Catching Up

Wow.  It has been over a month since I blogged and we've done a lot of stuff.  The last thing I blogged about was Halloween and since then, we've done more traveling around Israel and had a few holidays.  So here is my attempt at catching up.  I'm going to try a blog more frequently so check back in a few days for more updates.

Thanksgiving was great!  We spent it with Jen and Ben, our great friends in Tel Aviv, who had a party of 16 people that night and we left  - or at least started to leave - around 2:30.  The traffic was horrible!  Apparently everyone leaves Jerusalem on Thursdays before their weekend which starts essentially on Friday mid-day and it took an hour just to get out the city.  When we finally got there, Julia turned on her charm with all the guests and took care of herself for most of the night.  When we sat down to eat, she sat at a different table next to Matt the Marine who helped her with her dinner, etc.  Thomas did a good job at trying to break everything possible at his level and tried multiple times to stick his entire hand in the cheese dip on the coffee table.  Brian took on the job of following him around and keeping him out of trouble which made my night great but his night until Thomas fell asleep not very relaxing.  Our dinner was a traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey, cranberries, pecan pie, etc.  It was fabulous and I ate too much as usual and was stuffed.  We were invited to a second Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night and this time got a babysitter.   Again we stuffed ourselves to the brim and had a great relaxing time.

Brian's birthday was the next weekend.  On Saturday, we jumped in the car and drove up to Hula Valley.  Hula Lake Park is a stopover for migrating birds going from Europe to Africa and back.  They come twice a year and blanket the area.  Jen and Ben joined us there and then had an early birthday dinner celebration at a restaurant in the area.  Here are awesome pictures that Jen took that day.

Odds and Ends

SADLY, I WROTE THIS A MONTH AGO AND NEVER PUBLISHED IT.  BETTER LATE THAT NEVER.......

This past 3 day weekend, the Gormans got out of town - at least for part of it.  Friday was Veteran's Day and so Brian was off work.  We went to Julia's swim lesson with her preschool in the morning and then took off for Ein Gedi after lunch.  The park is a little over an hour away.  You have to drive into the West Bank and then south along the Dead Sea.  You get back into green-line Israel and then get to the national park.  We got started later than we expected and didn't get there until a little before 3.  Unfortunately,  Julia fell asleep about 5 minutes before we got there.   Awesome.  I knew the hike to the first waterfall was about an hour round trip so I wasn't too worried about getting there in the later afternoon but I didn't realize that they closed the entrance at 3.  Since we got there slightly before 3 it wouldn't have been a problem, except that when I got out of the car to get Thomas from his car seat, I found him covered in .... poop.  It was everywhere - car seat, clothes, hands, face, etc.  It took me a while to get him cleaned up and I left Julia sleeping for another 10 minutes or so.  When we finally got to the entrance, the woman told me it was closed so what did I do?  I begged.  I wasn't proud of it, but after the drive, the poop, and waking up Julia, I didn't want to get back into the car and drive home.  Luckily, it didn't take much begging to get her to let us in the park since we were about 5 minutes late.  We had to promise to be back by closing - a promise we kept and even had some time to spare.  The hike was quick but so fun and we will definitely be back to spend some more time.  The ibex and hyrax were all over the place.  We had to keep Julia from trying to run up and pet them.  The waterfalls were beautiful and we'll be back to swim in the natural pools when it is warmer.

Saturday was a quiet day - we took a nice walk with Bob the dog and enjoyed the nice fall-like weather.  We had some friends over for dinner and Julia was so excited!  I think she just collapsed after they left from playing so much with their kids.

Sunday, we skipped church and drove up to the Sea of Galilee.  We stopped off and had lunch in Tiberias on the water and then we continued on to Capernaum.  I tried to explain the historic significance to Julia - this is where St. Peter lived and Jesus came to visit here, etc.  I should have been prepared but I wasn't ready for the whole list of questions:

"I don't see Jesus.  Where is he?"
          "He's was here a long time ago."

"Where is he now?"     Uh oh.... here we go.....
          "He's in Heaven."

"I want to go to Heaven."
          "We'll go but it won't be for a very long time."

"Where's Heaven?"     Oh Boy.....
          "With God"       Now I'm looking at Brian for help.......

"How do you get there?"
          "God lifts you up to be with him."  I am definitely avoiding the whole death/dying topic for now.



Thank God that was then end.  How'd I do?   For a 3 year old, I think the answers were ok and she didn't ask for anymore explanation.

We also made it to the Mount of Beatitudes which overlooks the Sea of Galilee and then headed home.
Before we left, we stopped for a treat.  Julia got ice cream and Brian and I both got a drink of fresh OJ.  Thomas grabbed an orange from the counter that he immediately put in his month - peel and all so that was his treat.  He is beginning to communicate more and show that he understands more.  He now wants whatever Julia has and so the orange wasn't sufficient and he wanted her ice cream the whole time she was eating it.

Ok.  I am procrastinating from studying Hebrew - and I have a test to hand into my teacher.  It's time to hit the books while Thomas is napping.