Fun Weekend

After spending the first few days dragging the kids around from store to store, we figured they earned themselves a fun weekend.

We spent much of Shabbat exploring one of Raanana’s beautiful parks.  We heard it was great, but it truly exceeded our expectations.  It was full of other families looking to spend quality time together in a beautiful setting with plenty of things for the kids to enjoy.  The people were all very friendly and eager to engage in conversation with us.

Sunday we were back at the beach.  This time we tried a beach in Herzliya which is only about 20 minutes from our home.  It’s just as beautiful as TA beaches, only a bit less crowded.  You can conveniently rent umbrellas and beach chairs at a very reasonable rate.  The kids brought their boogie boards and really seem to be getting the hang of riding waves.

Enjoying our first falafel sandwiches of the trip during lunch on the beach.

Today was spent at a local water park.  Felt like the perfect place to spend another hot and sunny August day in Israel.  While in line for the slides, we encouraged our kids to try to converse with the local Israeli kids.  While the Israelis that are around 15+ can generally hold a conversation in English, the younger kids are not nearly as proficient.  It was fun at one point to watch our kids compete with the other kids to see who could count higher in the other person’s first language.   Both sides enjoyed helping the other to keep counting higher and higher.

The highlight for Allie was when the inner-tube she and Danielle were on flipped over mid-ride.  She banged her head on the way down and was upset at the exit (in case you can’t tell).  But after about 30 seconds, she proclaimed it to be the best ride ever!  Poster child for “Another happy customer”!

As you can see, we’re not doing the most cultural of activities just yet.  The plan was to use these last two week of summer vacation for the kids to have mostly mindless fun while adjusting to their new surroundings.  We have been pleasantly surprised how quickly they seem to have done so.  In hindsight, we probably could have planned a cultural excursion sooner.  But a little extra time for pure play has been fun for all of us.