Sifter Lessons We Have Learned

1. When one buys a sifter, before taking it to the mikvah, one should bring in inside one's house and scrub off the Stickers From Hell. Otherwise, what will surely happen, is that you will be sitting in your car across from the mikvah, kicking yourself for not checking the sifter beforehand, frantically scrubbing the stickers off without niceties like soap and a sponge, searching for that half-finished bottle of water under the driver's seat, then using a combination of said water and spit to get off the stickiness, scraping it off with a pen you found buried under a mound of tissues, and then finally using your skirt to get off the remaining crud. The skirt worked well, by the way. Not that I would know.

2. Do not buy the sifter with the thingy that you have to squeeze with your hand. It hurts.

3. Do not ignore the sticker (yes, the one you furiously scrubbed off in #1) that says, "Don't wash this!" In fact, they are not just joshing you. They mean it. When one washes a sifter, the water turns the little flour molecues that are left in the sifter into dough. Thus, it becomes nearly impossible to reuse the sifter, what with the dough stuck in the crevices. If you ignore the sticker, you will surely have a conversation similar to the following:

Donny [having just washed the sifter, after spending thirty minutes sifting two cups]: Huh. You can't wash sifters. Now all the flour turned into dough.

Me: Oh really? So that's why it said, "Do not wash." Huh.

4. If you DO insist on washing the sifter, do not then attempt to take it apart and clean it. What will happen if you do that, is you will end up throwing the sifter away.



The End

Tiyul and more child rearing tips

First of all, 200 NPs (new poofahs) each to Momz and Jenny, for contributing such fantastic "rock" ideas to the blog. And 195 poofahs to Sharon, who emailed me some very amusing ideas which she chose not to share with everyone else.

On Wednesday, we had an ulpan tiyul. It was a lot of fun. We toured modern and ancient Modi'in. I learned lots of stuff, which I promptly forgot about 30 seconds after the tiyul, so when I tried to impart my newfound knowledge to Donny, it came out like, "Ummmm.....duh.....erg....shumph." Needless to say, he was very impressed. Not everyone in ulpan came on the tiyul, because many of them saw it as an excuse to have a day off. To which the rest of us replied, "It's freaking ulpan! If you need to take a day off, take a day off!" We did not want to miss out on the fun of a trip. In fact, there was a group of us who sat in the back and were really rowdy and loud and shared our Fruit Wrinkles and Cheese Curls. I felt that we really bonded, as a group, on the tiyul. Now we have all kinds of private jokes and stuff, and every so often one of us will be like, "Ohmygod, remember, on the tiyul, when that thing happened?" And the rest of us crack up knowingly and offer more tiyul memories, causing more knowing laughter and really annoying everyone who was not on the tiyul. Ok, I made that last part up, but it happened in my head and it was rather amusing.

Now, we digress from aliyah adventures for the child-rearing portion of the blog. You remember, of course, the title of my book on child-rearing "Leave Me Alone So I Can Read the Paper." Well, one of our children, and I will not mention any names but will simply refer to him as The Boy, has not been leaving us alone much at all. Forget the paper, I don't even have time to read the back of a cereal box. Yaakov - whoops, I mean The Boy - has decided that he no longer needs to sleep. So he spends much of his evening (really, let's be honest, it's night by the time we're done) coming in an out of his room, and we spend much our evening taking him back. We have tried everything - ignoring him, giving him toys in his bed, putting him in his crib (which no longer works as he can climb out), sticker chart (failed because he insisted the chart be lower down on the wall so he could apply stickers whenever he wanted, thereby defeating the purpose of the chart), yelling (mostly me) - you name it, we've tried it, short of putting some Ambien in his toothpaste (he certainly eats enough of it that that would work.) Ariella, the Angel Sleeper, is in bed at 7:00 and asleep by 7:02. When The Boy first started his nighttime wanderings, he knew he was supposed to be in bed, so he would hide from me. If I was in the kitchen, he would be playing quietly in my room. If I was in my room, he was in the corner of the living room. Soon, however, it dawned on him that we were going to let him stay up a little later, realizing the futility of putting him in at 7:00. So he got more brazen - not bothering to hide, asking us for food, wanting to sit on our laps while we ate. We decided he could stay up after 7:00, but his bedtime would be 8:00. However, he was thinking more along the lines of 10:00. We are in a bit of a disagreement about this. Last night, I had a brilliant idea. Yaakov has about 90% of the toys now in his room, due to our desparate attempts to get him to stay there. So I told him that if he came out of his room, I would take a toy away. At first he was really upset when this happened. Then he decided he'd take the consequence of losing a toy if it meant getting out of his room, and went so far as to help us choose which toys to remove. "Take these two, Mommy. Put them on top of the fridge!" So much for that plan. In the end, he went to sleep about five minutes before I did, thereby killing whatever "evening" we would have had. Someone in ulpan today mentioned how his daughter was always climbing out of her crib, so they took a piece of cloth and sewed it between the legs of the pajamas, thereby inhibiting her movement. What a great idea, I thought - forget sewing pajamas, we should sew Yaakov to his bed! I will keep you updated on this issue - I am comforted by the fact that at some point, his wife will be the one marching him back to bed every night and Donny and I will finally have some peace.

Superglue - Don't try this at home

Today started out as one of those days where I was actually thankful that at least I didn't walk out of the apartment with my skirt bunched up in the back or something like that. There were many crises - Yaakov's pants were on backwards (which bothered me much more than it did him) and Ariella forgot her water bottle at school, and when I gave her our fancy water bottle, she dropped it on the floor, it cracked, she cried. Then I grabbed a bottle of water for her but then promptly forgot it on the kitchen table. In the end, I told her to fill up her water bottle when she gets to school, and we found a spare rolling around in the back of the car, which I sent as a backup. Luckily, the day improved from there. Yaakov has thank God been going to gan very nicely these days, giving me a hug and kiss goodbye and then happily marching off to get his chocolate sandwich. And Ariella now walks into gan most days by herself - I watch her from the top of the pathway.

I left ulpan early to have a meeting with Ariella's teacher, just to check in. Here are the results of the meeting.
1. Ariella is smart.
2. Ariella is stubborn.
3. Ariella only wants to speak Hebrew in gan, the result being she doesn't talk much, but she did tell the morah something in Hebrew yesterday, so l'at l'at as they say.
4. Morah Maya is "not worried" about Ariella and thinks she is well-prepared for first grade. This was a big relief. If Morah Maya is not worried, then I say, why should I be? I'm glad to see Ariella's "true" personality coming out - it would be a shame if the morahs thought she was a sweet, compliant, docile little girl all year.

After the meeting, I took Ariella out from gan and we headed over to the mall. Until today, "going to the mall" meant "going out to eat with Donny." Sometimes, for a change, it meant "going out to eat with Lisa." But today we actually spent money on clothing - some leggings for Ariella, very exciting.

In the afternoon, we picked up Yaakov and headed over to Tipat Chalav for his very first appointment. I brought the kids' vaccination charts so they could transfer them to a PINKAS. Yaakov weights some amount of kilograms and is some amount of centimeters - I don't remember. 14 was one of the numbers - probably kilos. He also got 2 shots, and he was very brave, especially when I told him we would go out to pizza for dinner. Of course, we are not done yet with TC. The next step is going to "Bank HaDoar" to pay something or other, going back to TC to pick up the PINKASIM and them making another appointment so they could check his development. Phew! Time for a nap! (Or 3 if you're Dadz.)

When we came back from pizza, the chanukiah was falling apart. Again. This is one of those annoying home projects we got from gan. We are supposed to create a menorah at home and send it in before Sunday. In addition to being bad at Fixing Things, I am also bad at anything resembling Art. Someone in my ulpan gave me the idea of using bottle caps. The first part was smooth - I cut a cereal box and a piece of foil ('cuz Ariella wanted it to be "sparkly"). Ariella decorated the foil beautifully and I wrapped it around the cardboard. So far, so good. The problem started with the Israeli glue. I bought it at Supersol, and it was all they had. Me, a fan of one-stop-shopping, bought it anyway, though it looked a little sketchy, like it was made from a very old, wheezy horse. When I squeezed it to glue the bottle caps to the foil, the glue had separated. Hmmmm. Interesting. It also took a VERY LONG time to dry. Then, later at night Donny glued the candles into the bottle caps. (See, this is supposed to be a kid/parent togetherness project. So we did do it together, just not at the same time.) This morning, Ariella was all excited to take her menorah to gan. When I gently moved the project so we would have room to eat cereal, all the candles fell over, and the glue was swimming happily in the bottle caps. Luckily, she agreed to wait one more day to take it in. Surely, I thought, by the time we get home this afternoon, this glue will dry, right? Ha on me! After returning from TC and pizza to a fallen menorah ("Harachaman Hu yakim lonu et Menorat Ariella Hanofalet"), I was not a happy camper. So I broke out the Super Glue. Take that, candles! But I didn't realize that Super Glue is very liquidy and not thick, and as I turned it over to squeeze it, a few drops fell on my hand and quickly bonded it to the tube of glue. Boy, we are having some kind of fun now! The good news is that the Super Glue seems to have worked, and the candles are erect, for now. Bad news - still covered in Super Glue, and it is NOT a pleasant feeling. I tried nail polish remover (saw that on a website), lotion, soap, water, and many combinations thereof. I guess I'll just have to wait until I shed. I miss Elmer's.

Kapayim L'Dov!

So I can't believe I forgot to share this very amusing Ariella story. I apologize in advance for those of you who heard this story before - feel free to skip to the next paragraph.
On Sunday, we were at the park in Bet Shemesh. After the running around portion of the program, Ariella decided to play school. She, of course, was the teacher, complete with a stick. We were sitting on benches and she was speaking in this mix of Hebrew and English-with-an-Israeli-accent, rolling her r's and everything. She was asking everyone's Hebrew name and writing it in the dirt with her stick. When she got to my father (whose name is Bernard, Bern, Bernie) he told her his Hebrew name, Dov. Well, Ariella found this very amusing. She asked who wanted to get in the line, and Dov, being a good sport, followed along. He had to follow the line she was drawing in the dirt, and apparently he did a very good job, because when he was done, she burst out enthusiastically, "Kapayim L'Dov!" (kapayim = clap your hands). We were cracking up, and for the rest of the evening would randomly shout out, "Kapayim L'Dov!" I am actually still announcing it sporadically throughout the day.

Today was a very rewarding day in ulpan. Loyal readers, today in ulpan, we learned...Nivim! That's right! The very topic I so ridiculed in earlier posts! Our teacher was explaining how "pitgamim" (that's what she called them, but I know nivim when I see them) enrich the language. So that's what I was doing in Ivrit all those years in Bais Yaakov - enriching the language! Thank you, Mrs. Steinhart! Not only that, but the very second pitgam that she taught us was..........tovim hashnayim min ha'echad! Let me tell you, I was the Pitgam Queen - she only had to start the phrase and I was spitting out the rest. Al ta'am v'rayach ayn l'hitvakayach! Kol hatchalot kashot! It was so fulfilling to be able to put those years of memorization to good use. If only they gave out Nivim Certificates...I could work toward a degree in Nivimography....

Today, back to Supersol. More pressure to sign up for the credit card. Not sure I can withstand much more. Starting...to....crack....must.....stay....strong.....just say no.... (This is your wallet. This is your wallet with a Supersol credit card.)

After ulpan, my internet/phone wasn't working. I had to call HOT, our internet/phone provider and describe, in Hebrew, what the problem was. That part was ok, ("lo ovdim") but then, she started giving me directions, (in HEBREW, in case you weren't sure), telling me what I should do to fix it! Remember Donny's lack of rhythm? Well, I have a similar, if not more severe, lack of Ability to Fix Things. I can barely understand these guys in English. They always want you to unplug and replug and I'm never sure what they are talking about. I end up unplugging everything in the house, including the lamps, all the clocks, and the fridge, just to be safe, and then the problem still remains until Donny comes back and flicks something and then it's all better. But I couldn't wait for Donny to return - I NEED my internet. So I tried to pay attention about which cable to unplug and whatnot. ("Cable," by the way, is "cable" in Hebrew.) I think I followed the directions correctly, although she could have been telling me to take out the white plug, stick it in my ear and then stand on the mirpeset, yodeling, but I'm pretty sure I would have understood "ozen." In any case, she did a little research and found out many people in the building were having this problem and they would send someone out to fix it. Surprisingly, by the time Ariella and I returned from shopping, it was indeed fixed. And I didn't have to put anything in my ear.

By the way, to those of you - and you know who you are, Shoshana Bender - who give me mussar (mussar in Hebrew) for not posting often enough and THEN don't even bother to join the Loyal Readers Club or leave a comment....well, all I have to say to you is, "No Poofahs for you!"

PS Don't forget to vote!
PPS You can still earn poofahs, like Momz and Jenny, if you have good "rock" ideas. (See earlier post).

More 'Rents and Shabbos

First of all, a shout-out to a "loyal but silent" reader. Shoshi, don't worry, I won't give away your identity here, but I thank you very much for your email and it's good to know that you're out there. I am touched that I am now Shoshi's premier internet time-wasting activity, not that I would share that.


Another shout-out to my good friend Jenny Sassoon. The Sassoons were here for Shabbat (more on that later) and it turns out that Jenny has a blog as well! We're like twins! However, there is one minor difference. Jenny's blog actually has a purpose, and she intends to do good in the world through it. Ok, maybe more like distant cousins. Anyway, Jenny is a life coach (and a very good one at that since I shamlessly take advantage of our friendship to get her advice) so if you know anyone who needs some life coaching, or if you're in need of some yourself, head over to Jenny's blog at http://getrealcoaching.blogspot.com/.


On Thursday, we had a pretty normal ulpan/gan day. Apparently there is some massive stomach bug afflicting all the gans throughout Israel. On Wednesday the teachers warned me that it was going around; Yaakov hadn't eaten his yogurt at snack time and they found this an ominous sign. They said to keep an eye out because he might come down with the bug. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to "keep an eye out" seeing as it's sort of hard to miss your kid puking all over the place. Anyway, Thursday morning, I rang the bell at gan and it was like I was thrown back to the Middle Ages in the time of the plague. They opened the door a crack and looked us up and down. You can almost hear what in my mind is John Cleese's voice saying shrilly, "Hath he the signs of the plague?" What they actually said was, "Has he been vomiting? Diarrhea?" When the answer to both was negative, they opened the door wide and welcomed him in with open arms and a big smile. Ophira, the ganenet, had a list of all the kids who were blacklisted from gan until their stomach virus was gone. Phew! However, though we seemed to have dodged the bullet for now, I'm sure, as they say here it's "Rak inyan shel zman" until this comes to YOUR house. Oy.


Later in the day, Ariella and I went shopping. At the checkout line, the woman tried to pressure me into getting the Supersol credit card. She was explaining how the diapers I bought would have been so much cheaper on the credit card. Hmmm, I started to think, maybe it IS a good idea! No, no, don't do it! said another voice (which sounded suspiciously like Donny's). You'll regret it! They'll charge you fees! Say no, say no! So I said no, repeatedly and she eventually gave up, but only because I had put all my bags in the cart and was fleeing out the door.


Thursday night "the grownups" aka Momz, Dadz, Leezy (who, for clarification purposes, is NOT the same person as "Lisa"), Elie, and Donny and me - went out to eat at an excellent restaurant called Buffalo in Jersualem. First, Donny and I had to make a shiva call - Donny's grandfather, who lives in Jerusalem in the awesome retirement home, lost his brother, who lived in Baltimore. So we went to see Zaidy and Sonia and heard some interesting stories from Zaidy's past. Afterward, we went out to the restaurant. Since Momz, Dadz, and Leezy got lost, Donny, Elie and I took the liberty of ordering some food "for the table" while we waited. Nothing like eating while you're waiting to eat. Anyway, the whole party eventually made its way to the restaurant, we ate good food, and general merriment was had by all. The kids were with their favorite Israel babysitter, Melanie, so we knew all was well on the homefront.

Friday we prepared for our Shabbat guests - Robbie & Jenny Sassoon, along with Noam, Tehila, and Hadassah. They arrived by bus Friday afternoon (remember, they are REAL Israelis) and Donny picked them up from the bus stop. We had a most wonderful reunion Shabbat. Ariella and Noam were so happy to be together again, and the 4 "big" kids came up with this really creative game which involved taking our big green snake, straddling it like a broomstick, and running in circles around the house, singing "Mi rotzah rakevet! Mi rotzah rakevet!." This usually ended in Yaakov crying. Poor kid. It's not easy being the littlest and slowest. Don't worry, he made up for it by knocking down their block towers. Anyway, I can't stress enough how wonderful, amazing, fun, enjoyable, and super our Shabbat was. Even if I would write it in bold - wonderful, amazing, fun, enjoyable, super - it would be hard to convey the wonderful-amazing-fun-enjoyable-super-ness of it all. We are looking forward to the next installment of the Rose-Sassoon Chavayot.

Saturday night Momz and Dadz came over for some of Donny's homemade pizza (which is why, Laurie, I was unable to post until tonight.) We hung out for a while, because it takes Donny a REALLY long time to make that pizza. After eating, the 'rents said goodbye to Donny and headed back to Bet Shemesh.

Today was our final get-together with Momz and Dadz. I picked up Yaakov a little early from gan, when Ariella got out, and the three of us headed over to Bet Shemesh to Leezy's. First, the men - Yaakov, Netanel, and Dadz - napped. After they finished their beauty rest, we headed over to this little park right outside of Bet Shemesh. Netanel played in dirt, Dadz, Leezy, and I played on the swings, and Yaakov and Ariella ran around in circles ("running around in circles" is a recurring theme.) We went back to Leezy's, ordered Burgers' Bar for dinner, and then said goodbye to Momz and Dadz/Bubby and Zaidy. (There were tears.) Don't worry, May's right around the corner, folks! Think about it this way - this gives me 6 months to buy stuff for Momz and Dadz to put in their suitcases!

At the playground, Dadz found a very large, smooth, and heavy rock. This being in Israel, we wondered if this was a historical rock. Perhaps, as Leezy thought, it was the very rock on which Yaakov laid his head down and slept. (Yaakov Avinu, not Yaakov Lev, who is rarely caught sleeping on anything.) Or, mayhaps it was the rock with which David slew Goliath. This brings us to the Poofah section of our blog. How many famous rocks, biblical or otherwise, can you come up with? Feel free to post often in the "Comments" section. Each response is worth 30 NPs. (NPs are "New Poofahs" - Donny felt there was massive poofah inflation, so we have now converted the poofah system to New Poofahs. Each NP is worth 100,000 old poofahs. Dadz, a Certified Public Poofah Accountant, can help you figure out your net worth in poofahs.)

Also, you may have noticed that the Minister of Polls has put up a new poll. The results of our previous poll indicate that GILA PASSED HER DRIVING TEST although we're not sure about you folks out there who voted for "predictably" aka "Donny's dancing at the Microsoft day of fun predictably put everyone to shame." Maybe it's because you've never seen Donny get down and boogie. We'll let it go this time. Anyway, if you are a loyal but silent reader like Shoshi, be sure to get out YOUR vote.

Breakfast, Supersol, and Trucks

On Tuesday, Leezy came over in the morning and we all (me, Leezy, Momz and Dadz) went out to breakfast with Lisa. We figure now that we've taken Lisa out for breakfast, we've totally paid her back for spending her summer finding us an apartment, then furnishing it with table, chairs, kitchen stuff, beds, linens, towels, and bookcases before our lift came, (and we still have the bookcase) feeding us for a week, chaffeuring us around Modi'in, and generally being our Comprehensive Aliyah Guide. Two eggs and Israeli salad sounds like sufficient payback, don't you think?

In the afternoon, we went to pick up Ariella. Bubby and Zaidy got to see the gan and meet MorahMayawhotalkedveryfastandwasimpressedwithhowZaidyandArielladidtheparshahsheet. Then, it was off to Shufersal! Well, first we had to make a quick stop at the cellphone store, which is right next to Shufersal, because my charger wasn't working. (After trying the charger in many different outlets at home, I finally took a closer look at the charger and saw that the wire was, in fact, severed. And no, in case you're wondering, taping up with some Scotch tape did not do the trick.) So we stopped in the store, where luckily there were many seats for Momz and Dadz to rest their weary feet. The "take a number" machine was broken, so I went to the nearest person with a name tag on. Unfortunately, the name tag said "Supersol" so that didn't really work out. Eventually a man came and used the sophisticated method of writing a number on a piece of paper. Of course, when it was my turn, the suspicious lady thought I wrote it myself and wanted to send me back to get another number, but no way was she going to talk to me like that! I am Israeli now! So she agreed to listen to my problem. One would think this should be fairly simple. Charger. Broken. Need new one. However, I think my lady was just out of Cellphone Customer Service Training School (after she got sent back for some remedial courses.) She kept asking other workers, particularly her friend Nimrod, what to do. Eventually she figured out that, oh, she should see if they have another of the same charger in stock! Brilliant! She found one pretty quickly, but then spend twenty minutes pachooching (yes, I made up that word) on the computer. I kept asking what the problem was and she assured me that the problem was hers, not mine, but it seems to be that the problem was most definitely mine if I had to stand there while she stared blankly at the computer screen, my new charger just inches away, teasing me to take it and run, but no, waiting, waiting, waiting, while she solves "her problem." Finally, Nimrod indicated that I should just take the charger and run, so I left with my new (free) charger and headed into Supersol with the fam.

The highlight of the shopping trip was Ariella's new outfit. As you may recall, Supersol sells some high-quality clothing. Bubby, enamored by the thought of buying an outfit with your cereal, plus seeing the joy on Ariella's face at the mention of "new clothes" convinced her that she should buy Ariella a brand new sweatshirt and sweatpants. In case you are wondering, "Just how excited was Ariella?" I'll tell you. She had the sweatshirt on before we even finished checking out; she would have changed into the pants too if we would have let her. Within mere seconds of coming in the apartment, she stripped out of her skirt and donned her new, velour sweatpants. Stylin'!

After picking up Yaakov we went to the awesome, hole-in-the-wall falafel store and ate our fill. Then, Momz took the kid to the hole-in-the-wall toy store next to the hole-in-the-wall falafel store. Ariella got stickers (actually, they're stick-on earrings, but I'm not going to be the one to tell her that!) and a puzzle and Yaakov got a brand-new truck! This truck is some high-quality stuff, let me tell you! It comes with "flashing light!" although "sometimes differ from the model enclosed." And don't worry, because "our quality is second to none!" Plus, this truck is "simulating the true styles and making carefully!" with a special function "TV design electromotion running!"
I promise you I am not making these quotes up - they come directly from the box. You know those dollar stores in America with all the cheap toys? Well, the rejects from those stores are sent directly here. But the children were happy, and luckily I caught Momz and Dadz before they put batteries in Yaakov's truck.

Today Momz and Dadz were off to Bet Shemesh, and we reached another important aliyah milestone - our milk bag leaked in the fridge. I was kind of wondering how long it would take until a milk bag got punctured. The answer is "About three months." This is why I always buy lots of milk when I go shopping - because you can never predict when a puncture will happen.

Fun with Bubby and Zaidy

Our fun began on Sunday morning. We had grand plans which involved trains and big parks and meeting Donny and more trains. We ended up with a plan that involved no trains but was still a lot of fun.

Leezy, Deputy Minister (Mistress?) of Fun, decided we should go with all the kids to Park Hayarkon in Tel Aviv. Upon further investigation, we found that this park was on the train line. This had many many advantages, not the least being it would allow Dadz to BUY things, namely train tickets. It also meant that Ariella could realize her lifelong dream of "Traveling On A Train." It ALSO mean that if we went in the afternoon hours, Donny would leave work early, meet us there, and then go back with us. It was a well-thought out plan that we intended to execute with precision and efficiency. So I sent the kids to gan in the morning, since we didn't plan on leaving until 12:30. This turned out to be a good thing, seeing as the 'rents slept in till 10:30 - I would have otherwise had a pleasant morning of Ariella asking me every five minutes: "NOW can I go wake up Bubby? NOW? How about NOW?" While they slept, Leezy and the Tansters came over and we all hung out. Eventually, the parents woke up, Dadz and I went to the mall to buy "treats" from one of the cafes (now you see where I got the "treat" gene from), because, in Dadz' own words, "You can get cereal in America." I then ran to pick up the kids, noting that it was already going to be tight to catch our train, especially with all the gear we needed - strollers, snacks, diapers bags, snacks, drinks, snacks, and many jackets for Dadz lest he get chilly. When I walked in to pick up Yaakov, however, I saw his eye was red and watery. Basically, you never want to see anything on your child's body either "red" or "watery" and certainly not both. The ganenet was of course concerned this was something contagious and suggested we go to the doctor. Duh. It's only my second favorite activity (right after "being charged fees by the bank" but before "giving directions to Israelis in Hebrew"). Anyway, by the time I came home, the various assembled parties investigated Yaakov's eye, and I made an appointment (for 7:00 at night), we had already missed the train. However, about half an hour later, Yaakov's eye had basically cleared up and we realized it was most likely the result of a gan scuffle, probably over the last meatball.

So we decided to head out to everyone's favorite park - The Rock Park from Sukkot! I remembered more or less how to get to the park, but not how to find the exact location we parked at previously. Luckily, I had my expert navat in the car - Ariella. "Mommy, turn down here - this looks familiar. No, not there! Over here!" And she was correct - she identified the precise location we parked last time. She definitely gets her sense of direction from her father and Uncle Aaron, and NOT from me. ("Um, you're in the lobby now? Ok, take the elevator....up, I'm pretty sure....and then it's a left? No, no, definitely a right when you come out....") So we got out and enjoyed the beautiful December weather in Modi'in - a balmy high 70s. Yaakov and Zaidy immediately trekked up the mountain, and Netanel amused himself by running up and down the hill and eating rocks. Ariella and I went scouting, and we found the Path of Rocks which enamored my children so the last time we were here! After returning from their strenuous hike, Zaidy and Yaakov joined us at the rocks. This time, they entertained themselves (and here I include Zaidy in "they") by seeing if they could throw their rocks into the grate which covered some sort of well. Zaidy missed most of his, but he was careful not to hit the children. Then, Yaakov discovered the Greatest Game Ever - find rocks and put them in Zaidy's shirt pocket! Whoo-hooo! Fun for the whole family, especially Zaidy! We eventually returned to Netanel, Bubby, and Aunt Leezy, and then proceeded home. ("No, Mommy turn here.")

Donny took an early train home, and then all eight of us (count if you don't believe me) went out for dinner at the restaurant we took the kids to on Sukkot, because we promised Ariella we'd go back when Bubby and Zaidy came and darned if she wasn't going to hold us to that! We had an excellent dinner and then everyone went to their respective sleeping places.

Monday, the fun continued. The kids went to gan and Momz, Dadz, Donny and I went up to Zichron Yaakov. We wanted to show the 'rents what it was like, as a possible community to move to. After looking around, we decided it was time for food and found a nice cafe to (which was good because Dadz was very distressed that his sleeping in on Sunday morning caused him to miss an opportunity to eat out.) After breakfast, Donny caught the bus to work and the three of us drove back. Hehe. This is where the fun starts. To make a long story short, I was the navat, so you can tell how bad this situation was. We needed to get back by 1:30 to pick up Ariella, and we left with a half hour cushion of time. We took not one but two wrong turns, thereby eating up our cushion. We did eventually make it back to Modi'in, but we were late picking Ariella up from gan, and I tried to leave a message with Aiden's parents to please pick her up but their phone connection was bad so they didn't really understand and Ariella was traumatized that I didn't come but don't worry, she forgot about it quickly because there was important work to be done on her new puzzle. Her new 200 piece puzzle, which she is doing entirely on her own, I might add.

Later, a very important aliyah milestone occurred. After returning from getting Yaakov from gan, I got a phone call from a mom in Ariella's gan. No, Ariella did not hit, bite, kick or otherwise main this little girl. She was being invited over for a playdate! I asked the mom when she would like to schedule this. Next week? Next month? "4:30" she replied. (It was currently 4:15.) Nothing like that Israeli sense of spontenaity! So we headed out. The girl, Shirat, had two other girls from gan over. All of them were Hebrew-speaking, but despite this Ariella made herself at home and kicked me out after ten minutes. I asked the mom when I should return. "7:00," she said with a smile. Alright! I'm loving these Israeli playdates! So Yaakov and I came home so he could scarf down some noodles and destroy Ariella's toys, both of which he did with relish. We returned to pick up Ariella, who was happily munching on French toast and cucumbers, and looked very annoyed that I had the nerve to come and pick her up. So this was very exciting - both that she got invited out and that she had a great time. She's already planning who she's going to invite for the next playdate.

Stay tuned for the Continuting Adventures of Bubby "I Heart Driving in Israel" and Zaidy "Is There a Way to Buy Things, Eat Rugelach, and Nap at the SAME TIME?" Leibtag!