Israel Pictures - Part 2

Our trip continues...

We took a bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The bus ride itself was uneventful but I must say that getting on the bus was quite a challenge. As the bus pulled up a whole crowd of people rushed toward the door. (PHD had warned us about this, but no amount of warning could have properly prepared us for this.) I held tight onto LO so as not to lose her in the crowd. PHD was pushing his way towards the door and we tried to stay as close as possible. For LO this must have been frightening as I looked down at her and could see that she was smashed in the crowd. She cried out, "Abba, Abba!" And what happened then is what I imagine it was like when Moses parted the Red Sea. The area around her mysteriously opened up and everyone let us pass so that we could join PHD as he was getting on the bus.

We visited the Kotel every day that we were in Jerusalem except one. LO loved praying there and she loved giving tzedakah to the ladies that were sitting alongside the wall. She was also thrilled the moment one of those ladies tied a red string around her arm. I explained that these red string were supposed to have come from Kever Rachel. From that moment on, she decided that Kever Rachel was somewhere we needed to visit. (We didn't make it this trip but I have some offers to take us on our next trip!)

As for me, I have always viewed the Kotel as a holy place and wondered how I would feel when I finally saw it in person. I was surprised to find that I was not overly moved when we arrived. But a bigger surprise was in store for me. We walked up to the wall to pray and when I put my hand on the wall and started to pray I was overcome with so much emotion that I started to cry. There is no way to describe that feeling nor do I think I can ever forget that feeling. It was absolutely an amazing experience.

PHD was not so lucky though. Just as he started to pray, several men tapped him on the shoulder asking for tzedakah. It reached a point where he was actually unable to daven. I would have never believed this had I not witnessed it with my own eyes. Religious men not allowing others to have their own personal time with Hashem. Shame on them.

This picture is for Z and Chiab. Somewhere in this picture is the note that I placed in the wall with prayers for you both.

Our visit happen to coincide with French President Nicholas Sarkozy's visit. The rental car agency we rented a car from was outside the King David Hotel. Little did we know that the day we went to pick up the car that they would close the road until he left the hotel.

As we were headed to Masada, LO and I were THRILLED to see actual live camels on the side of the road. Of course I needed a picture of her with one. We hopped out of the car into the BLAZING heat and headed towards one. It made a weird noise and this is how LO reacted.

This is LO as we started our tour of Masada. She looks quite happy to be there doesn't she?

This is LO towards the end of our tour of Masada. Need I say more?

From Masada we headed to the Dead Sea. I can't tell you how many times I made PHD stop the car so I could take pictures. So breathtaking.

We're Miami girls and we are used to the cool Atlantic ocean. Imagine our surprise when we put our feet in the Dead Sea and felt that hot, oily feeling water.

On the way back from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem, this is what we ran in to. The road was closed. We were told it was because some people had snuck in from Jordan. We had to take a VERY LONG detour back to where we came from and up through the Zohar Valley which made us none too happy but...

had we not detoured, we would not have seen this beautiful view.

The detour took us through the West Bank and we got our first glimpse of the separation barriers.

Next up...a visit with one of our favorite bloggers and his family.

Israel Pictures - Part 1

I've written pages and pages of stories and details of our trip to Israel. If I posted it ALL here, you would all probably be sleeping, so instead I decided to do sort of a highlights of our trip with pictures. Enjoy.


Palmach Museum - This is located at the University of Tel Aviv. It's unusual for a museum in the fact that there are no artifacts or displays. You go to a series of rooms where they present the history as though you are actually experiencing the history while it happened. If you have never been, I strongly suggest it. If you ask LO what her favorite places in Israel were, this one is definitely on the list. At the beginning of our tour, a guide came and gave a little history of who the Palmach were. In the middle of this history, LO tapped me and with a very sour look on her face she whispered, "Ima, this is JUST like school." Knowing that there was much history to be learned on our trip - this was certainly a scary way to start. However...at the end of the tour, she again tapped me and exclaimed, "That was AWESOME! It was like Disney World except in Hebrew!" Maybe they should market it that way.


Shuk Carmel - PHD loves to go to the shuks. Our visit to Shuk Carmel was just one of almost a dozen shuks that we went to. We loved listening to the vendors shout out what they were selling and how much it costs and then trying to figure out what they were saying. I think LO's favorite part of shuk shopping was the fact that she got to sample all kinds of foods.

Shawarma - On the Shabbat before we left, we had lunch with our Rabbi. One of the places he told us not to miss was a shawarma place in Tel Aviv. Since I couldn't write it down, I had to remember the place in my head. What I remembered was Ben Yehuda and Boker Sov (yes - Boker SOV like Boker Tov with an "S"). We walked quite a bit down Ben Yehuda and asked quite a few people where Boker Sov Street was. Most just looked at us with blank stares. Just as we were about to give up, someone said, "Do you mean Bograshov Street?" We were only a half block away. And here is we received quite a pleasant welcome from our Rabbi's favorite shawama stand. And oh was it yummy.

The Golan Heights - PHD's cousin Toli arranged a day trip for us to the Golan. We went to the Golan Archaeological Museum, a winery, the Mount Bental lookout, and a pick your own fruit place. We learned about Gamla. We saw Lake Kinneret. We picked and ate as many blackberries as our stomachs could hold. We even got to see the world's largest Israeli flag. At the gift shop at Mount Bental, we purchased a beautiful necklace for LO that has the blessing of the daughters on it. (We plan to give it to her for her bat mitzvah.) We spent some time chatting with the shopkeeper. We explained that we say this blessing over LO on every Shabbat and that we have said it so many times that even LO knows it. LO then came over and recited the blessing for her. The smile on the woman's face was priceless. We talked about how LO knows so many of the prayers from going to services so often and LO recited the Shema and the V'ahavta for her. The woman told us that it gave her goosebumps and she was so filled with joy that it looked like there were tears in her eyes. She then leaned over to LO and said, "You know what? You just made my day." That almost made me cry. That moment made me so proud to be Jewish and feel so blessed to be in Israel.

(more to come...)

We're back

We're back and have so much to share about our trip. I took over 1000 pictures and the task to go through them is a little overwhelming at the moment. I promise to share soon.

The trip was amazing and made us only want to make aliyah even sooner. I am not sure I can put into words how heavy my heart felt as we were in the taxi on the way to the airport.

For those of you who asked me to daven at the Kotel for you - please know that we went there several times a day for several days and I prayed and put notes in the wall for each of you.

I am off to start unpacking (ugh!) and to try to keep LO awake - she is definitely losing the battle over jet lag today. For now, I'll leave you all with our new favourite song that we can't seem to get out of our heads (PHD's cousins sang it over and over while we were there)...

Shalom from Israel

I don't have a load of time to write but the trip so far has been amazing. When I wake up in the morning, I feel so blessed to be waking up in Israel. LO loves it here and has already said she doesn't want to go home. We head to Jerusalem in the morning and will see the Treppenwitz family on Wednesday and Gila when we return to Tel Aviv. Life couldn't be better.

Loads of pictures and stories to come. Shavua Tov from Israel.

Israel - here come the Orieyentas!

We are so excited I can hardly type. Our bags are (mostly) packed although we keep adding more and more...the latest was a $900 stroller for one of PHD's cousins. (Did you even know that strollers could cost $900? What is up with that?) I have no idea how we are going to manage to shlep all of this at once but come Sunday, we are on our way!

We have plans to go to a million places plus plans to meet up with the Treppenwitz family, Gila, and maybe even Leah! Plenty of pictures to come for sure.

Wishing you and yours a blessed and peaceful Shabbat.

I hate field trips

(Bus rides make us meshugge!)

We just recently got back from a 3 day field trip to St. Augustine with LO's class. I usually avoid all the field trips since I just don't love the noise level. However, this one was over several nights, so there was no way getting out of it.

We obviously survived the trip but here is a little overview of what I will always remember as the "Punishment for Being Jewish" field trip...

Day 1
We got up at 4:30 am to be on the bus by 5:30 am. The bus drives to a rest stop on the turnpike for breakfast. Breakfast was anything you wanted at Burger King. (Thankfully, I had brought some fruit in my backpack.) Back on the bus for several hours we head to Ocala to Silver Springs. Lunch was a hamburger and chips. (Guess what we ate?) Back on the bus again for several hours we head to St. Augustine where we stop for dinner at Applebee's. (Guess what we ate? Or should I say guess what we didn't eat? Do you see a theme here?) Then back on the bus to go to the Old Florida Museum. Eventually we get to the hotel. It was just shy of 10:00 pm. Exhaustion doesn't begin to describe it.

Day 2
On the bus at 8:30 am. Off and running the whole day - you name it, we saw it. The St. Augustine lighthouse, the Lightner Museum, Ximenez Fatio, a tram tour, Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum, the Oldest Jail, the Heritage Museum, ended the day with a walking Ghost story tour. We got back to the hotel after 10:00 pm. The highlights of the day: (1) Making an unplanned stop at a church on the tram tour. While the whole group went inside for a tour of the church, LO and I were left to stand outside in the blazing heat. (2) Dinner - spaghetti and meatballs with cheese baked on top. We were told to just take the meatballs and cheese out and then LO could eat the spaghetti. Yeah right. UGH!

Day 3
On the bus at 8:15 am. One parent and child are still not on the bus by 8:45 am. Turns out they were still asleep. Behind schedule we headed to the Oldest Fort, the Fountain of Youth, the Oldest House, and the St. Augustine Village. At the Fountain of Youth, we had altacocker guide who really didn't like children. One of the parents was making fun of him and said to me, "He sounds like all the other Jews." You should have seen the look on his face when I told him that we are Jewish. (Heh heh.) Lunch was provided but when I saw the Honeybaked Ham bags we didn't even bother. On the way home, the bus stopped in Melbourne for dinner. It was a buffet and I kid you not EVERY ITEM had some kind of pork or bacon in it. We got home at 11:35 pm - hungry after 3 days of eating nothing but fruit, chips, and ice cream. Days later I am still trying to recuperate.

Lessons learned?
(1) Never trust that a tour operator will make concessions for kosher food when requested
(2) After eating the same thing for three days at every meal, even ice cream gets old
(3) Adults kvetch WAY MORE than children do about being hot, having to walk places, and being hungry
(4) I still hate field trips

(Sorry for the boring post...but Jack insisted! And afterall, we're all here to please Jack aren't we? LOL)

Trip to Honduras = Trip to Hebron

PHD has just been asked to do some volunteer work in Honduras. For him it would be the perfect opportunity to practice his Spanish. For me, it would be two weeks home alone worrying about him since here's a little excerpt from the US Department of State website,

"Crime is endemic in Honduras and requires a high degree of caution by U.S. visitors and residents alike. U.S. citizens have been the victims of a wide range of crimes, including murder, kidnapping, rape, assault, and property crimes. Fifty-seven U.S. citizens have been murdered in Honduras since 1995, with a significant recent increase. Only eighteen cases have been resolved. Kidnapping of U.S. citizens has occurred in Honduras, including two incidents in 2006. Poverty, gangs, and low apprehension and conviction rates of criminals contribute to a high crime rate, including horrific acts of mass murder. "

The thought of him going honestly makes me want to vomit.

The bright side? If he goes to Honduras, his argument that we can't go to Me'arat HaMachpela when we are in Isreal because he is not putting himself or our family in danger is out the window. Always look on the bright side, right?

Eretz Yisrael here we come!

We have plane tickets in hand for our trip to Israel! Some of you may recall that we were supposed to go with our shul last year but then the trip got cancelled. This time we decided not to rely on the shul trip and are heading to Eretz Yisrael on our own. PHD has been traveling there at least 2 times a year for as long as he can remember so he has an idea of what he would like to do while there. I, on the other hand, have ideas of my own! We of course plan to visit with the Treppenwitz family and are hoping to even have waffles with the Jameel.

And now, PHD has asked me to make a list of all the places I want to go so that he can do some planning for us. The Dead Sea is a must, so we already have hotel reservations there. Anyone else care to offer up suggestions? I would like to go to Ma'arat HaMachpela (but it's going to take some convincing to get PHD to go there), Kever Rachel (another one that is going to take some convincing), Safed, but where else is a must see? (Sadly, Yad Vashem may be out because they only allow children over 12 in the museum and boy is that going to make LO mad!)

Happy Birthday Little Orieyenta

Yesterday was LO's 9th birthday. We took our annual birthday trip to Disney World and this year we added a visit to Universal Studios. She talked about the trip for most of the way home (yes. that's a 4 hour drive and yes, that it a LOT of talking) so I would have to say that she had a great time. I asked her what her favourite things were in each park. She liked the Men in Black ride at Universal (which actually made me so dizzy that I wanted to be sick!) and Carousel of Progress and the Hall of Presidents at Magic Kingdom (yes, those are dorky but she's so cute, so who cares if she's dorky?)

I can't believe she's 9 already...where is the time going?

A different stone wall

(photo by spinedoc18)

We met up in North Carolina with PHD's cousins and some friends who are all visiting from Israel. We decided to meet them at a restaurant called "Stonewall's" (probably named after Stonewall Jackson). Here is a snippet of the phone conversation:

PHD: The restaurant that you wanted to meet us at is closed on Mondays so another restaurant called Stonewall's was suggested to us.

Cousin: (with HEAVY Israeli accent) Stone wall? What is this stone wall?

PHD: It's a restaurant with a huge salad bar. It sounds very nice.

Cousin: Ok, so it is called stone wall? Like the Kotel?

PHD: (laughing) Yes, like the Kotel.

I giggled and just shook my head. Only family from Israel could have come up with that one.

Our Chicago trip in pictures

Since this was my first trip to Chicago, I took over 300 pictures. (Thank goodness for digital cameras!) I've already blogged about meeting Leah and Amy, so here's a small sampling of the rest of our trip...

This was taken from outside the Adler Planetarium. As you can see, we were blessed with beautiful weather during our trip.


No trip to Chicago could be complete without seeing Wrigley Field. The Cubs won this day.

We stayed with some of PHD's childhood friends at their awesome contemporary home. They were lovely hosts (If you are reading this J & M, many thanks for your hospitality!)

PHD's daughter works at the Lincoln Park Zoo, so we went there for a visit. This was a real treat for me since there is never much of a chance for me to see a polar bear in Miami.

Leah and her yellow crocs inspired us to take this picture of us. This is us at the Lincoln Park Zoo. (I love my Crocs and my little Israeli flags on them!)

We went to Chinatown and I thought it was cute to see that their fire engine number eight also had the number eight in Chinese on it.

Next we headed to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. We walked all day and I am told that we didn't even cover 1/2 of it. What an amazing place!

Stopped in East Rogers Park to pick up some kishke. We managed to get them all the way home to Miami and I can't wait to eat them!

All you have to say to me is "Kosher Chocolate" and I'm there. :)

I saw more homeless people in Chicago than I see in Miami. It was quite sad really. But this lady amazed me. She was as happy as could be reading her book and I just want to know how she manages to schlep all that stuff around by herself. A true example of make the best of what you have.

And finally, a trip to the Chicago Art Institute to see my favourite Seurat painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

It was a wonderful trip and we already can't wait to plan our next one!

Accidentally Jewish and Big Mouth

Well, we just got home from a WONDERFUL trip to Chicago and I took over 300 pictures. This was my first trip to Chicago and I have to say that it is such a wonderful place that I now know why people brave the weather to live there. I'll post more about the trip as soon as I can go through the pictures but for now, here's a glimpse of one of my favourite parts of my trip....

I met up with Leah of Accidentally Jewish and Amy of Big Mouth Indeed Strikes Again. And from this meeting, I learned that not only is Chicago an awesome place...it sure has some awesome bloggers. Can't wait until my next trip there!

16 weeks later....

(This is not LO, but isn't this little girl adorable?)

In preparation for our shul's trip to Israel (which ended up not happening) we applied to renew LO's passport back in May. Here we are now SIXTEEN WEEKS later. Guess what we just got in the mail? Geez, they sure weren't kidding when they said that there are currently delays in passport processing.

(I am also amazed that I applied to renew both LO's passport and my own on the very same day. I receieved my passport 2 months ago. How the heck does that happen?)

Her Dad wants to bring her to visit friends in Costa Rica. I want to bring her to visit friends in Israel. I wonder which wonderful and exciting destination will be the first stamp in her new passport?

Chicago here we come!

(photo: Art Hill)

When I first met PHD he described himself as the true "wandering Jew" since he loves to travel and I can hardly name a place that he hasn't already been. (This will make choosing a honeymoon destination interesting to say the least!) While I have never been much of a traveler, PHD has decided this should change. New places and spending time with PHD...what more could I ask for?

I've always wanted to go to Chicago since the Art Institute has one of my very favourite paintings there. Then I found out that Chicago is the home of awesome authours like Elaine Soloway and Amy Guth. And now, most importantly it is where PHD is from and his daughter lives there where she works at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Well...looks like I am finally going to take that trip! We have plane tickets in hand and will be heading to the "Windy City"! I'm so excited (and thankful that he didn't decide this trip needed to happen in the wintertime.)

Guess who's going to Israel

The first time that we met our Rabbi he showed LO a book that had the most beautiful pictures of Israel. Ever since then, she has expressed an interest in going there.

While I would love nothing more than to hop on a plane with her, I had a few concerns (i.e. time off from work/school, is LO too young to appreciate it, etc.) the biggest being the cost (hamevin yavin).

Our synagogue takes a group to Israel every year. The time for this year's trip is rapidly approaching and our Rabbi has asked us to go. I explained how I would love to go but with the costs involved I really couldn't afford to pay for both of us and I don't want to make the trip without LO. He told me that I didn't need to worry about the money and that BOTH of us are going on the trip.

I am so excited because we are finally getting to make the trip to Israel AND we have been invited to Chez Treppenwitz AND because PHD is also going to be there. (There may even be a wedding to attend!)

Eretz Yisrael here we come!

My Vegas trip in pictures

Just kidding - there was no Rabbi Elvis for us while we were there.

The most important part of my trip was visiting with my grandmother and driving her to the cemetary to see my step-father Z"L. I could not have asked for a more beautiful day for this visit. The weather was perfect.

I had almost forgot how beautiful Nevada was. And it still amazes me that I can see this at the same place I can see all of this:

The Strip at night

Fountains at the Fall of Atlantis - Caesars Palace

The Chihuly ceiling at the Bellagio

Outside Caesars Palace

Outside the Paris Hotel

We got comps for the Carrot Top show. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this but he was very funny. It just so happened we were there on his birthday so they had a birthday celebration for him just as the show was over complete with birthday guests Louie Anderson and Robin Leach.

It was a nice trip but I am glad to be home, despite the fact that I brought home a horrible cold and I have to start baking hamentaschen!

Vegas here I come

Because of things like this and this, I don't generally enjoy traveling. I get shpilkes sitting anywhere (like on an airplane) for any length of time.

My Nana (who lives in Las Vegas) has been calling me constantly over the past few weeks. She always ends each conversation with, "So, when are you coming to see me? It's been a long time." (Yep - she's got that Jewish guilt thing down to a science.)

Also, it just so happens that PHD is going there for a conference.

So, I finally caved in and I am heading to Las Vegas to see my Nana and to share a little fun time with PHD. I haven't been out there since 1999 when my Stepfather Z"L passed away. I hear that I won't recognize the place. I'll be there over Shabbos, so if anyone has any suggestions for shuls, please let me know!