Winding down

We just moved 3 suitcases, 1 duffelbag, 2 carry ons, 3 children, 1 stroller, 1 carseat and one large bag of food from one apartment to another. I am a tad exhausted but happy that we made the transition pretty smoothly. We had to leave the apartment we were staying in and are spending the last 2.5 days in Israel at my sisters place (shoutout to her and her husband for graciously welcoming us into their home).
I can't believe our trip is really winding down and coming to an end so soon. Not really looking forward to getting on a plane and hoping by Thursday all airports will be back to normal.I am thankful that we missed two natural disasters while we were away- an earthquake and Hurricane Irene though they seem to have both been on the milder side.
 I do think it was a really productive trip for all of us. We spent lots of quality time together as a family, and also with our families who live here. It was nice for the cousins to get to know each other and play together.
We also got to visit fun places in Israel- last week's highlights included a tour of the Belzer Shul (sans kids) and Shabbos in Beit Shemesh. This week we took the kids to the Jerusalem Zoo and to the Gush Katif Museum. I don't think they really understood what was going on, but my husband and I were very moved.
Tomorrow we are taking family pictures. I am pretty excited about that. I would love to get a nice family picture as well as some pictures of my siblings and their kids. I can only hope the kids cooperate and we get some nice shots.
Speaking of pictures, here are some from Belz. It's pretty impressive. And the history of Belz and its shul is fascinating as well.

Outside the gate

The Aron Kodesh

The chandeliers

A view of the building- all 20m and 14 stories of it