Happy New Year

Happy New Year, I plan to be in bed before midnight. Tomorrow is another work day just like any other here in Israel as new years here was Rosh Hashanah back in October. On a positive note the other family who lives up the street had their baby girl arrive this morning about a week ahead of schedule.

I’m doing well with the kids. Today with poor weather we were inside almost the whole day. That’s hard way to spend a day. Only two more days to go before momma comes home. I hope the kids remember her.

One rocket alarm today and I don’t think it hit in our city. We drove by to look at the damage from the rocket two nights ago. It damaged a few trees that were trimmed back and the ground was put back to normal. They clear all indications of this damage quickly so it doesn’t remind folks of what happened. The international community is pushing for truce call by Israel. That this truce will happen is my and many Israeli’s biggest fear. The day that Hamas gets some respite is the day the rockets start flying from Gaza. Now that this has started it has to continue until Hamas is removed from power. Not sure how or when that will happen.

Day 4 of fighting, Day 5 of Momma Gone

Life keeps on, its now the forth day of the fighting. Last night there was a couple of warning sirens here in Ashdod and a fatality as a result of a rocket that hit Ashdod somewhere north of us. The girls continue to sleep in the safe room. I was able to hear the sirens last night, but they wouldn’t be loud enough to wake me from sleeping. During the day away from the construction and traffic noises while playing on the sand dune with the kids I could hear artillery fire. The neighbors up the street who’s house face south could hear artillery fire through the night. With our house facing north I didn’t hear it. The sound carries farther at night when all the normal daytime sounds subside.

The sea shore is a popular route for air traffic to Gaza. We see attack helicopters and fighter jets coming and going. Two days ago when walking home from the beach I saw two jets launch missiles. It took me a while to figure out what it was because they were pointed west when they fired. The first jet had a short trail of smoke behind it when I looked up. Then while watching the second jet I saw a streak of fire and trail of smoke shot ahead of the jet for a split second. I’m fully aware of guided missiles but I would have thought when launching they would have been fired in the general direction of Gaza. I’m also about 99% sure another sound I frequently hear is the unmanned drone aircraft Israel uses but I have been unable to see them during the daytime. They camouflage into the sky very well. They sound a lot like the ultra lights parachutes that we see frequently but I know no one is out flying those the past days and they never fly them at night.

Like everyone here in Israel we are taking it one day at a time. The girls are not old enough to know what’s going on, no direct impact to them so its life as usual. It’s good to know we have the ability to move out of the Hamas rocket zone if necessary. My logic to not move is that a direct hit is a very low probability. However the risk in that logic is the severity of the consequences if we were hit and not in the safe room. Currently the frequency of rockets and probability of a hit outweigh the risk. I do worry about whether I have made the right decision. If at some point if the rocket frequency increases or the worry becomes too great we will move up to Tel Aviv and wait it out. For now we will stay in our home.

Momma is OK as anyone can be given the situation and the decision to stay in the house. Rember she went home to Croatia the day before this started and left me with the kids as a vacation for her, her longest brake from the kids in 4 years! We talk daily to let her know we are safe and OK. The bigger worry for her is how well am I caring for the kids? Are the eating good, getting baths, naps, bed time? Not to worry momma all is good and not a single trip to the E.R. yet!

Update from Ashdod

Yesterday morning we heard a couple of warning sirens that signal incoming rockets. They are from a detection point on the Gaza border that detects a general heading. It’s a gross warning for large areas. With our distance from Gaza we have 50-60 seconds to get to a safe room if we were to be hit. I can’t really confirm how close rockets have come to our home as they don’t publish exact locations. Publishing that info would provide feedback to Hamas and they could make adjustments to their targeting practice. The problem is we live in a new neighborhood and I can only hear the alarm if outside and there is not a lot of background construction noise. Also the sound of the rocket hits can carry quite a distance or be confused with other noises. It is impossible to really know the true reality of how much or how close.

Overall the situation is far from ideal. It does make me worry but not enough for us to leave the house and take a hotel in Tel Aviv yet. Work is supportive of us here on relocation and will move us out of the danger area temporarily or permanently if we choose. Each person makes their own decision based on their own comfort level. Work will pick up the bill for the hotel if we want to get out of Ashdod.

Here is some more of my own political commentary on the situation. Hamas fires regular rockets at Israel with no regard and targets civilians as there are few military targets in their range and limited ability to aim their rockets. Hamas fires rockets at Israel cities. Hamas also make regular practice of placing their military in the middle of civilian areas to use civilians as shields within Gaza. Israel has turned the other cheek for about a year with limited response to Hamas rockets. Israel turned over the territory of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority but Hamas is not content with what they have and continue to attack Israel. It also seems that the citizens of Gaza support Hamas. As long as Hamas is hostile to Israel it’s impossible to imagine how a true truce between the two will be found. Yet I hope it is resolved quickly. I think at this point though as long as Hamas fires rockets at Israel there will continue to be heavy retaliation by Israel. It seems like the world press makes it sound like Israel started this or is careless with their attacks. But they are fully aware of the negative press they receive from any attack on Gaza and they waited a long time before responding. In the end I don’t make policy or take any decisions, I’m only an observer who is close to the action. I’m not anti anyone and don’t want any fighting or war. One of the great founding principles of the US constitution is freedom of religion. If only everyone could accept and respect others choices life would be much easier.

OK, now its time to go outside and play. Everett has brought me his jacket. Now he has thrown his shoes at me. No pictures this week as momma took the camera to Croatia. We are getting by with her gone and the kids don’t seem to have suffered any significant physical or mental trauma while in my care.

Big news in Israel

It's on between Israel and Hamas starting today here in Israel. If you haven't seen the news follow the link. I don't think there is any need to worry about us. If it gets bad we will move into a hotel in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. If it continues we will go to Zagreb. For now its under control. Around our house the streets were empty this afternoon. All of Israel was glued to the TV seeing what happened and speculating about what is next.

What is new about our situation? When we chose our home we were what was considered to be out of range of Gaza rockets. However relaxed boarders during the cease fire over the last six months allowed Hamas to smuggle in better rockets with more range. They can now hit were we live and I work. These rockets are not accurate or huge explosives, they damage what they hit, not take out a whole neighborhood. As a side note the rockets they shoot are named Katushas, the company that makes these in Russia is sponsoring a new pro cycling team by the same name for 2009. I'm guessing Team Katusha wouldn't be welcome in Israel.

Lots of views on this but my attitude is why can't we all just get along? From where I sit Hamas keeps shooting rockets at Israel. A coworker had her house hit last spring and thanks to the warning alarm her family barely got to the safe room in time. Hamas has been asking for this for a while, they kept poking the bear and now its mad and going to chase them. From what I've seen they started it and I'll bet Israel is going to finish this.

Our house has a bomb shelter room, steel reinforced concrete with sold steel door and window shades. Probably an overreaction but in the category of better safe than sorry it is the girls new bedroom. Everett and I will join if necessary (remember Momma is in Croatia on a visit now). Yes it is a bit stressful but no need to worry about us, if it gets scary we will get to safety.

Merry Christmas

Ella's singing about sums it up. Merry Christmas to all of our Faimly and friends we would normally see or talk to over the holiday's. Drop us an e-mail and tell us how you are doing.



Chritsmas morning Everett was first up followed by Ella. Hanna slept a bit longer and Ella went and woke her up because we couldn't wait for Christmas. Ella got first pick of stick horses and teddy bears being up first.













We had a good Christmas. The girls got some great toys. Biggest hit is the Barbie's from Grandma and Grandpa. I get lots of practice undressing and dressing them. Everett got some big trucks and we all play with them.











The weather has been stormy the last few days. Santa brought me some big waves and I went out for an hour of surfing Christmas morning. We went to a Christmas eve mass at 10pm and hired a baby sitter. It was a nice service in a local monastery in a beautiful chapel. Without kids we got to focus instead of keep the peace with the kids. We had a big meal with the neighbors. Anita had a 6am flight today (26th) to Croatia, we had one of the neighbors sleep at the house while I took her to the airport from 3-4am. She gets a well earned break with her family and no kids. But for going she gets to worry for 7 days about the kids well being with me in charge. Its only 2pm on the first day and she already called. Only 6.5 more days to go.

Betlehem

Betlehem, without the H is how it is written on the maps and signs here in Israel, was our destination on Saturday. The boarder wall that separates Betlehem and Jerusalem is impressive and intimidating. I didn't think to get a picture of the security at the check point. Seeing the security, and knowing there is recent gun fights does give you some thought to caution when entering. We had no problems and drove right through the boarder checks coming and going.



Here is the entrance to the Church of the Nativity. The low entrance is named the door of Humility. It was either built to force you to bow as you enter or keep a horses from being ridden into the church. You decide.












Down some stairs under the main church the floor is marked with a star to denote the birth place of Jesus.















Hope everyone has been nice and Santa will be good to all in a couple of days. Its a common theme in our house to leverage the kids to be good.

Ready for Santa

Christmas is here and we are ready. We borrowed a tree from a family who returned to the US. We made decorations from clay that hardened and then we painted them. We followed that up with a bunch of sea shells hung on the tree to finish the decorations. Anita made a gingerbread house. We decorated windows and the glass on the stair railings with paper snowflakes. We also have a poinsettia in full bloom. Things are good here, weather is warm. Next stop Christmas.






Everett is kept at a distance from the snow frosting on the gingerbread house. His disappointment, our saved clean up.

I bought Ella, Hanna and Everett all Santa hats at the toy store. Christmas items are rare to find. Unfortunately I couldn't coordinate a group picture of them. Ella wore hers on a scooter ride to the beach today.

December 5th

Today its in mid 70s, no wind and sunny. We spent some time at the beach. Its been abnormally dry this fall here and the Israelis hope for rain. We had planned to go to Bethlehem today but there are troubles in the West Bank. It won't affect us unless we go over that direction. Instead we went to nurseries in search of a suitable Christmas Tree with no luck yet.




Momma, what are you feeding the kids?























Israel has a corporate cup style Mt Bike race series that Intel is a part of. This means I get to go racing against guys that work full time like me. I had to use some old race smarts and back my way into the front row of 200+ racers. We had a team meeting that kept us from getting to the start line early. Since I don't ride my Mt bike I had to walk one short technical part but the rest I rode and got the win! There is one race per month, 8 total with 7 more to look forward to.

Thanksgiving

We had a good thanksgiving. We woke up to a foggy morning and I found a treasure map. Turns out pirates had come in wiht the fog and hid a treasure then lost their map so the kids had to go find it. (I stole this idea from the Curriers) It made for good fun after we had the turkey in the oven. The pirates left kid and adult treasure behind

Majortiy of the US relo folks took the day off and we did a lunch with our three relo families on the street. It was warm and sunny so we did it outside (easy clean up with 6 kids under 5). And to top it off work bought a big 17lb Turkeys and a bottle of wine for each family. Pretty good day.

Egypt = Bribes

How do you get 3 kids to spend 5 days running around a country looking at big piles of rocks? Bribes! Every day we concluded our tour with ice cream. While we found the pyramids and temples to be amazing the kids didn't agree. It makes for a lot of work to keep kids entertained while looking at these ancient Egyptian sites. The kids did enjoy the trip, cool highlights were airplane rides that are always fun. Overnight train rides in sleeping cars where the girls got to sleep in the top bunks. And we spent four days on a river boat traveling down the Nile. While not a relaxing vacation it was a great trip. For instance seeing original paint on the temple wall carvings and the detail of their work it is amazing. It was a life saver to have Grandma and Grandpa along to help with the kids.



Everett runs off to have fun with rocks on the ground and taste test the local dirt. We went into the biggest pyramid to see the tomb. It was a climb up a long narrow passage near to the top. It was no place to be for those who are Closter phobic.



Everybody is a mummy! Momma is just plain worn out on a mini bus ride back to the boat, like I said hard work to keep the kids rolling. Plus dad didn't bring the stroller; it was a point of contention with momma for the week.









Anita pays attention to a story about ancient Egyptian lore. Then our guide unsuccessfully tries to flap his wings and fly away because of our short attention span. We were on 'Ancient Egyptian Times' information overload.












We were on a three story river boat on our trip down the Nile. The top deck railings were far from child proof according to momma but dad thought they were just fine. Dad and Everett get some snake charmer training.

Walk like an Egyptian.

Happy Halloween

Pumpkins took a special order from the grocery store to get whole as no one in Israel needs a whole pumpkin. Momma took care of the whole neighboorhod. They normal way to sell them is cut up into 1-2kg slices. She made a yummy pumpkin pie from the scraps.

Three American Families on one street makes for 6 doors of trick or treating if you go to the front and back door!

Busy last week as I took a few days off. We went to Bet Guvrin and back to Jerusalem to the western wall. Pic of me and the girls is #10 on the Stations of the Cross. The car ride home the girls were singing for our benifit.

Everett Baptized

No Everett, Jesus doesn't need your credit card.











Another of the Intel relocation families arranged for a Jordan River Baptism of their newborn and this is what we were going to do for Everett. They graciously offered to let us double up on the day. It was really pretty cool when you think of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus in the same river. Grandma and Grandpa are Everett's Godparents. It was a very nice casual ceremony by Deacon Steve who came to Israel from Abq just for this occasion.

We did a big dinner out at a winery after the ceremony. It was a good day below sea level in the Jordan Rift Valley. The Jordan river feeds the Sea of Galilee at 200m below sea level then flows to the Dead Sea at 400m below sea level.