Vacation with the Grinspoons

The next day we had to be on the road again by 7:00 so that we could meet the Grinspoons by 9:00 at the Kinneret. We needed to catch up to Dani, and we wanted to spend the day touring with them. We followed them (and their tour guide) around the Golan stopping at the Golan Winery, Har Bental, Braichat Ram and the Banyas. It was unbelievable. At 200m below sea level on the shore of the Kinneret the weather was very comfortable. At our second stop on top of Har Bental, at 1000m, with a view of Mount Hermon and Syria, it was freezing cold -- and we were not dressed appropriately. There was even a little bit of snow left on Har Bental.

But back to the winery. The kids were not expecting much, and they somewhat groaned through the promotional movie -- as did I. The next stop of the tour was a huge room with hundreds of barrels where the wine ages. That was a little better. The next stop was the factory, where the bottles are washed, filled, corked, and packaged. This was fascinating. It was really fun to watch all the machines do their stuff. And there were even a few manual steps. (Kind of like the opening scene in Laverne and Shirley...). And then to top it all off, we had a wine tasting. Dani, Margalit, Sloan, Reid and Yaddin, were happy to try a few glasses of wine, and it put them in a good mood for the next few stops.

Starting Hanukah Vacation

We just got back from an incredible Hanukah vacation. There’s a Hebrew saying, which roughly translates to, “Nobody needs rest more than a man returning from vacation.” Perhaps that’s true.

Vacation started on Monday night at Ronit’s Hannukah party at Gan. I was only able to attend a small portion of it – and it was hard to capture on (digital) film. Ronit danced around with all the 34 other kids, waving windmills to Hanukah songs. It was incredibly well done, and cute as can be. After picking up Miriam from Gymnastics, Margalit from Math club, feeding everyone, lighting candles, performing the evening nit picking ritual, setting up a bed for Dani’s friend Yaddin, we were lucky to get the kids by 10:00. Then it was time to pack. We had to meet the Grinspoons in Jerusalem at 8am the next morning, which meant we had to leave Ra’anana at 6:45am latest.

Note here the picture of Margalit's Hanukah menorah made in ceramics class. It is a very difficult design for clay. Margalit and her teacher struggled to get it to stay together, even having to resort to gluing a few pieces. She handed it to me in a box, and we drove home ever so slowly, but not slowly enough. By the time we got home it was in no fewer than 7 pieces. Luckily we had some good craft glue, and we were able to repair it in time for Hanukah. Fufe.

Woke at 6:00, dragged the sleeping kids to the packed car, and hit the road perfectly at 6:45. No traffic whatsoever – we must have gotten very lucky, and we got to the King David Citadel Hotel right on time. Amazingly I still seem to remember my way around Jerusalem even though I haven’t lived there for 20 years. Considering all the other things that I forget, I’m amazed that the Jerusalem map is still imprinted. After we dropped Yaddin and Dani with the Grinspoons – who had graciously agreed to take the two extra boys along for their day (and night) of touring, we headed to the Jerusalem Renaissance hotel to meet Dena’s second cousins (Seth & Susan, Betsy & Mark, Alvin & Anita Jacobson, & 7 kids) for breakfast. It was great to catch up with them. They were off to the old city for the VIP Tunnel Tour, which we decided to skip since the girls were not interested the first time.


We had a choice of two activities for the day, either the biblical zoo, or a place called Ein Yael. Margalit loudly and clearly expressed her opinion – “Anything other than a zoo!” So Ein Yael it was. Ein Yael, normally only open twice a week, but everyday during school vacations turned out to be a great find. Lots of credit to Dena for reading the guide book. It reminded me a lot of Plymouth plantation (which I don’t remember well – in contrast to the Jerusalem streets). It is an outdoor, “living museum”. This means that the kids walk around outdoors to different sites where they can do pottery projects, weave, make a few drops of olive oil (in season), make mosiacs, make a fresco tile, get a guided tour of the place, make sufganiot (doughnuts for Hanukah), make Pita, etc. You can imagine that the girls were bored with the explanations on the guided tour, though Dena and I were fascinated to hear about the agricutlture, and why they have been growing grapes and olive trees for centuries at Ein Yael (like not needing to be irrigated). As soon as we had to crawl through an irrigation tunnel (used for the ancient Roman hot tubs), the kids started enjoying though. Ein Yael also has a bunch of very nice ancient mosiacs, though there best one was recently carted off to a museum -- much to the suprise of our guide who was shocked when it was missing.

Both Margalit and Miriam were very excited to spend time at the pottery station. The suggested projects for the day were Hanukah menorahs of various styles. Ronit and Miriam decided to make driedles. It recalls the song, "I made a little dreidle, I made it out of clay, and when it's dry and ready, I know it will not spin." They also had old fashioned pottery wheels, as in the kind where you need to spin them with your feet. Margalit (and Miriam) couldn't resist, but you can imagine that it was pretty difficult for a small kid to spin the wheel and shape the clay. So... Yes, I became the pottery wheel motor -- listening to the verbal commands -- faster, faster, faster. I figured it saved me a trip to the gym that day.

That evening we attended the annual Gan Yavneh fundraising dinner where Dena's cousins were being honored for their ongoing committment to the school. That too was a fun even as we got to sit with the cousins, and watch a few vidoes that were made about the school, and the family visits to the school. Yes -- there were a few boring speaks, and Ronit fell asleep on Dena's lap, but we enjoyed.