Disney World. Day 4. We just watched that!

Hallie slept through the night last night without incident.  Thank God.

We got up this morning, got ready, and set off for Hollywood Studios.  While we were getting ready we showed Hallie videos of Toy Story to get her ready for the day.  She seemed really interested in it.

Once in Hollywood Studios, our first stop in the park was to meet Olaf from Frozen. I think Hallie was really happy to meet him but she was kind of surprised by how large he was. Considering that he’s a small little snowman, I’m also kind of confused by why he was six feet tall.

After that we had an 11:15 fastpass for Frozen Ever After, a sing-a-long and show.  It was basically a stage show where two historians from Arendelle (the town where Frozen takes place) told the history of Arendelle (i.e., the story of the movie) complete with clips of most of the songs.  At the end of the show, Anna and Elsa and Olaf all came out and sang a few new songs for the holidays.  Hallie really liked it.

By the time we were done with Frozen it was basically lunch time, so we started looking for food. Our usual Hollywood Studios lunch, the Toy Story Pizza Planet, is now gone and replaced with a Muppets themed pizza restaurant, which wasn’t even open.  Instead we found pizza on Sunset Boulevard.  As it’s been every other day, the pizza was good.  Actually, I have the say that the pizza here is pretty good considering they’re cranking out thousands of these little individual pies a day. All through lunch my dad was trying to call a kosher place in town to order food for Shabbat. By the end of the call all we heard was him speaking broken Hebrew to some man on the other hand. It was Hebrish and it was hilarious. That’s why he says he only makes calls up in his office alone, so he’s not ridiculed. At least it was entertaining, and at least he placed the order.

After lunch we did some shopping.

and we saw these guys with these awesome shirts. Bonus points if you recognize the pattern on the shirt on the left (answer here).

After lunch we did a rider switch with my parents for Tower of Terror (my parents went first and we got a fastpass), and then did Rock n’ Roller Coaster, which we already had a fastpass for.  Both rides were great as usual. I think somewhere in here my mom was trying to order a HAFTR cookbook on her phone and for some reason the credit card wasn’t going through. God forbid she waited until she got back to a computer, so I think she called the company. I think she also had to start using her extra battery pack. Priorities.

We then made our way into the new Toy Story Land, which Disney has done a fantastic job with.  The whole area is supposed to represent Andy’s backyard, but you’re entering from the perspective of a toy, so everything is really huge.  Right at the entrance there’s a giant Woody and then a person dressed as Buzz taking photos.  Every time Hallie saw one of the Toy Story characters she got really excited and started yelling, “we just watched that!”  This went on all day, all throughout the park.

The land is basically just three rides – the original Toy Story Midway Mania (same ride, they just moved the entrance/exit), a new Alien Swirling Saucer ride (basically the same as the Tow-Mater ride in Disneyland), and a new Slinky Dog roller coaster.  The Slinky Dog coaster had the longest wait at 55 minutes (earlier in the day it was 80 minutes).  Me, Tzvi and Hallie rode the alien saucer ride while my parents waited on line for Slinky Dog (again we did a rider switch, so my parents waited and we got a fastpass – thanks guys).  The saucer ride was fun and Hallie enjoyed it.

While we waited we left Toy Story Land and got a Mickey pretzel and a Mickey ice cream pop.  We sat on a bench for a while until they were done and then went back to Toy Story Land.  At some point along the way, one of Hallie’s shoes must have fallen out of the stroller.  That was pretty bad, because we weren’t going back to the hotel until after dinner.  So she walked around with only one shoe the rest of the afternoon. 

Anyway, we finally rode the Slinky Dog ride and it was great.  Totally worth the wait, although that’s easy for us to say considering we got the free rider-switch fastpass.  Again, thanks mom and dad!

Here we are on Slinky Dog. It goes by pretty fast but we’re in the last row:

Lastly in Toy Story Land we rode the classic Toy Story Midway Mania.  I got my lowest score ever due mostly to Hallie sitting on my lap and doing a lot of the shooting.  It was fun though and I think Hallie liked it.  She didn’t really seem to react to the 3D at all.

We left Toy Story Land and made our way out of the park.  We stopped at Guest Services to ask about the shoes (they didn’t have them but the cast member who helped us exclaimed, “Oh Cinderella!” when we asked) and my mother thought that was the right place for us to take a family photo. Such great memories.

We went back to the car and drove over to Disney Springs, where our first stop was the Sperry store to buy Hallie a new pair of shoes.  We chose the cheapest ones we could find.  What she’s going to do with white shoes in November, I don’t know, but at least she wasn’t barefoot.

Dinner tonight was at Maria and Enzo’s Ristorante, an Italian restaurant themed to look like an airport lounge from the 1960s.

I had minestrone soup and a salad. Tzvi also had the minestrone soup and had eggplant parmesan with a side of rigatoni in cream sauce – he’s really trying to eat healthy here.  We both enjoyed our meals.  My father also got the minestrone soup, but his was cold.  Then he got fish, but half of it wasn’t cooked through enough.  Finally we skipped dessert but got coffees.  They were all fine, except for my father’s which was cold.  Hallie got a kids meal that came with a fruit cup, pizza and dessert.  The pizza was like a whole slice of pizza, and not bad, but she didn’t really eat it.

Hallie was pretty nuts during dinner. Whenever we have a booth she just climbs behind everyone back and forth over and over again.

These pictures don’t really show how nuts she was.

After dinner we walked around some more and did some shopping.  We made a stop at a store that sells all honey products.  My mother considered buying some honey, but she was worried about overweight luggage.  Then we spent about twenty minutes in World of Disney while my mother bought two massive bags of Disney chocolate and candy.  Again, priorities.

We then did some shopping in the newer part of Disney Springs that has all of the non-Disney stores.  It really reminds me of the Grove, partially because it’s a nice outdoor mall and partially because of the California/Spanish style buildings/roofs. I bought a bathing suit and we got Hallie Uggs. She was so nuts in the Ugg store, I just checked out and was done parenting.  Tzvi tried to discipline her but then just ended up getting upset at himself for getting upset with Hallie.

After that we went back to the hotel.  It was pretty late so we put Hallie to bed and packed up as we would be leaving Vistana in the morning.

Disney World. Day 3. Rapunzel, meet Rapunzel.

Today did not get off to a great start.

Let’s go back to last night though.  We put Hallie to bed and all seemed to be well.  It looked like her antibiotics had kicked in rapidly and she was happy and back to normal. I’m so jetlagged so I passed out, but all of a sudden I wake up to Tzvi rummaging around the room looking for the nebulizer.  It was around 10 or 10:30 he started to hear her coughing.  The coughing got worse and worse until finally he decided to nebulize her.  I don’t think it was really asthma coughing – it was more mucous– but better safe than sorry.  After that it was a bit of work to get her back to sleep but once she did she was good for the rest of the night.

Below Hallie poses as both the benevolent princess and her evil malevolent sister the queen.

Hallie woke up at 7.  We did breakfast and got ready but I desperately needed coffee so Tzvi drove across the street to get Starbucks for me and my dad.  They of course didn’t have brewed decaf, so he waited about 10 minutes while they made us pour overs.  Thanks Tzvi.

(I don’t think this barista cared to be featured on our blog)

We made it out around 9:45 and got to the Magic Kingdom at 10:00.  Parking was much easier than yesterday, except we had to ride a tram to the transportation center, where we should’ve been able to hop on the monorail to the park, except the monorail was down so we had to wait about a half hour for the ferry boat.  We didn’t get into the park until almost 11:00 am.

The park is beautifully decorated for Christmas and there’s constant Christmas music playing.  It’s very nice, but just seems a little early.  Once Thanksgiving hits I’m all in on the holiday spirit, but it’s a little much for November 13th (and 85 degrees).

We tried to take a photo with Hallie in front of the castle. It didn’t really work.

We gave up on the castle and tried the Main Street background, but that didn’t really work either.

Back to the castle, one parent edition.

Eventually this was the best we could do.

Our first stop of the day was Ariel’s Grotto where we rode the Little Mermaid ride.  Hallie was scared of the dark but recognized the characters from her dolls and bath toys so I think she enjoyed it.  Next we made a stop at Gaston’s Tavern where we ordered everything on the menu for a late-morning snack.  We had the Lefou’s Brew (which I think they came up with to combat the Harry Potter butterbeer they sell at Universal), as well as a cheese platter, hummus and pretzels and veggies.  After that Hallie and my parents went on Dumbo, which she seemed to enjoy.

You can take the girl out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the girl.

Next up was the Fantasy Fare where Hallie got to meet princesses Rapunzel and Tiana. Hallie was dressed as Rapunzel, and very excited to meet the princesses. We had fastpass, so we sped right in. Rapunzel was first and then Tiana. Both were great in character. Tiana was too good, and she spoke with such a New Orleans accent that Hallie had no idea what she was saying.

After the meet and greet we went on the Carrousel. Hallie rode her own horse and loved every minute of it. I think at this point my parents went to ride Big Thunder Mountain. Sad I missed that one; the things we sacrifice for our children.

At this point Hallie was refusing her almond butter and jam sandwich, and we were hungry, so we went looking for food. We went to the Harbor house, a quick service place that I think is technically in Liberty Square. We shared a tuna sandwich with kettle chips and grilled salmon with string beans. Hallie actually ate the salmon which was great, because she’s been eating such garbage this trip. My parents joined us and we finished up lunch.

We stuck Hallie in the stroller because it was definitely nap time, and made our way over to Splash Mountain, our 3rd fastpass of the day. Tzvi and I went first. They now give you little Ziploc baggies to put your phones in. Smart. My parents went after us. It’s great how Splash Mountain hasn’t changed at all over the years.  It’s such a relic of another time – it’s got great drops, you get wet, and it still has the same racist cartoonish design that it’s always had.  It was fun.

After Splash Mountain we walked around waiting for my parents to finish their turn on the ride.  As I watched I saw someone lose a hat, which was funny.  Then my parents were finished and texted, “Done with ride. Dad lost hat.”  We waiting while he shopped for a new hat.

Tzvi then walked into Adventureland.  My parents rode Pirates of the Caribbean while Tzvi and I shared a Dole Whip, and then we went on Pirates.  Tzvi was in a mood at this point.  He had some reason, but I think it was just hot and the middle of the day.  He was fine after the Dole Whip.

Next we walked back to Fantasyland for our fastpass to It’s a Small World, which was good nap time for my parents, and then went on to Tomorrowland where we rode the People Mover.  Hallie was good with that, except during the dark parts. Tzvi had to turn the flashlight on his phone during the dark parts, and then we were fine.

After that we were basically done so we walked back to Main Street.  We caught the end of the show in front of the castle, which featured all of Hallie’s favorite characters – Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Anna, Elsa and Olaf and Rapunzel and Tiana.  She watched on Tzvi’s shoulders and absolutely loved it.  When that was over we walked through some of the stores on Main Street, but Hallie was starting to lose it.  The park was closing soon (it closes at 6:00 so they can then let people in for the nighttime Christmas party, which is a separate $100 ticket). 

We made it out around 5:30 and rode the monorail back to our cars.  We said goodbye to my parents and Hallie and we were off.  My parents took Hallie to a kosher place for dinner and Tzvi and I went back to the hotel to change for our own dinner out alone.  When we got to the hotel we found (1) a blackberry on the carpet, which we only noticed after stepping on and grinding into the carpet and (2) that the refrigerator had been left open and pretty much everything was warm.

Anyway, we took showers, got dressed, and made it out by 6:30.  We drove over to Disney Springs by 7:00 and made our way to the Edison, a new bar (that’s connected to a bar of the same name in LA that we’ve been to (see our LA Summer 2017 blog).  The bar is supposed to be really cool, but unfortunately we didn’t get to go in, as it was closed for a private event.  That was unfortunate, but we spent the next hour shopping instead, which was nice.

At 8:00 we made our way to STK for dinner.  There are STK locations all over the country, including the original STK in New York, which we’ve never been to because there isn’t really anything on the menu to eat.  The restaurant here is very nice – it’s trendy and decorated like a trendy NYC restaurant, but it’s still in the middle of Disney.  I wonder if these restaurant groups think about how Disney (and its patrons) fits in with its brand and just decide that there’s too much money to be made to not do it.  If you go to the website for STK Orlando you see a lively bar scene, a DJ spinning records and a lot of fashionable people dancing at their tables.  While we did have a DJ, it was mostly the convention and t-shirt and shorts wearing crowds during our dinner.

Anyway, all of that being said, dinner was great.  We started with cocktails – I had something with basil, lemon, honey and tequila, and Tzvi had some sort of a Manhattan.  To start I had a delicious salad with shaved brussels sprouts, cranberries and almonds, and Tzvi had a tuna tartare with avocado and giant taro chips that he really enjoyed.  For our mains I had tuna with chickpeas and pita chips, and Tzvi had Chilean sea bass with bok choy.  I should also mention the bread, which was promised to us at the beginning of the meal but didn’t actually show up until after the appetizers, though it was amazing – soft, doughy pull-apart bread that came in a cast iron skillet with a chive oil that was delicious.  I also got a side of broccoli, which first came with cheese even though it didn’t say it on the menu but the waiter took it back and brought me a cheeseless one.  Tzvi had a side of corn pudding that looked gross but he loved and ate all of.  For dessert we shared a bag of donuts, which were pretty good, and a chocolate dessert that had chocolate cake, chocolate “crack” (basically like rice krispies with chocolate around them) and chocolate whipped cream. It was delicious.

After that we were stuffed and exhausted so we went back to the hotel.  Hallie was sleeping when we got back, so we put on bathing suits and went to the hot tub for a quick dip.

Great day.

Disney World. Day 2. Today we ate all the points.

Today we ate everything.

I guess I’ll start by saying today was a good day.  Much better than yesterday.  Hallie woke up at 730ish and we cuddled.

We got up around 8 and started getting ready for the day.  We didn’t move too quickly but still made it out around 9:45 and headed for EPCOT. 

We got to EPCOT pretty fast, but were stopped about 1000 feet from the entrance to the parking lot.  Our first line of the day.  I’ve never seen anything like it. I think it took us ten minutes to go the last 1000 feet.  We finally parked, rode the tram to the park entrance, and then met our second line of the day - the bag check line.  Next was the ticket line, where we had to pick up our tickets, and then finally the actual park entrance line. Tzvi was very upset about the picking up the tickets situation. We should have had them mailed to us, but when I originally bought them I just said we’ll pick them up in Disney Springs on Sunday. Well, because Hallie had strep, we couldn’t go to Disney Springs, so we had to wait on a line for tickets. Obviously this was my fault (and it seems, the start of a running tab of things that are somehow my fault).

Finally we were in.

Can you take a picture of us with the Food and Wine sign? No? How about just the wine then. Thanks

As opposed to most of our EPCOT visits where we run frantically through the park to do all of the rides and then spend the afternoon walking through all of the countries, we decided to do today differently, mostly because it was our first time visiting during the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival.  Today was actually the last day of the festival, so we were just in time, along with everyone else in the world. The festival is an annual festival where special food kiosks are set up around the world showcase and in future world.

We began by going straight into the world showcase to Norway for our 11:30 am Frozen fastpass.  Hallie has been pretty obsessed with Frozen lately, so we thought this was going to be amazing for her.  As soon as we got into the ride though she started complaining that it was too dark.  Once we were on the boat she was upset, and as soon as we got into the dark she started crying.  The rest of the ride was a rollercoaster (of emotions) as she cried, then was excited and happy to see Olaf and Anna and Elsa, and then cried again from the dark, and then “She’s singing Let It Go!” and then a little more crying.  Afterward she said it was a great, but decided she didn’t want to go on again later.  From there we went to actually meet Anna and Elsa. While we were on the ride, my parents waited on the line to meet Anna and Elsa.  I think she was still reeling from the ride, but she was pretty happy to meet the princesses.

From there we made a quick stop in Mexico to ride the Three Caballeros, which was a little less scary for her.  Then we went back to the beginning of the World Showcase to start eating.  We made our first stop at the Greece kiosk, where Tzvi and my parents shared spanakopita (spinach and cheese in phyllo dough) and Greek “Nachos” (pita chips with veggie sausage Tzatziki).  Nothing for me, but they said both were pretty good.

Next we walked around to the UK where Hallie got to meet Alice (a’la Alice in Wonderland fame), and then went on to France.  At France we got a crème brule and a frozen passionfruit martini.  Both were delicious.  In one of the stores Hallie got a small Eiffel Tower model that she saw and wanted. 

From there we kept walking and made a stop at Brazil where Tzvi got cheese bread (he said Hindel’s is better), then to Belgium for waffles (one with chocolate and one with berry compote) which were both pretty good.  Next we stopped at Morocco for hummus fries and baklava.  The hummus fries were actually fried hummus and tasted a lot like falafel; they were really good.  The baklava was also surprisingly very good. Next we did some shopping in Italy while Tzvi got apple strudel in Germany, which was just okay. 

cheese bread

hummus fries and baklava

waffles

apple strudel

My mom stopped in Italy at some point to buy perfume. At some point Tzvi almost fell asleep sitting on the floor of China, and then we made our way around and back out of World Showcase and into future world where we had our final food stop - the Cheese Pavilion, where Tzvi got a cheese trio (a profiterole with cheese, a bagel chip with cheese and lox, and a macaron with cheese).  He said it was good. We finally finished off the eating with a class Mickey ice cream pop.

the cheese trio

After that we rode the Nemo ride, which Hallie enjoyed, and then rode The Land.  Tzvi didn’t want to go on the Land so he got Starbucks instead.  The Land was great as always.  Watching vegetables growing never gets old. One day we’ll do a private tour of the land. They probably let you eat things.

just watching the vegetables growing

After The Land we waited about 15 minutes to meet Mickey and Minnie.  Hallie was really excited to meet them and gave them hugs and kisses, but she really didn’t want to meet Goofy because “Goofy so tall.”  I met Goofy instead. Hallie now says that “mommy loves Goofy.” My new boyfriend.

After that we walked around a bit and then rode the boat across the water and back to Italy for dinner.  On our way to dinner Tzvi and Hallie stopped to watch the concert happening at the American pavilion.  The concert was Big Bag Voodoo Daddy – swing music that Tzvi says was popular in the ‘90s (swing music was popular in the ‘90s?).  Tzvi was pretty excited because he knew all the songs and said he even had their CD.  Why does that not surprise me?

If you don’t mind awkwardly watching Tzvi look into the camera for 26 seconds, you can kind of hear the music and Hallie is really cute in the below video:

We had a 7:30 reservation at Via Napoli in the Italy pavilion, but showed up at 6:00 and only had to wait a few minutes to be seated.  While the wait for the table wasn’t terrible, the wait for the food was pretty bad.  It took over 20 minutes from the time we ordered until we got our appetizers.  At one point she came over and asked if we wanted bread and said she would bring a lot of bread, but then she only brought four pieces.  Finally the appetizers came, except my appetizer and main came together.  I had a minestrone soup and a salad with arugula, string beans, candied walnuts, pear and a mustard vinaigrette.  Tzvi and my mother shared a mozzarella caprese appetizer that Tzvi said was okay.  Hallie got a “fruit cocktail” - a fruit salad in a cocktail glass, which she ate half of and then knocked off the table, shattering the glass.  Glass flew everywhere.  She didn’t seem to mind though, she just kept eating her grapes.

Next they brought the pizza we ordered for the table. I had ordered the small 10” pizza, but Tzvi thought that was too small so we got the next size up, which was a large and basically enough to feed a small Italian family.  Whatever, it was pretty good pizza.  For his main Tzvi had tortino melanzane ­– an eggplant dish that was basically layers of fried (but not breaded) eggplant topped with tomato sauce and melted cheese and all on a bed of spaghetti.  He cleared his plate and said it was delicious.  Hallie ate a little bit of her personal pizza (yes, we also got her separate pizza) and some of the big pizza, and finished most of her fruit.  She was pretty easy at the table as she spent most of the meal watching Frozen on her tablet.  We skipped dessert and made our way out of the park and back to the hotel.

Good day.

Disney World. Day 1. War is hell.

Tzvi:  Today was a day.  Today is November 11th - Veteran’s Day.  And after today, I feel like I’ve been through a war.

 Steph: Hallie woke up at 7.  We cuddled in the bed for a while and finally Tzvi got up closer to 8.  We got out of bed, did some last minute packing, and I was off to work.

This morning was the JNF Five Towns Campaign Kickoff Event with Alan Dershowitz in conversation with Ben Brafman. While I didn’t have an actual role, I thought it was important that I be there, so a few months ago I changed my flight. Hallie, Tzvi and my parents were flying at 11, and I was flying at 2. The event went very well. Well, aside from  the fact that two minutes before Dershowitz was set to go on, he found out that his mother-in-law passed away. They announced it, it was awkward, but then he went on about how she was 99 and lived a full life. He didn’t seem too disturbed. The program ended at about 10:40, and then there was breakfast in the ballroom. I think I stayed talking to people until 11:30ish.

Tzvi: At five minutes to 9:00 I called an Uber and he came almost instantly.  Hallie and I efficiently loaded up the car and we were on our way to the airport.  Lisa and Sheldon were supposed to be leaving at 9:00 also, but they ended up leaving ten minutes after us.  There was no traffic and we made it there really quickly, except the driver took a wrong turn and went down to arriving flights instead of departing flights, which meant that he had to go all the way around the airport and back to the JetBlue terminal.  By the time we made our way back, the Feits were already checked in.  Hallie and I checked in curbside (no line) and went right inside. There was no line for security and within a few minutes we were seated having coffee and waiting for our flight.

We waited for 10:40 and then got on the plane.  Before Steph changed her flight, we were supposed to be seated five across.  I’m pretty sure that when Steph changed her flight I spoke to Lisa about changing her seat so that we would be seated four across, but I guess that didn’t work out, because somehow Hallie and I were in the middle-window seats and Lisa and Sheldon were across the aisle in a middle-aisle with a stranger in between us.  Awesome.

We taxied for too long and by the time we took off Hallie was whining.  She continued to whine and cry throughout takeoff.  She wanted to go to grandma.  The flight was too long.  It was under 3 hours but it was just too long.  Hallie whined and squirmed for a lot of it.  She didn’t want to just sit and watch a movie, and at one point while she was on my lap I started to feel something warm on my jeans and realized that it had been so long since we changed her diaper that she was now peeing out the top and her shirt and pants were soaked.  Yes, it was a wonderful flight.  She actually did manage to fall asleep about 10 minutes before landing while watching a documentary about Stalin, but then she woke up pretty much right after we touched down.

We got off the plane and headed for baggage claim.  Hallie was still whining and wanted to be carried, and it was about this time that we started to discuss the prospect that she felt kind of warm.  We picked up our rental car - we rented an Infiniti QX60 (which we’re actually considering once our lease is up next year, so it’s a nice week long test drive).  I was hoping Hallie would fall asleep on the way to the hotel, but she didn’t, so I decided to take temperature, but that didn’t work out too well so grandma had to do it.  Well, what do you know.  101.7.  Hooray!  We immediately gave her Tylenol.  She was also complaining that her throat hurt her, which got everyone concerned that it was strep, so what else was I to do but start googling pediatric urgent cares.

I took Hallie to a center about 15 minutes away.  Actually, first I took her to a shopping center 15 minutes away where an urgent care used to be, only to find out that they moved last week to another shopping center five minutes down the road.  Anyway, we finally made it, and the place looked pretty promising - there was only one family with two kids in the waiting room.  I spent 10 minutes filling out forms, during which time Hallie was getting progressively better (i.e., the Tylenol was kicking in).  I asked how long the wait was, and they told me there were two people ahead of us and two people in the back, so she didn’t know but it could be a couple of hours.  That was great news.  When I finished with the forms, Hallie was dancing around the waiting room and telling me she wanted snack, and then proceeded to eat a bag of grapes, a bag of veggie straws and a bag of Trader Joe’s rocket ship cheese crackers.

After a few minutes of waiting, a woman came in with a kid that was probably 5 or 6 years old and was crying inconsolably.  Actually, I don’t know if she was consolable, because the mother didn’t seem to be trying very hard to console her.  Eventually she cried so much that they had to bring her a bucket to, well, use your imagination, all over the floor.  Hallie was fascinated and kept asking me why the girl was crying. I told her it wasn’t nice to stare, so she put her head on my shoulder so I couldn’t see where she was looking and then told me she wasn’t watching, “I’m just lookin’ out the window.”

After at least an hour they finally called us in.  Fever was still 100 (on Tylenol).  They checked her and then did a strep test and a flu test.  After waiting a while longer they came back to say it was strep!  Yay!  This was actually great news, because it meant we could have a real diagnosis and medication that could (hopefully) wipe it out quickly. 

We left with our prescription and a sheet that had a summary of her visit and quickly ran to the nearby CVS.  It was a very nice CVS and already decked out for Christmas.  Just like the Cedarhurst CVS, there was a life-sized Santa Clause statue greeting you at the entrance to each aisle.  There was also one short wall of Hanukah stuff.  Hallie asked, “who’s that man?” and then, “Can I touch him?”

While we were waiting for the prescription to be ready, I decided to look at the other paper they gave me.  That’s when I noticed that it said “RAPID STREP TEST: NEGATIVE.”  What??? I called up the urgent care and asked them, ‘what the hell?’ (but in slightly nicer words, although not a nicer tone) and was informed that don’t worry, the test is definitely positive, we just gave you a wrong sheet.  Oy.

Finally we were done.  We went back to the hotel and met Steph.  Hallie was in great spirits, singing along to Taylor Swift the whole way back.

Steph: I don’t really have much to say. My flight was uneventful, aside from the fact that I kept getting texts from Tzvi. I think he was about one incident away from divorcing me. We landed at about 5.  I got my luggage and got an Uber, and then my Uber driver started talking to me, which is always lovely. He asked if I was here for the Burger King convention (I’m not) and then told me that EPCOT is going to be really crowded tomorrow because it’s the last day of the Food and Wine Festival, and there are a lot of conventions. He also told me that he’s 45, has a son at Harvard Medical School, the wife is a nurse, and has a 3 year old grandson who was an accident. We finally made it to Vistana, where I had to go to the lobby because the woman wouldn’t let me into the area where my room is without a key, and my parents went shopping (and Tzvi was at Urgent Care). I had to then take a shuttle from the lobby to my room. I then had 5 minutes of quiet to unpack. Then everyone arrived. I told the three of them to go eat and  I would deal with Hallie.

Tzvi:  We left and went about five minutes down the road to the Macaroni Grill.  It was pretty empty, I guess because most people, you know, come here to go to Disney World.  Somehow it still took a little while for someone to come over and serve us.  It was a wait, but it wasn’t really that long (at least no worse than standard kosher restaurant service).  When the waitress finally came over she said, “Has no one helped you yet?  I’ve been watching you guys for a little bit and I saw that you were waiting.” Huh??? She said she’d be right back, and then the manager came over to sincerely apologize and offer us a free appetizer.  Yes please.  We chose the crispy brussells sprouts.  He ran off and came back two minutes later with a plate of crispy brussells sprouts, which was great, although we still hadn’t had our order taken.  I ordered the ratatouille with polenta (yes, an odd choice, but we have reservations at three more Italian restaurants this week (and they’re all probably better) so I’m saving up my pasta and eggplant parm for those).  My meal also came with unlimited side salads, so I ordered two Caesar salads.  I also had lots of bread, which was pretty good.

Lisa had cheese stuffed tortellini and Sheldon had a cheese pizza.  For a good ten minutes all I heard was, “the tortellini is only 500 calories, how many points is that?”

“Hold on, let me check my app.  Oh that’s only 11 points.  The pizza is 1000 calories, that’s 30 points! How is that possible?”

“How can the tortellini only be 500 calories? How is that possible?”

“How can the pizza be 30 points! That’s crazy!”

“I’m going to get the tortellini.  It’s only 11 points.”

Meanwhile, I ate a lot of bread.

Finally we were done and went back to the hotel.

Above: the food we brought home for Steph.

Below: Finally, some peace and quiet.

Steph in Israel. Day 6. Here Today, Home Tomorrow.

Symbolic day! Today we spent the entire day doing symbolic things for the students’ last day in Israel. For some reason I woke up at like 6:45, so I packed. I had to go to the main building to pick up my second suitcase with all the kids’ transcripts. Around 8, Elana texted asking if I wanted to walk to town for breakfast and to pick up something for lunch. The kids were packing lunch in the dining hall (which I wasn’t going to do), so I joined her. I got an iced café and a tuna sandwich for later. When we got back to campus I went back to the main building to say goodbye to people. Finally I saw Orit, the co-CEO who had been sick. She was the first one to ask me if I actually knew what I was doing taking the kids home and if I had all of the information I needed. Obviously, I didn’t. She explained the process, as did David Mitchell, and then we said goodbye. From there I went to my room (but not before being locked out and having to have someone unjam my lock), finished packing, and brought everything to the bus. That wasn’t easy. We pulled away from campus at 9:20, which seemed very early. Alana said they usually leave on symbolic day around 10:15, so I don’t know why we left so early.

Our first stop was tree planting! How symbolic! We entered some park (where Elchanan, the teacher, happened to have gotten married) and then had to wait a good 20 minutes for someone to show up to guide us to where we needed to go. Also what was funny was this was the only part of the day where we had a guard.

We got off the bus, stood in a circle, and had a ‘tree ceremony.’ Everyone passed around a tree and said who they were planting this tree for. All of the answers were good, but I loved the kids who were like, “I’m planning this tree to symbolize the growth that I’ve had as a person while here.” I said I was planting the tree for Hallie, though that seemed a little depressing when he said not all of the trees would make it. He also made us do this song and dance about a tree. It was cute. We all planted our trees and then went back on the bus.

From there we drove to Har Herzl. At this time Elchanan told us to eat whatever lunch we brought because there was no formal lunch today. Lovely. We met Yishai at Har Herzl, and then spent two hours there. It was long. We started with the graves of famous people who died recently in the 2nd Lebanon war (Michael Levin, Roi Klein). I visited the grave of Erez Deri, the soldier who died after a successful operation in Jenin but then was in a car accident. He saved a lot of people by swerving one way. Anyway, one year on Write On, the students decided to raise money for his family to dedicate a Torah in his memory. It was great. The dedication, not his grave. I told Yishai the story. From there we moved on to people who died in earlier wars, and then to Prime Ministers and finally to Theodore Herzl himself. I got a picture of Blue Box Bob on the grave. That’s probably in poor taste.

After Har Herzl we started driving to the kotel, our next symbolic stop. Obviously the traffic was crazy, so after about a half hour of not moving, we decided to walk. This took us to places I’ve never been to. We actually walked through King David’s tomb. What’s special about the tomb is that the room over the tomb is supposedly where the Last Supper was held. It’s also famous for some reason in Islam, so really that place is a microcosm of Jerusalem. From there we walked to this other church (I think it was the Abbey of Dormition). We did this because there is one non-Jewish girl in the group from Texas.

Finally we made it into the Old City. At this point, Elchanan gave everyone 45 minutes of free time. We didn’t really NEED it, but I walked around with Yishai. We visited Udi at Blue and White in the Cardo (I think he remembered me), we got snack, and I bought Hallie a puzzle at the bookstore. Finally we all made our way down to the Kotel. Good views, nice sunset.

After the Kotel we walked back up through the Old City to Mamilla. He gave the kids 45 minutes in Mamilla, during which Elana and I continued walking to Ben Yehuda. On the way I stopped at Roladin and bought 4 sufganyot for Tzvi. We’ll see how those travel. For dinner, Elana and I decided on Moshiko. It was my first schawarma of the trip and it was DELICIOUS. I’ve thought moshiko was going downhill in recent years, but nope. Then we walked up to Machane Yehuda where I bought some marzipan rugelach. Then we parted ways as she wanted to get home, and I walked down to Ben Yehuda to find somewhere to charge my phone. I bought a seltzer at a bagel place and just charged my phone for an hour before meeting the group.

We gathered at 8 and headed to the airport! Now I was ON. Check in was fine. We all gathered after check in to say goodbye to the madrichim. I can’t even tell you the crying that ensued. It was hilarious. That goodbye took a while, and we made our way through security with no issues.

Once we were at the terminal I basically told the kids that they can do whatever they want, but don’t miss the flight. A few of the kids were flying to San Francisco, so there was even MORE crying at that separation. Thankfully, everyone made it on the flight. They did the pre-flight water check, as you aren’t allowed to bring any liquids on the plane even if you bought them post security. The woman saw the donuts and was impressed.

It was a great trip. Now I’m going to go home and sleep for days. Except not really, because on Sunday we leave for Disney World!

Steph in Israel. Day 5. I ❤ JLM.

Happy JNF day! Today I had to get up early, like 6:45 AM early, because I was told I had to be at the Ayalon Institute (The Bullet Factory) by 8:45 AM. Mindy made me all nervous about timing, so I got up quickly, got a cab, and was at the factory before 8:20. The group I was meeting didn’t show up until 9.

Now I’ll explain. Every Wednesday, JNF hosts a tour of a few sites that they support. This tour is open to the public for $50 and includes lunch. So me, Mindy, and Dana (all AMHSI staff) met the 9 others on today’s tour.

One of JNF’s action areas is heritage preservation, meaning the upkeep of important sites that tell Israel’s history. The Ayalon Institute/Bullet Factory is one of them. We got a great tour from a woman named Tamar. We saw a short movie, and then toured what was the underground factory. The factory was located on a Kibbutz, hidden under the laundry room. They made 2.5 million bullets between 1945 and 1948 (roughly). A few funny things:

First, they would call everyone on the kibbutz who had no idea what they were doing ‘giraffes.’

Second, the sound from the laundry would cover the sound of the factory, but in order to have enough laundry to constantly keep the noise going they started a business doing British soldiers’ laundry. So basically the British were paying for the opposition to work against them.

Third, there was one point where the Palmach blew up a train nearby, and the people in the factory went to help them (obviously pretending just to be kibbutz workers). The British were so thankful that they started popping into the kibbutz for a beer here and there. Problem was, the workers didn’t want them showing up unannounced, so they started feeding the British room temperature beer, claiming this is how they liked it. They told the British that they would be happy to put some beer in the fridge for them if they told them they were coming over. Funny.

After the bullet factory we got on a minibus and drove down south to a JNF reservoir that overlooks Gaza. Israel recycles 90 percent of its “grey” water, meaning everything but drinking water. That’s a huge number, as the next highest is Spain with about 18 percent. We saw Gaza city and its suburbs. I really enjoyed being there with people who had never seen that before, because they finally understood how CLOSE Gaza actually is to these towns.

From there we drove 5 minutes to Sderot to visit the JNF Indoor Playground. This is an indoor playground that was built in an old factory. There are four bomb shelters in the playground. It was built because parents were no longer taking their kids to playgrounds because in the 15 seconds they have when the siren goes off, they wouldn’t have time to find their kid and find shelter. This way, the kids play inside and can run to one of the four shelters within the time frame, and their parents don’t have to worry. Also, the shelters aren’t just shelters, one is a birthday room, one is a discotheque, one is a soccer area, and one is a music room. I have a student who is doing an at home concert to raise money for that music room as his Bar Mitzvah project. It was so depressing to think about how necessary it was, but it’s so great that it’s there and I encourage everyone to visit when they get the chance.

Blue Box Bob had fun meeting the king of all blue boxes - Blue Box Bob Sr.

“He who believes is not afraid”

From there we drove to Be’er Sheva, the crown jewel of the south. JNF is super involved in Be’er Sheva. We drove along what will be a riverpark (a la San Antonio), and made our way to lunch. Lunch was at a nice meat restaurant and we had a private room. They stated by bringing us an array of salatim, laffas, hummus, fries, and falafel. It was amazing. We all ordered mains as well. I had chicken. For dessert there was Baklava. I think people pay about $50 dollars for this tour (I can get you a 10 percent discount) and its TOTALLY WORTH IT for lunch alone. Well, almost for lunch alone. But for a driver, tour guide, and lunch, $50 is a STEAL. Next time you’re in Israel, do it.

On the way to Be’er Sheva we saw a dump truck that took a corner too fast and fell over.

After lunch we went to the Be’er Sheva Amphitheater where we just looked around, and that was the end of our tour. The bus was going back to Jerusalem, so I figured I might as well go too! It took a while to get back as the traffic is awful, but we made it. I then found out that my colleague had left her jacket and book on the bus, so I now had to carry that around all night. I ended up wearing her jacket because it was cold. Thanks.

In Jerusalem I hopped on the light rail to Machane Yehuda and started making my way around. I walked through the shuk but didn’t buy anything, and then passed marzipan. There were no rugelach, but I did get a caramel donut. This was better than the one I had in Hod Hasharon as there was actual caramel in the donut. I continued and made my way down Ben Yehuda. I stopped at Ann for Kippahs for pop pop, but they didn’t have what he wanted. I told them I would come back in February. I stopped in a Judaica shop where I picked up a cup for our Havdala set that we broke a while ago, stopped at Aroma for a coffee and to buy Tzvi a mug, and then made my way down to Mamilla. I didn’t buy anything at Mamilla, but spent a good 5 minutes just looking at the donuts at Roladin. Maybe tomorrow.

Finally I got on the light rail back to Machane Yehuda to meet Yoni Bain, a friend from college and good old friend of Tzvi’s from Los Angeles. While I was waiting for Yoni I stopped into this specialy bake shop that had everything you’d want for baking. They had amazing looking chocolates, a ton of liquid food coloring, star tips, prebaked pie shells, and so much more. It was such a great place. I bought 3 chocolate bars. Then I met Yoni and we went to Ishtabach for dinner, which is apparently a new popular restaurant but I hadn’t heard of it. It’s actually a Kurdish restaurant and they only serve one thing - Shamburak, which is basically a fried meat calzone. I got brisket, and it was also filled with mashed potato and spices. It was SO good. Like really really delicious. It also came with some side salads.

After that we walked through the shuk because I decided I should get dried fruit now. Did I mention that I was told by JNF that I’m taking a second suitcase home filled with kids transcripts. The suitcase can’t possibly be 50 pounds, so now I’m fine to buy whatever and I’ll never be overweight! I led Yoni to Rosemary, the overpriced but delicious dried fruit store. I think I spent over $100 on dried fruit. No regrets.

Yoni and I were talking about how everything is better here and he asked why I wouldn’t move. Right now my main concerns are doors that are too thin, and toilets that don’t flush. Yoni and I walked down to Ben Yehuda and finally parted ways. I got a cab back to campus, which took about an hour, and packed a little.

Tomorrow is ‘symbolic day’ for the kids, so I think we plant a tree and go to the Kotel. We shall see!

Steph in Israel. Day 4. Talk to me about sponsorship opportunities!

Last night was lovely. It didn’t rain and there were no loud children, I just stayed up too late (watching Designated Survivor, which I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet). I have to admit that I miss Hallie and Tzvi so much, but this is the first time in years that I’ve been able to just lay in bed at night and watch a show. Usually by the time I get Hallie to bed, exercise and take care of whatever needs to be done in the house it’s midnight and I’m exhausted. 

I woke up around 8 and had to get ready to make it to class by 8:30. Eek. High school flashbacks. Again I was too late for breakfast, so I headed straight to class. I joined the September session, so Elchanan was the teacher and Yishai and I sat in the back. (To remind you, Yishai is in training to become a teacher, so he has to sit in on every class). Today’s lesson was the last class and tomorrow is the final. I’m totally not prepared. The class was learning about the peace processes and how they failed.

above left: class in progress

above right: Scott Soifer look-a-like

left: as seen in a classroom

I stayed in class until 10:30 when Yishai and I took a walk to town. Yishai was waiting to catch a bus, so we both got coffee and pastries. We went back to the same bakery I went to yesterday and we both got caramel sufganyot (donuts). It was okay - the dough was good but there was barely any caramel! I also got three other pastries that were okay. We discussed the classes and he talked about how he would have taught things differently, but not in a bad way. Good start to the morning.

After I left Yishai, I headed back to campus where I was going to go on a campus tour with Leor and a representative from the U.S. Embassy. I don’t remember his name or what he did, but we discussed how Katie Friedman (Ambassador David Friedman’s daughter) had done AMHSI, and then headed to our tour. Leor is a great tour guide. He showed off some dorms and classrooms, and then took us to the music room. It’s really amazing - it’s actually in a bomb shelter, so the walls are soundproof. There are guitars, drums, keyboard etc. Then there’s also a recording studio where kids learn about broadcasting, can do a radio show, and record weekly podcasts.

above left: the music room

above right: the radio station

left: seen in the dorms

We ended the tour at the cheder ochel where we had lunch with students. Lunch was fine. I had schnitzel, hummus, salad, and carrot salad. Definitely ate too much. Leor also spoke about his vision for the Be’er Sheva AMHSI campus, and how it won’t just be a high school campus, but also a place for adults to learn, for teachers to learn how to teach about Israel, for internships, etc. Basically a whole JNF education center. Big dreams. I think the plan is to raise $160 million. Wish us well, because if it comes to fruition it’s going to be amazing. (Talk to me about sponsorship opportunities!)

After that I had a little break, and then went back to the main office where I was supposed to meet with Polly, the Dean of Student Life and Orit, the other Co-CEO. Well, I didn’t meet with either because one was sick and one was super busy. Instead I just met with Ayala, who is Orit’s assistant. She was very sweet, and then offered to take me for dinner later, so yay! After my meeting I was basically done for the day. I had time to kill so I did some work, watched some more Designated Survivor, did a little exercise, showered, and got ready to go. Ayala was scheduled to pick me up at 6:45.

She took me to an AMAZING restaurant. I don’t remember what it was called, but it was like you were sitting in a garden, but inside. The food was so fresh and absolutely delicious. First we got drinks - she got sangria and I got a pineapple cocktail. Then we started with an array of appetizers. Basically for a set price they give you a bunch of appetizers. We had three different salads, cauliflower, soup, and focaccia. It was all outstanding, the cauliflower in particular. I’m telling you, Israelis know how to make cauliflower. After we ate all the appetizers we decided to share salmon, which was also delicious! For dessert we ordered a crème brulee that came with some passionfruit crème and fruit. It was delicious. Also, what was very interesting, was that it came very cold and NOT in a dish. I think they freeze it so they don’t have to serve it in a dish, and then it defrosts as you eat it. It was really great. They also gave us soft ice cream with raspberry sauce and chocolate nibs on the house. SO nice. It was a great dining experience and so nice of Ayala to come out with me, though I think she liked that she was able to get out of the house and have her husband do bedtime for her two kids. I can relate.

Good day.

Steph in Israel. Day 3. Today in the Hod.

Goooood morning, or evening, or whenever it is! Last night there was maybe the loudest thunderstorm I’ve ever heard. For a solid hour and a half, maybe from 10:30-12:00, there was pouring rain, thunder, and lightning. Hallie would probably sing “Thunder” (by Imagine Dragons) and then be afraid. It was so crazy and scary and there was water coming in the space on the bottom of my door! You know, if terrorists were ever looking for a time to start things up, a thunderstorm would be a good time. At least it stopped and there were no students running around yelling. Also, good news, the kids in the building I’m staying in won’t be back until after I leave! BARUCH HASHEM for quiet nights!

Today I wasn’t scheduled for anything until 9:30, so I didn’t wake up until 8. At 8:15 one of the staff members texted me asking if I wanted a tour of campus and I was like, “uhhhh give me a few minutes.” Breakfast ends around 8 so there was none of that, which was fine. I got ready to go and walked to the administrative building where I met Mindy, assistant to Leor (one of the CEO’s). Mindy showed me around the building, introduced me to some people, and took me around campus. The classrooms are what I expected; the only way to describe it really is to say “it’s Israel.” There’s a music room as well as a recording studio type room where kids can record a podcast. She told me that while there is a gym, they don’t have access to it anymore; they stopped paying for it because no one was using it and it was a waste to keep it open. That was a bummer, but I guess the kids are really so busy and don’t have time for extra things. After my tour she took me down the road to see the stores that are around, or what the kids call “the Hod” (as the school is located in Hod Hasharon). There are a bunch of local stores, shops, and restaurants so we stopped at a bakery where I bought a pastry and then got slushy iced coffee. Nothing like starting your day with a nice dose of sugar.

there was a pomegranate in the roundabout

My first meeting of the day was with David Mitchell, who some of you might remember from Pesach 2017 (because you obviously read these VERY closely). David is Dean of Israel Studies here, meaning he is in charge of the entire Israel/Judaic studies course. He led a mission that my parents went on 3 years ago, and, on Pesach 2017, took us on a VERY detailed tour of Botanical Gardens in Jerusalem. Anyway, we spoke a little about what he does, but he mainly discussed how kids today are overly coddled by their parents and don’t know how to do anything on their own. I know I’m guilty of this because I’m already worried that the JCC isn’t academic enough for Hallie. He’s right, but to a certain degree it’s just our culture now. Anyway, somehow from there we got to talking Trump, and then he told me about how he’s taking a tour guide course. It was a productive meeting. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years I’m writing about the extremely detailed tours of David Mitchell. He can be the new Tzvikah (old tour guide who we loved but now can’t afford).

This is David Mitchell giving us a tour of the Jerusalem botanical garden in April 2017:

and here we all are with David and his wife at the botanical garden:

After David, I met with Rachelle, the Dean of General Studies. This woman has a JOB. She’s in charge of making sure all the kids are up to date with their general studies, not failing, and being in touch with all of the schools, teachers, parents, and guidance counselors. NOT easy. After her, I met a few of the people in the finance/logistics department, and then hung around a bit before lunch.

I was scheduled to eat lunch in the dining room, but then Leor, the co-CEO, suggested we do lunch, so we did. As we pulled out of campus, Leor mentioned the mental institution right next door to the school. He says that sometimes the patients escape and they have to go find them (they being the mental institution, not the school - it’s not a student activity). This is not something the school advertises. We drove first to a Café Café, but it was closed. Eventually we ended up and the same chain I ate at yesterday, which was fine with me. We started with fried cauliflower in a tahini sauce. It was delicious. Israeli’s know how to fry cauliflower much better than Americans, and I don’t understand why. Maybe one day, when JNF opens their culinary center in the North, they will train the incompetent American chefs to fry cauliflower, or make anything as good as it is here. (I’m joking; the American chefs are lovely, maybe). Lunch was great, and Leor is really amazing. He said he originally went to school for theater, which makes so much sense because that man is a performer. He spends a lot of his time traveling talking about and raising money for AMHSI. I learned a lot, and will hopefully learn a lot from him in the future. It really is crazy how you only really understand what happens here by being here at AMHSI. It will definitely help with recruitment, but also for setting expectations of the kids coming.

After lunch I came back and met with Elana, who deals with the fellowships that students come on, as well as some other alumni projects, etc. She was very sweet. After her, I was done for the day. It was early, around 330, so I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I tried to make plans, but Josh, Abby’s cousin, actually moved to Tel Aviv today, but he was too crazy to do anything. I got back to my room and answered a few emails, and then got a call from Elana (who I had just left) asking if I wanted to get dinner with her later. Perfect. So, it was about this time that I glanced at my email and saw an email from Debbie Freedman, head of JNF’s Human Resources. They couldn’t fire me WHILE I’m traveling for them, right? That would just be in poor taste. Ends up, I sent this blog to her instead of Daniel Friedman (a colleague/FRIEND in our LA office)! So, thanks Debbie for being so cool and I hope you enjoy the rest of this J. After that brief heart attack, I made some calls, did a few minutes of exercise (ha), and got ready to go out. Oh, it also poured again. SO much rain. I know it’s great for the country, but hopefully no more storms tonight. During this time Hallie woke up and was still coughing, so Tzvi and Sherry brought her to Dr. Sicklik. (Sherry arrived yesterday.) Dr. Sicklik basically said it’s still just a cough and we should ride it out. Hopefully it’ll go away in Florida next week.

For dinner we went to this Italian place called Nono (or something). The décor was really nice and the food was good. Unfortunately they didn’t have salmon, so I had to have pasta. I had some veggie fusilli with vegetables, which the waitress almost explicitly didn’t recommend, but everything else had cheese. It was pretty good. Oh, I also got a cocktail, because it’s about time. I had a “gingo” which had gin, mango jam, apricot jam, lime and ginger. It was delicious. For dessert I had something called “jandoya” which had pastry, hazelnuts, chocolate crème and chocolate milk Chantilly, and chocolate ice cream. It was delicious. It was really nice to be out with Elana. She made Aliyah and worked in Tel Aviv at a reform shul before starting at AMHSI. I told her I didn’t know Israel had reform shuls, and they basically don’t recognize any other parts of the Jewish religion aside from the Orthodox.

After dinner she drove me back to campus and here I am. I should probably answer some emails, but also watch some Designated Survivor. It’s so good. You should watch it.