Water Water Everywhere

We had a really fun weekend with the Sachses. Since they are moving back to Baltimore in a couple of weeks, we wanted to go away and spend some quality time all together. We left Thursday evening and went about an hour or so north to a kibbutz called Kfar Glikson. It was very kibbutz-y (read: dirty). But we had an amazing time! They didn't have any of the little guest cottages left so they gave us the "house" (read: youth hostel). It actually worked out great because that way we were all in the same house and the adults could hang out after the kids went to bed. It had a living room/kitchen, a big giant bathroom wing with sinks, toilets and showers and then a long hallway with 5 bedrooms (which worked out perfectly because we needed 4 and 1 had a broken a/c). The kids all got along amazingly with a few minor exceptions of Eli beating up on Asher. Simon and Asher didn't have even one fight and Eli and Meirav played really well together. They've come a long way!
On Friday, we went to a place called Mei Kedem where you get a tour through an ancient aquaduct that is full of water. Didn't sound so appealing to me given my claustrophobia, but it was really fun. I felt better when I heard that the whole thing only takes 20 minutes and it was actually very cool. Simon insisted on being carried at first but after I almost dropped him (David was carrying Eli which is how I got stuck carrying Simon) he agreed to walk and then loved being in the water. It was mostly very shallow but at a couple of parts was up to his chest. Before going in the aquaduct, they showed us a movie that was all in Hebrew. Simon and Asher were mesmerized and when we asked them after if they understood, not only did they say yes, but they then proceeded to tell us what it was about.
From there, we went to Zichron Yaakov, which is a beautiful town on a mountaintop, to have lunch and walk around. And Lauren and I bought some new clothes for very cheap.
When we got back to the kibbutz, we went to check out the pool which was amazing. Although the shallow end was too deep for the big kids to stand. They mostly stayed in the baby pool. Eli loved the big pool--he just gets in his inner tube and spins himself around a million times. And he LOVED when I went underwater and attempted to do a handstand. He kept saying "you go underwater again Mommy... with the legs out."
Shabbos was very relaxing. We ate dinner Friday night in the Kibbutz dining room and then the kids played on the playground for a long time. In the morning, Alan and David took the kids to the dairy to watch the cows being milked which they loved but they all came back stinking like cow poop. We ate deli sandwiches for lunch and then headed to the pool for the remainder of the day. At one point Alan went back to the house and made a million peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat for dinner at the pool. The kids played some weird game where they were sea turtles. Eli was attempting to take a nap on a chair (didn't happen but he was so tired) so he didn't play, but all I got was that Meirav was the mom, Simon was the dad and Asher was the baby sea turtle. And then Simon was giving Asher swimming lessons. At the end he put out his hand and said "tain kif" ("give me five") exactly the way his teacher says to him after his lessons.
All too soon Shabbos was over and we had to pack up and head home. It was nice to be away but then only have an hour drive to get home.
Once we got home, it was back to routine. This is the kids' last week in camp in their respective schools. On Tuesday next week, they each start somewhere else and hopefully it will be ok. 2 of our friends are running a camp for 2 weeks for kids Simon's age so I think he'll be fine because he knows the people running it and he knows almost all of the kids going. Eli is going with Jake to the place where Jake is going to gan next year. He won't know anyone else, but hopefully he'll be ok. Then both kids have a week with no camp (which coincides nicely with when Sarah and Jon are here) and then Simon is going to a city-run camp for the last 2 weeks and Eli is HOPEFULLY going to be at the camp run by Dion (Simon's Playball teacher) and his wife Jodi. I'm waiting for Jodi to tell me if she has room and I have no clue what I'm going to do with him if she can't take him. I know he'll have fun there because he loves Dion and he knows a few of the other kids who will be there. It's so annoying how there's so little going on in the summer and we have to piece things together and find random things for the kids. I guess before we know it, it will be September 1st and back to school. At least they are both going back to same places as last year so that transition shouldn't be too bad.