flight

well, i promised I would write about the flight, and since the baby is sleeping, Yehi is running errands and my mother-in-law is cooking lunch, this seems like the perfect time.

we left san francisco late. we hadnt bought Maya a seat, but were lucky that the third person in our row never checked in. it was such a blessing, becase Maya slept in her carseat the WHOLE way to NY. it was kind of a wild flight... two kids a couple rows in front of us starting throwing fits, then their mother blacked out and a doctor who was on the plane had to come take care of her. we landed in NY on time, managed to schlep our bags to the next terminal (with help). claire showed up to see us off, which was great. we really needed the extra hand. the ceremony in jfk was fine, but nothing really exciting. after a painful trip through security we boarded the plane... where maya promptly had her only major baby issue the whole trip. luckily it was before we took off, and semi easily cleaned up.

the flight was crazy. we had a jumbo jet (the Tel Aviv-Yaffo). it was as full as could be... and almost half children. there was not one minute of quiet the whole time. once again, maya was amazing, and barely fussed at all until the second we landed in israel, when she started screaming. the flight was fine... I watched movies, slept a couple hours, and tried to zone out the kids across the aisle from us.

landing was the best. everyone was so excited to be there, especially since we were an hour late. (sorry to those who stayed up to watch in the states!). Yehis family was there, and I put the pictures of the HUGE sign they took up on facebook. Odelya and her newborn, and Shilat and her newborn were also there, with matching baby outfits for the new best friends :)

the ceremony was fine. it was the only time i got emotional... and it wasnt a happy emotional. its a hard realization that you are now living completely across the world from your parents, especially with a new baby.

an hour or so later I was an Israeli citizen, we had all our bags, and managed to find a taxi willing to go some place that wasnt Ramat Beit Shemesh, Modiin or Jerusalem (where most american immigrants go).

ill post later about the new house and our first day... Maya is awake and food is ready. love you all, miss you all too

14 days and counting....

two weeks until our aliyah flight....crazy. we packed this last weekend, and have sofar packed 5 suitcases. in a fit on genius, NBN allows us 6 suitcases of 70 pounds each.... of course our flight TO NY allows us 2 free checked suitcases, $30 for 2 more, and $75 for 2 on top of that.... all limited at 50 pounds each of course, unless we want to pay additional overweight fees.... oh the joy.

so it looks like we will have 6 suitcases to check, 2 carryon suitcases, one backpack/diaper bag, a stroller and a car seat... oh this trip should be fun. once we get to check in in NY it wont be so bad... but its going to be quite a haul. it still doesnt feel real that we are doing this... in the next two weeks i have to finish sorting and throwing everything out here, finish packing that last suitcase (along with last min shopping), say goodbye to everyone... thats going to be the hardest by far.

there is another NBN flight landing this week... and Yehi is sad because apparently Bibi Netanyahu is speaking.... which means he wont be speaking at ours most likely... Bibi is of course Yehis idol, so hes sad about this! i keep telling him we will get someone interesting too, but he would always rather see Bibi. oh well. as of now we have about 22 people coming to see us at our arrival ceremony... i couldnt believe that they are all getting up that early (including one of Yehis grandmothers!). its prob hard to believe that they get to see him "make aliyah" considering some of them did it themselves... and he was born and raised in israel. im happy they are making the effort... and itll be nice to have the support!