Everyday Living plus a Carnival

Part of the idea of renting an apartment was to be able to "live" in Jerusalem and experience everyday things. Today, Thursday, was kind of an every day thing. Scott had a tiyul that left at 7 AM and Jennifer asked us if we'd be awake to watch Nadiv and Maital so that she didn't have to drag them to walk Shayna to camp and then back to their daycare program. We offered to walk them to their program and then she wouldn't have to go out of her way. It was a good way to get us up and out of the house early and it was a really nice walk and it made us really feel like we were just ordinary people living here!

From the Hartman institute we got directions to a park with more "modern" equipment and spongy asphalt. Although it was hot, Hadarya had a lot of fun on the see-saw. She really wanted to swing but the wooden swings were too hot. We stayed for about an hour and she had a lot of fun running around. We met a woman on our way out and she asked how long we were staying. She is from Canada and has been here for 10 years. She came after law school, single, and stayed. She had a son who was about 6 years old. We took a long walk around by the History Museum and then back to the apartment.

We ended up going to the mall to cool off and get lunch and hang out and our little Miss took her nap while we shopped around. We had really yummy chinese food, just because we could eat at the mall in a restaurant like that.

The highlight of the day was going to a Carnival at 4:30 PM with everyone. It was not your typical carnival like we think of in the states. It started at 4 but they were still setting up when we got there! There were arts and crafts and tons of bouncy houses. We started out making necklaces out of bisseli (Israeli chips) and pretzels. Hadarya wasn't so interested. But we made one for her anyway. She really loved the bouncy houses and could not get enough of them. She also like the bouncy slide, which had a rope ladder to get up. Try carrying a toddler who weighs 28 pounds up a swinging rope ladder to get to the top and bounce down the slide.

There were big lovely mats (machselet) in many different places around the park area and different things on each one. One had lovely cushy bean bags type of mooshy chairs with books spread around so you could hang out and read to your children. Another one had someone there doing things like balloon animals, bubbles, and other fun interactive stuff. Then there was a huge fairy that was standing on something tall with air blowing her huge skirt around and the kids were shaking it and playing with it like parachutes. Hadarya totally knew what to do and shook with all her might and laughed a lot. The last place we stopped was an arts and crafts station set up with little tables and chairs. The big kids were tracing pictures and then coloring them in, but our little ones had more fun coloring their own pictures which Savta Ruthie wanted to keep for her fridge.

We ate dinner at a fabulous burger place that made my burger with eggplant and grilled onions and lettuce and tomatoes. It was quite delicious and we walked it off coming home. For as much as we've eaten, we've walked enough to not add the calories to our bodies! It was a delightful day doing what everyone who lives here does.