TRAVELING WITH KIDS

Two years have passed since last I have been to my Town. I looked at the houses, trees, streets, people....rush of emotions came through me...
It is my childhood that has been shaped in this small village that is not small anymore...Some people passed away...some people get married
some living somewhere else. Life is so different for me as outsider looking at town that once upon time was part of my life.
Without judging I went across town looking for faces that once I knew....The person at the pastry shop that I used to stop by and get all pastry.
At the grocery where My mom used to send me to get Milk and fruits and vegetables. Wow we used to have more responsibility than our children
now days. Some people recognized me right away...some people took a glance and two then came back and hugged me.
Well the truth is that I don't recognize most of the people anymore. All the new generation has different needs and desires that My old self
doesn't fit their anymore.

Since we arrived after midnight we just saw my immediate family and went in took a shower and head to sleep.
The children slept so well....I am the only one that couldn't adjust....Couple of things that I have in mind to do is changing the Sim Card for the phone.
Catching up with all my family members and eating my mother food. After couple of hours with no sleep I got up and jogged in the forest close to
my parents farm. The Carmel Mountain is known with its nice greenery that filled with oak trees all over. Happy to be part of these mountains.
Though I noticed that we take things for granted and we don't keep these beautiful place clean.

We arrived at Moscow and our next flight is departing in 2 hours....We need to go through security check point through small doors.
While waiting to go through security I chatted with women next to me that she and her 2 children were going as well to Israel. So we went through security together and sat down in the airport letting the kids playing mind-craft while we chatted. One thing I noticed is that Moscow airport is very
modern in facility from shops snack bars cafes....Very kids friendly. Even I could connect to free Wii Fii while there.
The wait was smooth and easy....between the security check and the passport check we were in our way to the "HOLY LAND"
The 4 hour airplane ride the kids were super tired from the time difference. Once we landed in Israel it took us one hour to finish all
the entry procedure. My brother was waiting for us in the airport since we landed Friday night where is no train services.
Country that shut down entirely for 1 day without any public transport to observe the Shabbat.

Our backbags were ready...The children did an amazing job of keeping track of their backbags....
We checked in....the first thing we noticed is that each child is sitting separate so the mother instinct worked here that
I requested the youngest child be at least with me and the other 2 children will be together. Lesson learned book seats in advance!!!
However people were very nice in the airplane that they made sure that my children about 5 rows away from me are ok. Yury sat down next to
a person from North California that is great at drawing so Yury had fun chatting with him about mind craft while the person drawing all the characters
that Yury describes. Emma sat next to family that she was comfortable telling them about her school and travel plans.
Eleven hours and 25 flight to Moscow went Fine watched movies most of the flight and napped between one movie to the other.
So far the flight went well.

Getting ready for traveling can be overwhelming, stressful and tiresome. In order to avoid the stress, I asked the children to pack their pack-backs.
Each child will pack his own bag. I am responsible for packing my bag and making sure that everyone else has completed their task.
Usually we don't check any bag in and we take our bags with us. However this time we want to be free from holding the bags and we will check them all in. The airline that we flying with allow 2 bags per passenger for free. Will hope we don't 6 bags for 7 weeks.... A rule that worked in the past for us
we named it the 5 rule which we pack 5 shirt, 5 pants, 5 undies. This rule works if we have access to laundry.