Shavuot

When we eat at home on Shavuos (yes, I know I spelled it differently in the subject) I can usually convince Shira to make fleishigs, at least for me to eat. Most years though we end up going out for at least one meal on yom tov and our hosts almost always serve milchigs. This year was no exception as we ate at the Baks with the Sterns and Goldfischers and everyone brought food. I can survive on challa, fish and salad and I avoided the lasagna, cheesecake and other cheesy foods. The food I did eat was actually very good and I know that this is what I get on Shavuos. I can't complain too much since we never have fleishigs on any other yom tov or Shabbos. We also had a really nice time with all the families and my kids played nicely with the other kids there.

Shavuos in Israel is so fast for the men. They stay up all night (I've developed this custom of sleeping for a couple of hours and then going to learn, daven and then sleeping until lunch. That works out really well for me so that I'm not exhausted all day and I can actually have a normal yom tov lunch and day with my family.) and then by the time they're awake and finished lunch it's almost time for mincha and for the day to be over. Unfortunately for us, we had to keep a second day of yom tov this year while everyone else was keeping just one day. It ended up being a pretty good day. Noach N. spent the day at our house which kept Zvi entertained. Leora spent a few hours at the Wine's house with Meirav. Shira walked to the gym and back (25 minutes each way) to do her sixty minute exercise class that she loves. Aryeh came over to learn with me while she was out and when she came back we went over to the Steiner's house so she could taste their cheesecake. Then my mother came over with the Fredj's and they hung out with us for a few hours. They also brought pizza which we enjoyed and all the kids watched a movie while the adults sat around shmoozing. Then we just waited for yom tov to be over. It really wasn't so bad but keeping one day of yom tov is definitely one of the incentives that could help convince us to come back here one day soon.