Netanya is Beautiful!

Tuesday morning we went to the Israel Children's Museum in Holon. We participated in a story about aliens and outer space. Here is a photo of us at the museum:

After the museum we went to a great playground nearby. Here are some pictures from there:

While we were at the playground, a siren went off. There was no building nearby to go to, so we crouched down against the corner of two walls until we heard the double boom of the iron dome. We were fine afterwards.

At night we went to the beach in Netanya and enjoyed playing in some fountains.

The next day (Wednesday) we spent the whole morning at the beach in Netanya:

We also played in the fountains again:

Jonah really likes the animated characters they use to advertise the lottery in Israel:

At night we went to visit my Abba's relatives, Margalit, Ofra, and Ilan. We had dinner in their backyard and played.

 We had a nice meal together:

 Isaac spent a lot of time reading:

 Jonah really liked the brownies:

I liked the ice cream.

We are having fun in Israel. I will write again soon.

Leaving Jerusalem and going to Netanya

Friday I went to the Kotel for the first time. I wrote a note to put into the cracks in the wall. Here is a photo of me putting my note in the wall.

Here is a photo of Jonah putting a his note in the kotel.

 Jonah went with mommy to the women's section. Here he is in the women's sections.

 Can you find me and Isaac running across the men's section to the mehitza?

 When we got to the mehitza, we took this picture.

Then we walked around the old city and found a Tallit store. The man there weaves his own Tallitot (plural of Tallit). My parents ordered a custom-made tallit for Isaac for his Bar Mitzvah (which will be in February 2016. Here is Isaac with the owner of the store.

Here I am with Jonah, Isaac, Abba, and the owner of the store.

The other thing that happened on Friday is that Jonah lost another tooth. This one was from the top of his mouth.

After a great Shabbat (with one siren) we spent Sunday at the Israel Museum. We saw the shrine of the book:

At the Israel Museum we also saw a handwritten letter from Ilan Rimon's journal from outer space:

Finally, at night we got to Netanya. We had dinner at a restaurant with our friends from Highland Park, the Beberman family.

Today we went to Caesarea. On the way we went to the beach, but we didn't have bathing suits:

Then we saw the archaeological ruins at Caesarea.

 Look how high I climbed!

 Jonah on the ruins:

 Isaac pondered Jonah and me in the ruins:

 We were statues:

 Here is where they rode horses in chariot races:

We are having a great time!

Tuesday was a big day!

I haven't written in a long time. Friday I went to the waffle factory. I had a huge waffle with lots of toppings. It was about the size of my head.

Isaac and Jonah also had a waffle to share:

The waffles were so big that we could barely finish them.

Then we went to the Jerusalem Science Museum. They had a rolling ball sculpture with water that was really cool.

Here is a picture of the inside of the museum:

On Shabbat we went to someone's house for dinner. The next day we went to a shul that had some kids to play with and we had guests for lunch. In the afternoon we played at a playground.

Sunday we went back to camp. Camp is really fun. Here are some pictures of me at camp:

My counselor who is picking me up in this picture is named Sammy, like my name.

Here are two pictures of my brother Isaac on a slip and slide:

Tuesday was a big day because Jonah lost a tooth (and other reasons my mommy will write about below)

I am having a great time in Israel. Everything in Israel is SSSOOOOOO Hebrew. Bye bye!

**Sammy's mommy is writing about Tuesday night:

I was at the Hartman Institute and Mordy was home with the boys when we heard the siren that rockets were coming to Jerusalem. It was the only time that we had a siren in Jerusalem during our trip thus far. I went to the shelter at Hartman. Meanwhile, at home, Mordy tried to wake the boys (Isaac and Jonah got out of bed and went straight into our beds and fell right back asleep). Sammy woke up and stayed with Mordy for about 15 minutes until I came home. Mordy heard the thud like a thunderclap of the missile falling. It apparently fell in an empty area.

As I wrote the words above a moment ago, we heard the second siren of our time here in Israel. Instead of 10pm, as it was Tuesday night, this time it was 6pm, as we were getting ready for dinner. We sat in a safe place in our apartment and we heard the thunderclap again. We're not sure if it was iron dome or a missile falling.

Anyway, we are safe and the boys are not afraid. Since Mordy and I are calm, they are calm, too. We take precautions to remain safe, and they boys know that.

I Love Camp!

Here is a picture of my brothers and me as we're leaving for our first day of camp this past Tuesday:

Here is the silly one:

And here is one more:

Camp is great!  Abba drives us to the Kraft Stadium each morning. When we get there, we play for a little while. Then we pray. Then we play sports, with water breaks, then snack, then we play more. They give us lunch. After lunch, a lot of kids leave, but we stay. We get into teams and play more. One of the teams is called the "Mighty Monkeys." During this time, Jonah gets to color.

Sometimes we go swimming. Sometimes we have popsicles. It is really fun.

While we're at camp, Mommy studies at her school (the Hartman Institute) and Abba goes to the National Library to do his work (completing his article for HUC annual and then writing his book proposal). They are enjoying Israel, too!

Tomorrow is Friday. No camp, so we'll have fun with our parents and get ready for a special Shabbat in Israel.

In case we don't have time to write tomorrow: Shabbat Shalom!