Shalom Israel

We were greeted by our Rabbi upon exiting the airport. He hugged each of us and took us to our tour guide, Julie. We are in good hands. We took an Air Conditioned bus with the rest of our group to the Haas Promenade. "According to Jewish legend, it was from the location of the Haas Promenade that God showed Abraham where one day his descendants would build their holy city." We said the traditional Shehechianu Blessing recited upon arrival in Jerusalem then checked into the Inbal Hotel.

Jacob's picture.

We had dinner at the Olive and Fish restaurant with guest speaker Dr. Eran Lerman, Vice President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies. He was an incredibly smart man who gave us quite a history lesson.

Amsterdam Part Two

We are still suffering with the heat. One young local resident told us it is the hottest it has ever been and one older local said it hasn't been this hot since 1976.

The mornings remain cool so we try and get out early. This morning we went to the local street open market. There was a variety of stalls including this farmer's market.

We enjoyed croissants and smoothies as a snack.

In the afternoon we headed to Jacob's bucket list item, meeting the folks at Blender. Blender is the 3D modeling computer program that Jacob has been using for the past 6 years. Their headquarters are in Amsterdam! He met the developer and owner of the organization Ton who is the tall gent. The other employee does the videos for the website. Ton gave us a nice tour of their new digs. 

This was a great experience for Jacob. We are going to send him here next summer to work:)

Amsterdam's Central Station. They have amazing public transportation.

Bibliotheek, the Library! This was a 6 story library. It had AC but not working well for me. This part of town was hot and we just wanted to leave so didn't spend much time but I can add it to my list of libraries from around the world.

Michael asked our B&B host to stock us with some traditional Dutch food and this is one of them. They are sprinkles you put on toast. Jacob enjoyed this treat for breakfast.

We have enjoyed our time in Amsterdam. Here are a few things we have learned. The people are incredibly nice and helpful. Everyone owns a bike and it is the primary transportation. The population seems very healthy. Would we return? absolutely!

We are off at dawn's early light for the next leg of our journey. I know the heat will follow me but I am hopeful for more AC and ice!

Amsterdam

Our first day in Amsterdam was really hot in the 80-90 degrees. We managed to go for a walk to this old windmill.

Our second day we headed out early for our 8:30 AM reservation for the Anne Frank House. It was a wonderful tour which lasted an hour. I was so happy to have experienced this. One for the bucket list.

Amsterdam is one canal after another. I thought this was a pretty spot and not too crowded.

Jacob is keeping up with his Instagram account. This is a royal building.

We went to the Stedelijk Museum which was modern art and it had Air Conditioning!!! This particular piece caught my eye and it was called C'est What.

This box is floating and turns. We think it is computer operated. It was an impressive piece.

Jacob is enjoying the modern architecture. I like this stylized version of the photo that Google did for me.

Welcome to the class of 2021!

First day of high school. Jacob is glad to not be in a uniform this year. He made it to school and back on his bike so it was a successful day. 

Ice Cream Museum

Back in May Michael took us to the Ice Cream Museum in the LA arts district. This is a traveling museum that has made its way out West. 

In almost each room ice cream snacks were provided. This was the second room.

The sprinkle room was something to behold. We were all taking sprinkles out of various places for the rest of the day including taking some home. If the museum comes to your town it is worth a visit.

Middle School Graduation

Good thing Jacob was wearing his bright green sunglasses so we could see him.

Mr. Adrian, his 8th Science teacher. He grew up in Lake Arrowhead and went to Rim of the World High School.

Mr. Little, now Vice Principal. He was also Jacob's 6th Grade History teacher.

Ms. Bembry Drama teacher. 

On his way to getting his diploma.

Mr. Perez 6th Grade Math teacher. 

Diploma in hand.

Mr. Little giving him his award for 4.0 for the past 3 years.

Hand shake from the Principal and all done.

Final Thoughts

Another selfie by Jacob. This was at a pizza joint in NY.

Jacob does not usually take pictures of food but these donuts were worth one. This was also from NY.

Each cruise ship has quite a bit of art. We particularly liked this scrabble themed one.

These pictures are a compilation of screws.

This was the first cruise in which we spent Easter Sunday on the ship. The lunch buffet had quite the spread. We were particularly impressed by the desserts.

Dinner in the dining room was very festive. We had special Easter menus. We got chocolate covered strawberries as a treat. Jacob received some chocolate eggs. We enjoyed our final meal on board.