Fathers

Aaron and Adira got to enjoy their first Father's Day together yesterday. They spent a couple of hours in the afternoon bonding and then we all went out to dinner for the special day and as a slightly belated Anniversary Present. Though the days are very hallmarky it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to celebrate Mother's and Father's day this year. Adira is also making every moment enjoyable and she begins to interact more and more with her surroundings and strengthening her own abilities.

Enjoy the pic of the loving father and daughter.

Yom Yerushalayim

This past Sunday night began Yom Yerushalayim (aka Jerusalem day). We decided some celebratory activities were required and headed to town. We first stopped off near Kikar Safra to get some dinner and planned to take in some of the music show they were having there. We arrived at the square at a lull in the music, however, the moment they started Adira jumped - they had the speakers so cranked up there was no way we could stay there. We took a couple of pictures of the scene and headed to the next stop. We walked to the kotel and met up with a number of the girls from the school. We took some time to just reflect that before 1967 we would not have been able to stand in this place. the energy and excitement at the Wall was incredible - there was dancing and singing, marching and flag waving. We stayed for about an hour - saying some prayers, taking in the scene and just reflecting. We then took the No 2 bus home whose route crosses over areas of Jerusalem that were either under Jordanian control or no man's land prior to 1967. Adira enjoyed her first trip to the Kotel and even woke up a little bit to smile for the camera.

Our Visit to the US

So yesterday we stopped in to the US - our apologizes for not getting in touch with everyone, but it was actually only a 20 minute cab ride from our place (though the jet lag is horrible). We went to the US Consulate to officially register Adira's birth, apply for her passport and social security number. Hopefully within 2 weeks she'll be fully in the US system, ready for our flight home next month. She was really cooperative - slept through almost the whole thing and then gave a nice big smile to the agent when he was verifying that she's the girl in the picture. We were so proud of her, we took her out for ice cream (ok, maybe we just said we would).

Next year in...

Silver Spring

I have accepted a job and we will be heading back to the Greater Washington area at the end of July. To our readers in Chicago: We will miss being with you and with family. The consolation prize is that we will be in Chicago for the month of July.

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.

Just Because...

she looks so cute we had to share (sorry you have to turn your head a little). This week has been relatively quiet, though we are looking forward to an exciting week next week - passport appointments, dress fittings and lag b'omer.

Spike?...Is that you Spike???

This post is going back a few weeks already now but we've been busy and haven't had time to post all the exciting things in chronological order. We went to Neot Kedumim during chol hamoed. We met our friends the Lennons in Modi'in and then cabbed it the rest of the way. The park is a large area filled with floral, fauna, and exhibits. The neat thing about the park is that it connects the different species of plants with the passages in the Tanach and Mishna (similar to the biblical zoo in Jerusalem for those who have been).
We had fun but we picked a bad day to go. It was probably 95 degrees that day and we felt like we could barely walk around the park. So we spent a lot of time sitting in the shade. At one point I got up to use the bathroom and as I opened the door to the outhouse, all of a sudden this guy in the picture runs right at me.

I cornered him just to get a good picture but then he made a break for it. My family used to have a bearded lizard as a pet (same type as picture) and his name was Spike. He was a good pet even when he developed scoliosis in his spine. If it wasn't for the heat I might have gotten a little sentimental.
We found a water spout and I doused myself in water to cool down. Oh man did that feel good!

Last Week in Review

So we are a little behind on our postings, but we'll do our best to catch everyone up. Last week we rented a car to head up north and take a mini vacations for a couple of days. We headed to Kibbutz Lavi as our base - a nice hotel with a really nice breakfast buffet. The first evening we went to a restaurant called Pagoda, which is exactly what it sounds like. The food was good, but you really go for the atmosphere - the whole building is an ornate pagoda right on the shore of Lake Kinneret.



The next day we headed to the tip of Israel - Rosh Hanikra. Located right on the Mediterranean and the border with Lebanon, Rosh Hanikra has these amazing grottos that have been created over the years. The day was gorgeous and the sights were beautiful. After doing some signtseeing there we drove down the shore a little bit to a beach to have a picnic lunch. After that we headed back east to Tsipori. It is an archeological site of a city that because they didn't revolt against the Romans their city was not destroyed and there are these amazing mosaics floors that have been preserved.
That night we headed back to Tiberias to go out to dinner again, but were met with a brick wall. The next day was Holocaust Remembrance Day, and since a lot of towns/cities have their commemoration events on the eve of all the restaurants were either already closed or in the process of closing. Luckily, our hotel had a dinner buffet so we rushed back to the Kibbutz to catch dinner there. We probably should have just started there in the beginning, the food was so good. It was also a nice environment since all these people kept on looking over at Adira and smiling. A couple of ladies even stopped us on our way out to coo over her.

The following day we headed back to Tiberias to a nice lookout point over the city and the Kinneret. We then drove around a little bit to visit some of the grave-sites of some of the Talmudic and Biblical scholars. Next we went to go to the Switzerland Forest for some lunch and relaxation before we headed back to Jerusalem. I decided to follow a sign for the forest that put us on a dirt road. This would have been ok except we were driving a car called the Nissan Micro, and it was micro. However, turning back seemed like it might have been worse, so onward we went and luckily it ended soon enough - at a gorgeous lookout point. When we finally reached the forest it was basically deserted and we had the place to ourselves, counting people. There were a lot of horses and cows right nearby. We enjoyed the fresh air and relaxing environment away from all the city noises. We then rushed to Haifa to try and catch the Bahai Gardens before they closed. After getting lost around the city, we were really excited to get to the entrance 20 minutes before they closed. Only to find out that they were actually closed for the whole week due to the Bahai annual convention. We got some great pictures anyway, and maybe another time we'll get inside to actually walk around.

It was a great trip and really exciting to see some new things and places that neither of us had been to before. The weather was perfect and with the spring time everything was in bloom. Hopefully we'll have the opportunity for some other little mini trips before we head back to the States.