Hi y'all,  Here's a summary of what we've been up to since Oct. 1.  Hope you find it interesting.

Our travel to Israel went very smoothly.  We had an easy time getting us, our 3 children, 6 boxes, 2 suitcases, and other assorted belongings to Logan and checked in several hours before our flight.  The flight to Zurich was a breeze.  The kids played, ate, and then fell asleep.  Yona slept about 5 hours in a baby bassinet attached to the wall in front of us.  The second flight was harder, only because we were all tired.   We were pleasantly surprised to get through customs and retrieve our luggage, and exit the airport in less than 45 minutes.   Our friends Charlie and Dovi & Julie met us at the airport.  We sent our boxes home with Dovi & Julie, and went with Charlie to spend Shabbat in Tel Aviv.

 Our visit with Charlie & Audrey & family was nice even though we were exhausted.  The kids couldn't fall asleep until midnight the first few nights we were here, and then they spent the daytimes dragging their feet and moaning I'm tired.  We walked to a very shallow beach at the Mediterranean Sea, and had a good time playing in the surf and watching the sunset.

 On Sunday, Dovi picked us up in Tel Aviv, and brought us to a new mall just outside of Jerusalem.  The mall has a "food court" and reminded us of ones in America, except for the view of the hills of Har Nof.  The  kids were very excited by the prospect of a kosher McDonalds, although in the end, they didn't eat a thing.

 Finally, we drove to Yishuv Alon, where we will live for the next 9 months. It's really in the middle of the desert, with nothing but seas of sand surrounding it.  The views are amazing in every direction. Unfortunately, our quarters above Dovi and Julie's house are not ready, so we are living in a furnished 2 bedroom caravan.  It's not what we were expecting, but it's not so bad.  D & J had made up all the beds, and put food in the refrigerator already.

 We have been on the Yishuv one week as of tomorrow.  Zosh and Yair seem to be enjoying life here so far.  They have played mainly with D & J's children, but also with some other kids.  They seem comfortable participating, even if conversations are in Hebrew.  They are excited about starting school this coming Wednesday.  I still can't imagine how Zosh will take his first day of first grade, where it's basically 5 hours straight in Hebrew, but we'll see.

 We haven't really been to Jerusalem proper yet except out to dinner to celebrate my birthday.  We both noticed many new roads, (with bridges, tunnels) and shops in the city.  We don't know our way around, but that will take some time.  We're working on getting a car, but I'll save that story for the next edition.

--Andrea