This is soooooo Alex!!

Normally the girls get along great but Alexandra and Tyler had their first pushing & yelling match on the floor today and Alex was not giving up. LOL Surprise surprise it over NOT a toy...it was over food! Whole grain CHEERIOS!!

The girl likes her food and Ty was not in the sharing mood :) Brought out the reserves and the crisis was averted...for now...hate to see what happens when she can fight for sweets :-P

Sooooo what I did NOT want to see!

(sigh) Starting to chase each other already! UGH!!

Notice the stairs don't stop where Ty is standing egging her sister on - there is another set going up beside her...AND another set (just as big) at the other end of the downstairs landing.

This is going to be an interesting couple of months!

Mitzpe Ramon

Well first off, I admit should have brought a second camera with us!! I missed out on taking soooo many pic - esp of the girls. We have a second camera - its tempermental about working LOL but it would have been better than nothing...

We took a trip south into the Negev desert. The trip was planned as a group mountain bike trip to go through the Mitzpe Ramon crater and hit a couple other sites along the way. WOW It was amazing :-) Beautiful countryside and, in Sebastian's words the ride was "epic" on Sunday LOL I did not ride since we had the kids with us and the terrain is definitely NOT charriot-friendly for riding. But we had a great time too. Pretty much everyone how came down did so as a family so there were a lot of other people and kids around :) We ended up going to the Ein Avdat National Park on Saturday which is an oasis at the bottom of a canyon. You can walk the 200 or so meters to the end of it fairly easily. The kids did great!! Ty stayed out of the water (mostly lol) and carried Alex in the bjorn..yeah I got my workout in!

After a sleepless night (thanks Alexandra!)the next day was the Ramon crater. A huge crater created by water. Yup, water. It is amazing. If I recall it is 40 kms long, from 2 to 10 wide and 500 meters deep. Not the Sahara sand like desert - more interesting I think with different kinds of rocks, sands, etc. we dropped off some of the bikers at the bottom in a campground that also had a large Bedouin tent so 6 moms and 11 kids descended on the 2 guys at the tent for tea :-) DELICIOUS!!!

We then walked part of the crater rim by the visitors center where the views are spectacular. The kids were more interested in the rocks on the ground beside us lol ..and decidedly more interested in the playground that we had parked our cars beside :) they played a bit and after grabbign a bite to eat at the center half of us went to the Alpaca farm. Yes you read correctly (yet another example of needing the camera!!!!!) It was an alpaca farm that also had llamas, goats, chickens, donkeys, horses and one camel. Oh and black & white sheepherding dogs that
were earning their keep as llamas would follow us looking for the little bags of food they knew we had :-P Ahhh it was fun. By the time we were done the riders were back at the hotel and we it was hometime. Great weekend!

Have you seen Benjamin Button yet??

MUCH cuter than Benjamin Button!!

If you have not check it out - its great! Long, but great:)

We have been enjoying the sunshine here lately. I keep hearing from those who have been here longer than us that we have not had a winter here this year. Usually its colder with more wind & rain. Suits me just fine! Due to the lack of rain they have implemented water restrictions which suc ks and hopefully will not kill our lawn! But its been in the 60's and 70's with the occasional chilly wind so we have been taking advantage of it as much as possible. The sun still sets too early but during the day hitting the parks and pier are fun and (no selfish motivation here) it seems to tired Ty and Alex out as well LOL

Lucky me I found out that I seem to have low blood pressure. According to my health practioner my caffine addiction and love of salty foods (popcorn & pretzels anyone?) are my friends :) Yeaaaaaa!! Gotta love that! I had been getting really dizzy - the I-feel-drunk-room-moving kind that everyone gets once in a while when you move too quickly. For me it was happening a lot and, so far, thats been the answer. They did a panel of tests and I will know if there is anything else in a week or two. In the meantime I am enjoying my guilt-free coffee as I type this to you!

Cannot believe it is February already. I am not complaining - I am looking forward to Germany in March but there are times when it seems like time is as slow as molassas and other times I realize how fast it goes by. As Lennon says "Life is what happens while you are making other plans." How true.

Speaking of time flying: The girls are growing like crazy. Alex is a bottomless pit with 2 hollow legs. The girl can EAT and so far likes everyyything! Kinda scary since at the 6 month visit she was 50-60 percentile for height and 90 for weight. The medical staff loved it. Sebastian and I joke that we need to get them into sports at a young age LOL This makes up for Ty who has is not terribly interested in eating. Something I think all 2-3 year olds get into at some point of another. She actually eats pretty healthy and would rather eat more small meals on the fly than sitdown dinners.

Alexandra watches Ty like a hawk, wanting to do whatever she does. I knew that was going to happen, just never thought it would happen so soon! Heaven help me Alex has also figured out how to climb the 2 stairs out of the sunken family room...Yeah so much for keeping her contained (sigh) 8 months....I thought I had more time! Ty's favourite saying currently is "sorry dude" which comes out 'Shorry-dude' (its the Cali in her) and I-checkin-da-baby" like its all one word...and a new facination with "pooh-bears" and Dora (thanks Dad/Di:-P)...actually I think she likes the sidekick monkey, Boots, most. She got a new nightlight for Christmas - and it cannot have the red, pink or blue light on it must be GREEN to go to sleep with LOL Ahhh you wonder what goes on in their little heads with no-so-little memories and requests (she somehow remembers that it was Dad who taught her to 'swim' in the pool last summer..not Mom. Informed me of this tonight she did and nothing I said changed her mind. Funny thing is, she is right!)

Tomorrow is election day here and thus a holiday for Israeli's. It will be interesting to see who end up winning. Still no truce signed and there are still the occasional rockets launched into Israel & the IDF response back at them..it will be interesting to see what happens after tomorrow. Will keep ya posted!