Bye Bye Bubs and Pops

On Sunday morning Jordy went to camp and Danya was home since she has a week off in between 2 different camps. Bubs and Pops took her to Yerushaliam for most of the day. They returned in the afternoon and hung out at home. Bubs even taught Danya to clean windows!
I went to get Jordy from camp but he ended up going to a friends for a playdate. Danya then drove with Bubs and Pops to the Modiin Miracle game and Josh and I picked Jordy up a little later and joined them. Unfortunately Danny's team lost but we went Sunday night because my in-laws were sponsoring dinner for the players. They had arrange with Burgers Bar(who does the concessions) to have dinner for all the guys after the game(Danny had been telling us how bad the food was so my in-laws decided they could use a decent meal).


There was a sushi for those who didn't want to eat meat due to the days and Jordy tasted his first sushi(and then he slipped off the bleacher and his foot went into the sushi tray spilling soy sauce all over my face and shirt-Jordy survived but the same can't be said for the sushi). The Kleimans stopped by to say hello at BBQ while all the guys were eating. We got home very late, gave the kids quick showers and went to bed. On Monday morning after Jordy went to camp Bubs, Josh, Danya and I went to Mini Israel. It is pretty close to us but we had never been there. It was pretty cool. Danya was kind of bored but she did like seeing things she knew like Rosh Hanikra that we went to on Pesach or the Great Synagogue that we were at just a week ago. Danya also remembered the Bahai Temple that we saw in Haifa-can you tell which is mini and which is real???


We also got to see the Charmon, which we didn't make it to the time we went there because there was too much traffic. We got home around 2 and we were hot and tired. We prepared dinner for the fast(by we I mean Bubs). We had a great dinner of salmon, potatoes and salad and then of course an even better of an egg/ashes sandwich-yum! Tisha B'av was ok. It was hot out so we hung out at home. The kids played nicely most of the morning. After giving them lunch we watched the movie Chicken Little as a family. Then Bubs and I took the kids to "the fun place" which we now know is called Eretz Nehedaret. This was the place in Modiin where they have all sorts of climbing activities,mini-roller coaster and jumping castle. The kids had a great time and it kept them entertained for hours.
Josh called asking if we could pick up pizza to break the fast on, so we stopped on our way back. We gave the kids dinner and Jordy went right to bed. Then we all ate and felt much better! Danya then had to say goodbye to Bubs and Pops since they were leaving at the crack of dawn. Danya then had a meltdown and couldn't stop crying because she was so sad that Bubs and Pops were leaving. She kept crying saying "I can't stand it". It was really sad and sweet for the first half hour, but 2 hours later it was getting annoying. Danya asked me to sing her a lullaby to help her fall asleep and it worked, she fell asleep while I sang to her. My in-laws had a 9am flight that due to the impending strike, was moved up to 7:50, so they had to wake up and leave super early so we had to say our goodbyes. They did leave us one present before they left....one last load of laundry in the washer(did I mention that we are naming my laundry room Bubs laundromat?). When we woke up this morning they had gone(but I am sure they were not thrilled when their flight was then delayed until 9:40). Jordy went to camp and Danya and I went to do a bunch of errands. We got Danya her school books and her school t-shirts. We went to the money changer and the bank. We went to the grocery store and the pharmacy. We also fit a stop for pizza and ice cream in the middle. We got a lot done but I think Danya had had enough by the 2nd errand. After Jordy came home from camp Rachel Neuman came over for a playdate and all 3 kids played until almost 7. Then Danya went with Rachel to her new house. When Josh brought Danya home she came to report and I quote "Rachel's new house is really nice. She got a new bed and new sheets and a new blanket...I wish our house was gross and we could move again".

Fun with Bubs and Pops

Thursday morning my in-laws headed back to Yerushaliam while the kids went to camp. I went to Modiin to pay for my drivers license(the final step in the drivers license process...hooray!) and then to meet Emily for coffee(which as she pointed out on her blog didn't involve coffee at all). We went to the grocery store and then she needed to head back to Raanana and I headed home. I cooked for Shabbat and picked the kids up from camp. We then headed to Modiin to meet Bubs and Pops at a pizza place for dinner. After Pizza we stopped in at a store that sells the t-shirt Danya has to wear to school everyday as her uniform. I had already been to the 2 other stores that carry them but wanted to see who was cheaper. This place was a few shekel more but while we were there Bubs bought the kids each a hat and Jordy got Spiderman pajamas and Danya got a tweety bird t-shirt. Then we took Bubs and Pops to the really good ice cream place. Danya was tasting everyones ice cream and at one point had 3 bowls in front of her!

We then headed back home where the kids went to bed. Then Lori picked me and my mother-in-law up to go deliver coffee to the soldiers. We met 2 soldiers who originated from the Chicago area(one from Zion). Bubs did really well with the coffee orders even though at one point she was stuck with a car full of police man placing coffee orders in hebrew! Friday morning Bubs and Pops took the kids to another Modiin Miracle game. Then Pops took the kids to a "game store" where they spent a ton of money to win tickets. Josh and I went to Josh's favorite falafel store in Modiin and then we stopped at a flower store and bought a bamboo plant for our dining room table. Since the bamboo is growing in a vase full of rocks I thought I may be able to keep it alive....maybe. I also took Bubs to see my parents house and to take some more pictures for them. Here is a picture of the outside close to completion. We hung out around the house the rest of the day. Danny joined us for Shabbat dinner and we all had a good time and enjoyed the steaks Pops made. The kids stayed up way to late but a good time was had by all. Shabbat day we went to the Gerson's for a great lunch. We got to see Yakir walk(the first time I had seen it). We brought Tamar home with us and the kids had instructions that they could play but all the grown ups were going to sleep. They did well and we all slept. Pops took the kids to the park but lost Danya along the way. I told him not to worry that she returns before dark. Jordy, Josh and I played a game of baseball but each time I hit the ball Jordy would announce that it was a foul ball! I kept fighting with him but he insisted! He also let Josh hit about 25 pitches and after I had 2 he told me it was Daddy's turn again! We all ate seudat shlishit and Danya returned. After Shabbat the kids went to bed and Nocky and Ruanne stopped by and took my in-laws out.

IKEA

Monday morning Bubs and Pops headed to Tel Aviv for the day. I headed to the grocery store to prepare for the 2 days of camp at our house that were coming up. Otherwise Monday was a pretty typical day. Tuesday morning Danya's camp group was taking place here so at 8:45 kids started coming. There were 12 kids plus the 2 counselors and I think Bubs and Pops were happy to be leaving for the day to Yerushaliam! Josh and I pretty much hung out at home to keep an eye on camp. After camp Ezra Silton stayed over to play with Danya and Jordy went to their house to play with Elisha. Akiva came back later to swap kids back. The kids ate and went to bed. This morning we had camp once again. Josh and I headed to Tel Aviv with his parents. Josh and my father-in-law went bike riding along the beach while I went shopping with my mother-in-law. We got a lot of walking in(not so much shopping)! After they were done with the bike ride Josh headed home while I went with my in-laws to IKEA for lunch(yes, as dumb as it sounds, IKEA has a great restaurant!). My mother-in-law was very disappointed that they didn't have the cinnamon buns that smell so good at IKEA in Chicago. We also did a little shopping and then got stuck in traffic on the way home. After getting back I picked up Jordy who was at the Siltons again. Then he and I headed to check out the potential apartment that Lisa and Nafi were looking to rent until my parents arrive. The apartment was great and I think they will be happy there temporarily. I picked up Danya at Daniella's and we headed home where the kids had dinner and went to bed and I got back to work.

Barbecue, Baseball and the Big City

Thursday, after getting the kids off to camp, the final preparations for the BBQ began. Bubs and I went to the makolet for the few items I still needed while Josh took Pops to the Kotel. We spent the rest of the day cooking, cleaning and preparing. My in-laws decided that my windows needed washing so they washed them! The kids came home and we got the food on the grill.



At 6:15 people started coming over and the last guest left around 10. It was great seeing everyone and it seemed like everyone was enjoying themselves.






We defiantly enjoyed the hot dogs and salami from Romanian that my in-laws brought with. Friday morning we slept a little later than usual. After our Friday morning trip to the bakery, I took Bubs, Pops, Danya and Jordy to the Modiin Miracle game. My in-laws had a good time heckling the players!

It was a bit hot and sunny(like the "sun umbrella"?) but we had a great time and Modiin won!
We all headed back to our house and hung out until around 5 when we headed to Yerushaliam. There was a little confusion about where the hotel we were staying at was located and although it looks staged, this picture is legitimate and I just grabbed a great opportunity to take a picture of everyone with their maps!
Funny part is after all that map studying Danny and my in-laws still got lost and kept driving in circles. We spent Shabbat at the Prima Royal in Yerusahliam. We ate dinner there Friday night. The kids were exhausted and begged to go to sleep. Saturday morning we all went to the great synagogue. Just goes to show what a small world we live in...walking in right behind me was Erica Simon and her girls. They are here for a few weeks and were hoping to get to Hashmonaim but didn't have a phone number for us, so we made plans to see them soon. After shul we took the kids to the park for a while and then headed to the Plaza for lunch. Danny, Thea, Abby and Nina met us there where we ate more than we should have! Then we went back to the park. Everyone was exhausted and while I didn't believe it could happen, my mother-in-law insisted we all go back and try to nap. Being that unless they are sick, my kids haven't napped since they were 2, I was amazed that everyone napped! After Shabbat we headed home and everyone went to sleep too late! Today we slept a little late but I took the kids to camp and they were by no means the last kids there. Later we went with my in-laws to Modiin to change money and then to Home Center to get spline and a spliner(yes, I just learned that word this week) so my father-in-law could repair all our torn screens. We also picked up the table and chairs we had ordered through the gas stations stamp program(don't ask). When we came home Pops got to work on the screen. I picked the kids up from camp along with Ayelet Mintz(who Jordy has developed a little crush on....watch out Ariella!). Jordy and Ayelet played while Danya and Bubs made cupcakes. After Ayelet went home Jordy had his daily melt down. We went to Burger King for our last Fleshig meal before the 9 days. After the kids had a quick bath they went to bed.
*Here is a picture of Jordy in the scuba gear that Bubs and Pops brought as a gift...cute, huh?

Bubs and Pops are here!!!!!

Today started at 6:30 when Jordy came in my room asking for breakfast. I took one look at him and panicked! His eyes were all red and crusty. I then panicked more when I remembered that our doctor doesn't have hours until around 7pm tonight. It also turns out that the one day I thought he would have to stay home from camp was the one where he was begging to go! He also wanted to know when Bubs and Pops were going to be here. At 7 Danya joined Jordy for breakfast. At 8am I called my friend Sharon who is a ophthalmologist and whose husband is a pediatrician and asked her if she would recognize pink eye from just looking at Jordy and she said yes and that she would meet me where camp is and look at him there. I got the kids out and since we were 15 minutes early they played in the park for a while before camp. Sharon looked at Jordy and gave us the answer that I was hoping for....just crusty eyes, no pink eye! After taking the kids Josh and I went to Modiin where we did the tour d'banks-changing money and then depositing it into the assorted bank accounts we have here. We also had a quick lunch at Apple Pizza. Then we stopped at the butcher to pick up the chicken for the BBQ. We came home and I did a little getting ready for the BBQ and cleaning up. I also talked to my Aunt Ruth in California who was suffering from insomnia for a while. When I got off the phone with her I picked Jordy up. As I was getting him he turned to ask me if his friend Ayellet Mintz could come over for a playdate. As he asked me another mom asked her mom if she could come play at their house. We had a moment of fighting over Ayellet and then Jordy agreed that he would have Elisha over and Ayellet would come another time. The 2 boys played nicely for a while. Then we hung up signs on our door welcoming Bubs and Pops. Josh headed to the airport to pick them up and Jordy sat anxiously awaiting their arrival. Unfortunately it took a bit of time and the poor kid was jumping out of his skin(Danya was too but was easily distracted with TV). When they arrived the kids went crazy, so happy to see them! Danya bolted down the stairs at record speed! It is great to see them and have them here. We took a while while they were getting settled to decide what to d for dinner, but eventually picked Burgers Bar. We had dinner and the kids stayed up really late! Lori stopped over to say hello at around 10:15. Now most everyone is tucked in their beds and hopefully won't get out of them until at least 7:30!!!

Picture Update

This morning I took the kids to camp and spent most of the day home. I went to the grocery store in the afternoon to start preparing for the family BBQ we are having on Thursday. After the kids were done with camp I gave them baths(I asked Jordy the other night if he wanted a shower and he told me that he didn't want one, he said "I want to smell like a zoo"!). Then they played nicely for most of the evening. They did insist on going outside after they were all nice and clean in their pajamas to "plant" the watermelon seed from the watermelon they ate with dinner. Josh went to a funeral tonight for Mayer Weiners father.

Here are the pictures...
Jordy and his friend Yehousha playing baseball with Josh(Jordy told me that Daddy was the pitcher and he and his friend are the hitter and I could be the "last base")



Danya's camp playing in our pool




Danya and Jordy planting a watermelon seed


Our new oven(which looks tiny but believe me that it is MUCH bigger than the old one-I was able to make 2 pans of blondies at once!!!)

Driving Test, Oven and more

Thursday Danya's camp was at our house so I tried to stay out! I went to Modiin to the bank and the post office. I then stopped by a friends new house and helped her unpack her kitchen a little. The kids had a good day at camp and once Danya's group went home I began Shabbat cooking. In the evening I took another driving lesson. When I came home David came by to pick up some more of his bags. Friday morning we hung out at home. I went to take my driving test and aside from the fact that I made a MAJOR error I still passed, which goes to show that paying for a second lesson was worth while because the instructor know the testers and he convinced him to let me pass. The kids had play dates on Friday so we pretty much stayed home and were lazy. Shabbat day the Kaplanskys came for lunch along with the 2 TVI boys who were staying at their house. After lunch the TVI boys and Noam stayed to play pool with Josh and Danya went to a friends house. Jordy and I went to the Siltons to meet with friends of theirs who were on a pilot trip(who happen to live in Lanie and Ari's building). We went with them to the park. Later Jordy and I met Josh and Danya at the Waxman's house for Seudat Shlishit. Jordy was so excited because Shira, his daycare lady, was there too. He kept pointing her out to people like she was a movie star "Danya look, Shira is here". After Shabbat we headed home and to bed. This morning I took the kids to camp and finished cleaning the kitchen. In the afternoon the oven installer came to put in our new oven(too lazy to get the camera now-pictures will come soon). It is amazing how much better the new one looks! The only problem is he put it in a touch too far to one side and it is blocking a cabinet door from closing....always something! I picked the kids up and they came home and played until dinner time. After dinner I had my book club here and now I am all caught up!

Drivers Ed

Tuesday morning I ran some errands in Modiin and then returned home. The kids were at camp until 12:45(ended early since it was a fast day). After camp Ezra Silton came over for a play date and played with both Danya and Jordy. They played until 4 when Ezra had had enough of my kids. Then the kids hung out and played until dinner. Wednesday morning I went grocery shopping since we are having company for lunch. I still don't have my oven yet so it looks like I will be doing a lot of grilling(when I invited the guests I thought I would have it by now!). After camp was over Danya, Jordy and Yehoshua Stern, whose family was moving today, came home. Jordy then proceeded to have a MASSIVE meltdown. Danya was heading to the pool with Tamar so I was busy getting her ready and out of the house. Once she left I went to see if I could help Jordy. He was beyond help. Eventually he calmed down and was a whole other person. Josh took the boys outside to play baseball and they had fun. They played and ate dinner. After dinner Yehoshua went home and then I left for my driving lesson. It is really hard to take a driving lesson after driving for 15 years. The instructor kept telling me I needed to slow down! Plus he made me hold the wheel at the 2 and 10. Luckily we don't have to do parallel parking! After the lesson he told me he thinks I need one more before the test! I couldn't believe it but then learned that the instructor is paid buy the lesson so if he says I need one more he makes more money. I am supposed to go to the test Friday so hopefully I will pass!

DMV

Shabbat was pretty quiet. I took the kids to the park most of the afternoon and since the weather had cooled off a bit(I mean it was 90 instead of the 100 it had been) it was nice outside. On Sunday morning camp began. The kids had a great time and I love the fact that it goes until 3:45! After camp we got the kids and headed back to the baseball diamond to see Danny again. We were surprised by the number of people at the game but very quickly realized that TVI was there. We got to see a handful of Chicagoans which was a nice surprise. Danny did not play at all however his 1st base coaching gained him a little fan club of TVI girls. They were cheering for him and he was loving every minute of it! I have no clue who these girls are but here is Danny with his fan club:



The kids had fun watching the game. The good news is that Danny's team, the Modiin Miracle, beat the Raanana Express 9 to 1! On Monday the kids headed back to camp and Josh and I headed to Jerusalem. We had a few things to do there. First we headed to the Misrad HaRishui(or the DMV). We hadn't gotten our licenses here yet. You have 3 years to drive on your American license which usually isn't a problem. My problem is that my American license expires on my birthday in the beginning of August so I NEED an Israeli license. The license process is this: 1) Go to the mall and get a form. 2) Get an eye exam(can be done at the place in the mall) 3) Get a Dr. to sign the form. 3) Take the signed form to the DMV with foreign license and Teudat Oleh and get form stamped 4) Give form to driving instructor and take lesson 5) Take test 6)take test results to post office to pay for license 7) take receipt from post office to DMV for license. How ridiculous is that??? I am at step #4 now. I told the driving instructor that I need to take the test before August 2nd and am waiting to hear back from him. All that said, the visit to Misrad HaRishui was not so bad. I had anticipated waiting for hours to get all of it done and it only took about 15 minutes. We almost ran into a problem because Josh's license had a sticker on the back renewing it and the guy had never seen it before but luckily a woman there said it was ok. Then we headed to a great used book store and I bought a couple books. After that we ran a few more errands including lunch at Village Green which Josh grudgingly admitted was good, a stop at Marzipan(because what is a trip to Jerusalem without it???) and finding the new popcorn place in the Tachana Merkizit(central bus station). Anyone notice that wherever we go we need to eat??? We came home and I gave the kids dinner and they hung out playing until bedtime.