Fleeing Southward

Similar to many of our friends, recent events had forced us temporarly away from our wonderful home in Tivon. On Sunday the 16th, at a late hour, we finished packing and made the 3 hour drive down south to Amir's sister's place in a Kibbutz called Revivim, about 35 minutes south of Be'er Sheva. With us were Amir's parents, his sister and her family, and two twin cousins. Luckily, they were able to arrange for us to have a small studio apartment for ourselves. The place is ok, and supplies us with all our needs, but it's not our home. On Wednesday, Amir went up back to Tivon till Thursday evening to bring more stuff down in order to settle for a longer stay. From here Amir works remotely every day on his laptop, so at least he is not losing work. We are trying to make the best of being down south. A kibbutz atmosphere is definately much more relaxed than a city one, which is a blessing in these very stressful times. Unfortunately, Laika is not allowed, and so we had to put her in a kennel in a nearby kibbutz. Ayla seems to be taking the move fairly well. She even made the drive down without much problem. She is responding to our moods mostly, so if we keep it calm, she enjoys the situation, and if we get stressed, she gets more anxious and agitated. Being in the south, we decided to make the best of the situation and visit some of the local attractions in the area. On Tuesday we went to see relics of the ancient city of Shivta. We came in the afternoon, and since it's not yet fully open to the public yet, there weren't many signs or any instruction boards, so we got to walk along the city's barely preserved roads, houses and churches. A few days later we went to see the Alpaca farm. Alpacas are south american mammals, similar to Lamas, and like them related to camels. The largest Alpaca farm outside of south america is near here. Along side with Lamas, horses, sheeps and dogs, the farm allows feeding, petting, and riding some of the animals. Ayla was fascinated by them. Her delight made us wonder how much more she would enjoy this at an age where she could pet and feed and ride them herself. We really need to go back there in a couple of years. We left a few hours before sunset and stopped to overlook the Mitzpe Ramon observation point overlooking the Ramon crater - an immense beautiful crater in the middle of the desert. All in all it is not easy for us, being so far away from home, knowing what is going on, not knowing when we can go back. If things continue, Ania and Ayla might just go from here directly to Canada. In the meanwhile we are trying to manage the best we can, enjoying the wonderful hospitality of our relatives, and hoping that the situation will end as soon as possible.
	Ayla splashing in Banana in her new temporary apartment in the kibbutz
Shivta views
	Amir and Ayla on the Shivta relics background
	Shivta roads
the Alpaca farm
Mitzpe Ramon - overlooking the Ramon crater

The Beach and its Castles

Just before events had us go to the south, we took Ayla with friends to see the sand sculpture exhibition at Haifa's beach. We first stopped at the beach for a quick swim in a small inland pool, and then walked to the grounds where the sand castles were. The exhibition was created over the span of several weeks by international sand sculptures who came especially for this event. The sand itself was also imported especially for the exhibition. The theme was "Fairy Tales" - each section of the exhibition was centered around a different famous fairy tale. All were made with just sand, water and sculpturing tools - no glue or cement was used, and the results were amazing. We'll take the opportunity of the blog to share them with you...
	Ayla playing in a small pool of water

Growing Ayla

Hi everyone. Well, lots have happened since we last updated about how Ayla is actually doing, and a lot has changed. As mentioned below, Ayla celebrated her 6 month birthday recently, and with that she has had a flury of development. A little after her 5 month birthday she started showing signs of crawling. We encouraged her to continue, and within a couple of weeks she started to advance by herself. She can now move herself around the house, enough that if we leave her in one room she can make her way to another. When she crawls, she lifts herself up with her hands and semi-drags her feet forward. It's not a complete crawl yet, where she moves with alternating hands and feet (lift left arm together with right leg etc.) which means that she hasn't got to high gear yet. It's fascinating though seeing her learn new things every day, and seeing her progress towards full mobility. In the meanwhile, she is in this very unique developmental stage where she is can be at times left (supervised of course) on the floor to entertain herself without her being able to get in to much trouble. We know that this won't last long, so we try to enjoy it as much as we can. Her amazing advancements (comparatively of course) is showing up in other areas as well. She can sit and sit up without support, she can stand with only little support - if given a surface to lean on she can hold herself up for a substantial amount of time. If we hold her up and advance with her she can also 'walk' i.e., she'll moves her legs in a walking pattern, supporting her own body weight and angling her movements towards where she wants to go. She's still has a lot to learn, and her body is still not ready for free walking, but she is definately learning with each time she tries, and seems to enjoy the prospects of it very much. A few weeks ago she started teething, which was at the beginning an unpleasant experience for her and us as her gums were hurting her. Now she has two lower teeth clearly visible which she is just starting to learn how to use. We are now slowly introducing her to the world of solids, starting only with crushed bananas. So far she seems more fascinated by the texture and the feel of it in her mouth, and sees it less as a source of hunger relief. We are taking it slow, making it available for her if she is interested and letting her set the pace. She also started babbling. In the beginning it was just 'Ba' sounds, now she's into 'Ma' sounds. It almost sounds like she is trying to talk, but so far we havent heard her make a clear intentional word, though there were some close calls.
	Ayla sitting without support
	Standing with little support
	Ayla sitting on a high chair on a dinner table
Ayla Laughing	This is a link to a home video of Ayla after she had a nice shower. She is seen chuckling in her most unique laugh as Ania jumps in and out of her view.

Grandpa's Visit

Ayla was very fortunate to get a visit from her grandfather Mike for a whole week, starting early July. This was Grandpa's Mike first visit to Israel, and so with the excitement of meeting his granddaughter, he also used the time to visit the country, accompanied often by Ayla and her parents. The visit itself was very pleasant to everyone. Ania and Mike enjoyed spending time together, and Amir's family was very pleased to meet him. On his first day over, he went with Ania and Ayla to see Beit She'arim - the tombs and park next to our house. As you can see, Ayla has grown a lot recently:
The next day, everyone went to Acco, to visit the beautiful Bahai gardens there (Bhaji), and the city itself. In Bhaji:
Mike and Ayla next to Acco's city walls:
That evening Mike got to meet Amir's family:
The next day we all paid a visit to Haifa - We got a tour in English of the Bahai gardens, which are beautiful as always. It's always a pleasure being there, and Ayla seems to be extra calm in that peaceful and holy place
Next, we met with Amir's parents to celebrates Aylas 6 month birthday!!! Happy birthday Ayla. We had a wonderful dinner at our favorite German Colony restaurant (a neighborhood near the Bahai gardens) called Doujan. At the peek of the evening (which Ayla proudly slept through most), we got a desert on the house with a nice flaming candle on top.
	Ayla's Birthday cake and candle
	Ayla was curled up sleeping on the couch in the middle-eastern style restaurant while the rest of us celebrate her arrival into the world
The next day, on Sunday afternoon, we got a private tour guide to take us around Nazareth. We had a very insightful visit. Ayla was nicely curled up in her sling as her parents and grandfather were led around the city. The tour opened with an overview of the city from above, and then continued into a long walk through the city's most famous churches, located over the site of ancient Nazareth, including Mary's house, Joseph's house, and the orchard at which Mary had her first visit from an angel. The churches, especially the Basilica of the Annunciation (located over Mary's house), were majestic in their size, spiritual depth, and content - full of contributions from nations all over the world.
	Overlooking Nazareth with our guide Kayad
	Ayla and Ania in front of the Basilica of the Annunciation
Inside the Basilica...
	Polish nuns praying across from the main alter in the basilica
	In Joseph's house, Ania took the time to feed Ayla at the excavated major room, where supposedly Mary would feed the baby Jesus.
After the churches we went strolling in the city's bazaar. The day was getting long for Ayla, so after she was transferred to her father (and was rocked a bit), she took a nap, and enjoyed the bazaar, the rest of the churches, and the succulent spice shop which followed through her dreams while nestled comfortably in her sling.
	The next day, as Amir went to work, Ania, Ayla and Mike went to see the ancient Roman relics in Cyseria. Ania is here in the famous Amphitheater
	Mike in front of ancient Roman relics
After the Cyseria, they went to the beach, where Ayla had her first swim in salty water. The next day Mike left Israel. Soon afterwards the regional turmoil began. A possible connection is still being investigated. (jk Mike) We had a great time seeing him, and we wish his visit could have been longer, but alas. We're sure the next time we meet, be it here, in Canada, or somewhere else will be longer and at least as pleasurable