Grape Picking in Bat Ayin

I think most families have the same challenge during vacation time- what to do with the kids that will be fun AND cheap at the same time?  Add to that being age-appropriate, and close enough to get to- that makes the challenge even  harder.  Bentzi and I were putting our heads together, trying to come up with some nice trips for the kids over the summer, and Bentzi found out about a free grape picking event in Bat Ayin, one of the yishuvim in Gush Etzion, which is not far from us.  He readily volunteered to stay home with Nissim (the vineyard wasn't exactly stroller friendly) and that I should take the kids (we can also only fit five of us in the car).  So I headed out with the 4 older kids bright and early, to hit the vineyards before the hot summer sun was at its hottest.

When we got there, each kid was supplied with a special shears to cut the grapes off of the vine.  Everyone had fun finding the grapes buried within the leaves of the vine, and we were amazed at how many crates of grapes we were able to pick.  Just as everyone was starting to get tired, the vineyard owner offered us a ride in his tractor- which was a lot of fun and left us invigorated, ready to do more.  We got to taste plenty of grapes - yum! - and we even brought home a huge bag full to make our own wine (which we did...but the product was not so successful!)

It was also nice to see the מצוות that are connected with farming, hands on.  We were show where the פאה was, and warned to make sure not to pick from there.  And Yisrael, who had learned all the הלכות this past year in Cheder, was busy explaining to everyone what he had learned about לקט and שכחה.  It was a nice חזרה for him, and a wonderful learning experience for the rest of us!

While we were there, the vineyard owner's wife- who is originially from the US- told me about a natural spring nearby which was made into a mikveh hundreds of years ago- and is still used today.  She said its a lot of fun, so after we were too hot and exhausted to continue picking grapes, we headed to the spring.  The spring flows from within a cave, and there is a structure with a kosher mikveh inside.  Yisrael and Bruria tried going in the actual mikveh, but it was too deep for them to reach the floor.  Outside of the structure is another pool they built, which is much shallower- and the kids had an absolute blast splashing around in the water- they were there for hours - literally!- and they enjoyed every mintue! 

I hadn't come prepared with bathings suits (I think I did have one towel in the car) so afterwards we went for a short hike in the area to dry up- where we found ancient homes and a shul- I'm not sure which תקופה they were from.

We finally headed home, happy and exhausted - and best of all, aside from transportation, the trip was completely free!  (unless you count the pie of pizza we bought when we got back to Beitar because everyone was starving- I hadn't planned on being out until almost 4 in the afternoon!)

A lovely afternoon in פארק בגין- עין קובי

Yesterday we planned to go to the park in Gilo (which many of you are familiar with) to have a BBQ and play in the park.  But when Bentzi came home from morning seder, he commented that it was a really nice cool day - and its a חבל to "waste" going to פארק גילה on a day like that (for those of you who are unfamiliar with this park in southern ירושלים, it is on the side of the mountain and very shady- so even on a pretty hot day, its rather cool there)  So we changed our plans and decided to stay local, and spend the afternoon in one of the parks here in Beitar.  Yisrael wanted to go to one of the new parks in Givah B, but when we got there, we couldn't really find ANY shady, grassy areas which would be comfortable for a BBQ.

So we came up with an impromptu Plan C- to go to פארק בגין, a forest preserve that's 5 minutes down the road from Beitar (in safe territory, no worry!)  It was close enough that Bentzi was able to drop me off with some of the kids and then pick up the rest of the crew (we don't all fit in our car)  It was a great choice- we picked a nice spot with picnic tables, and got our BBQ started.

There's an interesting blog I visit from time to time, written by a frum woman here in E"Y.  She has many tips on frugal living- and one post of hers describes how to make a BBQ without buying any coals, using bits of wood instead.  I figured we might as well try it out (we did bring coals along just in case!)- so the kids got all busy collecting different sizes of branches and wood scraps that had fallen from the nearby trees.  It was a lot of fun for them, much more so than a regular BBQ- even Naftali was busy bringing me twigs to put in the fire.  (Anyone who has bought cheap "coals" here in E"Y has seen that they are really just pieces of wood covered with a black substance- and our "coals" worked just as well- if not better!)

It was a great learning experience- the kids got a mini science lesson, as I explained how the fire burns the wood, and how the thicker pieces get really hot so even when the flames die down, there is still plenty of heat from the wood.  Bentzi offered a mini mussar lesson, using the fire as a משל to illustrate how the fire of תורה goes into a person's נמשה and heats it up, and how once a person's נמשה is so hot with תורה, that heat can spread to warm up others.

While the food was cooking, the kids had fun climbing in the olive trees right by the picnic tables.  Bruria is already becoming a mini seminary girl, asking me to take pictures of her in various poses in the tree.  Yisrael and Azriel joined her, and then we even got Naftali to go up- so we got a few nice family shots.

After a delicious lunch, we played in the historic site nearby- עין קובי - which has underground caves running from the ruins of ancient houses, to a water cistern which they dug.  The kids had fun crawling through the caves and coming out at all the different exits (I tried joining them but there were parts of the caves which were a bit too narrow for me!)- we gave them a flashlight and they had a real blast.

Before beginning to head home, we lit a small bonfire (now that we were experts!) and roasted marshmallows- a delicious treat to leave a sweet taste in our mouths after a really fun afternoon!