Bathrooms....

Ok - HOW can I live here a month and NOT know how many bathrooms we have?? (Yes one is in the basement and it never gets used...but sadly thats not the one I forgot about)

We have FIVE yes FIVE bathrooms!! Four of them with showers or tubs....gawd that is too many bathrooms!

I am looooosing my mind.....LOL

Moments in Israel....

Checking out the flowers in the backyard in the morning....

Dang - she found the chocolate!

Playing with the hose takes care of the chocolate!

While Alex chills


Later that day when Dad makes it home we head to the beach...

and this is the view Ty has from her swing!

Sad thing is she won't remember this all so I am trying to

remember to bring the camera for lots of pictures!

Update!

Were does one begin? This will be the shot-gun effect for blogging today :-)

We are still without our household goods and X5. We hear that the HHG should be here on/around the 24 (and still has customs after that I believe), and the X5? Your guess is as good as mine! But we have been making due. The kids have been keeping me busy..Someone said that having one child is having one...having two is like having 10LOL I now see their point!

Alex is now rolling both ways (back to front and front to back) and inching forward with her toes! In the house of stairs I was really hoping she was going to take a while for her to get moving. She also likes to be upright (here's wishing we had our stuff already) so i know she will enjoy her bumbo chair, etc once its here. Ty still like having a lilttle sister LOL and gives kisses, hugs and blankets to Alex...till I am feeding her and then Ty tells me "Baby sit" while patting her swing or a blanket on the ground. Tyler is talking quite a bit and has hit the independent 2's. (Well independent till someone else talks to her - then she is attached to my legs) Both are growing like crazy and keep me running!

August was hot but you can start to feel it cooling off a bit now, especially in the mornings and evenings..not cooling off like it does in Germany but it is cooler. Like 28 C instead of 34 C during the day. In other words thank god for air conditioning!

Sebastian seems to be settling into his new position and is enjoying it. It keeps him really busy, making the time fly by, and is quite interesting being in and working with people from such a different culture. He doesn't travel a great deal and his office is actually walking distance from him which is great.

Ahhh the culture :-) There are definitely differences here - some we read up on before we came and others we have been introduced to. Here are some interesting ones:

Overall rule: All laws and rules are, well, strong suggestions that don't really need to be followed, much less followed at all times :-)

Driving: This can make driving interesting to say the least. Watch out for people on scooters (who I swear have a death wish as they weave in and out of traffic) but also for those lovely souls who think one way street sign does not apply to them! Honking is normal so don't be shocked or offended, as is being cut off. Parking?? OMG! Parking in streets, parking on curbs (sometimes half the car sometimes the whole car), double parked, triple parked is not unusual...apparently the lines on the ground are, again, just suggestions. You know - guidelines to follow or not depending on ones mood (OK lot of that has to do with the sheer numbers of cars here too!)

Lines: Cutting into line is not a surprise...nor is getting pushy :-) Waiting patiently is for suckers apparently

Dress code is officially casual! They have the designer names here but you won't, for example, be out of place in khakis and a polo shirt at a 5 star restaurant.

Hebrew has to be the most different, and difficult, language I have heard! Unlike being in Europe, nothing about it sounds or looks familiar.....makes grocery shopping an interesting experience LOL I will take some pictures and post them soon. Still it is kind of cool when you realize you are listening to a language that is over 2000 years old! Most people in this part of Israel do speak English too.

Our house is made of concrete and is walled around the yard. This is true of all the houses in this area. There are lots of mature trees which softens things a bit but I do miss seeing people in their yards - makes it a bit harder to meet the neighbors LOL But we are not far from things - the beach, shopping and parks are walking distance so I think the location is fantastic!! I'd much rather live here than in Tel Aviv proper...if we did not have dogs and kids I might feel differently but since we do this works out much better!

Ok -'nuff for now. Here are some pictures!



Let the education begin LOL






Ty at the park - it is a beautiful park thats not too far away. Wish I had more pictures of it but my memory card was full!

Gecko's are NOT cute

Okay - the only Gecko I ever wanted in my home (maybe) was from Geico.....this unwelcome critter decided to park itself at our ceiling!!! It was small - 4 inches from tip to tail - which just made it that much faster - UGHHHHHHHH!!

It has been re-assigned to outdoor quarters where it can eat bugs to its hearts content!! I'll take spiders anyday!!

Greetings from Herzliya!

Well after about 3 weeks we finally are mostly settled in!! We are living in a smaller suburb just north of Tel Aviv called Herzliya Pituah. Its definitely been a bit of a haul :-)

It took till two days ago before we had Internet of our own and cable too so sorry for the posting delays! The flight in went smoothly which was greatly appreciated by Sebastian and I given the day before was spent fighting with the contractor transportation company about sending out X5 to Israel. Moving to new lands is always interesting.....

* telephone didn't work in the house and we think it is the line...turns out to be the phone! (this takes 10 days as you cannot simply call up the phone company - the listings are all in Hebrew :-)

* smaller express shipment comes just fine but the household goods (HHG)is still in Grafenwohr a MONTH later; they claim they didn't know where to ship it. Funny the same moving company picked up both shipments on the same day! Gotta luv those contractors!

* HHG is now being expedited and is expected at the end of this month - now we need the port workers to stop their strike!

* stuff that was supposed to be in the express shipment for the kids, is somehow, hopefully, sitting in the HHG for Israel

* still don't have the X5 yet. Not sure where it is really...Know others for whom, once it got here, it sat in customs for up to a month. Better than Jerusalem though - one person I know waited 2.5 months!

* food costs about double here for most items that are not produce (which are still more expensive)..for example; Pedigree dog food 9 lb bag is now $19; what we would call mac & cheese is $2.50, and regular dried pasta can range up to $4 a box! We will be losing weight here and Ty can not longer share with Max & Riley LOL

Lots of other little quirky things that I am sure will come out in future posts! For the time being I just wanted to say Hi to all and get some photos up. OH! And Ty celebrated her 2nd birthday here - not many pics I am ashamed to say but it was fun. We hit Tel Aviv, Jaffa and a great mall close by where she picked out her elephant couch. The next day we took her to the beach :-)

Okay gotta run..here are some pictures for now! Miss you all!!

Ty's first archaeological site





Hey what do you expect - we just moved (and it IS a food group for my Daddy!)


Ty at the beach

The girls on Ty's new elephant couch


But Alex prefers her swing - something that did make it here!!