The Jolliff Family

  Jacob and Hap enjoyed their date this week.  They did some errands together in a city nearby and then enjoyed a meal together at McDonalds.  Jacob came back full and satisfied from their time together!

Just some randoms to start the week.  We have found a store in Jerusalem that sells German sausage and we are loving it!  I fixed sausage, squash, and apple sheet pan dinner.  It's yummy and a fun find! Today we decided to go to a football field and enjoy the sunny day.  We had a fun time and certainly got some sun.  We forget how hot the sun is once it gets warm here! Someone knows she is loved ;) Our turtles are so fun to watch and they have been busy.  We may have more turtles coming soon, it seems! We have enjoyed the cooler evenings and being outside.  Our neighbors are fasting, so they send their kids over to play to keep them out of the kitchen and to help them wards off the hunger before they eat.  It works out well for everyone. I have been sorting through paperwork and scrapbooking the kids stuff over the past month.  I have not done scrapbooking and organizing since we moved here, so it was time.  I emptied one tub like this o...

Sam has been going to an orthodontist for a few months getting his mouth ready for braces and he finally got his braces put on this week.  He was all smiles going in! And all smiles coming out, even if it's a different smile.  He put Dodger blue bands on for his first month, no surprise there! Obligatory tourist picture!  

Last night, Abram and I went on our date.  He has been talking about this for a week.  It's always fun to be with him and let him do all the talking and for me to do all the listening!  I heard all about everything in his life and also some very random memories from the year we were in the States. I can't help but be thankful for this baby boy!  He is so wonderful.  

  Today we went to Herodium Park on our travels and had a great time.  It was smoking hot today, so this was a great couple hour excursion which was perfect! Herodium was a fortress and summer palace that Herod the Great Built in 23 BC.  It was an amazing complex built on the top of a hill that they have been working on excavating over the past several years.  We visited the site soon after we arrived and were very surprised with the new excavations.   The bathhouse in Herodium is the oldest domed roof in all Israel and much of the columns of the dining room are still standing!  The fortress and palace was changed into King Herod's tomb before his death and his tomb only discovered in 2007.  The views are amazing and it's unbelievable to me that they were able to construct a structure like this.  As evil and mean as King Herod was, he sure did know how to construct amazing structures! We had a great time today and already looking to plan our next ...