Mollie and Yechiel

Racheli came to Israel this summer to stay with us for a few weeks. When she arrived on Monday night, she inadvertently left her cell phone in one of the El Al offices. As luck would have it, Abba had to return to the airport on Wednesday night to take Bubby to the airport. So we decided to make a sleepover out of it. Abba took Elisheva, Ezra, Racheli and Bubby to Molly and Yechiel who live in Nechalim, outside of Petach Tikva, and minutes from Ben Gurion airport.

When we got there, Elisheva, Ezra and Racheli helped Molly make a dinner to feed a small army. After dessert and some goodbyes, the kids got ready for bed (well at least they were supposed to) while Abba took Bubby to the airport, retrieved Racheli's phone and returned to Nechalim to sleep over.

The next morning, after davening, we had a nice big breakfast, and walked around the dairy farm until about 11 AM when Molly had to go to work and Yechiel went to visit someone in Tel Aviv.

On the way home, we stopped by Modiin, and went boating at Anbel Park, followed by Gavriel Butel's 4th birthday party. We ordered a giant pizza from Giant Pizza and it really is the biggest Pizza you have ever seen. After some jumping on the trampolene, and when the guests started to arrive, it was our cue to start heading for Yerushalayim.

Saba's Visit

Saba came for about a week in the middle of July, spending the first couple of days by Uncle Eliezer and Shabbos by us. We went to pick up Saba on Wednesday in Beitar so the cousins could get together.

 

We had a nice Shabbos together with Saba and Bubby. We mostly davened at the shul down the block, Yagel Yaakov. Ezra, Saba and Abba also learned some Chumash together. Noam showed Saba that he new the words to Dror Yikra that Abba taught him, 'Bat...Bat...Bat...Shabbat'. On Shabbos morning we went to the main shul up the hill, so Saba could see a little more of Mitzpeh Yericho.

We woke up early and already had to drive Saba back to the airport early Sunday morning. It was a short visit, but it was wonderful to spend time with Saba all the same. Saba wrote some parting poetry for each grandchild which we still have posted on the fridge

Bubby's Visit

About a week or so after we moved in, Bubby moved in for about five weeks. We still didn't have air conditioning downstairs, but somehow Bubby was OK with a couple of high powered fans in the office/guest room.

Bubby helped Ima with the baby and the kids and the general task of getting us unpacked and settled after the move. This included a mandatory trip to Ikea, and a few other trips to local destinations to buy all the little things we needed (and wanted) to make our new home more Heimish.

The climax of Bubby's trip was the Schwadron Bar Mitzvah in Beis Shemesh on Parshas V'Eschanan (Shabbos Nachamu), followed by a 3 days and two nights at the Holiday Inn in Ashkelon.


We picked the place because they advertised separate swimming for men and women, but it turned out to be 8-9 AM for men and 9-10 AM for women, with very little privacy at the outdoor pool.

The kids enjoyed the beach as well, equipped with their sand toys, courtesy of Bubby. No this is not one of the kids para-sailing, but the kids certainly enjoyed watching


On the way back, we also stopped off at the caves of Beit Guvrin, before returning to Mitzpeh Yericho on Tuesday evening.