Hell in the Air and Other Travel Tidbits (Josh, July 18)

Moscow Airport

God knows what time it is. My clock says 12:20 AM. I think that's what it is in America but not sure why that matters right now. The clock on the wall says 8:20. I believe this is the first time I've been in a time zone east of Israel. In Switzerland I think it's 6:20 and in Israel it's 7:20. But I'm not in any of those places so who cares. Anan is flipping super goal cards with glee. Yadin is finally asleep after staying awake all night. I don't know if this is good or bad in the long term. For now- definitely good. I just paid 250 rubles for a coffee. I suppose that my grandfather would find that ridiculous. He probably could have bought a goat for 250 rubles. I think that that's 8 bucks. Who knew Moscow was so expensive. But I feel much better. Aerotranset the Russian airline we flew sent the stroller to baggage claim. But you need a Russian visa to get to baggage claim. I told them my grandfather was Russian. Didn't get the stroller. Supposedly it will show up in new York. So far Russia is helping me understand why so many Russians moved to Israel.

Been writing this note for about ten minutes. The pic at the beginning was taken before I started writing. Here's one at the end. The reader will kindly note that Anan remains focused on task at hand.

New Lounge - No Seats - Somewhere in the Moscow Airport

So now we are in a different lounge still waiting. Some observations on the kids. Zoey seems to be at her best when taking responsibility for others. It is extremely crowded here (we're sitting on the floor). She waited patiently in line for bathroom with Rakia. Twice.

Anan can be a good sharer. He gave Yadin some of his cards without batting an eye. In general he is one if the easiest guys in the world to get along with.

I wish Yadin could sort out his sleeping problems. He really stays awake all night and is now fast asleep.

A general observation- Russian women don't age well.

Anan is now playing supergoal cards in the third waiting area. I bought these cards before Switzerland. Glad I saved them.

Hell in the Air 

The good news- personal tv's! The bad news- they don't work.

The good news- the kids slept for two hours at the start of the flight. The bad news- the flight is about ten hours.

My attitude was just to ignore them going wild. This worked okay until Anan deposited his gum in Zoey's hair. His excuse- I couldn't find the garbage. Hmm. How do I handle this one? The best I think I can muster is to make him feel really bad. Heavy guilt.

Peace and Harmony Restored to the Galaxy

Their fury spent, the two feuding parties return to their usual endeavors.

Lessons learned- don't put gum in your sister's hair.

More important lesson learned- forgiving grants power to the forgiver. Opportunities for future manipulation abound.

Only two hours till we get off this goddamn plane.

Final Count (since I'm from a family of accountants)

29 trains (31 for Josh, 30 for Zoey)
 6 trams
 3 buses
 2 gondolas
 2 cable cars
 1 funicular train
 1 glass elevator up a glacier

4 children
2 adults
4 suitcases
1 bicycle
1 stroller
1 baby backpack not really meant for a heavy 3 1/2 year old....

I Liked Everything (Anan's 4 days in Zurich)

There's me on the left, running after Abba
(on the right)

Mommy woke me very early for the start of the swim and race. We didn't see Abba because everybody looked the same with the hats (editor note: bathing caps). We had a breakfast picnic on a bench. After that we saw people starting to get out of the water. We saw Abba, then we went where they start to ride their bikes and we saw him go out. We needed to go really fast to see him, but we didn't miss him, and we cheered him on. We did signs for Abba and then we brought Adi and Zoey and Matan to the IronKids. When they started to warm up it was pouring hail and nobody was really warming up. Then after five minutes they started. I was excited for Zoey and I was kind of wet. After the IronKids we went to where they run and we were looking out for Abba and Daniel. After a couple minutes we saw Daniel, and we also saw Zack's Dad, and Zack's Dad said to us that Abba was five minutes away because he went to the bathroom. After that we saw him and he gave us a kiss and a high five. After a while, I got about 50 hand slaps and then I got about 56 and I got six girls' slaps and 100 boys' slaps. We saw Abba running two more times around and then we came to the finish line and after 15 minutes we saw Daniel finish and after 14 minutes after that we saw Abba finish. Abba looked tired and happy.

Six girls slaps and 100 boys slaps

A day before he taught me about the bike. He taught me about road bikes, mountain bikes, and triathlon bikes. And he had the Cervelo bike. There's P5 and E1-18. And the guy that told us about P5, it was a disc wheel and he also loves 404 and also Abba loves 404. 404 is one of the really good wheels. Matan also told me about the racing bike.

Here comes Abba. The first time we saw
him on the run.

Here's my sister making
signs. Isn't she cute?

The next day (Monday), we went to the zoo and we bought Abba two kinds of ice cream for his birthday. And he didn't really came to the zoo because he was tired because the day before he did a big Ironman. He came to the zoo for a little while but he didn't really see everything because he didn't have sleep. I liked also when Mommy bought us ice cream and I was sorry for Mommy that I was yelling every minute because Yadin and Zoey were bothering me. We saw animals. We saw the female lion, and then we saw another female lion and then we saw a real lion. I also liked the seals and the snake. I also saw a big snake and I saw a crocodile but not a big one, a little one, like Rakia.

Rakia loved the gorillas. This is the point that I was screaming
 because I wanted to go see the snakes and crocodiles.

When we were in Zurich two days ago, so we went to this place that has like, a net, and a lot of balls, and paddles. Also on that day we went paddling. And we did boys and girls (boats), with the Pearlmans.

I liked everything!

IronKid (Zoey, July 15)

Yesterday was a really good day. Me, Mommy, Anan, Rakia, Yadin and the Pearlmans went to see Abba and Daniel doing an Ironman. It was really fun watching. First we saw them doing the swim and then the bike. And during the bike, me Matan and Adi did an IronKids. It was so much fun.  It was a swim and then run. Before we got to the lake to start swimming, we had to jump up and down to warm up. And it was pouring rain and a bit hailing. When we got into the water it was freezing cold. We had to do three laps and then run out of the water and start running. It was pretty easy but because it was colder it made it harder. After the race, I got a medal. We went back home and took a shower rested a bit. And ate lunch.

Then we went back to watch Abba on the run. Abba was doing really good. We saw him do a lot of laps. Then I went with Matan and Adi to the bouncy things. Then we saw Daniel and Anna finish. It was a really happy moment for both of them. In the end of the Ironman, we got some ice cream and went back home.

Conquering the Ironman (Josh's post, July 15)

Yesterday I did my second Ironman triathlon with the kids there to watch. Julie brought them in the early morn for the seven AM swim start. I saw Zoey and Anan when I got out of the water. Then I mostly saw them again on the run. The excitement they showed while I was racing was infectious to me and to other athletes as well. Some guy even told me there were some kids giving high fives to him all day not knowing they were mine. Anan claims to have given high fives to over one hundred guys and six girls.  He was pretty psyched about that one. Knowing I would see them every lap made me work harder to look positive through the heaps of physical and mental suffering I and everyone was undergoing. And I hope it showed them that will can conquer anything. It was one if the best days I've had and it capped off a great week here in Switzerland. 

The Long Waterfall with a Big Rainbow (Anan's day, July 12)

Nobody but the fish, not really sharks.
Not sure where he got that one from.

Trummelbach Falls: Slippery, noisy and wet

We started to go on the train. And then when we got off in Lauterbrunnen we started to do a little hike. In the hike it took us about two hours instead of 45 minutes because Rakia was always stopping. And then we went on a trail that starts from somewhere that has water and it ends in the ocean. In the start we saw waterfalls six til ten and then we went all the way to the top from a big elevator inside the mountain. And when we went all the way to the top where the water comes from, so we saw a big hole that has a lot of cold water in it. It was like nobody could live there except from the fish and not really sharks. It was slippery, noisy and wet. It was cool when we went to waterfalls five through two, there was really cool stuff and in the end we saw another up and it was a little up and when we came up we saw a big waterfall and you could see a rainbow on it and the other side you could see another waterfall like its shooting a gun but it shoots water.

And then we went back. That's it.

10 Waterfalls in One Mountain (Zoey, July 12)

Today we woke up pretty late because Mommy and Abba let us sleep in. Afterwards, we took a train to Lauterbrunnen. At Lauterbrunnen, we took a walk to this really cool waterfall that you could walk up and then go under it. It was really cool. Then we walked for a while and sat down at some picnic tables and had some lunch. After lunch we walked to this really cool place with a lot of waterfalls. Its called Trummelbach Falls. At Trummelbach Falls, to get to the waterfalls, we had to go up the mountain. We took this elevator inside the mountain that was going fast. The water was going really fast and it sprayed us a bit. It was pretty cool. It was really loud, but it was fun. We walked down all the steps, but on our way down we stopped for more waterfalls. We saw 10 waterfalls in one mountain.

Afterwards, we walked back to Lauterbrunnen and took the train back to Wengen.

At Wengen, we went to the pool and me and Anan jumped on the trampoline for a while. It was really really fun. I love the trampoline. Then the pool closed so we went back home to eat some dinner and pack up because we're going to Zurich tomorrow. Afterwards I'm doing the blog and soon I'm going to bed because I have to wake up early tomorrow to get the train.