Shabbos 2

After our late night driving mishaps, the whole family was more than happy to sleep in on Friday. By lunch time everyone was ready to get out, but nothing too "cultural" or "outdoors-y" as that was on schedule for the following week. So, too the Modiin Mall. You think the Macabees walked on this ground? The kids (and lets face it, Levi and I, too) were still more than happy to be able to have kosher food choices in the mall. There were a few Kosher Mehadrin options that the kids could choose from. They were all eyeing the not one but TWO McDonalds at the end of the food court with more disdain than usual. (Even in Israel food is not guaranteed kosher). We hit the candy kiosk for some Tic Tacs, wandered around for while and went back to Hashmonaim to get ready for Shabbos.
The thermometer rose quite a bit for shabbos, so we spent most of the time indoors. We tried to visit our friends who had moved into the neighborhood a few years ago from Tarzana, but they were taking their Shabbos nap. On our way back we were serenaded by our lovely "cousins" call to prayers. I took Bailey to the park to play on the Israeli equipment that never would have passed California's standards (which meant it was actually fun). She started to look like a tomato, so I brought her home.
The kids had a great time playing and bonding with their cousin Rina. We ate way too much food, as per Raphy's orders we needed to eat until it hurts and we tend not to be ones who break the rules. They had a variety of guests. So much English spoken here you would be hard pressed to guess we were in Israel from the inside of the house.
After Shabbos, the Ipads, laptops, DS's and Itouch come out. The DVD player goes on and everyone does their usual.
We have been warned that its going to be brutally hot tomorrow, but we didn't come all this way to sit in an air conditioned home playing with our electronics, so we will drink a lot of water and travel on.