On Holiday

Let's go away for a while, you and I, to a strange and distant land.......Holiday, far away, to stay on a holiday, far away, let's go today in a heartbeat!

I'm so excited that we're going on honeymoon #2 today! When we planned this trip months ago, I told Pidgeon I didn't think I was going to have the strength at the end of my seventh month to get on a plane. Good call on my part. I'm pretty tired these days and my energy is waning daily, so I'm excited that we're going on vacation in Israel. I haven't been up North since 1995 (although, my trip in 2006 with my folks to Amuka and other grave sites to pray for a mate doesn't really count since it was all in one day!) and I'm hoping to see some turtles this time! 

We were very lax in our planning of this trip and, aside from two restaurants we want to eat at, we have zero plans. Unlike last year, when we spent 5 days languishing by the pool at the Dead Sea, there is so much more to do up North. I told Pidgeon I wouldn't mind taking the wooden Christian boat across the Kinneret. There are a lot of Christian sites up North and it might be a good thing for me to experience if my friends Jules and Julie ever make it to Israel to visit us. 

Shabbos was very relaxing, which was nice. I ended up not sleeping well Friday night and somehow, fell asleep in between courses at lunch. Pidgeon ended up finishing lunch without me and, when I woke up at 3:30, I was happily surprised to see that all the dishes we done, the food was put away in the fridge, and the table was clean. What an amazing guy I have, no? 

Our plans for last night were supposed to just be getting ready for the trip. I had a huge load of laundry to do and, since there were some items there that I wanted to pack for the trip, I loaded up as soon as Havdala was over. We relaxed a bit on the couch when all the commotion took place outside.

Basically, the neighbors directly across the street from us have not one but two 30+ children with a mental illness. Unfortunately, they don't always take their medication as prescribed, and when that happens they both tend to get violent. They've both attacked women in the neighborhood in the past, which is one of the reasons I'm very cautious about how I walk in the neighborhood. Anyway, as we were sitting on the couches and relaxing, we heard one of them attack a woman near the house. The Father came outside to try and diffuse the situation and, since I definitely don't understand Hebrew when it's screaming, I called Pidgeon over to watch and translate. The women were yelling that he attacked and hit them, while the Father claimed nothing happened. Since I only heard and didn't see what happened, we stayed inside and kept out of it. The police showed up a few minutes later and went from house to house asking about the incident - although they didn't come to ours. I made sure to SMS our neighbor, who had a baby last month, to be careful going out tonight since the neighbors weren't on their meds. She got back to me right away and reminded me that he had attacked one of her friends not once - but twice! Usually, when this happens, they arrest him and put him in an institution. Since the two women who were attacked left (I heard them get into their car and leave), the police didn't take the boys away. I'm just really hoping that both of them get back on their medication and soon! It's not a fun situation to have directly across the street from the apartment.

Anyway, I guess all the excitement got me in the mood for some comfort food, and all I wanted was ice cream. I literally called around to see if ANYONE would deliver ice cream. Aldo on Emek Refaim said they weren't delivering on Saturday night, and Fro Yo on Ben Yehuda doesn't deliver period. I even called Babette to see if they would deliver, and they said no. Same with Waffle Bar on Derech Beit Lechem.

Pidgeon offered to go out and pick me up some ice cream, but  I didn't want him to leave the house. But, the craving got so bad, that I was able to be convinced (it wasn't hard) to get dressed and go to Waffle Bar.

It was good to get a small walk in and the ice cream was yummy! I'm actually not such a fan of waffles, but it was pretty decent, and Pidgeon watched me practically lick my entire plate clean! 

Satisfied and full of sugar, I skipped home and then tackled 2 hours worth of packing and organizing. I was so wound up on a sugar high though that I couldn't fall asleep before 2:30 a.m. You can imagine how wiped I am now that I've been up since 8, but we're hoping to hit the road fairly early so we can get in some time up North today too.

Well, I'm off to get ready to go! Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Yom Tov from Baka!