Here in Israel Mother's Day is not a holiday. And it usually consists of on-line cards and phone calls. This year my in-laws were here, but everyone had a bug and it was a very brief moment. But today however, we had Mother's Day. The past few months to say nothing of the past year, have been to say the least, stressfull and it has taken its toll on all of us. So today, I finally decided that we needed a break! As soon as S got home from school, we were out the door! It was really amazing! I had just about everything ready, and 20 min. after he got home we were on the bus. This alone is a record for us. We were off to the zoo! D was unable to go so it was just me and the kids. It was amazing. The kids were sooooo well behaved. They listened, well on all major issues, I did not lose my kids for any longer than 30 seconds at a time, minimal fighting, no tantrums, our only melt down was on the bus on the way home by Y who wanted his own seat, but there was none to be had. The bus was packed and we were lucky to have seats. The zoo itself was really fun today. S still pretty much gets to pick the zoo routine and so today we rode the train around the zoo, then ate lunch at the end of the line and headed up to the children's zoo. This is a step up from last time where we just hung out at the end of line by the flamingos the whole time. The children's zoo is actually really cool as has a really cool playground and the animals are set up in a kid friendly envrionment. Today the goats were out and we actually had a couple of shekel to spend on goat food, which looks like your garden variety rodent pellet. Each reaction from the kids was great. S knew just what to do and was thrilled. M had it pinched between her fingers so the goat had to keep licking it until he got it all, but Y just watched to first time. Then i bought more because I thought he wanted to feed them too. So I go get more, hand it to him and what does he do? Eats it! So then i show him what to do, but he mostly dropped it in front of the goat, Y is not as adventurous as his sibs, but he did get into it. M also shoveled her second handful into her mouth, but she really loved the goats. She was going up and trying to smush their faces in her hands like a parent does with a child. It was too cute! They also loved the mini ponies. The other high light was the Australian exhibit which had Kangaroos and wallabys! They have green space set up like a park with just a rope to mark of the path and the kangaroo turf. We all loved it and enjoyed seeing them up close. A good time was had by all. It is so much fun to watch the kids really get into seeing the different animals and able to do things like feed them.
After the zoo we hit the store on the way home as the bus drops us right there, no problems, we got everyone into bed and then since D was unable to go, heand I ordered pizza after the kids were asleep and watched Daria a show from MTV from 1997-2002. We have been downloading it and it is really cute. And now I get mommy time!
It is always really nice to have a good day or a simple day. But in our world they just don't come enough. It makes me so much more grateful. There is a philosophy that we must have "bad" or would not be able to recognize and appreciate "good." Well today I am appreciating the good and recognizing it all the more because we have had so much challenge as of late. It has been months since we went out and just did something and it was fun and it went well.
We went to the zoo in part because I had some "mad money" that I received in honor of Mother's Day. It was to be used by me for me. And although I could have paid a bill or bought something for myself, this was by far and away the best use of the money. Because this whole day feels like a gift from G-d and it is exactly the way I would want to celebrate Mother's day. To have this time with the kids in a stress free environment and to really enjoy them and enjoy being with them is the best gift that I could have given myself and worth so much more than anything material that I could ever buy.
It is 2:00am so I hope this all makes sense. But Happy Mother's day
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