She's Here!!!!

Hooray!  Batsheva arrived on Monday night!  She's here for three weeks, so we'll be together for the super fun holiday of Purim.

After picking her up from the airport we.....went and threw snowballs.  Really!  The mall near here was having a "Festival of Snow" with snow trucked in all the way from Mount Hermon, the Israeli ski area.  Certain younger members of the family were very happy to throw snowballs at each other, while certain older members of the family (there were only four of us present), especially those of us who had just arrived from a much-colder environment, felt little excitement over the thought of playing in a mound of parking lot snow.  I held a bit for a moment and said, "nope, don't miss it at all".

Once we arrived home, there was much excitement over seeing Batsheva.  There was also excitement over unpacking the giant bag of goodies she brought with her (between my, umm, bazillion Amazon orders and the goodies she wanted to surprise us with, her Tote-A-Ton took up the entire trunk of our rental car!  Okay, it was a Kia Picanto, which is every bit as tiny as it sounds, but still....

Gluten-free Cheerios.  Not available in Israel :(

See, I wasn't exaggerating

The next day, she was up and out early and came to ulpan with me (which she enjoyed and hopes to come back to).  Then, off to Jerusalem.  We went to the Kotel and, as we were leaving, I suggested taking a photo.  "Oh, Mama--I've got plenty of photos of me by the Kotel".  Me: "I'm sure but I was just thinking about how the last time we were here together, you were three!"  We took a photo :)

Batsheva decided that the thing she most wanted to do was just walk around Jerusalem.  So we did.  For six miles!  She walks a HUGE amount each day in Chicago, so it wasn't a big deal for her, but, man, I was exhausted!

The "everything for 5 shekel" cafeteria craze is in full swing.  There are THREE of these places in the Old City alone!  Above, an iced coffee, a carrot juice and a peanut butter donut, each for about $1.25 

the (Semitic) Disney Princesses

On the way back, we picked up Chana, who was able to take the afternoon and evening off of classes to come home and celebrate.  For the first time in seven months, all six of us were around the dinner table!