Aliyah – Year 2

I’m back!!  I should say we are back.  I didn’t expect not to blog at all during the summer.  I knew it wouldn’t be an every day thing like it is here but I thought I would have time at least on Fridays to catch up on the week that passed but in the end I got lazy and I was busy and I let it go.  So I will catch the blog up on the past 2.5 months quickly and then move on to what we are doing here now that we are back.

We had an amazing summer from start to finish.  At the Mandel’s the first month the kids really settled in very nicely.   They played with their Uncle Elie so nicely when we were there.  We went to the Intrepid Museum one Sunday which was nice but Ben was upset that he wasn’t able to climb on the airplanes like he can when we go to Latrun. 

We all had a great time at Camp Ma-Tov.  I made some great friends there with the other sports staff.  Keren really enjoyed the group that she was in, although it took some time for her to adjust and she did cry nearly every day when I dropped her off at first.  Ben learned how to swim in camp and he’s doing great.  I signed him up for a swim chug (the one that Talia took last year) and it starts already on Thursday of this week! 

Camp Moshava was a blast, as usual.  This year was more special for me b/c some close friends of ours who we never get to spend any time with were there second month for the first time since I’ve been there and we were able to hang out a lot.  Keren had a great time in her Peuton and by the end wasn’t crying when we separated.  Talia and Ben had a BLAST there, as usual!  Talia passed her deep water test there (and in Ma-Tov, as well) and was able to swim in the deep water.  She was very proud and we were proud of her too.  Also, it meant that during mishpachot swim time I was able to take 3 kids in with me instead of only 2 and I didn’t need anyone to watch Keren while I took the kids in with me.  What else can I say about camp other than it was AMAZING!

After camp we went to my parents’ house for the week.  They both cleared their schedules and spent an entire week with us.  We did a lot of fun things like the Aquarium, Splish Splash, mini golf, the beach and the pool.  I also got some last-minute shopping in that I was unable to get done while in camp.

The summer was also spent catching up with friends.  The first couple of weeks that we were in we made sure to see a lot of our friends.  It was really exhausting but really great to see everyone and catch up.

Leaving again was really hard.  It was kind of like making aliyah again but without all the hooplah.  I was wondering if  it was worth it as I watched Talia crying in the airport but as soon as we got here and I saw how happy she was to be here and how happy we all are to be back I knew it was worth it, no question about it.

The flight home was better than usual.  When we got on the plane we saw there were no individual TVs.  I didn’ t even know that existed anymore.  Talia started to freak out and frankly, so did I!  It wound up being great.  Ben and Keren both fell asleep before takeoff and Talia and I watched a movie together on the big screen and then we both slept as well.  Keren slept the entire flight until we landed and Ben slept until breakfast (2 hours before landing).  Talia was up a little earlier with me but she is easy and she took out her knitting (my mom taught her how to knit while we were there).

SO now we are home and we begin our second year.  We landed on Thursday and Eric did some food shopping while I unpacked and Talia and Ben watched a movie and Keren followed me around and discovered her toys and just wreaked her usual havoc pulling things out of drawers and making a mess.  I didn’t mention it before but while we were gone we loaned out our house to some newlyweds for a week and our neighbors, who set it all up, came in to prepare the house for them and found our fridge/freezer had defrosted!!  So we landed and had literally nothing in our fridge/freezer.  Luckily she was nice enough to clean it all out and it is now clean but kind of smells when you open the fridge.

Friday we thought we would go to the beach but Ben and I both have colds and we still had some tidying up to do so we didn’t go in the end.  I can’t even remember what we did do!  I know at some point Eric picked up take-out food for shabbat and I took to the kids to get haircuts which we couldn’t even get in the end b/c we needed an appointment (?)

Shabbat was great.  The kids had the best time.  Talia went to shul Friday night with Eric and played with her Israeli friends.  She came home and asked me how to say aquarium in Hebrew.  I told her it was probably the same word in Hebrew as it is in English and after consulting the dictionary we found out I was right.  Shabbat morning the kids all slept and slept and slept and I woke everyone up at 10. So I got some good reading in!  The kids and I missed shul and Eric came home and I walked Talia to her friend Rachel’s house where she was invited for lunch and where she spent the entire day.

I took a long nap on the couch and Ben fell asleep at some point too and Keren took  a nap in her crib and before we knew it it was 4pm and time to go to the park.  We all went (except Talia, who was still at Rachel’s house) and we had a really nice time.  Ben, who is afraid of getting lost all the time, disappeared for an hour just before Shabbat was over and we found him with 3 other kids playing in our backyard.  So I guess he is getting over his fear!

Today I slept until 11 b/c I was up until 4:30 last night after that nap I took on Shabbat.  Eric thinks it’s jet lag but it SO is not!  We did errands most of the day.  I was able to get Talia her t-shirts for school all by myself!!  I totally held my own with the long line of Israelis not letting anyone cut me in the line and ordering her shirts quickly and efficiently without freaking out. I was so proud of myself!!!  We got the kids’ haircuts after making an appointment on Friday.  Luckily Talia likes hers.  I asked the guy to cut off the dead ends and he did that plus he gave her some kind of long bang things in the front that I don’t remember asking for!!  Glad she likes them.  I hope that tomorrow when she has to put her hair up she doesn’t freak out that they won’t fit.   We also picked up her books from my friend who got them for me while we were in America.  It was at that time that Talia remembered leaving her chumash at the Mandels’ house in Riverdale.  So Eric will get that when he goes back after Rosh Hashanah.  How annoying?!  In the meantime I borrowed one. 

We  got the kids into bed nice and early tonight and I warned them that  tomorrow I will be waking them up early (before 10!!) because we are going to have to get up at 7 the day after that in order to get to school by 8.  I hope it works.  I also hope Talia and Ben don’t get out of bed a million times tonight like the past couple of nights.  It’s really more Talia than Ben but Ben has had a cold and now he’s feeling much better and I am sure he’ll sleep through tonight.

Okay.  So now we are all caught up!