Well I owe you all the results of my trip. I think It was extremely successful and the kids were great.
I believe all the planning that my husband and I did really paid off.
Kids slept a little, ate and played on the flight to Israel. They got really antsy with about two hours to go but made it smoothly until landing.
I got them to go to sleep (finally) by having them fall asleep on the floor under the bassinet and then moving them to a seat. The hype was mostly self-induced because we were anxious that they needed to sleep.
But I realized that I can't expect them to sleep as much on the plane.
For what we were asking them to do they were great. Oh and the baby was great too.
The hardest part about the flight there was managing the luggage strollers and children in the airport. The kids ate and slept Thursday night when we arrived at my brother’s and sister-in-law’s house. I kept waking up thinking I heard them but of course they were sound asleep. That got us off to a great start. We were able to enjoy a full day of activities on Friday and got us onto a normal sleep schedule.
Friday - Day 1:
Ramat Gan Zoo
We borrowed my brother’s car and managed to get lost while trying to drive like aggressive Israelis. We met up with my sister and family at the zoo and had a blast. The kids enjoyed themselves!
In the evening the kids went to the park. After dinner it took a while to get them to bed but again they slept thru the night.
Saturday (Shabbos) - Day 2:
Quiet day at brothers house. Kids slept late and got to eat and play a lot. It was such beautiful weather! We hung around the house most of the day, rested, and got ready for a busy, busy week.
Saturday night we took a cab/mini-bus to our hotel in Jerusalem. We tortured the kids by taking them out for late-night pizza. We enjoyed but the kids were cranky by the time they got to bed.
