The flight took off about 50 minutes late, putting it at 1:20am Israel-time. That would be nearly 3:30pm in Los Angeles, on Saturday afternoon. I had been up since about 6am, so that’s a long day either way you cut it. Amazingly, I got about 7.5-8 hours of sleep, and then spent a bit of time groggily listening to music, dozing off, and watched Ocean’s 13. There was a muffin handed to me at one point, and then after the …

The line at the airport was absurd. A huge throng of people, barely moving, all waiting to go through the first security check (Q&A and baggage claim X-Ray) before you even get to the ticket counter. After waiting and slowly moving up, I asked one of the line handlers what time it was. She told me “9:30pm” and then asked where I was going. I said “Los Angeles” and then she grabbed me, and put me in a special cordoned …

After waking up terribly early once more (ah, nieces!), I packed up, and had breakfast (homemade pancakes) with my sister and older niece. I spent a bit of time with my younger niece, and then everyone else showed up, in time for lunch. I started packing up, and my little sister and I drove back to Tel Aviv, for the last time on this trip. We hit a bit of traffic on the way, so we got in around 5:30pm. …

I overslept, having set my alarm for 8:30am, but not realizing that my PDA had rebooted and set itself to the Pacific timezone. So I missed the chance to join my mom and grandma for breakfast at the hotel, but that’s okay, since there’s been more than enough food on this trip! After eating with my sister, we cleaned up and packed up, and then left at noon to head over to the hotel to snag mom and grandma, and …

Kinda funny that the only day that I finally have some time to get some work done during my “vacation” is during a holiday when I suppose I shouldn’t be doing any work at all! Nonetheless, it was a low key day – slept in, had a light bite for breakfast. Got a little work done, then headed over to the cousin’s to help with a computer issue. Came back, got more work done, then helped set up for dinner. …

It’s a lazy day today – since it’s a holiday, most of the country is closed. I slept in, since I needed to catch up on the sleep I missed out on due to waking up so early the past few days! After a very light breakfast, I caught up on emails and news, then headed over to pick up a few items for my aunt who is making her famous kugel for thursday night’s meal. A few hours late, …

We had dinner at the Dixie Grill Bar, which was really good. I got the Entrecote Mini Burger with Goat Cheese, Onion Marmalade & Garlic Confit. It was absolutely amazing.

We took a cab from Haifa down to the Nahal ceremony, which was held about 30 minutes away, near Netanya. It took us almost 90 minutes to get there, though, due to some stupid traffic (mis-timed lights), and a train crossing. It was a crazy but cool experience, to watch both of my cousins get their new bright green berets for their unit. I didn’t understand the Hebrew that the commander spoke, but it was definitely a joyous occasion for …

It’s been a rather blurry two days. After arriving in Haifa Sunday afternoon, we picked up my niece at preschool, then had a small bit of dinner. The next day (Monday), I was up at 5am when my niece got up. My sister took her to preschool, and I watched my younger niece (1 week old), which wasn’t very hard; she stared at me for a bit before falling asleep in my arms. (So cute!) My mom and grandma came …

Today is Sunday, so it’s a work day here in Israel. After my dad left to head to the airport to fly back to the States, my sister went to work, so my mom and I headed out. She was off to get her nails done, and I went to get breakfast with grandma and my aunt and uncle at their hotel. It was quite good – and will also count as lunch. (There seems to be a lot of …