Like most years, we took a trip with the family after Sukkos- its a great time of year- the weather is usually nice, and places aren't crowded because most people don't have vacation then- plus, prices are much cheaper since its not high season. Only this year, since Sukkos fell out so late, the weather didn't cooperate so nicely-lots of rain (which we will not complain about, since Eretz Yisrael needs the rain desperately!) B"H we still managed to have a nice time.
Our first stop was Moshav Yesodot- a chareidi Moshav- where they (obviously) kept Shmitta. It was nice to see the empty fields, overgrown with weeds. We then visited their orchards, where they had oranges, pamelits, and grapefruits growing. Since these fruits are still from Shmitta, they are hefker- so we were able to pick some! We all enjoyed!
After that, we headed to Zichron Yaakov, to Eden Inn, where we would be staying. They upgraded our room, so we ended up getting a nice apartment suite rather than a regular room. Supper was delicious (the kids had fun making a mess!)- and then we tried to get them to settle down and sleep (they had a lot of fun jumping all over us!)- but B"H everyone finally fell asleep, so we could be well rested for Day 2 of our trip!
The next day, we decided to head up to Chaifa, to see the port and the water. We stopped by a great lookout spot at the top of Har Carmel, where we were able to get a great view of the port below. We saw some freight trains as well, which made Yisrael VERY happy!
And then, it began to rain, on and off. So we decided play it safe, and headed for the Israel Railway Museum, which was indoors. After getting lost and driving around in circles, we finally got to the museum- just as it began to POUR. And of course to get to the museum, you had to walk OUTDOORS on a huge bridge that took you to the other side of the tracks. And to top it all off, it was almost 1 PM, and the museum was closing that day at 2. So we waited under an awning for the rain to settle down, and ended up getting to see a few trains pass by. B"H the kids were not disappointed, although they were soaked!
By then, we were all hungry, and since we didn't think that eating lunch in a park would be a good idea, we headed to a mall, where we sat down and ate deli sandwiches. We then took the kids to a kid's gym in the mall, where they had slides, balls, and a few different jumping castles.
After that, we headed back to the hotel so we could wash up and rest a bit before supper. We decided to get everyone in bed early, so that we could get off to an early start the next morning.
But of course, the next morning, we woke up to thunderstorms (so forget all our plans of going to a farm which is supposed to have a really nice petting zoo!) - so we looked around in some travel books we brought with, and decided to head to Ramat Gan, to the "Man and Living Kingdom Museum". We walked in, and the first exhibit was a huge, fake alligator (crocodile? I'm not sure what the difference is!)- which really freaked the kids out, until we explained to them that it was just pretend. There were lots of stuffed animals (not the teddy-bear type) which the kids enjoyed looking at. They had an exhibit about sea turtles, and Yisrael and Bruria climbed under the shells and pretended that they were turtles! The kids really had a fun time- they didn't want to leave (Azriel Shraga made the biggest fuss of all- every time we walked towards the exit, he kept running in the opposite direction!)
Then we headed to Yerushalayim, to see our new niece/cousin (Mazal tov to my sister, Menucha Berg!)- it was cute to see the kids' reactions- Yisrael looked for a few seconds but quickly lost interest (I guess Meir Mordechai's toy cars were more exciting!) Bruria was enthralled- she kept pointing to the baby's different body parts "Baby has little hands, baby has little nose..." - she was so excited when I let her hold the baby! Azriel Shraga just wanted to poke her eyes and grab her- he loves dolls and I guess he figured this was just a battery-operated one!
Finally, we headed home- After three days of running around, it was nice to be back in Beitar, and to sleep in our own beds again (although Yisrael complained that he wanted to go back to the hotel!)
