I learned while there, that I am too short and not skilled enough to take cool jumping pics like my kids and husband do.  I need to practice.

We finished off the night by attempting to see another stargazing event that night "downtown" in Mizpe Ramon.  But again it was too cloudy so we ended up just wandering around, having a few snacks (of course) and watching my eldest join a Wii Just Dance Party that was him and twenty pre-schoolers.

The next day included a decent youth hostel breakfast, a visit to the Ramon visitors center and more awesome pictures.  I have been to the visitors center before but now it is also based on the Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.  The museum is really great and because it is a national park, it is reasonably priced.  Then rush back home because it was a Friday, buy shabbat food, get the dog and relax.  A great end to the summer.

Teenagers love early wakeups

Don't fall backwards kids

Alone:

Okay, the next week began with hubby flying off to NY for work.  He doesn't really travel for work but he had some sort of event, not 100% sure (okay to be honest, he has been at the same company for 18 years and I still don't really understand his job)  I just know that I love his company.  So he flies off while I am at at work.  The kids are home alone with the dog.  I am working overnight.  I get a text around 11pm, that one daughter went to the laundry porch (our laundry is outside) and a big fat mouse was staring at her.  But I shouldn't worry because she isn't afraid.  I just tell her to shut the door and I will investigate tomorrow.  No big deal.  Then I start getting texts at 1am that the same daughter thinks the dog has an ear infection because she wont stop barking and scratching her ear.  I come home from work at 8am, and take the dog to the vet, where yes, she does have an ear infection.  Fun times giving the dog ear drops.

Let me just say, I did come home and look for the mouse.  It wasn't hard to find since it was peering out at me.  Ugh.  Aren't there enough cats in this country??  We set a trap and just didn't do laundry while the hubby was away.  Because I didn't want that little guy getting into my house.  Fun times!  We survived, he came home and the mouse has not been spotted again.  Hopefully some cat enjoyed him.  We did however, name him Gus-Gus.


Back to School:

Finally, the first day of school rolled around.  I asked not to work that morning so that I could be around for it.  Everyone was groaning about the first day but I was doing a happy dance.  I took the usual pictures, made sure they had their bus passes and waved goodbye.  Then I sat alone with a sleeping dog and drank coffee. But with the Jewish holidays, they have had one week of school and now they are basically off for a month give or take.  In that one week, here is what has happened:

#1 went to the opening day ceremony and saw my favorite Mayor

#2 went to another opening day ceremony and was one of five parents there

#3 the five of us there received a blessing from the principal
#4 the boys school had a fire (everyone was fine)
#5 so my boys had a half day
#6 city bus full of high school girls got into an accident with another city bus (everyone was also fine)
#7 my girls were on that bus and called me like it was no big deal
#8 I took them for ice cream, because what else do you do when your girls call and tell you that?
#9 snagged lockers at the boys school.  if you've read my previous blogs you'll see that lockers are a key element of back to school
#10 and yes, the microwaves have arrived in school, phew.  All is right in the world

Finally:

Well, the chagim have arrived, earlier than usual.  I am thankful for so many things, but especially for being blessed to able to live where I live, for having a big family who keeps things exciting, for our health and safety and for the feeling of safety we have here.  I am thankful for my dream job even when it is hard.  And I am thankful for my husband who is awesome in every way and who keeps me calm, especially when I call him and inform him that when he comes home the first thing he needs to do is investigate a mouse situation.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a wonderful year ahead.  And if you made aliyah this year and joined us, well wouldn't that just be the cherry on top???