In Israel for Dani's Bar-Mitzvah

Of course the most difficult job of any parent travelling with three kids across the Atlantic, Mediterranean and "kvish mispar echad" to Jerusalem is to keep them up as long as possible despite the jetlag so as to acclimate them to the local time as fast as possible. Needless to say we failed miserably in that respect as the pictures appearing here can attest to.

All of this would not have been too terrible if it hadn't been for one more minor problem. It seems that in my haste, while packing my suitcase mere minutes before we were meant to leave for the airport, I forgot to include two minor little items in my suitcase. As I said, two really unimportant, minor, little things that one can do without anywhere in the world...no problem: socks and underwear.

Arriving in Israel on Friday, without socks and underwear, with Shabat looming in the background, is a good recipe for some well needed stress to make things really interesting. Especially since there was no way I was going to go "commando" in my pants, and sockless like Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) in Miami Vice. As luck would have it, I found what I needed (well, not really what I needed but let's just say that it served the purpose I had intended for it) with a few minutes to spare before store closing time.

What followed was an interesting night. We all collapsed anywhere between 6 PM and 7:30 PM, and of course all found ourselves staring at each other at 2 AM, in the living room, incapable of going back to sleep. We spent shabat in a near catatonic state, hovering between consciousness and unconsciousness, and realised we had to come up with a plan for Saturday night to ensure the kids went to bed as late as possible.

posted by jsaar @ 11:20 PM