Noa and I are at the end of our stay in Israel. The second half has been a bit busier but equally as fun. As there are very few prepared baby food options in Israel, Ruthy has made her various purees, and we give her samples of whatever we are eating or whatever we find in the fridge. Naturally, we gained confidence until we looked over at her while eating at Mantina to see red blotches all around her mouth and puffy pillows below her little eyes. We suspect it was tuna, but either way it slowed us down a bit (that is until she grabbed the falafal out of savta's hand and stuffed it in her mouth). As I mentioned, this week was filled with excitement. Every day, when noa woke up at 11am, we headed off to meet with friends and family at a local cafe or restaurant and tried to return in time for noa's nap. and most nights this week, i went out with friends after noa went to bed. i ate too much chocolate with tovi and ronit, drank wine with tara, enjoyed "gedera pita" at sarit's chena, and danced the night away while eating pebbles that tasted like chocolate in a cave while celebrating the wedding of none other than sarit and josh. one night before noa's bedtime, we visited shelly at work and noa felt right at home behind the bar. chanan came home early from work one night (he wouldnt do this for just anybody) to bathe noa and put her to bed. noa gave him various questioning looks, smiles, and a laugh while he went forward with confidence and held the shower head over her head while she struggled to breathe as the the water poured down her face. he later read her a story and put her to bed, and from then on she seemed to be in love with saba. on a sad note, we drove to rehovot to visit ronit's mom, sylvia, in the hospital. later that day, we celebrated chanan and noa's birthdays, and noa enjoyed her first chocolate cake. On shabbat, we drove up to tsipori to visit the segev family, which is fun because there are friends for both ima and noa (and saba and savta). it is also reminds me of home in az, so i always enjoy the trip. as always, the food was delicious. shlomit's kitchen and hadar's deserts are like a kitchen from tuscany or martha stuart or something more authentic. while there we visited a sheep farm, and after noa adjusted to the sight and feel of pens full of lambs she let a lamb suck her finger. we couldn't get enough of the beach, so we tried the ramat poleg's beach front restaurant with gal and yifat. the deep couch seating, view of the beach, and sun made for a fun outing. noa also bonded with rachely, yifat (who needs to make children's music), eitan and all his sweet hugs and kisses, and of course ziv (my big sister in israel). and lastly, thanks to savta for all the "pinukim."