1. Trip to Israel, Dec-Jan 2012-2013: First week in Tel-Aviv: Friday

2. On Friday morning I left the girls with my mum and went to Dizingoff centre to shop on my own. The centre was packed with people, mainly because of the “food market”. It was fascinating to watch Druz women bake fresh pita bread the traditional way in the middle of this busy modern shopping mall.

3. The girls had a lovely morning at the park with my mother (the little park is across the road from my parents’ building)

4. When I got back we all walked inside. The girls visited the roof, to see my dad’s small greenhouse, and Hahgoot helped him plant corn seedlings. Then we had some quiet time, drawing. In one of my shopping trips I discovered very cheap blank notebooks and bought Hahgoot a pile, so she worked diligently filling them with drawings and writing.

5. Around 2 pm Alberto, Irit and their kids Lyre (5.5) and Liam (2) arrived and we walked out to a nice park not far away.

6. Hahgoot had a lot of stimming behaviours (mainly making chicken noises and silly behaviour) but gradually calmed down (left). All the kids really enjoyed the lovely playground.

7. This rotating ring was a favourite and the girls spent most the time playing on it, followed by their crazy paparazzi parents (thanks Alberto for contributing photos to this presentation!)

8. Liam was more into the swings, and later on everyone joined him. We even picked up an extra girl called Lee-hee, that the other kids liked, and you’ll see why in a minute...

9. She had a giant Bamba bag! Everyone was thrilled to practice sharing with the poor kid...

10. We tried to get the kids to play on other equipment, but they kept gravitating back to the rotating ring. We spent a very long time at the park enjoying the lovely weather, until Alma declared: “Ahm!” so I took the hint and we walked off to have a late lunch ( at 3pm) on a nearby main road.

11. By now Hahgoot calmed down and was BFFs with Lyre (below) We stopped at “Lehem Erez” on Even Gavirol Road and enjoyed “Israeli breakfast” and pasta.

12. When we walked back it was dark and cold (only 5 pm!) The Bar-Noy family stopped for a quick break at our home before heading back to Alphei Menashe. Left: “kids’ poetry” on a bus stop.

13. Night time started OK, but quickly deteriorated and my mum took care of Alma while I handled Hahgoot’s panic attack in the bathroom, due to washing hair and taking out the plug from the bathtub (better known as “our regular bath time routine”...). Then things looked good again: Hahgoot sat to write postcards to Aussie friends and Alma listened to grandma’s bedtime story. This quickly changed due to a sudden wild storm with very loud thunder. Alma couldn’t fall asleep till 11 pm and Hahgoot was very agitated and needed the earphones on to deal with the strong storm noises.

14. The grandparents tried to help keep Hahgoot calm and distracted and taught her about snails (left) and translated comics stories from Spanish (right). At last, everyone was asleep by midnight... Time for me to collapse quietly to bed.

15. This is how we slept in the living room: The girls on the sofa bed and I slept next to them, on a folding field bed, that was surprisingly comfortable. Only problem was that EVERY NIGHT at dawn Alma would get off the sofa and crawl into my bed. This was amazing as the bed was about as wide as me, so not sure how she managed to do so without either of us falling out... Needless to say, I got VERY LITTLE rest.