March 25, 2005
Purim
Once we recovered a bit from our busy trip to the States, we jumped back into life in Israel.
Here are Brooke and Tyler in their cute Sunday clothes.
Looking goodOur next big event was Purim. The book of Esther in the Bible describes how Haman, an advisor to the king of Persia, plotted to kill the Jews. Esther, the Jewish wife of the king, intervened and saved her people. The Jews celebrate Purim to commemorate the event.
Purim is a really fun holiday. The children dress up in costumes. Everyone exchanges goodie baskets and eats Haman's ears (a kind of cookie). The children all get noisemakers. The tradition is to read the story of Esther and boo and make noise whenever Haman's name is mentioned.
Here Tyler is wearing face paint from one of the Purim activities at the gan (his pre-school). They also decorated and wore masks.
Tyler and his Lego creationsOn the last school day before Purim, Tyler wore his Thomas the Tank Engine costume. We also sent him with a basket of treats.
Tyler in his Purim costumeSince Purim is in honor of Queen Esther, most of the girls dress up as princesses.
Purim at the gan (preschool)Brooke also wanted to wear a costume, so she put on Tyler's costume by herself when Tyler wasn't looking.
Brooke in Tyler's costumeThat night, there was a big work party for Purim. We were brave and got a babysitter that came highly recommended by a friend. We put Brooke to bed and gave instructions to put Tyler to bed in half an hour. Then, we drove to a place near Tel Aviv for the party. The place, called Ronit Farms, is a popular place for weddings. The party theme was Moulin Rouge. We ate dinner and watched circus performers. Dana International, a popular singer, also performed. Dana International is famous for winning the Euro-Vision talent competition several years ago. She is also infamous because she used to be a guy.
When we got home from the party, Brooke was awake. The babysitter said that Brooke had cried and so she had gotten her up. Then she said that Brooke didn't want to go to bed, so she didn't make her.
We also noticed that there were lots of chocolate wrappers on the kitchen table. Tyler had convinced the babysitter that it was OK for him to eat all of the Kinder-eggs and other treats from his Purim goodie basket. The babysitter just told us that she thought that was too much chocolate for a little boy. We thought babysitter was good, but a little more lenient than we would have liked.
When Scott got to work the next day, they were giving out costume accessories in the lobby like funny bow ties and feather boas. Scott and his co-workers also had a treat plate exchange.
Tyler-isms:
"When the moon is out it's night-time and when the sun is out it's light time." - Such profound words while up in the middle of the night recovering from jet lag.
"Why is this not a hotel?" - Confused why we stopped hotel hopping after our trip.
"It's a little dinosaur" - When questioned on how the dinosaur that woke him up at night could fit under the bed.
Brooke-isms:
"Cuckoo" - In Israel, they say cuckoo instead of peek-a-boo. She is very good at saying it and loves to cover her eyes.