Heat Wave

Well. We seem to have made it through Passover all in one piece. The kids were off school for 2 1/2 weeks, DH and I were both sick TWICE over the holiday but luckily each time it was a 24 hour thing and passed quickly. T came home from with bronchitis after spending a few days at the end of the vacation with her Dad. But she is on antibiotics now and back at school.

The weather during the holiday was quite cool to cold and since then has been fluctuating every few days between cool and oppressive heat wave - what's called a "chamsin" here. Today it's 88F which actually doesn't sound THAT hot to me but trust me. You do NOT want to be outside today if you can help it. As an amusing footnote to our heat wave today, I phoned up the restaurant downstairs to order my lunch today and asked if they have soup. The restaurant's employee said, "Are you JOKING!? It's a chamseen out there today?" (Or the equivalent in Hebrew......) I said, "Well, I'm COLD in the office!" Humph.

Thankfully, I have not had evenings this week that were full of running errands so every night this week so far, as soon as I got off work, I ran home, packed up the kids and threw some food in a bag with a bottle of water and we headed to the park for a few hours until it got dark. As long as the kids aren't whining that they're bored, I'll stay. Anything that keeps them active and away from the TV is ok by me. E is now to the point where I can say he's proficient on all of the slides and ladders and I don't have to stand under/behind him to make sure he doesn't fall. I can sit on a bench with my book and keep an eye on them from a distance. Happiness!

We got some sad news 2 days ago that Stephen's cousin in Australia was killed when her car ran over her. She and her husband had come home from doing the shopping. They parked the car in the driveway, he went into the house and she went round the back of the car to get the shopping out and........no one knows what happened. Their 3 kids ages 2, 4 and 6 were apparently still strapped in their seats so couldn't have knocked the car out of gear. The car has been taken by the police to be inspected. Stephen's uncle was on a cruise at the time but returned to Australia yesterday. Apparently the family was able to reach him before he returned to tell him the news. It is really shocking and perplexing as to how it happened and all I can keep thinking about are those three little kids. How do you explain to a 2 year old or 4 year old where mommy is? Stephen called his uncle today to offer condolences. He said the 2 year old is ok, the 4 year old wants his mommy and the 6 year old is very serious.

E's new word is "pongkong" (popcorn). LOL. And Y keeps asking when T is going to get married. Saturday morning she asked us if she can help look for someone for T to marry!! She's dying to be a flower girl, you see. She is reaaaally too much, that girl! Funny.