Scott and Tiffany in Israel

Chin and Cereal

Brooke got a special treat this week. She finally got to eat solid food! Well, semi-solid at least. She loves her rice cereal.

I love this stuff.

What a coordinated little girl.

Our big news of the week is Tyler's chin. Tyler was goofing off on his Little Tikes car and he somehow went over the handle bar. He caught himself with his chin. Tyler was on the floor crying, so Scott picked him up. Tyler wanted his mommy to hold him so Scott handed him to Tiffany. We then noticed that there was blood everywhere. He had split his chin open. We called our pediatrician and he told us to go to the emergency room. Fortunately, the B'nai Zion medical center is just down the street.

The hospital was an interesting experience. The employees sent Tiffany and Tyler into the triage area and left Scott and Brooke to fill out paperwork and arrange a deposit. The deposit was necessary because we aren't Israeli citizens and we don't have Israeli medical insurance. This was a big hassle and Scott eventually had to leave a signed blank check at the admissions desk! The next day Scott went to the hospital business office and filled out the check for the actual amount due.

Once the paperwork was done, a pediatrician showed up. He spoke Russian and Hebrew so he found a nurse that spoke Hebrew and English. The doctor was very kind. He examined Tyler's chin, cleaned the wound and then applied anaesthetic. He decided to use glue instead of stitches. Tyler was very brave and didn't cry until after the doctor was done and was applying pieces of tape to Tyler's chin. We think that Tyler just didn't understand what was going on.

The doctor gave us instructions to make sure that Tyler's tetanus shots were current and to keep Tyler's chin dry for five days. Less than an hour after we had arrived we were out of the emergency room. To help Tyler be happy we bought him a candy bar from a vending machine. This definitely did the trick. He was so happy and full of energy after this, we had a hard time getting him to bed.

Damaged chin (you can't actually see the wound from this angle).

We had promised Tyler a toy while we were in the emergency room, so we pulled out something we had been saving for later. Scott had earned points for filling up at a certain gas station and was able to get a children's tent for only a couple of dollars. Tyler loves it. He wants everyone to get in it.

Tyler's new tent

Tyler-isms:

"Do you have your 'glasses on? Is it bright out there?" - On the phone with Scott as he was on his way home from work.
"Gospel" - Hospital
"Eva-ems" - M & Ms
"Beltseat" - Seatbelt
"This boy" - current reference to himself.
"Hot circles" - Spaghetti-Os
"Surfboards don't go with flowers, just trees" - you figure it out

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 ride

Tyler'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 Jerusalem

We 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.

Pinkeye-Alonim-Zippori

Scott started off the week with a team building activity. Lots of games, food and fun instead of work. It was great.

On Monday, Tyler woke up with pinkeye and said his ear hurt. So we went to the doctor, and sure enough he had eye infections and an ear infection. He was pretty brave for the doctor, but he hates his eye medicine and begs us not to give it to him. The doctor gave Tyler a stick-on tattoo of a boy riding a bicycle. Tyler pulls up his sleeve so it is always visible.

On Tuesday, Scott started to feel sick too. He stayed home Wednesday and Thursday, spending most of the time sleeping.

On Friday, we felt healthy enough to venture out to a pre-Passover activity, sponsored by Intel, in a small town named Alonim. We went to a flower field and picked flowers. They also had inflatable trampolines, a ball pit, pony rides, cotton candy and popcorn. Tyler loved the ball pit and wanted to take a purple ball home. Purple is his new favorite color, replacing pink. He didn't want to jump or ride a pony, and he didn't want any cotton candy. He did carry around, eat and spill lots of popcorn. He loved walking in the flowers and picking flowers to give to Brooke and his mommy.

Cotton candy and flowers

After picking flowers, we ate at McDonalds with our friends James and Heidi, whose kids wanted to play at the playplace. Tyler was thrilled that there was a ball pit and played there happily for some time. Later, Scott went to check on him and found him crying. Tyler could get into the ball pit, but he couldn't climb out. Scott rescued him and Tyler played next to the ball pit. The next day he told us he won't cry the next time we go to McDonalds.

Outside McDonald's ball pit.

After lunch, Tyler wanted to drive the car on a carousel. Tyler made it two times around before he decided he didn't like it. They stopped it, let him off and gave us our money back. We think the problem was that he couldn't see us half of the time.

Merry go round - before the tears.

We then went with James and Heidi to Zippori, famous for its mosaic floors dating to 400 AD. The city started out as a Jewish settlement in 100 BC and was even the location of the Sanhedrin about 250 AD. Later, during the Roman period, it was the capital of the Galilee. When the Crusaders came, they built a citadel and were soundly defeated. The excavations at Zippori are a major project of Duke University. We walked through the now dry aqueduct system for the city.

Aqueducts at Zippori

Brooke turned six months old. She is growing up too fast. She now rolls from her tummy to her back so quickly, that we call it flipping, not rolling. She is a very social little girl, and often distracts the translators at church by smiling and cooing.

Brooke flipping over (video, may take some time to download)

Brooke looking cute

Military ship through our telescope

Tyler-isms:

Spacket - Basket (as in shopping cart or laundry basket).
My bicycle boy is really fun - Reference to his stick-on tattoo.
That car doesn't have a mommy in it - Tyler is very concerned about the number of cars like this.
Mommy, you tell me if Tyler wants it - Tyler is very decisive.
I waked up too early, so I have to take a good long nap - Amen.
I want the scale to tell me who I am - Sorry, it just gives your weight.