5 star lodging

Israel with the kids - part II.

We stayed in this perfect little cabin (two stories, a bathroom and air condition!!!), which is located in the back of Roni and Nechama's beautiful house. I don't want to brag, but my cousin Roni is extremely talented and built the cabin with his own two hands. (When he was 14, he was caught in the streets of Afula driving a car without a driver's licence, a car he had built himself !!! His Dad had to pick him up from the police station and there even was an ariticle about him in the newspaper.) Back to our cabin:

Side view of gorgeous cabin with kids playing in the grass. Good scratchy Israeli grass. And no kangaroo poop anywhere in sight.

At night we would open the window and fall asleep to the soothing sound of cascading water running into this pond:

Lia, Ben, and Shlomi (the oldest of three) feeding the little goldfishies.

And this is Nechama, my cousin's wife, picking lemons with Lia. I think you get the idea. Pretty idyllic place we stayed at. And if I say that we received 5 star treatment, it is an absolute understatement. I can't put into words how much we were spoiled. For Ben, Nechama had bought a baby bath tub and baby skin products, and she even cooked and pureed his food, and mopped the floor twice a day so that Ben could crawl everywhere and lick everything. And never in my life did I travel home with a suitcase full of clean clothes. Have I mentioned that Nechama is working full time? I still haven't figured out how she's doing it. It's beyond me how someone can achieve so much in so little time.

Lia daydreaming on the front steps of my cousin's house. (I have more of Lia goofing around on the front steps. I love those.) The best part about staying at my cousin's was the feeling of home. We simply belong.

Shlomi, Paul, Peanut, and Snoops on their way to the horses.
Have I mentioned that they live in a Moshav? A Moshav is an agricultural community similar to a kibbutz, only that the farms are indivdually owned and not part of a collective. At least this was the concept in the good old Zionist state-building era.



Lee, Lia, and Shlomi, back porch. Cute! Lee is in the army right now, driving all the soldiers crazy...

And here he is, my cousin Roni, Lia, and Lia's Saba.

Cuddles with Keren, Shlomi's beautiful girlfriend.

Cuddles with the boys, Dor and Shlomi. Can't say that there was a lack of attention, really. Lia's outfit was chosen by herself, a cardigan a bit too warm for dinner on the patio. In October. Ever since this night I'm no longer allowed to dress Lia to my own liking. Mmpf.

And this little balloon duckie lived a short but very fulfilled life. No duck was ever loved that affectionately. She was a present by Dor and went everywhere with Lia, even to the Kangaroo Zoo. And here are the two girlfriends, sleeping together on the floor in a pillowy nest.

And while I'm writing this post, empty bags of Bamba (the best Peanut snack ever!) are strewn around my laptop, and I'm munching on Chalva and slurping Nescafe from Elite. Little edible souvenirs that actually lose a lot of their good taste if eaten outside of Israel. Sigh.

To be continued...