Scott and Tiffany in Israel

Thanksgiving in Israel

We are late writing this update because we were pretty much out of commission while Tyler and Brooke were sick. We knew that Tyler was really sick because all he did was lay on the couch. We used to wish that Tyler would slow down for just a few minutes. Then when he was sick, we wished that he was back to his normal self. This parenting stuff does crazy stuff to us. Fortunately the whole family is better now.

Two weeks ago there were about 45 people at church. Over half were visitors. We were packed into our small chapel and even overflowed into the hallway. After church we went to to the Jordan River for three baptisms. Two of the children were from the Herzliya branch and one from our branch.

After the baptisms we had a picnic. Tyler had been acting tired all day and at the picnic, he got sick. Brooke got sick the next day. After a couple of days of not improving, we took them to the doctor. Of course by the time we realized we should go to the doctor, Brooke was all better. Tyler, however, was not doing better and refused to eat and drink because his mouth hurt. The doctor diagnosed Tyler with Gingivostomatitis aphthosa. We had to force Tyler to eat and drink because we were worried he was becoming dehydrated. We never imagined that we would be forcing one of our children to eat chocolate ice cream. Unfortunately, all we could do was wait for his body to fight off the virus. After a little over a week, Tyler was healthy again. Then it took a few days to catch up on our sleep and regain our strength.

Did we mention that we love our view?

Scott had to work on Thanksgiving. It was hard to believe that no one else cared that it was Thanksgiving. After work, we drove down to Herzliya to Tom and Heidi Alsop's house. Tiffany made green bean casserole and Rainbow Jell-O. We had a wonderful turkey dinner, enjoyed homemade pies, and then we stayed very late. Tyler only ate rolls and Brooke only ate pumpkin pie.

The next day we went the birthday party of one of Tyler's friends. It was at the Gymboree-like place that we have been to before. Tyler and Brooke loved it.

Riding Nemo

Road trip

Roller coaster tycoon

Here is a picture taken through our telescope. It was an exceptionally clear day. You can see the white cliffs of Rosh Ha-Niqra and the military installations on the border with Lebanon.

The other side of the bay

Tyler-isms:

"Do you like green eggs and ham? I don't. Try it, try it. I like them. Thank you." - "Reading" Dr. Seuss by himself.
"The tower won't obey me." - When his Lego tower kept falling over.
"Way up top home" - Referring to our 14th floor apartment.
"Wow, you did a great job making this Jell-O." - About Tiffany's Rainbow Jell-O.
"Is the United States in our old house?" - Close enough.
"No, I'm talking to Daddy." - Tiffany tried to answer before Scott.
"Beetle-bug" - A Volkswagen Beetle. Tyler just saw Herbie the Lovebug for the first (and second and third) time.
"Why is the moon looking at us? Why does it have a face?" - Looking up at the full moon.

Brooke-isms:

"Hi" - She says this a lot, but especially when Scott gets home from work or when she is "talking" on her toy cellphone.

See you in March

The big news of the week is that Scott's brother Jeff finally got engaged to his girlfriend Augusta. We are very happy for them, but we are especially excited because it means we can start planning our trip to the States. The wedding will be in the beginning of March in Snowflake, Arizona. We're hoping to see as many of our family and friends as possible while we are in the States. Congratulations Jeff and Augusta!

Last Sabbath in Nursery, Brooke decided it would be easier to play with the blocks while sitting on top of them.

Playing in the blocks

When they want to, Tyler and Brooke can play nicely together. It is getting easier for them to play together as Brooke is getting older. She is no longer a baby and can hold her own with the toys. However, we still have to remind Tyler that she is smaller than he is.

A big hug

Brooke loves to go outside. When Tiffany pulls out the stroller or puts on Brooke's hat, she gets very excited. We always put hats on our children here. We have heard stories of people being accused of being bad parents because their children weren't wearing hats. Brooke looks very cute in all of her hats anyway.

Ready to go out

Tyler calls Tiffany "Ima." It means "Mommy" in Hebrew. Sometimes he slips and calls Scott "Ima" too.

Tyler and his ima

Tyler finally got his Pez dispenser reward after a month of trying to go a whole day without a potty accident. We hope this continues! Through all of this, we have been very thankful for tile floors.

Tyler-isms:

"We're not both angels. Just one is. I'm Tyler." - Tiffany often calls Brooke her angel, but once she called them both angels.
"Ma cara?" - Hebrew for 'what happened?'
"Cuckoo" - Israeli version of Peek-A-Boo
"Hide a secret" - Hide and Seek
"Why do you keep telling me, 'Do you have to go potty?' so many times? - Because Tyler doesn't have a very good track record.
"Big friends" - Grown-ups

Halloween

Believe it or not, we went Trick or Treating. The American International School sponsored a Trick or Treating activity. We paid a small fee, the school imported American candy and distributed it to houses in the Herzilya area (near Tel Aviv, about 1 hour south of Haifa). We were given a map of the houses and a sticker for Tyler to wear, so that the houses knew we had paid our fee.

Some of our friends in Herziliya had a purple unicorn costume that they said Tyler could wear. He was excited to try it on, but soon lost interest, so we were glad that we had brought Tyler's train engineer costume.

Tyler the Tank Engine Driver

We dressed Brooke up in her pig shirt.

Miss Piggy

It was beautiful weather. Brooke loved being outside. We were very glad we weren't back in Oregon because we would have frozen there. We told Tyler that he was lucky to be in Israel, because it's the best place to be when Halloween falls on a Sunday.

Out Trick or Treating

Tyler loved it. At first he wasn't too sure about the whole idea and he asked to go home. But then he realized that he was getting candy so he wanted to keep going and going.

Running to the next house

The highlight of our evening was Trick or Treating at the American Ambassador's house. The Ambassador was dressed up as a gorilla and his wife as the Statue of Liberty. The Ambassador asked how Tyler was doing and his wife let him pick two pieces of candy.

Another favorite part of the evening was finally getting to use the glow necklaces that Scott's mom sent. Tyler had so much fun that he has been taking them to bed every night since Halloween, even though they don't glow anymore.

Where is the candy?

We thought that on slow weeks we would talk about some things that are interesting about living here. One thing has to do with parties at work. Scott noticed a few differences between work parties in the States and here in Israel. Last week there was a celebration at work for reaching an important milestone. Just like in the States, there was ice cream. However, unlike in the States, half of the ice cream was non-dairy (because of kosher rules), and they served wine.

Tyler-isms:

"beetles" - Skittles candy
"pita" - tortilla
"That's the wrong name." - When Scott told him he looked dapper
"I couldn't hear you." - I wasn't paying attention
"Your head's not a pillow" - When Scott tried to get Tyler to sleep on his shoulders.
"If I find more pumpkins, I get more candy!" - Figuring out that houses with pumpkins had candy.
"black butterfly" - Plastic Halloween spider
"Green Pumpkin" - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown