Purim Parade in Caesarea

Today was the Purim Parade in Caesarea. Already over the last week all the kids in the gan made their own costumes. This years theme for our gan was "The Indians". So in the morning we dressed him up and brought him to the gan.

There they got their faces painted and a quick briefing on what will go on later on. All the gans and all the school classes and all the parents and friends and inhabitants of Caesarea walk along the main road with music and loudspeakers. The teacher made sure everybody knows what to do when someone got lost.

Dov got in the meantime our "Buffalo" ready and waited for us at the entrance of the Parade. It was really nice - a very happy mood. Dani also seemed to enjoy it. Although he missed Aba a few times. (He came later on with some school classes and about 10 girls on the Buffalo...)

Quite a few grown ups where also dressed up. There were Clowns, Dragons and some people with stilts walking around. In between all the people were tractors decorated with ribbons and cars with trailers. All along the road where in 10 meter distances about 50 loudspeakers playing happy Purim music.

Dani with his gan - all dressed up as "the Indians" - Dani is the second kid from the right

The parade ended at the local park - where a whole Luna Park was waiting for all the kids. There we spent the rest of the morning until 3 pm. Dani really enjoyed the rides and right at the end he had so much fun with Tenne - a sibling of one of his friends in the gan.

Dani riding airplane Nr. 6 - the first time he was in a carousel that goes into the air....

Purim Party in the Gan

On Wednesday Daniel had his first Purim party in the gan. Already a week ago he chose a Spiderman costume in the shop. So then in the morning we got him dressed - everything was fine... then we drove to the gan. When Daniel saw the teacher being dressed up as a clown and all the other kids dressed up as well he suddenly got really scared. (He is always scared when we are invited to those birthday parties where they have bears or other big creatures walking around.) He was really frightened. When we wanted to say good-bye and leave he didn't let us leave and started crying. It's supposed to be a happy day with a lot of fun, but it was not for Dani.

In the end I stayed with him (as the only mother) and joined the gan's Purim party. He wasn't even up for participating in any of the games, and was quite happy when he slipped out of his costume after the party and we drove back home.

After the party Dani got his "Mishloach Manot" - "sending of presents - which is one of the customs of Purim.

Dani is quite happy with his Hello Kitty stickers, the three Kinder Eggs and the little Jeep he got.

Gymboree

Today instead of sending Dani to the Gan, him and me met Jana & Anita in the Jamboree in Raanana. Jana and Dani played so nicely together, even though they don't meet every week. We stayed much longer than we ever used to stay when we where there with the Baby Group. (OK, the kids are much older now.)

Dani and me haven't been to that place for more than a year. But Dani every now and then asked to go there. So it must have been a double special treat: Not only could he spend more than 4 hours in the Jamboree but also with his best friend Jana. Once at lunchtime we made a break and went to McDonald's upstairs. Which was a treat for both of them as well. Anita, thanks for inviting us! - Next time it's our turn. Dani counted all the 9 ketchup's he had. If you'd ask him - he would tell you he had Ketchup with French Fries ;-) ... And if he'd eat breakfast, he'd have for for all 3 meals Ketchup. I think we go through a big bottle a week.

We really liked our day out. Not only did we both meet our best friends, but most of all I had a great time with my son. I love you so much, Daniel! Each day that passes I feel stronger connected to you. You wouldn't think that love still can grow more.

Operation Dessert Storm

you can see by the yellowish color of the picture how "dusty" it is... this is one of the aqueducts - this picture shows the beautiful arches, that are mostly still below the sand

Since yesterday is such a dessert wind - in Hebrew "Sharav", that you almost can't see. Today they said that the dust particles in the air are 20 times higher than the maximum allowed. That's why they advise that pregnant women, Babies, old people and people with asthma should stay at home. By the way, I am suffering for the last few weeks of horrible asthma cough. I am even taking an inhalator to help me cope with it.

Even so, we made a great trip yesterday with our "Buffalo". Not too far, just around Ceasarea. Daniel asked to go also to the "snow": One of the two aqueducts is partly covered with very fine sand, which goes down very steep like a snow slope. This is really fun for kids to play with. They can climb it and roll down, jump down - without the fear of getting hurt.

On weekends when we are quite lazy we have such an advantage here, that we live so close to nature. Then we don't have to drive for hours to have some fun. The sand dunes, the sea and the archaeological sites (which are mostly undiscovered) are just within minutes reach. Where I come from people can only dream of living in such a wild, romantic spot. There might be also nice scenery in Austria, but certainly not exactly where I used to live. Or at least I didn't enjoy that place at all.... Now I can say that I am truly happy and fulfilled. All my life I wanted to live near the sea. Now I can just grab my surfboard and head out by foot to the ocean and its rough waves.

an Arab fishing village just at the edge of Ceasarea

in all its beauty you have to forget all the dirt that is lying around ...

Aba and Ima on their Morning Out

After we brought Dani to the Gan in the morning and did some grocery shopping we decided to go to the old city in Caesarea. We anyway still had a coupon for a free breakfast. We almost never go out - so this was quite nice.

The breakfast was quite a lot: Freshly squeezed orange juice, a big salad and about 8 different spreads like avocado with onion, eggplant with creme fresh, 2 pieces of smoke salmon, techina, tuna salad, some pickled gamba spread, quinces jam, cream cheese with dill. Each one could choose what kind of eggs you wanted. (Two per person) And nice fresh dark bread.

Sorry, but no pictures. I only thought about the camera after we were just finished. We left some nice tip because we anyway didn't have to pay.

Then we had still another hour to pass until we could pick up Dani from the Gan. So we strolled down to the sea where we never had been before. That was so nice - to enjoy it together (only the two of us.... you know what I mean ;-) .

you can see the walls of the city have fallen over the centuries into the sea

the Romans built a big port - the biggest one in that time in the Mediterranean

more walls that fell into the sea

how beautiful and clear the sea is ...

Tapsani

Dani got from the Gan on Tu Bishvat (holiday - the day of the Tree) a little plant. On the same day we planted it in a big pot in our garden. Then a few weeks passed until yesterday.

I looked at the flower and saw that the whole pot was covered with small red ants. So I took a shovel and dug out the plant. Meanwhile Dani also came over and saw what I was doing. He told me that he gave the plant the name Tapsani and even kissed it. When I got it out of the earth I saw that the roots of the plant where like a nest of crawling ants. A few days more in the pot and they would have for sure eaten it alive... The only chance the plant had was to wash of all the original earth it came with to wash off all the ants. I know that normally you should not do it, but that was the only thing I could do to save Dani's plant Tapsani.

We then took a clean pot with clean earth, replanted and re watered it. Only time will tell if we could save it. Will keep you update ...

Dani with his "Tapsani"

The Snake in the Kindergarten

Yesterday when Dani came home from the gan (hebrew for Kindergarten), he told us that there was a snake in the garden of the gan. And Dovi said that a snake catcher was giving out cards at the door.

We asked him to explain exactly if someone brought a snake for demonstration or if there was a snake in the garden and the teacher brought someone to catch it. He insisted on his story that they found a snake in the garden. But only a small one - that's what he said!

You know that poisonous vipers have already at birth enough poison to kill - especially a child. A few times we had poisonous vipers in the garden of our old house. Most of them grown out ones. That's quite scary.
Probably the most scary moment I had with a snake was when I was 9 months pregnant with Daniel: Dov was already sleeping at night, and suddenly Shed our dog started barking in the garden. Barefoot I went out into the dark - you could barely see anything - when I saw Shed about a meter away from a big snake barking at it. Without even thinking (like automatically) I ran to Shed and screamed for him to go away. These few moments took like forever. Shed even went closer to the snakes head and barked more. (He always in all kinds of situations feels more confident when one of us is nearby...) I just grabbed him (don't forget that I was pregnant..) and dragged him with me. By then Dovi also woke up and came out. But in those few seconds that I explained what just had happened, we lost track of the snake and it disappeared. Thanks G-d that we were all safe. And the next morning a snake catcher came and searched our garden for a few hours until he found two snakes: the one poisonous we met the night before and a long black non poisonous snake. He took them both with him and I think released them somewhere safe where nobody gets harmed.

So to clear the situation with Dani and the gan, Dovi asked in the morning the teacher what really had happened. It turns out, Dani just had to much imagination. They had just a demonstration from a snake catcher with a small snake (the one thing he was right) and a frog. That's why Dani got that card from the snake catcher, like an advertisement.

It shows that a 4 year old sometimes mixes up reality and imagination. But that's just normal.