A Day at the Beach

(Sand art credit, Jan Miyake; it reads "Yisrael 2019")

We had quite the adventure yesterday.  It started with a promise to the girls that we would go to the beach.  The only problem is that Ra'anana is a land-locked city.  So we turned to a local business called Car2Go -- it's a car sharing service.  Monthly fee, rental charge, mileage charge.  Bing bang boom and you're all set to go.

But it's not really that simple.  You make your reservation and choose which car you want to use based on where you live and where the nearest car is located.  In our case, it was about three blocks away.  You get to the car, swipe your membership card over a box mounted inside the windshield, and the car unlocks for you.  It's really cool.  The only problem was that we didn't have the membership card.  So a call to Customer Service (yes, on Shabbat) got the car unlocked remotely, we got our membership card set up, and off we went.

Poleg Beach was our destination, a twenty minute drive north to Netanya.  We got there, got settled, and off we went.  It was Alice and Gabi's first time in salt water -- yes, even with three bat mitzvahs in Miami, they didn't get into the Atlantic (Helen did a couple of times).  They spent more than 3 hours jumping in the waves, swallowing some salt water (yuck), and generally getting more exhausted than they've been in a while.

While they weren't in the water, there was sea shell collecting... 

... digging holes in the sand...

... and burying one's twin sister (with her permission, of course).

And lest you think that the older members of the family weren't there, there are pictures to prove we were.

After more than fours hours at the beach, we were ready for dinner.  Some new friends (as it turns out, parents of a new enrolling Oberlin student I met in Phuket, Thailand two years ago) live in Netanya now -- Patrick is a high school science teacher at Helen's school -- and invited us for a home-made meal.  It was a great way to end the day.

And here's the view they have every evening.  Sunset over the Mediterranean.