Scott and Tiffany in Israel

Fall Holidays

October was full of holidays, which is why we took a trip to Europe. One thing that happened during the month was that two rabbis came to Tyler's pre-school to talk about the holidays. They picked Tyler to blow the shofar, or ram's horn, which is blown during the Jewish high holidays. Tyler's teachers, Scott's co-workers and others thought it was pretty funny that the rabbis picked a little Christian boy to blow the shofar!

After we got back from our trip, Scott still had a couple of days off of work for other holidays. One of the holidays was Sukkot. During the week of Sukkot, you are supposed to build a sukka outdoors and eat your meals in the Sukka. A sukka is a little booth with branches for a roof.

For Sukkot, we built a sukka out of waffle blocks and a blanket (these are not what you are supposed to use for building materials!). We then had family home evening inside. Sukkot is celebrated for two reasons. One is to commemorate the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the desert, hence the building of shelters. The other reason is to celebrate the harvest. The sukka is supposed to be decorated with items from the harvest or pictures of the items. Brooke and Tyler had fun drawing and coloring pictures of fruits and vegetables and taping them to the walls of our sukka.

Sukkot

At the end of the week of Sukkot is another holiday, Simchat Torah. Simchat Torah celebrates the end of the yearly reading of the Torah. Because Jewish holidays start at sundown, Scott had a half day off work the day before. We went to the beach in the afternoon, not to swim, but to play on the boardwalk. Brooke and Tyler loved the playground equipment.

Balancing boy

Brooke is a climber. She loved climbing all over the playground equipment. Brooke especially loved the slides.

Sliding Girl

We then spent some time walking along the beach and drinking pomegranate juice and fruit smoothies.

The next day Scott had a full day off of work. Our friends, Eric and Joy Rose, from Jerusalem, invited us to go to Acco with them. They also invited Nathan, who is a student at the Hebrew University, and the service couple in Tiberias, the Whiteheads. Tyler has lots of fun with the Rose children, Orion and Kathryn.

In Acco, we visited the Al-Jezzar mosque, which we hadn't been able to do the last time we were there. We even went into the mosque and watched some people pray. That night, Tyler knelt down and tried to pray like he had seen in the mosque! We wandered around the old city for a while, including going through the Crusader tunnel under the city.

Acco coast

At sunset, we started to look for food. We had heard good things about a fish restaurant, so we were going to try it. However, we learned that by fish restaurant, they mean fish and only fish, no side dishes, no alternate dishes for the kids. So instead we found a traditional Middle-eastern restaurant with a view of the bay (Haifa is on the other side). We ate outside and had a wonderful meal. The kids were good and the weather was beautiful. It was fun to see the lights of Haifa across the bay.

Acco walls

The next Saturday at church was Allen's missionary farewell. He is going to the Russia Rostov mission. The branch is very excited, as many of the members speak Russian. It is especially neat for Scott, as Allen's mission president, President Aumeister, was baptized in Brussels, Belgium while Scott was serving there on his mission.

Allen's farewell

Just like last year, we went trick-or-treating in Herzliya on Halloween. The kids loved it and got way too much candy. Everyone thought they were very cute. Tyler was thrilled to be a purple dragon and Brooke still loves wearing her Princess costume.

Trick or treaters

For Thanksgiving, we were invited to our friends' house, the Alsops. We had it on Friday, instead of Thursday so we wouldn't have to miss any work. In total, there were over 20 people there. We had all the traditional Thanksgiving foods. It was relaxing and very enjoyable. Brooke wasn't so thrilled with the menu.

You expect me to eat this?

Tyler-isms:

"When are we going on another trip?" - Almost as soon as we got home from our trip.
"I'm making snow hills like we saw on TV in Vienna." - Tyler had fun playing in an open container of flour.
"I have hairs in my hand." - Tyler had wood slivers in his hand.
"Sweezers" - Tweezers
"He looks full." - about an overweight man that Tyler saw.

Brooke-isms:

"Me Me Me" - Brooke is very independent.

Brooke is learning new words so quickly that we can't keep track of them all.