The half time I celebrated my birthday didn't count as much because we celebrated the day before. I got a Supertone's CD and a beautiful jewelry box that I still have and we ate cake. The next day was my official birthday and we were flying home but I got the coolest present ever. Right before we landed in Heathrow, I was taken up to the cockpit, buckled into the jumpseat, given a pair of headsets and got to watch the pilot land the plane (clearly this was pre 9-11 so that will never happen again and I'm so lucky to have gotten the opportunity- it was amazing!)
So this year, I once again (unexpectedly, however) celebrated my birthday in Israel. It was a great, great time. The "Yadlin-im" got together at Nachal Chalilit (trans. Whistling or Singing River) and went on a little hike. It was absolutely beautiful- so green and lush and so many beautiful flowers. The sun was out and the caves were so awesome.
They were pretty low down to the ground, placed up in the cliffs, so we wandered through them squatting down. My uncle and I found one that just kept going back and I wanted to see how far it went but we didn't have a flashlight and the light from my camera just wasn't doing it so we had to head back. 
The whole family- Guy, Dan, Karen, Ori, Amos, me, Rotem and Netta. Amir was taking the picture.
At one point, Amos and i got separated and went the wrong way for awhile but I got to see this cool arch made by the trees into a kind of tunnel and it looked a lot like the trees on the left side of the canal in Ox.
When we reached the bottom of the trail, we went to go see some old 1920s building- one was a soap factory and the other was a house built kind of no top and to the side of the factory. They were built by settlers who moved out of the nearest town and set up their own establishment but they weren't able to be as self-sufficient as they had hoped so they slowly, slowly began moving back into the town and nearby settlements.
Looking down into the soap factory from above- which we later went down and sat in.
Amir and I on top of the elevated house next to the soap factory- it was so cute, I would totally live there.
From the Nachal, we went to the Castel (no, it's not misspelled, it's Aramaic), which was situated on a hill outside Jerusalem. It was a contested area between the Arabs and the Jews and was fought over frequently during the 1948 War of Independence. Sadly I don't have much more information because it was all written in Hebrew and I can't read that well. All in all, it was an incredible view of the surrounding Israeli settlements and a few West Bank-ian settlements as well.
It was also so different from all the magnificent English castles I've been to in the last few months- Caerphilly, Cardiff, Dover, etc. But it was special in its own way. The stones used to built it were authentically Israeli and there was very much a Middle Eastern feel to the whole structure.
For lunch we went to Abu Gosh a little Arab down across the valley from Jerusalem. We were given plates of salads, humus, tahina, falafel, chips, etc. and I was set with my original falafel with chips. It was so so so delicious!
My birthday was so great- thanks for all of you at home who emailed too. Sorry I wasn't able to see you guys face-to-face.
The next night, Nitzan, Shoshan and I went into Be'er sheva for a birthday dinner. We did a little bit of wandering around Big, the new outdoor mall, bought some presents, they each gave me a little gift which was sweet and then we went to dinner.
And you can't go to Be'er sheva on your birthday without ending the night with Glida Be'er Sheva. So yummy!!!!
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