April 12, 2004
Easter in Jerusalem
For Passover we enjoyed a traditional Passover Seder meal. One of the families from church invited us to a Seder meal tailored for children. It was shortened to just one hour (instead of four), and there were books and visual aids to keep the children entertained.
Tiffany's Hebrew teacher took us on a field trip in Haifa. We visited the Stella Maris church that is built over the traditional Christian site of Elijah's cave. We also hiked down Mount Carmel from Stella Maris to the traditional Jewish site of Elijah's cave. We wonder if Elijah was ever in either cave.
Tyler and Scott in Elijah's Cave
We rode a cable car up and down the mountain for a beautiful view of the coast and a fun ride for Tyler. We visited the museum of Navy and Clandestine Immigration. The reason it is the same museum is that the ships that Jewish immigrants used to sneak into Israel during the British Mandate period were the same ships that became the first naval vessels for Israel.
Cable car rideTyler's eye and ear infections disappeared with the antibiotics, but his fever wouldn't go away, so we took him back to the doctor. The doctor prescribed oral antibiotics and ordered a blood test. Tyler was very brave, he didn't cry at all when they poked his finger to get blood. He didn't even cry when they had to do it a second time because they had to redo the test. He is finally all better, which is a great relief.
On Friday, we had another branch activity. We had an Easter message, ate dinner and then we decorated Easter eggs.
For Easter Sabbath, we decided to go to Jerusalem. We couldn't pass up the chance to celebrate Easter there. We met for church in the BYU Jerusalem Center and then had Easter dinner there (with ham!). It is such a shame that the Jerusalem Center is hardly being used with no students there. It is so beautiful and right now very empty.
BYU Jerusalem Center
O JerusalemWe had a special meeting at the Garden Tomb after our Easter dinner. We sang Easter hymns and listened to messages about the Savior. We then toured the grounds. It is believed that Golgotha is there as well as the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. We enjoyed celebrating the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ in such a beautiful place with such a special spirit.
The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.Scott had work off on Easter Sunday (a coincidence that it lined up with the end of the Passover holiday). The Easter bunny hid eggs and Tyler's basket in the apartment and when Tyler woke up from his nap, he got to look for them. He was thrilled, but he needed a lot of help, even though the eggs were in plain sight. The Easter bunny brought him a purple Chevron car, a Bob the Builder video (in Hebrew) and lots of candy.
Look at that egg!
I found my spacket!The Easter bunny was also nice to Brooke, but she didn't have to look for her treats. Brooke got a teether rabbit, a pink bib, and Peeps that her parents are going to eat.
Brooke's first Easter
Following the Bowden tradition of liking Peeps
Tyler-isms:
"Wow!" - Tyler's new favorite exclamation.
"What saying?" or "What you said?" - When he wants you to repeat something.
"Put chocolate milk on top of the white milk and don't shake it" - He likes them separate.
"I want home music" - Apparently we were listening to "going to church" music in the car on the way home.
"Would you like a receipt with that?" (In Hebrew) - Tiffany's Hebrew teacher said that Tyler was saying this. We had thought it was just gibberish.
"I was so happy that the Easter bunny came." - Tyler enjoyed the candy and toys.
"I want him to come not during my nap." - Tyler was disappointed he missed seeing the Easter bunny in person.