Wednesday Night

Today Saba Motti became a "returning citizen". He officially moved from Florida back to Israel. Talia and the kids, as well as Malc, Oriya Tati & I went to greet him at the airport. While there was no big parade - he did not come in on a Nefesh B'Nefesh flight - we made a sign and had balloons and there were many hugs and kisses. Good Luck, Saba!!

Tati is already winding up her visit. We had many "mishpucha" days and visited with special friends. It's always hard to see everyone when the visit is so short. Tati isn't gone yet and we already miss her, but are looking forward to her return in June.

Tomorrow is the big Birthday Party. There will be approximately 55 people here and we plan on having a great time. I'll post pictures from the party - probably on Sunday.

Love to everyone. If any of the followers are in the Rechovot area tomorrow night, please come to our party. No RSVP needed!!!

Update on Kobi

We now have an elected "official" in our home! Kobi went back to school today and was greeted by cheers from his classmates telling him that he won the election. He is the only representative from his class in the Student Council. We are so proud of him.....

Kobi is feeling good. Tuesday we'll go for a Dr. visit at Kupat Cholim - to get all the necessary refferals to the hospital and get some blood work done. The colonoscopy will be on Thursday. Our big reward is a visit from Tati. She is scheduled to arrive while he is being scoped at the hospital. Talia will pick her up and they'll come straight to the hospital. We are so looking forward to eight days of Tati!!!!

Also, Ron & Marilyn booked their tickets to Israel and we expect them on January 22nd. It's so wonderful to have all these great visits to look forward to.

Love to all. I'll update you on Thursday.

Michal

Kobi's health

Hello to everyone,

Just over one week ago, Kobi became ill. He started vomiting. At first we were not especially worried, just a bit spooked about the timing (almost one year exactly from the big incident last year). By Friday, he was looking awful and we took him to the "step-up" clinic for some intravenous fluids. From there, they suggested a trip to the emergency room. The doctors there seemed to feel that he could be admitted or could go home. We chose home over hospital germs.

By Sunday, Kobi was no better. We went to the local doctor, who sent us to the hospital again. It was clear to us that we would be admitted this time, especially in light of last year's experience. Sure enough, Kobi was admitted for abdominal pain and vomiting. After running blood-work, urinalysis, Barium scans and finally a gastroscopy, we were released to go home. Kobi still needs to have a colonoscopy next week and we are very hopeful that we will find the root of this problem.

To his credit, I must say that Kobi was quite the trooper. He remained cheerful and good-natured the entire time in the hospital.

I have to say that the doctors here are great and they did not take this case lightly. We were treated well the entire time. The fixtures could use some updating.....but that really had no impact on the level of medical care that we received.

I will keep you updated on the results of the tests.

Shabbat Shalom,
Michal

Paul McCartney in Concert - Tel Aviv 2008

On September 25th, after being denied access in 1969, Paul McCartney became the first "Beatle" to preform in Israel. This was truly a big affair. The concert was held in Park Ha-Yarkon - a huge outdoor venue in Tel Aviv. Malcolm and the crew arrived at 2:00PM. At 4PM, they were treated to a 45 minute sound check that was amazing. Paul played full songs and "kibbitzed" with the crew. The crowds were allowed access at 5PM - see the lady with the walked in the picture. She was part of the rush to run in and grab a spot. People paid $150. for standing room and had to wait until 8PM for the concert to begin.

The concert its self was amazing. By concert time the crowd was thick - close to 45 thousand people. People were dancing and singing and having a great time. Definitely worth the ticket price.

Just another Thursday afternoon

Today was another beautiful day. The nights are cool already (I wear socks and long sleeved shirts - Malcolm is still immune to what we call cold here). The days, however, are gorgeous. It was 27 degrees today and sunny. Malcolm put in a full morning at the shop, then went to finalize his first order of eye-piece covers. As he left Tel Aviv, he decided that this is the perfect beach day. Unfortunately, Kobi is not feeling well - he has a tummy virus - and he and I could not join the outing.

Malcolm picked Oriya up from school - they changed into bathing suits and took towels and off they went. They had lunch on the beach at our favourite restaurant - Lila Beach - and then actually went for a swim. They took a long walk along the beach and waited for the sunset.

There were many kite-boarders up the beach. They counted at least 30 - maybe more. The colors were beautiful. These guys hook up "kites" to snow board looking things that they surf on and go to catch the wind. They go extremely fast and can jump into the air and "fly" really far. They are really exciting to watch.

Kobi for Student Council

While everyone is sitting at the edge of their seat, waiting to see what happens with Obama, we are in the midst of a very important election. Kobi has decided to run for Student Council. He and his teacher came up with a slogan "בקובי תבחרו ואת ההבדלים בבית הספר עוד תיראו" (Elect Kobi and you will see the difference in the school). He asked me to make stickers for him - which we made on diskette labels - remember those things? He had 90 stickers and he ran out by the middle of the first recess. Oriya "kept him company" at his desk, and various friends were busy shouting his name in the school-yard. He had a sign that he made yesterday, but it was damaged today and he asked for my help in making a new sign. We also went to purchase more labels (they aren't called diskette labels any more) and he made up an additional slogan for himself "לפעמים חדש זה טוב יותר" (Sometimes new is better). Obviously we are all proud of his efforts and rooting for him. He feels that he has the votes of all the boys in his class, and plans on working on getting the girls' votes tomorrow. The election is on Friday - we'll let you know! Good Luck Kobi!!!!

Our Family Shabbat

Erev Shabbat Talia, Daniel, and all their kids - except for Dylan - who stayed in Modi'in for a social function with her friends, arrived with their bags, chulent pot and lots of enthusiasm. Doda Tzila - my dad's sister - arrived next. We all worked in the kitchen together, doing last minute preparations for our meal. Moishe and Zehava arrived in time for dinner and it was a great affair. The meal was great, the company was amazing - we talked and laughed and just had a great time!

The Masris stayed for Shabbat and all the kids had a great time. It was a wonderful opportunity for us grown-ups to have quality time together, as the kids really do occupy themselves beautifully. All in all - a great time was had by all. We closed up the weekend by going to visit Savta after Shabbat. We had so much fun, that we hope to turn this into a monthly ritual! Let us know if you'd like to join us for one of these great weekends!