Pesach

This year we were very fortunate to take advantage of one of the greatest things that Israel has to offer...only one Seder! We had the Seder with Abby's family in Jerusalem and it was very nice. The kids (Simon, Eli and Jake) ran wild and did a lot of yelling but they were having fun so we all just let it go. Simon sang the Ma Nishtana and did a good job even though David had to sing it with him. We finished the Seder a little after midnight and got back to the hotel close to 1am. The kids were exhausted but Eli woke up a million times during the night and then woke up for the day earlier than he would have if he hadn't fallen out of my bed.
We spent most of the day on Sunday eating and sleeping. We knew Simon was very tired because he agreed to take a nap with no arguments at all. When Yom Tov was over, we walked to Ben Yehuda to try to find something to eat. One of my favorite restaurants, Luigi's, was open and kosher for Passover. We were sitting outside and eating and got to see a parade of Breslaver Chassidim walking down the street shouting about how it is forbidden to eat chametz on Passover. We went into some stores and Simon tried to convince Farrah to buy him a watch, but he settled for a magnet in the end. We got back to the hotel late again and crashed.
Monday was a very fun day. We left bright and early (only 1/2 an hour later than planned) and headed towards the Dead Sea and Masada. Our GPS was not cooperating and we got very lost getting out of Jerusalem. We ended up stopping at a fire station to get directions. The guy who gave us directions also gave us his cell phone number in case we got lost. Eventually we made it and the boys and I left David, Farrah and Barry at Masada and we continued on to Ein Bokek which is the touristy area with all the hotels and we went to meet the Osbands at their hotel. Simon really wanted to go in the Dead Sea and float, but he got some water in his eye so that ended pretty quickly because all of that salt really hurt. We played in the pool and Simon and Shalem went down the water slide a million times. David, Farrah and Barry arrived just in time for lunch which was the best schnitzel we've had all week. Once they got there, we went into the Dead Sea, which I had never done before. It was very cool, but my camera was about to die so I have to get the good pictures off of Barry's camera--I will post them eventually! We hung out at the hotel for the afternoon and then left to go back to Jerusalem around 5:30. We made it back in no time and then got stuck in ridiculous traffic once we were in Jerusalem because they suddenly made a lot of streets one way for no apparent reason. I stayed in the hotel with the kids and everyone else went to get some dinner. Eli went right to sleep and Simon was looking for something for watch on tv. He found snooker and said "look, they are bowling! I want to watch this." We watched for a few minutes and then we heard fireworks outside, so we watched the fireworks from our window. Eli slept through it all and then also slept through David coming back with food and Eliav coming over to say hi for a little while. Simon kicked Eliav out when he said "I'm going to sleep now and you have to turn off the lights."
Pictures: Farrah and Simon in the Old City, Bresslaver parade, Eli really wanted that big kippah but we didn't buy it for him, me floating in the Dead Sea, Farrah and David in the Dead Sea, Eli with Dead Sea mud on his face, Eli getting some air in the pool, group photo with the Osbands/Glazers (minus Mic who was missing at the time).