Morning walks and new words

Anabelle and I had a nice walk this morning. We went to the beach and strolled along it. There I taught a new word: "aquaduct". She liked it, and was excited to see the hollow inside where the water would flow in one section that was broken. She immediately told me that water used to flow in the tube. However, she eventually asked to go back because it was "freezing cold". That comment made me think that maybe she doesn't understand the entire meaning of the words I teach her... she should know that it wasn't REALLY freezing cold. I was wearing flip-flops rather comfortably, despite the cool Mediterranean breeze. It wasn't even NEAR 0 degrees C.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...

So this year, as tempting as it was to haul our 7-foot fake tree out to Israel with us, we decided to forgo that and make our own tree this year.
After Anabelle found out that the tape sticks better to the paint than the paint itself sticks to the wall (whoops...), we decided it was best to tape the tree to our glass patio door. Thanks to family back at home and some friends at church here, we even have a few gifts to put under it! (and no, that is not the Swedish flag on it... it was supposed to be a present, but just ended up looking like the Swedish flag).


On a similar note... the Tel Aviv congregation of our church had a Christmas party this past week. We all had a blast! Anabelle wore her special Christmas dress (that we thought we had left in the states, but Anabelle happened to find the other day stuffed in a pocket in our luggage...). Maria thought it was so cute that she insisted on taking a picture... but being the little perfectionist that she is, you can guess what happened after the first picture (the bag was full of some little princess dolls she had).





















Our Tel Aviv ward is one of the most special wards we have ever been part of before (and we have been part of some amazing wards). We have made some dear friends. Here are just a few...






Anabelle had a blast. I think she was the only one of the young kids who had a nap that day, because out of all the kids she was the only one who was not falling asleep during the talent portion of the evening.



















Nathan and I had a lot of fun too. The food was great, lots of talent, and we even got to dance some at the end. We didn't get home 'till almost 11:00 pm!




Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka and Season's Greetings to all our friends and family.

Jaffa- One of the oldest cities in the world

Thursday we took a road trip to the oldest city here in Israel-- Jaffa. It has been inhabited for over 4,000 years and boast some very interesting history.


We went with some good friends, Anne, Nathan, Zoe and Myles. This was their last trip before heading back to Germany and we wanted to make sure they had a good time to remember fondly.

Anabelle and Zoe are great friends and get along amazingly well.















From one of the scenic stops you can see the rocks upon which Andromeda was chained as a sacrifice to Cetus (the sea monster, which goes "arghh,arghh, arghh" says Anabelle).


This is also where Simon the Tanner, known for the miracle of the mountain, lived. Anabelle wanted to stop by and say "hi," but they were closed for lunch.















The city itself is very beautiful and has that old-world feel to it; and the view from the port area is fantastic. You get a great view of Tel Aviv in the background. It was about 75 degrees Fahrenheit with a breeze.



Since it was so nice and Zoe and Myles had never been to the beach, we spent some quality time playing at the beach. Myles was not feeling too well, but the girls had a blast and did not want to leave.

New friends

So Anabelle and Maria have had a bit of a hard time finding new friends with whom to play and socialize during the day. Most kids over 18 months go to daycare here and up till two weeks ago there were no kids Anabelle's age in our apartment building. Anabelle's only friends were the masses of snails that live in our down-stairs neighbor's plants by their door. Two weeks ago, though, Sarah and Timothy moved in to the apartment about three doors down with their parents. Sarah is three and Timothy is one year-old. Anabelle wasted no time befriending them, and Maria and Esther (Sarah's mom) now exchange babysitting to go to Hebrew classes. Then, just this week another family moved in from Germany to the building next door and they have another three year-old named Zoe and she has a little brother named Miles, he is 10 months old. It goes without saying that Anabelle is ecstatic about her two new friends. They hang out at the park in the mornings.