Life in the past 4 months.

It's has been more than 4 months since I last posted.

It was really really cold during winter and early spring in Haifa and I have been in hibernation mode... kept my heater on and spent all day at home playing with Aedan (running around the house like a crazy woman). 

Life has been simple. I work on my business (TSOBaby) when Aedan naps and of course cook meals. On alternate days, I bring him out to play at the playground so that he get to socialize with other kids.. Most of the time he'll just play with me or Daddy. 

Weather is getting warmer and I'm back to my active mode....just realized that I have not been active blogging and the last post was on Christmas Day. 

For those who are interested to know what happened in the past 4 months, here's the summary.

1. We moved to a bigger apartment 

In the beginning of this year, we moved to a bigger apartment next door. We used to stay in an one bedroom, one living room cum kitchen cum everything else apartment. It is like living in tiny house. 

 

The all purpose room was Aedan's play area, dining  place, our kitchen and also living room. 

Aedan has grown up and he loves to run around... Simply running around with him in circle made him super happy. The previous place was just too small for him. He's happier after we moved to the bigger place. It has separate living room and kitchen and 2 extra bedrooms which we turned one of them into Aedan's playroom!! 

 

As you can see we didn't decorate the room.. Cos we didn't want to spend on furnishing since there's only less than a year to the end of our stay in Israel. Time flies..

It's so comfortable in the new place that we stayed indoor most of the time during winter. 

2. We finally visited Southern Israel to celebrate my Birthday!

It's the best birthday present from Daddy!

We took a road trip from Haifa to the southern desert Israel and spent 4 days 3 nights there. 

We visited the famous Ramon Crater, done star gazing in the desert, went to Eilat to find Dory, hiked at the Red Canyon, visited the Dead Sea and floated on the shallow salty water, last but not least took a ride to legendary Masada before we headed back. 

Ramon Crator 

 

 

The most memorable hike at Red Canyon 

Baby wearing Aedan to climb those stairs was super shag!

 

The view of the desert from Masada 

 

It was an awesome trip! Best birthday present and best trip in Israel! 

Posing with my heart shaped birthday cake from Daddy

I took many photos especially when we visited the aquarium in Eilat and also the Dead Sea but sadly they were all gone :(

I guessed this whole trip was too good so something bad have to happen to buffer the exploding happiness.

During my trip at Dead Sea, some salty water got into my phone so I lost most of the photos (except for those in Daddy's phone)!! I was really sad for losing the digital memories of this trip! 

3. Aedan has grown up fast! 

He's currently in his 20th month and I feel that these period will be his most adorable stage in life (before the terrible 2 starts.. I can sense it coming). I really have so much fun with him since he has grown from being a baby to a little man. 

He loves to follow my actions and it's fun to teach him things. He has learned many vocab so he can express himself pretty well now and he'll tell us what he wants...it's fun to figure out what he wants too. 😜

Through his words and actions, we gradually discover his character and personality which is an interesting process. He's very shy in front of unfamiliar faces but is super talkative when he's with us only. There are so much so much joy by just being with him. 

 

 There were days when I miss those days in banking when I will get adrenaline rush every time I close a deal. The truth is being a stay at home mom, it's not as exciting and glamorous as working in corporate banking.  However, I never regret quitting my job. This whole new life is so much more meaningful and peaceful as I get to do things for my loved ones and the best part is to be rewarded with their smiles. 

I am truly happy each and every day. 

"Happiness is when you found something which you can love unconditionally"

Feeling blessed

- Mommy eve 

Till next time. 

Travel with baby to Dado Zamir Beach at Haifa, Israel

Last weekend, we visited Dado Zamir Beach located at Haifa, Israel! 

Another of our little adventure. 

Dado Zamir beach is listed as one of the top 10 beaches in Israel on Israel21c.org website. 

It's clearly one of the best beaches we have been. 

Love the glare from the sun, 

The little pebbles on the sand, 

The breeze from the sea,

The waves gushing up the shore,

And the beautiful sunset.

Here's a summary of our visit :)

If you will like to visit. it is located along David Elazar Street at Haifa, Israel 

Bye bye,

Twentysixoctober 

#lifeinisrael 

Travel with baby to Jerusalem

You may notice, I have not been active in updating my blog and Facebook as it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to use my mobile as Aedan will snatch it away from me whenever he sees it. I can only use my phone when he's sleeping. 

And lately, I have been spending my precious "Aedan's napping time" to research and plan for our upcoming Italy and Greece trip. I have finally booked all plane tickets! Hurray!!  
still trying to decide on the accommodations. Will share more on the pre-trip planning next time. 

Today I'm blogging about our day tour to Jerusalem!! This post is super belated. We had travelled to Jerusalem months ago and it took me this long to finally blog it down. 

This day, we woke up early and set off for our adventures to Jerusalem. The rough plan was to visit the Holocaust History Museum before we head for lunch at the Mahane Yehuda Market and then to the Old City where we will spend the rest of our day there till dinner. 

We took about 2 hrs to drive from Haifa to Jerusalem. 🚗. 

Holocaust History Museum (Yad Vasham)

The first stop of our trip - Holocaust History Museum also known as Yad Vasham. We reached before noon and were super excited

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But just when we were happily driving into their car park, we were told by their security officer that 

BABY is not allowed into the museum! 

Who's to blame? Ourselves. For not doing enough research for this day trip. :(

#Babytraveltip: always check online whether baby is allowed. 

For those family who are planning a trip to Jerusalem, do note that baby is not allowed into the museum. 

We could only take pictures of the Holocust Memorial Museum from outside. 

"Tears 😢" Bye bye museum

#Babytraveltip: "Travelling with a baby, we have to be flexible with our plan and not be disheartened by unexpected obstacles" 

So we still looked forward to our next stop - Mahane Yehuda Market & Lunch! 

Mahane Yehuda Market 

Here we were at the market.

It was crowded!

Mahane Yehuda Market also known as "The Shuk" is a popular market amongst both tourists and locals. There are more than 250 stalls which sell a variety of items -  fresh fruits, vegetable, meat, egg, nuts, spices, wine, souvenir, pastries, textiles, hardware, etc.

It's a market bustling with vendors marketing their products.

#Traveltip: In Israel, you can always ask to taste the food before purchasing. Moreover, it's a common practice to bargain. In a market like this, do not settle for the first price! 

We had our lunch at a food stall within the sheltered part of the market. This stall specialises in making fish & chips, the only thing on the menu. It's a small stall (as you can see from photo.) They cook their food at the 2nd level and sent them down to be served. 

There were really many people patronising here and that's the main reason why we decided to try this place. 

After we waited for about 20-30 min. We were finally served! They provided mayonnaise, chill and ketchup sauces at the side. Sorry.. Can't remember how much this costs. 

It tasted within expectations. A typical fish & chip you can expect. Fresh fish. Crispy. 

When we were eating, Aedan wanted to eat it too. He screamed and tried to reach for our food. He had never wanted to try our food so badly.. Maybe cause I was eating with him in the carrier :p 

Being #badparents, we digged out what's inside the unhealthy cripsy exterior and let him tried both the fish and fries..... And he LOVED it!! He smiled with his eyes wide opened ...the look like he has tasted the best thing in his life..the look was priceless. 

After we gained something priceless, we paid a price to another thing. :(

We went back to our car and saw a PARKING FINE! We saw many cars parked along the street and so we followed. The fine was 500 shekels. We had less budget for travelling that month.

Next stop - The Old City, Jerusalem 

The Old City in Jerusalem is one of the most popular tourist destination in the world for both the religious and non-religious. This place is filled with rich and layered histories. It contains stories from many religions including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam - which is no surprise why Israel is known as the Holy Land. It has been through several crusades, and cycles of destruction and reconstruction. 

We begin our tour at the Old City from Jaffa Gate. 

Like typical tourist, we visited the Tourist Information Centre to get a map before we entered into the maze. 

The Old City is huge.. It will take a few days to complete the whole place. We only had a few hours left for the day so we circled the main attractions where we wanted to hit first.

Our first stop at The Old City - Tower of David. 

This is our first stop as it's nearest to Jaffa Gate.

This place is not very baby-friendly. There are many steps and tunnels. Definitely not stroller-friendly. Luckily we were in baby carrier and we managed to visit most of the spots.

Tower of David requires admission tickets. You can check the prices and opening hours from the link here: The Tower of David - visitor info

After spending some time at the Tower of David, we went to the Western wall - the most holy wall in world. Millions of people visit this wall to pray. It's a tradition that people will queue to touch the wall, make their payer and insert a little piece of paper with their wishes into the wall. 

The Western Wall is free for admission. 

After the Western Wall, we headed to The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

It is located at the Christian quarter and it's one of the holiest places for Christians as it's the place where Jesus was crucified. This place also contains the empty tomb which Jesus was buried and resurrected. 

This is the Stone of Anointing on which tradition believes to be the spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea. Many people prayed and touched it for blessing.

Many visitors gathering in front of the tomb of Jesus. 

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is free for admission. 

Within the Old City, there are Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters where there are stalls which sell food and souvenirs.

I got this pretty bracelet as a free gift from one of the stalls from which i had bought 4 bracelets. 

We were planning to visit the Temple Mount / Dome of the Rock after the Western Wall but it was closed. Sadly, we only managed to hit 3 attractions out of the many. I think we'll have to visit another time to cover more. 

After the super long walk, we were super hungry. We went back to the Jaffa Gate to find a place for dinner. 

There are many shops and restaurants at the Jaffa Gate area but most of the restaurants were very packed. We didn't read any reviews and just tried our luck at an Italian restaurant called Luciana located at the 2nd floor in the mall at Jaffa Gate area. 

The place has a nice ambience with a water fountain in the middle of the restaurant (forgot to take a picture). I have to say.. We were pleasantly surprised that the food tasted awesome. 

Their pasta tasted really good. (Considered that we were starving .. Maybe it added extra plus to this meal). 

I couldn't remember the price of the food but it's ranged between 70-100 shekels per dish (25-35 SGD for dish) excluding the service charge which is another 15% of the total bill.

Daddy was having fun with Aedan. Aedan was super good mood at the restaurant. Maybe he was glad that he  could finally come out of the carrier. :p

Ended the day with a family photo at Jaffa Gate.

Bye bye~~

Twentysixoctober

All photos are credited to Twentysixoctober
#Lifeinisrael