Never a dull moment...

Wow has it really been that long since my last post?? LOL Yeah I can see it!

We had a wonderful time in Germany! It was soooo good to be back for a visit. The kids and I stayed in Grafenwohr at a friends house (THANK YOU Becky & Trevor and Lori & John!!) while Sebastian was in his course...once it was done he joined us in Graf and we went skiing in Garmisch with friends, hung out in Nurnberg, and just hung out in general. A very welcome relaxing vacation!! Thats the thing about vacations - they can be exciting, entertaining, an adventure - but too often they are NOT relaxing LOL This one was. The best part was getting to visit with good friends and see the kids all together again :-)

Tyler and her friends (P. & D.) got back together like they had not been seperated since last summer...doing loops, playing at Megaplay, hanging out together in the lil rocking chairs in front of the fireplace at the Garmisch resort.... She had soooo much fun. Alex, of course, just tried to follow what all the other kids were doing :)

It was a loooong flight home (stopover in Vienna) and by the time we made it home it was an 18 hour day...and 12 hours after landing Tyler got very very sick. Turned out to be a virus but for a while no one was certain. I think it was complicated by the extra-long travel day. Ahh our first visit via ambulance to an ER with one of the kids. They do have a great Childrens Hospital here but the way :) She is okay now - still coughing but much better. Alex and I both have it as well though without the high fever that Ty was hit with. (This would also be the reason for not posting here sooner!)

While in Germany we got our paperwork (RFO) for leaving this June. So now, back in Israel, we are doing the countdown! We have family visiting in April and between that and some doggie surgery (Riley has lumps that need to be removed) the time is going to fly!! I am looking forward to my Dad & Stepmom coming out - I think they are going to have a great time here :-)

There is more that I could write about our trip but the kids are calling LOL So I will post some pictures here for now....

3 muskateers doing loops

Ty hanging with her peeps D

Alex caught trying to toilet paper the bathroom!

Sitting around the fire (wish I could find those rocking chairs somewhere!)

Ty and P hanging out

Germany here we come :-D

Time flies - even when you are not having that much fun LOL The past couple weeks have been filled with same old-same old with a few exceptions. There is a "recreation center" here that is owned and run by the American Embassy that we used a great deal when we got here last year. Most times we just called it the pool as there is a larger one for adults & big kids and another little pool that is tarped off from the sun. With the summer and fall heat we made great use of it stopping only when the weather got a bit colder (the pools are not heated).

Well I had spoken with our community office about creating an open-ended playdate each week for people who have small kids that are not going to 'gan'. Gan is the pre-pre-school LOL for 2 year olds. Yes I said 2 year olds. Its not daycare, though it can substitute for it to a point. The upshot is that you do not run into many toddlers at the parks, etc - at least not during the day. I knew I was not the only one with kids not in gan and suggested this as a way for people old and new (esp new) to get to know some of the other Moms around and get hooked into some of their networks...After many months it has finally started :-) Luckily one of the other American moms is willing to come and cover me while we are in Germany (THANKS Justina!!) so we can finally say it's on each week and not confuse people with dates. So far its been great. Moms I met through other ways are coming and it has a great international flavour :)

Sebastian spent last week to Germany, the first week for the Rec Center playgroup, which is probably why I was clenching my jaw a bit...by the time he came home I had full-on skull pounding pain UGHHH and with nursing cannot take anything by Tylenol and Motrin :( Which, of course, timed perfectly for the German virus accompanied Sebastian back with him creating 103 fevers in him and the girls for the weekend and beginning of this week!!! This is why I am posting stuff from last weeks opening playdate now!

In fact I am typing this as quickly as I can (pls excuse typo's :) as I have to coughing and sometimes feverish kids beside me at the moment! But I knew if I did not get this up this morning it would not get up before we leave, much less after.

Oh yeah. There is a picture or two of Sebastian skiing at Mt Hermon this week. Where are the girls and I? At home. Taking care of 2 little ones with fevers. DON'T ask....

I am SOOOOO looking forward to Germany tomorrow :-D Tchuss for now!!

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!