Sorry I have not had any posts lately but we were out for part of a week, then have been busy on vacation with the kids, some interviews, freelance work, and now getting ready for the end of the “Chofesh Hagadol” (large vacation) and the beginning of school.
Just want to start giving all of you a huge thanks for your support and comments on my guest blog post as part of the contest. Thanks to your support I have maintained the 1st place by far (1866 unique visitors) and will hopefully (and probably) get the title.
See rankings here.
Not only that but many good things and opportunities have come out from the blog, so regardless of who wins I have already gained a lot.
Now to the blog topic…
There are so many things I have been thinking to blog about but so limited time: there are all the things we did during our trip to the north, the continuation of our vacation here in the center, the wonderful world of Israeli banking, the adoption of Tcheli (our new car), ready for “Kita Aleph” (first grade), Israeli’s consumer product and customer service experience, some new Sabra Album pics. and many more.
For now I will try to cover some of our vacation experiences and would love to hear your requests for the next topic, please comment.
G’d said to Abraham: "Arise, go through the land, to its length and to its breadth, for to you will I give it"
This summer has been a great opportunity for us to do just that. We have such a beautiful country and yet so small. It’s amazing the concentration of beauty and activities one can find here and it’s all less than 2 hours away.
A couple of weeks ago we headed north for 3 nights and 4 days and had so many great experiences.
Some of the places we visited include Shvil Hatapuzim (the orange path) where the kids enjoyed this small low tech amusement park in the middle of an orange grove with a swimming pool, mini golf, riding cars, boats, etc… we had a great time and then continued our trip north to get in less than an hour to our hotel/inn in Kibbutz Ginosar.
Every day was full of fun. Some other places we visited included:
Luna Gal, Israel’s first water park surely could use some renovations and maybe expansion. The place has a sign in the entrance limiting the occupancy to 3000 visitors, after that the gates are closed. We got there early and there was already an ocean of Israel’s crème de la crème, nevertheless the children had a great time. By the time we left there was a tumultuous people gathering outside the gates screaming at the gate keepers to let them in.
We also visited Kibbutz Ein Gev where we had a succulent lunch but then the fun was just starting as we visited “HaNagaria shel Saba Yosi” (Grandpha Yosi’s wood shop) where the kids were able to paint and ensemble their own wooden toys. After that we rode the mini train that took us through the Kibbutz, its banana fields, animals, etc.
We were all so excited to do our first river tiyul (trip) which for me is the truly Israeli tiyul (we did the Megarse river). It involved walking to a river then walking through the river. It was very nice and the kids enjoyed most of the tiyul. Liora had a funny and scary moment when a meter long fish went through her feet. To be honest and to her credit, the fish was definitely creepy, maybe that’s the reason she screamed the way she did.
Other activities we did included swimming in the Kinneret (sea of Galilee), swimming pool, drumming, bonfire, boat ride through the Kinneret (more on this on the next Sabra Album), and some great fish restaurants.
For more pictures of our trip click on this Album link. There is also a video here.
Back in Modiin we also have had a lot of fun with the kids doing many things around the area such as:
Bowling
Going to the beach
Visited the Ein Yael living museum where the kids were able to bake Pita bread, make wine with their feet, walk through archeological findings from the roman period, visit a rebuilt ancient roman market street, milked a goat and drank the milk (OK the kids didn’t do it, but I did), made pottery and many other things
We had a nice picnic with lots of family in Jerusalem.
Liora started to work last week so I had the entire week to have fun with the kids. And what did we do?
We went to the Ramat Gan Safari/Zoo where were we saw a bunch of interesting animals including (and) the Kids TV Start Yuval Hamevulval at his show which for my Mexican readers he is like a cheap version of Chavelo.
For a video of the kids enjoying Yuval Hamevulval’s show click here.
We went to Chavaya Vakramim about 15 minutes away from home. There we baked another set of Pitas, made pottery and other arts and crafts, did a 40 minute tour of their many exotic fruit trees and tried some of them, we made tea pouches with all kinds of aromatic herbs the kids gathered. The kids also harvested their own grapes and made our own grape juice with their feet, this time we did get
our own bottle, I was able to perform the Ma’aser blessing and mitzvah (Tithe) as well as used it for Kiddush (Wine blessing) twice during Shabbat and then at Havdalah after Shabbat.
We visited Kifzuva which is a small amusement center at Kibbutz Zuva. The kids had lots of fun but I was very stressed because of the amount of people and wild kids running and jumping around the inflatables and games.
The four of us went an afternoon to the Park Hakofim (Monkey Park) and had a blast visiting un-caged monkeys and many other attractions including the bubble pool.
We finished the last Friday of vacation all together in Jerusalem to visit the Kotel (Western Wall).
For more pictures of our summer activities access the following links:
Machane Yehuda, Bowling, Beach, Ein Yael, Family - http://picasaweb.google.com/israel.weisser/ManyActivitiesAug2009#
Safari, Chavaya Vakramim, Kifsuva - http://picasaweb.google.com/israel.weisser/AugustManyActivities2#
Keitana (camp) Batya & Eichal Haatzmaut (Independence Hall) - http://picasaweb.google.com/israel.weisser/KeitanaBatyaEichalHaatzmautJuly2009#
Ilan’s Gan graduation party - http://picasaweb.google.com/israel.weisser/IlanSGanMesivatSiumJuly2009#
Park Hakofim, Jerusalem, Friends -
http://picasaweb.google.com/israel.weisser/ParkHakofimJerusalemOtherAugust2009#
FEEWWWW! I think I deserve a break. I’m glad the kids are going back to School, but I will definitely miss having fun with them. It has all worked out so well. In other (professional) circumstances I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to spend that much time with the kids, help Liora and go through the land’s length and breadth. I’m thankful to G’d for this opportunity and am also thankful for the upcoming opportunities.
I want to give an official welcome to Ariela to Israel and wish her a great year. We are glad to see you here. I'm waiting to hear from the next confirmed family visit to set up the clock again.
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4 comments:
You sound like an amazing dad. Now you deserve just a tiny bit of a rest.
It sounds like you had a great summer.
Thanks Baila.
We had a great summer. And I see you too with your camping experience.
I'm actually Dad #1, as a T-shirt and cap I was once awarded say. :)
fantastic touring via your photos
Israel,
Great blog you have here. Thanks for refering me to your marketing-related posts. I especially liked the Psicometri ad and the singing watermelon guy! The more I go to the shuk the more marketing principles I see at work (some good, some bad!). I put up some more posts recently and hope to get another "shuk" post up soon. Check it out...and keep posting.
Oren
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