Bubbe & Zayde

Bubbe and Zayde arrive from Boston for a three week visit!  We were all very happy to see them, especially the kids!  It had been almost 35 years since their last (and only) trip to Israel.

  

After breakfast the next morning at Holy Bagel, they went with Danielle to her weekly golf lesson in Caesarea.

Showing them around Ra’anana, modern Tel Aviv and Old Jaffa:

 

They were anxious to get to Jerusalem early in their visit.  Amazing to be with them in the holy city and to stand at the Western Wall with my father.

We went back to Jerusalem the next day to visit the newer areas of the city including Yad Vashem and the Israel Museum which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

Together as a family to celebrate Shabbat.  A very meaningful and moving experience for all of us.

We all enjoyed a leisurely Saturday walking through Ra’anana Park in the morning, followed by lunch on the Beach in Herzliya.  Dinner that evening back at home, appreciating all the family time.

 

BUBBE’S 75TH BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!  It was such an honor to host Bubbe for her 75th birthday.  We planned an action packed weekend that included many surprises along the way.

We kicked off the festivities with lunch at “Gouje and Danielle”, an amazing restaurant near Ra’anana that was featured in a New York Times Article about Israel’s hot new restaurant scene in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.

 

Bubbe was then able to participate in a special Kindergarten event at the kids’ school where parents were invited to the library to read to their child.  Mikey was the only child that had a grandparent in attendance which made him feel special and very proud.

Mikey even invited a few of his friends to join in:

We then gathered the kids to leave for the weekend.  Bubbe, Zayde and the kids had been told to prepare for a 3 hour drive to the Beresheet Resort in Mitzpe Ramon.  Instead, to everyone’s surprise shock, helicopters were waiting to whisk us away!

The flight ensured an early enough arrival for an enJOYable birthday dinner.

 

We spent the next day exploring the Ramon Nature Reserve including Ramon Crater, a geological feature in Israel’s Negev Desert.  Located at the peak of Mount Negev, about 85 km south of Beersheba, the landform is the world’s largest “erosion cirque”.

First stop was a repelling adventure down the side of a steep cliff.  Three very brave children and one very brave Zayde!

Our guide then took us on an off-road tour of the crater.  Very bumpy ride, but worth it.  The views were spectacular.

Lunch was arranged for us at an authentic Bedouin village, only accessible by way of a four wheel drive vehicle.  It was like stepping back 1,000 years in time.

Bedouins are a grouping of nomadic Arab people who have historically inhabited the desert regions of the Middle East and North Africa. “Bedouin” comes from the Arabic work badawi, which means “desert dweller”. Bedouins consider it a great honor to host guests. They literally rolled out the carpets for us and took great pride in preparing and serving the meal.

Bubbe helps with grinding the coffee beans:

Allie working the land with a herd of camels in the background:

A Bedouin girl, Allie’s age, could not stop smiling the entire time we were there!

Camels admiring the herd of Jews strolling by:

Next was desert archery.  They set us up from different positions with significant elevation changes.  We learned techniques to adjust the power and trajectory of the bow and arrow to account for both distance and elevation.

The archery instructor then showed us how to turn different colored rocks into sand so that the kids could fill glass bottles in layers to create interesting designs.

Allie loves seeing groups of young female soldiers!

After lunch we enjoyed a scenic bike ride through the canyons before heading back home to Ra’anana:

Time for one more visit to Tel Aviv…

And a stop at the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial marking the location where he was assassinated in November of 1995:

We made the most of their last day with a final visit to Jerusalem.  The day included a walk through the Biblical Zoo:

The perfect ending to a great three weeks with a family visit to the Western Wall: