July 6, 2004
Travels in the North
We had fun visiting the northern coast of Israel this week. We had hoped that it would be cooler, but we were disappointed in that hope. One of the attractions was visiting the third and (we think) final cable car in Israel. Tyler was thrilled to ride in the cable car, but he wanted to ride in an orange cable car. Unfortunately, there were only yellow and red cars.
Rosh HaNiqra view
A cable car at Rosh HaNiqraRosh HaNiqra is right on the border with Lebanon. The cable car takes you down over the white chalk cliffs to caves right at sea level. We watched a video about the history of the caves, walked through the caves and ran into a large group of Jewish girls from the United States on an "Experience Israel" tour. They reminded us of LDS Young Women at Girls Camp. They asked us if we knew the Hebrew word for banana. It's "banana."
The cliffs
In the cavesAfter we left the caves we bought ice cream from the conveniently located stand. They had a lot of business. We then went to Qeshet cave, also on the Lebanon border, but higher up in the mountains. You will notice from the picture that it does not look like a cave. It used to be a cave, but now all that is left is an arch. Note a key difference between the US and Israel: no railings. Don't worry, this picture was as close as we got.
Qeshet caveWe also visited Ahziv beach nearby. It had some Phoenician ruins. It was too hot to play on the playground equipment so we left.
Tyler was invited to another birthday party this past weekend. Scott's manager's son had a party at a place like Gymboree. At first, Tyler wasn't thrilled with the clown. It was the only fire-breathing clown we have seen at a child's birthday party. Tyler warmed up to the clown when the clown started passing out bouncy balls. Since it was our first Israeli birthday party, we enjoyed the traditions. One tradition is to sing a song called "Where's the Cake?" Another is to lift the birthday child up in the air on a chair as many times as they are old.
Tyler loved the play area. He loved driving the motorhome, baking balls in the motorhome oven and climbing on everything. Tyler had so much fun that we stayed until the place closed. Tyler cried on the way out.
Motorhome driverBrooke also enjoyed the party. At the beginning she slept through all the kids yelling and screaming because she was so tired. She loved the ball pit. She reminded us of Tyler at her age.
Fun in the ball pitBrooke can almost pull herself up to a standing postion, especially with the help of her piano or her crib slats. We're starting to worry that she'll walk before she crawls. Easier on the knees though.
She will be walking soonTyler-isms:
"Her brother" - Tyler's latest reference to himself.
"You forgot to say yes" - That's because Tiffany said no.
"The wind keeps blowing me down." - Yeah right.
"I want the phone to ring." - Hoping to get a call from Grandma.
"Shh, you'll wake up the neigbors." - We are more worried about waking up Brooke.
"MOMMY, BE QUIET!" - At the top of his lungs during Brooke's nap.