My Award

After traveling for close to 24 hours, unpacking, starting laundry, and then getting a few hours of sleep, I got up at 5:30 in the morning to take Danny to soccer practice. You can just leave my Mother of the Year award on the front porch. I'm going back to bed. 

Oh, and speaking of Mothers of the Year, my mommy watched Korra for 10 days, brought her back to our house AND bought us groceries. Being awesome moms must run in the family. 

I woke up at 3 am in Jerusalem. Out of my plane window I got to see the snow-covered Alps and the French countryside. I spent less than 2 hours in the Paris airport. I spent 15 hours on two planes. It's now 5:30pm in Atlanta.  This day has been so long. 

Ignorant Americans

Just a small sampling of some of the things people in our tour group said it did on this trip. It's abundantly clear why the world at large has such a poor view of Americans. 

An American woman sees a Muslim woman in a black and white head scarf and asks, "Is she a nun?"  I say, "no, she's a Muslim."  "Is she a Muslim nun?"

A male tourist brings his pocket knife into Jerusalem after explicitly being told not to bring "sharp objects."  He gets stopped by Israeli police and detained. He does not understand that this same offense could have landed our Palestinian guide in prison for 10 years. 

A white woman compares the Jews mistreating the Palestinians to how affirmative action discriminates against white men. 

A Christian tourist asks, "Would the Muslims really mind if the Dome of the Rock got bombed since the have another mosque right next to it?"  The same woman also referred to all Palestinians as "Arabs."

Last Night

It is our last night in Israel. Tomorrow we leave for the airport at 4am. We'll fly to Paris (sadly, our layover is only long enough to change gates) and then to Atlanta. Not looking forward to the full day of travel but I am looking forward to hugging Korra. 

I promise to do a catch-up blog with lots of photos soon. 

Happy Birthday, Nate!

Banksy

Will add photos later but I am pretty excited about the Banksy graffiti art we just saw up close!

Samaria

Just ate amazing Samaritan food for lunch and now we are on our way to Jacob's well. In the last 2 days I've seen (but not stepped foot in) Lebenon, Syria, and Jordan. 

World Clock

I keep checking the clock app on my phone. It tells me when I can text my mom and/or my friend in Hawaii. We are 13 hours ahead of Hawaii. Sometimes it feels like I'm texting from the future. 

Sea of Gallilee

I waded in the Sea of Gallilee today. 

It is the most beautiful place I've ever been. 

Scarf

I don't have enough wifi to post many pictures but I will say that my lavender scarf has been the best thing I packed. A blanket when I'm cold and it keeps my head and neck out of the sun when it's hot. And I get lots of compliments. 

Birthday Selfie

Our hotel balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea!

Time Traveling

Time zones are weird and disorienting. I'm exhausted and it's 4 am but I can't go back to sleep. Also it's my birthday already here (though it's still 9pm yesterday at home). 

Yoga in JFK

Just did 20 minutes of yoga at the B41 gate at JFK airport while waiting for our flight to Tel Aviv. Guess I'm as ready for this 12 hour flight as I'll ever be. 

Israel

Heading to the airport!  Only cried a little bit when we said goodbye to Korra. Ready for this adventure!

Happy Easter

Went to sunrise service and brunch with our church family (Nate preached a great sermon that tied in professional wrestling to the resurrection), took a nap, ate ham and cheesy potatoes with my parents, and then watched Jesus Christ Superstar. Now it's time to finish packing- we leave for Israel after lunch tomorrow!

Hair Dye

Danny came home from a friend's house with black hair dye all over his head and eyebrows. Apparently he tried bleaching it, hated it, and decided to dye it back to black. Not sure why that involved huge swatches of dye all around his eyebrows but I feel it is a testament to my amazing parenting skills that I did not laugh in his face or immediately post a picture to Facebook. I will however text you a photo if you text me first. I'm not that good of a parent. 

Easter Eggs

I have hidden the dozen plastic eggs Korra got from school around the house at least a dozen times in the last 24 hours. At least it's better than playing hide and seek. 

Spring Break '16!

Starting Spring Break off right!  Got a massage (thanks, Genevieve!), took a nap, and then ate a big piece of the delicious chocolate cake my friend from school made for me. 

Easter Egg Hunt

Book Fair

The Book Fair was one day shorter this spring than in the past (Spring Break begins tomorrow- adapt longer than usual). We made only $200 less than previous years so for a full day less work, I'm not disappointed at all. No eye twitch this year AND I wasn't desperately trying to find a PTO board member to hand off a couple thousand dollars in cash right as everyone's trying to leave for the beach. I call that a win all around. 

These Kids

We've got a "threenager" who told her dad, "you can't tell me what to do!" and a teenager who essentially says that with his actions. Kids are a lot of trouble. 

Less than a week!

In less than a week I'll be in Israel! 

Flower Girl

Bye-bye baby monitor

After 3 and a half years, we finally stopped turning on the baby monitor at night. We've only been using it this long because we can't hear Korra from our room but her recent cough was waking us up and we realized she's big enough to come get us if she needs us. That might be the last baby item we were still using. 

Mommy-Daughter Day

We had a picnic at the art museum. We took a walk and put clover flowers in every whole in the sidewalk. We ate ice cream for dinner. We played 4 board games and built 3 puzzles.  We painted.