It’s Summertime!

Summer is here and it’s starting to get hot.
The kids are all set up with their respective camps/Gan.
We have a new road to thank for bringing the beach closer to us. We have visited the beach more often thanks to the 30 minute door to sand advantage. Below are some pictures of the beach as well as a circus event in Modiin. Summer is filled with lots of activities for the children.


We are hosting this Shabbat our friend from Pittsburgh that was in Israel for a year, this will be her last Shabbat during his year in Israel. We were happy to see you here and hope to see you in Israel soon.

Ilan had a special event at his gan and was de Aba Shabbat. He is so happy there, has made lots of friends and is becoming a true Israeli kid (for better and for worse). He had several play dates the last two weeks. See pictures and video below.



My Big Fat Israeli Interview is coming to your favorite blog on August 3. More on this later.

Happy Birthday Blog - 1 Year

This is where all the magic happens.

Click on the image to make larger and try to reveal the message on the computer.
Inspired by my 1st (or second?) grade lunchbox that had a similar concept with sesame street characters on it.

The blog has reached a major milestone: 1 year!
There have been since July 2, 2008:
- 68 posts (hey that’s more than ones per week)
- 134 comments – most commented was I’m in Love!
- 3,697 visits
- 5,586 Pageviews
- 724 Absolute Unique Visitors
- Day with most visitors – July 10, 2008 (official blog launch): 49 visitors
- 16 different countries in 4 different continents (I know where you are :)

United States 56.78%
Israel 23.75%
Mexico 18.31%
Canada 0.46%
United Kingdom 0.22%
Venezuela 0.11%
India 0.08%
Germany 0.05%
Spain 0.05%
Peru 0.03%
Italy 0.03%
Belgium 0.03%
Australia 0.03%
Denmark 0.03%
Ireland 0.03%
Netherlands 0.03%

Below some memorable posts:

This is how it all started – Here we go… Welcome to our Blog!
Some of the most funny include – To be Israeli , And the award goes to… , Yom Kipur & trip to Jerusalem, Happy Purim 5769
For originality take a look at the Sabra Albums: Take 1 , Take 2 , Take 3, Take 4,Take 5 and Machane Yehuda Edition
Romantic - I’m in Love!
From the heart - The most honorable Aliyah, A miracle in our days, Goodbye Pittsburgh :(

For more posts browse through the Blog Archive to the right

Do you have a favorite blog post?
What would you like to see this new Blog year?
Please comment…

Thanks for following the blog and commenting on it, it keeps me going. Maybe I should become a Pro? - Blogging like a Pro

Welcome Toothfairy (Bienvenido Raton)

 

 

Last Saturday Batya lost her first tooth. We were all so excited. I felt very excited to act as the Raton (the mouse – apparently Mexican folklore does not include fairies) take her tooth at night in return for some shekels (I was lucky VAT did not increased yet I saved myself 1%).

Also this week at Gan they celebrated early (or may I say very early) her 6th birthday. Given that her birthday is always the second day of school she did not celebrated her 5th birthday at Gan. Enjoy the slideshow

I'm in love!

Yes! I'm in love!
9 Years of love?
How about 18 years + of love?
Some say the magic started about 20 years ago in Israel. Well the magic is still alive and back in Israel.
Feliz Aniversario mi vidita. Te amo.

From Collages

Click on the picture to see it larger.

My girl is going to 1st grade

I’m so proud of Batya. Last week it was her graduation from kindergarten and now she is up to 1st grade.
I was so proud as I watched her do her dances, singing, etc. Can you believe she started the school year with just a couple of words in Hebrew and now she can understand and speak most of it?
The theme for the graduation party was math. We were so happy with her Gan as well as her Ganenet (teacher), this year they won a national award for best public religious gan, they had visitors from different schools and offices to learn from her gan. And we happened to fall there.
Enjoy the pictures and videos. I understand if you fly through the videos, for a parent or grandparent it looks like a real Broadway production.

A Sweet Guest

We are so happy to host my niece Liora. She is so sweet and the kids love her too.
Although we’ve had a rough week in terms of doctor visits for the kids and for us (yep, several visits in just a week or two, but thank G’d nothing serious), we have been able to go out a little. Below are some pictures of us with my niece Liora (Lioris, as we call her not to confuse her with the other sweet Liora). Below some pictures including our visit to Mearat Hanetifim with stalactites and stalagmites, a natural wonder. Enjoy.



I want to thank R. for letting me know that she is one of my blog followers and for giving me some strengths to write this post although it’s already 12:40am.
I’m hoping to be able to post very soon pictures and videos of Batya’s graduation party that took place today. We are so proud of her.
Ariela, I’m setting the regressive clock for your visit…See you soon here (Please just confirm the right date). Jaco, Judy, thanks for the opportunity to host them.

New Sabra Album photo and other photos

Sabra Album
Below is a photo for the Sabra Album. Continuing to post pictures that talk about how Israel is such a special and interesting place. These pictures are so unique to Israel that I’m calling them “Sabra Album” (Click here for definition of Sabra). (You can also visit Sabra Album Take 1 , Take 2 , Take 3, Take 4, and Machane Yehuda Edition if you missed them).

Look at what the merry go round “gate keeper” at a local ambulatory amusement park is carrying on his waist!

From Sabra Album

Some titles for the picture above:

- Talk about a secure amusement park…
- Sir, I’m sorry but you are overqualified for this job and no you will not have to bring your gun to work.
- Kid! Get back on that horse NOW!
- No jumping the line, or else…
- Excuse me kid I will need to frisk your cotton candy
Any other ideas?


I wanted to share some miscellaneous photos from a visit to family, a BBQ with some friends and the visit of our friend Efrat who we were so happy to see, a visit to the beach in Rishon Letzion that we discovered we are only 30 minutes away “Door to Sand”. Enjoy.