Thanks! Then it was back to work. We finally reached time to light candles and miraculously everything was done and everyone was showered and ready. The men went to shul while the woman stayed home with the kids and finished getting ready to go. When shul was over we walked to the Gersons and began what would be a VERY long seder! Nadav was tired but was not interested in going to sleep so I took him for a walk at one point. It was weird walking down the street which was deserted and quiet except for the occasional sound of singing as I passed houses with open windows. Nadav finally fell asleep and I was able to sit down and enjoy the Seder. Danya and Jordy were superstars: answering questions, reading and singing. For the first time Jordy made it through the whole seder-yup-2am. He had some incentive-he knew Avi and Eva brought afikomen gifts and he knew he needed to be awake to get it. The seder officially ended with all of us breaking into dance at L"Shanah HaBah B'Yerushaliam. It was really nice and Danya and Tamar were really excited as they "started it". For some crazy reason, when we arrived home at 2:30 we sat down on the couch rather then going to sleep. The kids got their afikomen gifts-Mad Libs for Jordy, Jungle Speed for Danya and a brand new football for Nadav. Tuesday morning Nadav was up nice and early. If memory serves correctly I woke up with him and was hoping he would go back to sleep. Danya and Jordy didn't sleep as late as I hoped they would. Josh and Robert headed to shul and at some point Avi met them there. I spent all morning trying to get the butter to spread on the matzah. When shul was over I took an hour nap until lunch time. We ate lunch and then Eva and I took Nadav on a walk to get him to go to sleep. Lori showed up later with Yakir who wanted to play with Jordy. Before we knew it Yom Tov was over. After getting the kids into bed Avi, Eva, Robert and I(Josh was working) headed to Modiin to see what there was to do. Avi and Eva were entertained by the fact that there was a store called Roberto and made Robert take a picture in front of it.
We went to the mall and watched Eva try on clothes for the 15 minutes until the mall closed. We then went to Ristretto which was open for Pesach without Kitniyot. We spent much time reading the menu and then had a really good dinner. Especially the bread...much better than a second seder. Wednesday morning Nadav and I took Avi to the airport to pick up their rental car. By the time we got back it was time for Nadav to nap so Josh took Danya and Jordy to Modiin to some activities and parks(perhaps he will guest blog about the day). I spent a large amount of time trying to get Nadav to sleep. When Josh returend with Danya and Jordy I took a nap and he gave them Matzah pizza. Everyone was exhausted and went to sleep.
Thursday morning we headed out relatively early. We were going to a crocodile park near Zichron Yaakov. Admission was being sponsored by Bank HaPolim so we wouldn't have to pay. We spent a ridiculously long time in the car as everyone in the country was traveling. We finally got there and it was kind of lame. There was one crocodile:
who looked kind of bored. There was a little dock to go fishing
on so Josh took Danya and Jordy to do that while I tried to get Nadav to nap-unsuccessfully. We went on a train ride through the tiny park and then decided that we were all bored so we left. Josh had read about a street fair in Zichron Yaakov so we figured we would check it out. Josh dropped me and Danya and Jordy to walk around while he drove around to get Nadav to sleep/look for parking. Right off the bat I realized I didn't have any cash on me-Josh had it all so it wasn't going to be much fun. Danya have 10 shekel on her and she wanted to buy an ice cream, which was fine as Jordy got an ice cream earlier. Jordy wasn't happy about this and he got angry. The place was jam packed so as we were walking I spent my whole time trying to keep an eye or hand on each kid. We eventually made it to the other end and Josh called to say Nadav was sleeping problem was all the streets were closed so he couldn't reach us at the other end. I told him we would walk further away from the fair. Jordy couldn't go on so I ended up carrying him. He did perk up when Danya offered him some of her ice cream. We then drove to Hertzillyah to go to dinner at Columbus restaurant. We went there last year and the kids loved the fact that there was a computer on the table and they could play games while we enjoyed dinner. It wasn't as enjoyable as last year as this time Nadav was grabbing at everything and all over the place. The food was still good. We headed home and after getting the kids to sleep I cooked for Shabbat. Friday morning we were planning on heading out early and it didn't happen. We finally made it out and were heading to Beit Chlomotai, a water park that we had heard was good. We were on a tight schedule as the place was closing at 3 so we wanted to get there early. We took a wrong turn and then went to figure out how to get back and had trouble as that page was missing on our map. We took some detours and then decided we should go to the beach instead since it was getting late. The kids didn't really want to go to the beach so we figured we would try anyhow. As we got close to the water park we found a HUGE chopping center and the kids agreed that we could walk around and have a matzah pizza picnic. The kids were thrilled to find a video arcade.
We walked around, ate, bought a new map and played games.
We headed home and got ready for Shabbat. Robert, Avi and Eva all returned from their outings and we all had Shabbat together. Friday night we had dinner and then Jordan showed up as we were eating dessert. He brought the usual Settlers along with Cities and Knights. Eva and Robert quickly left the game playing area and entertained Danya for a bit. Jordy watched as Jordan taught Avi, Josh and myself to play. We had a really good game and are completely hooked. We went to sleep at around 1am. I was hoping to be all caught up however I am way to tired to finish writing now so this will have to keep you entertained for now.
To be continued.......
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