On to 7 and other new things

Well, today is Akiva's actual 7th birthday and we are getting ready to move out of our delux Tel Aviv pad. Our native Israeli neighbor from West Orange came by yesterday and helped reinforce our sense of how lucky we were to find this place. We are very appreciative to our hosts. We are getting ready to go to Nazareth. Its not Palestine, but it is a primarily Arab city and I think it will be a very different experience. While we were in Jerusalem I was trying to train Kiva and Sam to notice the difference in the way Hebrew and Arabic sounds. We'll see if they pick up on it.

We are also starting to try to plan our few days layover in Switzerland. While it sounds great to go someplace that is not monsterously hot, I'm a bit concerned about money. Tacking a Swiss visit on seemed like a good idea before we left but that was before we arrived in the land of the $5 cake mix. Oh well at least the chocolate there should be a good deal.

Birthday Party the day before Kiva's 7th B-Day

This is the most important day of the trip as far as Kiva is concerned. The whole trip has been designed around when and how this event will happen. With much anxiety up until the very last moment, pizza at the beach turned out great. We finally got together with Yonatan and Asaf our West Orange neighbors.

Oh yeah, Akiva got so excited at the beach he ran into a wooden pole. Birthday shiner.

Sarah and I made a pretty darn good Pillsbury ice-cream cake. No photo. Kiva and I bought the party bags at the shuk ha-carmel. Also no photos. Oh one more thing - I finally got to go to the 20 NIS breakfast on Ben Yehuda. For about $5 it kicks the grand slams tush. 5 salatim, plus two eggs, cappuccino, Israeli salad all served after 9 AM by friendly Israeli staff. Also no photo.

Chilling at Mezizim with the kids and beverages

Ever since we arrived in Tel Aviv we have been saying that we must spend more time hanging out at the beach in the late evening at the Mezizim restaurant where we can eat a little, have a drink and let the kids play in the sand. The last couple of nights we have achieved a pretty awesome balance of draught beer, sand, child satisfaction and child safety. It is a pretty beautiful thing and Jewish too.

Kiva-Lev living the high life.

Zev, Sam and all the kids spent a lot of time adjusting their unbrella. Its an activity.

The view!