Photo Dump: America!

As promised here are a bunch of pictures from our trip. I will be the first to admit that we didn't take very many at all, and the ones we did take are kind of random. But we were too busy having fun! And also had a lot of other people taking lots of pictures (so, ahem, Mom, Jackie, anyone else who took, please send them our way and  I'll add them here).

Enjoy!

Nanny/Nephew Baby Reunion

Cooking Assistant

Caleb VW! and the Nose Picker. Photo courtesy of Holly (love!)

One of MANY  Itai self portraits. This little rat must have gotten a hold of the camera one day...

National Building Museum

Running STRAIGHT for the fountain. Good Times.

Giggles on the Metro

Nat's Game!

Playing with Ice. Hours of Fun. Hi Liat!

Blanket Obsessed in Central Park

Watching the runners. Still blanket obsessed.

I love this picture! Love!

We're Ba-ack

After three weeks in America we arrived back here to Jerusalem yesterday. Goodbyes at home were awful (again...), but I knew we'd be okay once we got back to our little apartment. And we are. Mostly thanks to a combination of gummies, Marzipan rugelach and mushroom burkeas, and the happiness that comes with completing an international trip with an 18 month old little fella. That doesn't mean it wasn't so hard to leave behind our friends and families (again...).  Especially now that Eitan is old enough to really play with everyone and had so much fun particularly with his big cousins who he has morphed into one entity "Idat".  We were definitely not good enough about taking pictures these weeks, but at some point will get some keepers off of the camera and up online here.


So we're here, and are having an exciting adventure, and we're going to be positive, right? OK?  Positive, Positive Positive (name that movie).

It's also very nice to return to spring in Jerusalem. Spring is a season that seems not to really exist in DC, so we are trying to enjoy these few weeks of low 70's days to the maximum.

We also returned in time for the season of the "yoms". Yesterday was Yom Hashoa, we missed most of it other then noticing flags at half mast on our cab ride home from the airport, and today running some errands I noticed a bunch of  kids on the street are selling Israeli flags in preparation for Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut. More on those next week...promise.

So we're going to head into Shabbat and rest and enjoy the sunny but not yet too hot days. 

Shabbat Shalom!

Who needs a double stroller?

We leave for the airport in a few minutes, but before we go (and because, you know, I'm too excited/anxious to sleep) wanted to share this video of our latest Eitan-Shlomo adventures. 

Shlomo being the curious little fella climbed into the basket of our stroller and was just so happy chilling out there. I don't know if it's safe to take them out like this, but it's definitely fun to have them sit this way for a few pictures to torment them with later.

And a video...

Dead Sea Weekend

Typical family picture. Ami squinting, Eitan looking away, me smiling...

This weekend we had a little getaway to the Dead Sea. What's amazing is that it's only an hour or so drive from Jerusalem, but a different world entirely! Seriously- it's vacationland. It was about 15 degrees warmer then Jerusalem- averages were in the low 80's, there's beach and it's all hotels, and everyone just walks around the streets in hotel robes.

We came very early on Friday morning and we stayed at the Royal hotel- it was lovely. Even though check in is at 3pm, and we came at 11am, they apologized that the room wasn't ready! It was so sweet. They called a couple hours later when it was which was also nice. And because it's Israel, check out on Shabbat day wasn't until a bit after Havdallah. And all the food at meals was kosher, and they had a space for candle-lighting, wine and challah available. It was just really convenient. And really nice. The pool was lovely, the kiddie pool even had a tent for shade, they have a private beach, the room was fantastic.  Anyways, the food was surprisingly delicious. We kept being surprised that it was all delicious and not overly Jewishy like we'd expect from a Kosher hotel. There were obviously a few things that weren't great to remind us that we are in Israel, and not at the Fairmont Mayakoba (the ultimate standard of any hotel for us now, we're screwed...), including crappy terrace furniture, non-fluffy towels, some letters missing from signs around, etc.  But that's me nitpicking.

Kiddie Pool!

Friday we spent some time at the kiddie pool, went out for lunch, and had a dip in the lowest place on earth. We came back to the hotel with a few minutes to prepare for shabbat- which in vacationland means showering, and while trying to snap a picture, Eitan of course, threw his beloved car off the terrace. And he wouldn't let us forget it- he kept saying "dar" "dar" "dar". And being the Super Mom that I am I went into the parking lot in the bushes and found it! YES.

Shabbat day we had breakfast outside by the pool (so vacation-y), and relaxed at the pool. It was great. Eitan loved the pool, and was totally fearless! He would just turn around and crawl backwards into it- like he does to go down stairs and say "wawer", he acted like the whole thing was the kiddie pool. It was hilarious. And terrifying. And we have no pictures of it because it was Shabbat. But don't worry. Here's about a million pictures anyways.


Once shabbat ended and we checked out we caught a bus back to Jerusalem, and were home by 9:15pm. Fantastic weekend, and now we're all about getting ready for our trip home. With tiny tans to make us feel better about having up and moved to the Middle East.

Check out the hot bod behind Eitan

Love that chubby little hand over the bread basket!

Approaching the beach.

Ami floating.

 

Throwing sand

Mister Bigshot walking down the hall.

View from our terrace! 

Jumping up and down after finding the "dar"!!

On our way home. Ami's NOT squinting and Eitan is NOT looking away! 

Countdown is on!

In one week from today we're going home for Pesach! Could I be any more excited? No. Really. It's all I can think about.

Although the idea of one day of chag, with one seder and not flying across the world departing at 5am with a stopover in Europe, little monkey man in tow  is incredibly appealing, these are more:

5: New babies to cuddle who've been born since we arrived
4: Packages of online treasures that I've ordered that are waiting for us
3: Slices of oven fresh Nuthouse Pizza that we will each devour within our first hour in 20902
2: Sets of families and friends who we've been missing terribly
1: 61 inch flatscreen TV,  1 oven with actual numbers on the dial, 1 reunion with our car...so many 1s




So, as we approach the big day, I've had three songs stuck in my head, depending on the moment.






And





And today, particularly,







And last, but not least, because I can't hit "publish" on a post with out a picture without Eitan without recieving at least two angry phone calls (you know who you are people). A recent bit of Gymboree adventures. Spinny Rides!

Randoms of Late

Nothing that exciting has been going on here, but some snippets from what we've been up to, in pictures, words and video:

1. Pictures

Trying on Daddy's shoes...and falling down. This occupies Eitan endlessly.

Last week I actually asked Ami to turn the oven to "number 7 and the nuclear sign". Which I've learned thanks to many experiments and a trusty oven thermometer (amazing purchase) is really 350 degrees on the convection setting of the oven.

Still enjoying the beautiful pink tree outside our front window. It really is amazing. And little blue birds sometimes come hang out.

The Jerusalem Marathon was last Friday and the runners came right down Emek Refaim. It was terribly rainy and cold, but we did get out for a bit. A highlight was these two entertainers dancing around to motivate the runners, and I imagine also the soggy spectators.

I broke my waterbottle. It's been my second mate (to Eitan) this whole time, because Israeli tap water is so yucky, that I always bring my own Brita water. But apparently I just clean too hard, and disconnected a piece that should not be. Ami tried to fix it, but it's a no go. Will need to replace this bad boy when we go home...

2. Words

Our across the hall neighbor has an aide, who's name is Nina. She's Russian, and her Hebrew, well, it's even worse than mine (even though Ami overheard me on the phone for something yesterday and told me he was very impressed with my Hebrew. So that's nice). Every time she hears us going out the door she'll run to their door, and bring out some candy or chocolate to give to Eitan. I keep telling her no no, he doesn't need it, but literally, she shoves past me and hands it directly to him. WTF? So now I'm working on the art of leaving SO QUIETLY. It's not working. I swear she has her ear on the door. It's very sweet of her, I know, and she must be lonely with just her and the old lady around all day, but just say hi! I've told her, just come and say hi, no need for cake or candy. But she says all children need it. And when I try to take it away from Eitan when we get outside, well that's just mean and he freaks out...ideas? Any Russian speakers that want to come help us out?

3. Video

This is already an old video, from Purim a couple weeks ago, but I forgot about it. Bust-a-move Eitan. He only remembers to "dance" if you tell him to. Sweet boy.




Bust a Move Eitan from mimi rozmaryn on Vimeo.

A taste of Italy on Emek Refaim

Gelato!

Enjoying a warm few days, we had a hankering for some ice cream. To my dismay, most of the shops here haven't started stocking ice creams yet (I'm talking to YOU Big Apple pizza).

So we stopped at our local gelato stand. After trying (nearly) every flavor, I decided on one scoop of french vanilla and one of caramel. Ami wanted to try the whisky, but he was still meat from an earlier Shawarma, sucker!

Here's the best bite we captured.

Short story. He liked it.

Til next time...