Leaving the holy city

The time has come. Packing galore, and we're nearly done with all the boxes.

Orly has finished gan and sam came to help with lots of stuff. Thanks!

Yael has really improved her babbling and established her status as 'pasta monster'.

Orly is excited for the move and lauren got pooed on by a bird. Its all very exciting here.

We'll be sad to leave our next door neughbour who bought orly a present. We bought him one too and we went into the garden to rescue a stranded hedgehog. Orly liked that.

Also the saga of the Jerusalem cockroach massacre continues in our flat. Around 10 so far in last few days. Lauren is handling it surprisingly better than her first frantic screamathon! She is so cool with it now that she even went to bed with ants (still wriggling) stuck to the bottom of her feet. We also have a weird leaf bug that, no matter how many times it is flushed down the sink, magically seems to reappear! Resilient israeli bug!

Ben took a final nighttime stroll in the garden, watching the flitter of bats and hearing echoes of jackals in the distance, this will be missed...

Daily boxes filled at Weizmann for soldiers

Orly eating her last falafel in Givat Mordechai

Gorgeous thing

Orly taking a photograph

Yael loving the swings!

Lauren being unceremoniously pooed on

Yael speaking her mind

Sam the mitzvah man, and some of our boxes before the move

On the move...

Last friday the kaysers went out to meet Ari and the kids for lunch in Modiin. We went to see Mevo Horon again. The temperature is markedly higher, will 'we' cope! Pomelo, avocado, mango, lemon, lime and olive trees littered the area we walked through to buy an oven (proper cooking soon, not just a toaster oven PG!).

So. The Kaysers are moving again - fifth time in 5 years. Hopefully with more permanence this time!

As august peaks its head around the corner an important chapter is coming to a close. We're moving out of Jerusalem and moving more centrally. Ben is taking off August to start his PhD properly in September, and spend some quality time with the family.

Orly is excited about the move and has her 'leavers party' this friday in gan. Yael is getting increasingly active (if this is possible!). Ben's favourite time in the day is when he comes home to Yael yelping for joy ("thats what we make them for Lauren!"). Yael is also known as the 'pasta monster' now, the name speaks for itself (literally putting Orly to shame with her eating)... we're working on her shmearing.

Lauren has perfected her kishke recipe - I think we have a really good chulent thing going on. This may be 'our chulent' recipe for life, who knows...

Sam has come over to help out with Lauren and do stuff. Thank you Sam, you are appreciated.

Boxes boxes boxes :(

Ben and Sam went to a shiva tonight of Max Steinberg, a 'lone' soldier originally from america (may his soul rest peacefully). It was heartwarming to see the hundreds that came to the shiva (30000 at the funeral). The unparalleled unity amongst our people is where our strength lies. We hold our heads up high and close our eyes in supplication :)

The photo shoot

Photography courtesy of Alan Hyman

Photo revival: last 2 months

Orly getting a fringe and being very upset by it!

Early morning bingo

Orly teaching Yael about cats in Weizmann

Yael learning how to swing on a swing at the zoo

Yaeli Monster

Orly winking

The gorgeous girls

Cousins having a tea party

Orly taking Yael shopping

Orly and Yael at the science museum

Since Yael is crawling everywhere now Lauren decided it would be economical to make her an outfit out of cleaning material. Two birds with one stone!

Learning how to eat

Being placed in a washing basket

Orly's pretend birthday party in her Gan

Yael before crawling

Orly the author

Orly writes her first story with the help of Lauren. Please excuse Orly for the spelling, she is only 3

3 sirens in an hour followed by relative calm

Work brought Ben 3 sirens in 1 hour yesterday. I had spent the previous 2 full days preparing a sample, where each stage is crucial when the sirens went off! I was so annoyed! By leaving my sample out in the chemical hood it could easily become contaminated! luckily, Hashem helped out, and all was good. Phew. All safe.

Back to normal now, although not for the residents of the south and those in immediate proximity with Gaza. Talks of a ground invasion soon. A friend of mine just got called up today, he said it normally takes a couple of days to group together before an operation. Who knows...

The monkeys

Updates on our 2 little monkeys....

1st orly this chimpanzee.... she can now do a run-jump, jump-spin and a hop-run (we go through a lot of plasters). Today orly fell over on the way home from gan. Muddy face and bleeding lip and was crying hysterically "mummy I don't want to take my tooth out". I had no intention of this however maybe I should keep gruesome dentist stories away from the kids. I eventually managed to convince her that I wasn't taking out her tooth as there was nothing wrong with it and an ice lolly sorted the rest.
Her hebrew is by now far superior to mine but she's very patient and helps me out. She's really enjoying gan and tomorrow is the second paddling pool day where you bring your swimming costume and spend the morning outside in the paddling pool.
Orly is a sensitive soul and the bomb sirens have shaken her a little. She's such a good girl though and knows exactly what to do. To the point she played pretending to go to the bomb shelter all shabbat afternoon with her friends. Just what you want for your 3 year old!

Next Yaeli our little marmoset. She's grown a little and on friday we celebrated her graduation into size 6-9month clothes (age 10.5months). We only however got out half the clothes as we felt fleecy tights and wooly dresses from orly may not be used so much in the 30 odd degrees here.
Last week she started at a metapelet (child minder) for 3hrs a morning. Day 1,2 and 3 she cried a little less each day and then the sirens started..... the metapelet was anxious to take 7 babies and toddlers alone down 7 flights of stairs, to the shelter in 90seconds alone understandable so she's back at home with me... maybe well try again soon.
So she's crawling, cruising, laughing, driving orly mad and taking her toys! Shes also decided she doesn't sleep again!!!
Her slightly less conquered new skills that she just started this weekend involve opening her sippy cup by herself and standing in the middle of the room unaided for a second or 2.
And then the duck debate. She sometimes say "duddy" when playing with her rubber duck but sometimes she says it anyway without the duck! watch this space.
She also loves making friends with strangers. On the bus or anywhere she gets peoples attention and then grins and tips her head to the side. She then plays pretending to pass them things and takes it back. I think shell be a shmoozer (just like her dad!)

At the moment we spend a lot of time I  the flat as its very hot and due to the current situation. Please G-d a peaceful resolution will be reached soon and we can continue our trips to every place in jerusalem with air-conditioning!

Our new pet

After much hunting, the hunter became the hunted.

For around a week now, there has been a gecko living in our quarters. Thank goodness! we have tonnes of insects that need to be eaten! We caught the gorgeous thing, and are yet to name him. After a few selfies we released him back into the undergrowth of our living room. There is no lack of insectivarious food in our house! Living here for a week he looks fat and well fed. Proof that he is doing his job... although I don't quite think he's ready to take on the cockroaches, maybe if he grows a little bigger.

His naming ceremony will commence soon. We are open to suggestions.

Meaty but not edible!!

Shabbat Pinchas

Shabbat was wonderful. Despite the news, shabbat brought peace and rest. It was the Oren's last shabbat in givat mordechai, and we had meals together. Sophie and Neryah had a final good bye get together at the old place and we came back for general relaxation.

Temperatures in Israel have been hot (to say the least), so it was rather bothersome when SOMEONE (!!!) unplugged our only fan by mistake!

We had one siren at 7pm, after a barrage of many were sent further north (we had found out after shabbat). We went to a surprisingly empty miklat (shelter). I'm so glad I was with orly this time to help reassure her. The miklat has pictures drawn on the wall by previous children, symbols of peace, nature and people.

Other encounters in the previous days was when (one evening) Ben was at the computer and said "OH. MY. GOSH", "WHAT IS IT BEN?!??!"... silence... Germany are 5-0 up after 29mins!!! "dont scare me like that again ben!!!", "OOPS! sorry". Ben came out the bathroom one time to the sound of sirens (and rapidly dilating pupils), only to find out that Lauren was watching a youtube clip from the day, "Lauren!"

Sirens and rockets...

After the previous nights sirens we had decided to think of a way to describe this to orly, who would be asking why... we told her that when the sirens go, we need to quickly go to the special safe place because the naughty people are throwing things at us. We'll see how that goes! not a nice thing to have to tell a child :(

Ben went to work as usual, working as a research scientist, doing cool stuff and meeting some great people. Although Rehovot have received many sirens, this was the first one I'd heard when being at work. The masses made their way to the basement, via the central protected staircase, we hear about 7 loud booms, interceptions from the Iron dome, and people, relatively quickly, made their way back to their rooms.

I got out, and it was time for mincha. Someone had shown me that on their way to mincha they had spotted metal shrapnel from one of the rockets that had been downed! scary! For any israeli's reading this, stay under cover for at least 10mins after the sirens go!

on my way home was no quieter. we took the 443 through modiin, and when we were at the final checkpoint before Jerusalem I heard a huge bang. A rocket had fallen not a mile away in the west bank, actually just outside an Arab village, massive fireball explosion and smoke rising from the scene. A moment later another explosion was heard overhead, an Iron Dome interception.

I checked the news quickly and saw that Jerusalem sirens were blaring. I called Lauren who had forgotten her phone!!!!! Lauren!!! After a few minutes she picked up, when she got back. She had taken yael (stark naked out of the bath!), and orly together. Orly was very upset by the "boom boom", and was bravely holding back tears :(

Lauren, Ben and the kids were re-united safely, all was good. Another day.

Army activity on the way home. You can see Iron Dome units on the hills in strategic places. Thank God

The zigzag of smoke. The signature of an Iron Dome interception

Rocket stirkes just outside of Baituniya, as seen from the car... Just missing homes in the Arab village

Operation Protective Edge

After the news of the rockets (over 500 at the point of writing this) from Gaza we sadly waited for the inevitable. At 11pm on tuesday night the sirens rang. the kids were asleep. From Jerusalem we have about 1.5mins to get to a shelter. Ben took orly and lauren took yael, we went up one flight and we were there.

a woman was screaming with hysteria (!) at not being able to locate her husband. thank God orly was asleep during this whole thing! No one had the key, but, in time, someone came (Ben later called the building manager to complain, and from now on its open all the time!). After 2 low rumbling booms and the 10mins wait, we returned back downstairs. 2 Iron Dome interceptions it seems.

Lauren had met someone she knew from the past "hiiii, this is our first war", is how she greeted her! Orly was asleep, but yael thought some sort of party was going on. Wide, wide awake. Shelters are made from re-enforced concrete, with heavy metal doors. safe. in truth, the rockets that are fired are rather weak. Homemade and often dont penetrate the exterior walls. Often they don't pack any explosives, but rather they are just 'impact' rockets. Notwithstanding this, we are taking all safety precautions, we are not disillusioned by the seriousness of the times.

we went back to our flat, put orly back to sleep, and waited for yael to be tired again!

some would describe their experience as shaken but not stirred.

update from israel!

The terrible news of the kidnapping and subsequent killing of three teenagers in Israel brought the country to a saddened low. The country mourned and united. May their souls rest in peace.

The equally tragic news about a Palestinian boy being murdered was upsetting. The country was holding their breath and praying that it wasn't Jewish perpetrators. To our horror they were. Nationwide condemnation rang out in reaction to the news, and rightly so. Before a verdict was made there was a general feeling of 'we are better than this' but an individual let us down. How can we hold the higher moral ground now? The truth is, that we can.

The response to this killing has been very strong and humanitarian. Blood is blood, murder is murder. The Jewish and Israeli community has been reaching out to this family since the beginning of their grief. All Israeli MKs, all senior officials, every Israeli has called out against the act, in support for a lasting peace. A mutually accepted peace.

But rockets are rockets and Israel has grown tired. Peace was so close but it seemed that escalation was inevitable. After countless riots and damage, the barrage of rockets fired from Gaza became unbearable and the IDF were left with no short term choice other than to target those who reign terror on civilians.

We pray to Hashem that no one dies, and that those that seek to shed the blood of the innocent are judged.

Peace must, and will be, the only way that two sides will live autonomously, in peace, side by side.

revival: photos from the last 2 months

After a long period of quiet, the blog is resurrected!

General gist... moving to Mevo Horon in less than a month, Ben has been accepted onto a PhD, kaysers taking an august break in israel, lauren studying for exams, children are gorgeous (!!!!!), orly speaking great hebrew, yael is crawling, pulling herself up, shuffling and even standing for a couple of seconds (apparently saying 'ducky' as well... yes lauren...)

pictures to come...

Ben finds a chameleon!

Orly looking grumporgeous

Yael: "Its okay Orly you can have a turn in the box next"

The three girls

Postman pat, or something like that

Very late late late night activity

Orly being Ima shel Shabbat (shabbat mummy)

Cousins in the paddling pool

Cousins watching Mickey Mouse

Sweety pies

The girls :)