Last week we went to a family simcha (celebration) in Jerusalem celebrating our new baby cousin. I'm a little fuzzy on how exactly we're related but suffice it to say that not that many generations ago there were a brother and sister in a small village in Poland who went out into the world and today their descendants are getting together for joyous occasions in Jerusalem, Israel. If you will it, it is not a dream.
Anyway, we had recently learned about a great new app that allows you to park in any paid parking spot and just pay through the app. It's called Pango and I have it on my phone. Had I remembered that little detail we might have avoided the parking ticket we received for parking in a lot with a broken pay machine. Yes, Michael is a lawyer by training, and though he did just receive a crash course on Israeli law (more on that in a future post!) I think we'll just pay this one and move on with our lives. In other words, we are what Israelis might call "friars."
The ticket was well worth it for the experience of getting together with family. I can't express what it meant to the kids to have cousins here. We might be distantly related, but the baby was named after his late maternal grandfather, a man that I knew. He died when I was young but I remember him as a very gentle and kind man. Incidentally, he was my (step) grandmother's brother, so if you're still following we are related to this family in two ways but it's even too confusing for me so we'll move on.
This week Lital asked for a "mental health day." Apparently, that is a day in which you skip school and go out for cocoa and sweets with your mom. I asked her where she got the idee and she replied "from you." For the love, don't you just hate when your kids actually listen to you?? So, I am taking my prerogative to rename the day "mom day" and give her a morning off.
My children have pretty much adjusted to the 6-day school week. A lot of that might be because of the many hours in the day spent on not quite academic endeavors. If I have to schedule something on a school day (any day except Shabbat), they ask me not to do it on Friday because Friday is a "fun day." Ironically, many parents do not work on Friday and with kids in school we call it the same thing!
Last Friday, we went with N on a class trip. His class finished learning the book of Joshua and we walked from the school to the hills overlooking the valley of Ayalon where a famous battle was fought. How amazing! Walking along paths that you read about in the Bible and looking back on thousands of years of history. Naturally the 10 year old boys were a bit more interested in which snacks each one had brought and digging holes in the ground but somewhere, somehow they history and connection to the land which is basically their current backyard must seep in.
No comments:
Post a Comment