I went to meet her at the airport in the morning and we went to my brothers place in Tel Aviv since my mom was staying with them last week, and then Paul and the kids met up with us later.
This last week both Paul and I were off work so we could spend time as a family with my mom.
We went to the beach, the pool, the (kids) science museum, the Kotel (Western Wall), Ben Yehuda Street, Sarona Market. We walked so much Im not sure if my feet will ever recover. On the day we went to Jerusalem we walked almost 12km!
Last night my mom came to us and will stay with us until she goes home. Unfortunately I had to come back to work so she is hanging out with the kids this week.
Here are some pics Paul took over the last week (some on the camera, some on the phone).
My mom with all her grandchildren 🙂
Family selfie in Jerusalem
Aaron took this one 🙂
These two!
Olives at the Sarona Market, Aaron was in heaven!
Family selfie at the science museum
The cutest nephew in the world!!!!
More sibling love!
Refreshing our feet in this awesome mist generating thingy on the streets in Jerusalem
We spent most of our time with family and very little time touring but that is why we went, to be with family!
In Tel Aviv, we were right by the beach, a 5 minute walk away to be precise. Now, Im not really a beach person but we went 3 or 4 times and I swam in the gorgeous warm ocean and got a tan. The kids loved it! We found a restaurant on the beach (literally, tables and chairs in the sand) and plonked ourselves down for a few hours a day.
We walked to the mall and took taxis to my brothers flat and had picnics in the park near his house.
In Jerusalem we spent our evenings with our Israeli family and the days with our family from the UK.
The wedding was amazing. So very very special. Looking out over the old city, our family and friends all together. It was a truly happy and joyous occasion.
And the food! The food in Israel was amazing. We didnt stop eating. The croissants in the morning from the corner store, the felafel and shwarma from the little hole-in-the-wall shops, the Italian restaurant we celebrated my Grandfathers birthday in, the homemade meals our family served us. So much of yummy food all the time!
Here are a few snaps from the trip!
My 88 year old grandfather with his 92 year old brother and his sister in law
Baha’i Gardens
My grandfather and my brother resting while the gals shop
Our little beach restaurant in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv sunset from my brothers apartment
Tel Aviv market
More Tel Aviv market
The Jerusalem windmill at nightÂ
My brother and my new sister :):):)
The Kottel (Western Wall)
Aunty Yana and the kids
Ruins of the Southern Wall in Jerusalem
Trying to move the huge rock that once made up part of the old city walls
I’ve been here 2 full days and am having an absolute blast, I don’t have access all the time so for now I will just give you a rundown of my first few days.
We arrived at the airport very very very VERY early, like 2 hours before check in opened… We sat and had coffee/lemonade and then made our way back to the check in area where we met up with Dominique who was up from CT for the WIZO SA conference. We checked through and made our way through passport control. We did a little browsing, Dom bought some jeans and had an early dinner as she doesn’t eat on planes.
We eventually boarded and got ready to take off. The Turkish airways plane was very comfortable and the entertainment was not to shabby. I was a bit disappointed that one of the advertised movies was not in fact a selection and landed up reading most of a novel I had bought. I managed to sleep for a few hours and of course after waking a few times during the night, I slept straight through the cabin lights being switched on and breakfast!
Dom made an excellent travel companion as she slept through most of the flight and didn’t insist on chit chat!
The only downside to the first leg of our journey was the incredible ear ache I developed on our descent into Istanbul. Â I really thought I was going to burst an eardrum and need to be hospitalised on landing!
The second flight was relatively painless, from the security check point and passport control, to boarding and the flight itself. I ate the snack with gusto as I was starving at this point.
Matt and I!
My brother Matthew was at the airport to great us and I couldn’t help but almost squeeze the life out of him when I hugged him. He bargained with a taxi driver and didn’t win, 160NIS was a bit steep for a taxi ride to the hotel so we opted to catch a train into Tel Aviv at 14NIS this was much better, we then caught a taxi from the station to the hotel which only cost 35NIS.
I had a small battle with my cheque card at check in and Matt rescued me by putting the hold on his credit card while I sorted out the shit with my bank. Â Damn Std Bank had put a hold on my card because they thought it had been stolen, Paul contacted Std Bank and within half an hour the issue was sorted.
We spent a fantastic day together, it was great to catch up with him, I love his sense of humor and I think he was very happy to have someone here who actually thinks he is funny and gets his sense of humor!  He went back to Jerusalem as I had a full day of touring the next day and we met up again for dinner on Thursday night  and he slept in my room so that today we could travel together  to Jerusalem to spend Shabbos with family!
My room was is lovely.  Very luxurious but all the way at the end of the passage so a bit of a trek, I need the exercise though so I don’t really mind. The delegate from India was supposed to arrive on Wednesday, she never rocked up and didnt pitch on Thursday either, I hope that I don’t have to pay for the full room…
My viewDominique, myself and our amazing driver, Arye
On Wed afternoon we were taken to Beit Halochem which is a post all on its own.
