Gearing up for the BIG TRIP

On Sunday night I will do something I swore I would never do. At 10pm I will leave the safety of my lovely apartment with my 2 small children and go to Ben Gurion airport at which place we will board a Delta plane that will take off and fly for TWELVE HOURS to New York. And then we will go through customs with our luggage and then catch another flight to Boston. Me, the person who is terrified of flying, particularly of flying over oceans, is doing this WITH kids WITHOUT David. At this point, my biggest concern is actually how the hell I will manage 2 kids, a stroller, 3 carry-on bags and 2 suitcases by myself?? I suppose that should be the least of my worries, but if I actuallyt think about the 12 hours in a confined space with Simon and Eli it makes me not want to go so it's better not to think about it!! Simon already told me that he is going to be a good boy and help out with Eli so hopefully it will all be ok. I am armed with significant amounts of candy and benadryl which should help too.
I feel bad that the kids have really just gotten settled into new schools and now they are going to miss 6 weeks, but I guess it will be all broken up for everyone with the holidays so when they get back everyone will be re-adjusting to some degree.
Anyway, this week wasn't too exciting. On Sunday, Tali and I really wanted to take the boys to the pool one last time. We went at 4:30 only to find out that in September the pool closes at 5! So Tali called the new municipal pool to see how late it was open. It was open until 7, but it happened to be women's only swimming at that time and they said we couldn't bring our 4 year old boys!! So we ended up going to the pool at Bnei Tziyon which is a little moshav not far from Ra'anana. It was great--the kids had a blast going back and forth between the baby pool which was a little too shallow for real swimming and the big pool in which they couldn't stand at all. Eli really believed that he could swim so I let go of him in the big pool to prove to him that he can't. For one second he was actually moving his arms and looking like he was swimming!! But after that he was ok with me holding him. He would every once in a while just dunk his head underwater without giving me any warning. We had brought dinner and we ate it there and then we showered and changed the kids there too. They really wanted slushies so we all stood on the deck overlooking the pool and watching the sunset while drinking slushies. It was such a nice evening! Of course I didn't have my camera but I took some pictures on my phone that one day I will figure out how to get onto the computer:)
On Monday we went out with some friends to celebrate David's birthday a little belatedly.
On Tuesday Chaim came over after school and stayed until Playball. They were getting a little rowdy at one point so I sat them down to color and play with stickers. Then I decided to do an experiment and I told them that they were going to make up a story and I would write it down. I had them take turns telling me parts of the story and it was hilarious!! Chaim was a bit more into it than Simon was but it was definitely a good activity that would be worth repeating.
I think when we get back from our trip I will try Eli at Playball again because in Simon's class Eli kept saying to me "Eli turn???"
Eli also has a new thing that he says. If he wants you to wait a minute he says "wait" and then he waits and then says "minute."
Today when David took Simon to gan, Simon asked him for some money. David asked him why and Simon said "the other kids have money for tzedakkah and I never have any to give." How sad is that??? I wish they would have told me to send him with tzedakkah money! He also asked me to give him something different in his lunch every day. He claims the other kids always bring different things but I don't think I believe him.
Also today Simon came home with homework. I only understood part of it and will have to call Irit to tell me what the rest of it says!! He also brought home a newsletter about what they did this week in gan. I was reading it outloud in Hebrew and Simon was adding in additional information about what I was saying. He also corrected my pronunciation of the Hebrew month Elul.
Finally, this week we got a bill in the mail for a "tv tax." We've gotten this bill before and ignored it because we didn't have a tv, but now that we do we apparently have to actually pay it. I'm including a picture of it because I think it's funny. It says that if you've had the tv since 2002 you have to pay 4798 shekels. The whole thing is bizarre.