Home is where the heart is

Tradition in my family is to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Rob said he had to tell me my gift, so I threw a blanket over his head, carefully unwrapped his mouth portion, and he told me that he was sending my parents to visit us that Saturday! The mouth received a giant kiss mixed with some salty tears. What a sweet, heart-melting surprise! Just hours before I was telling a friend how I missed my family and how it would have been the perfect time for them to come visit, and little did I know he had already secretly been arranging it all.
My favorite part of their visit is all the fun Michael and Ella had with them. Michael about tic-tac-toed them to death, but they gladly humored him about 100 times a day.
We got to do plenty of sight seeing as well. Any time I am around my mom or m.i.l. I get pretty lazy about picture taking since they both like to take about a zillion and I can just steal theirs. Unfortunately, I couldn't get them of her camera yet so here are the only few I got.

At the Nahal Me'arot caves. Scientists have found evidence that these caves were inhabited continuously for 200,000 years, including 5 prehistoric cultures. But I'm pretty sure the Neanderthal people in the background are fakes.

Friendly cat at Ceasarea

My mom and Ella at Ceasarea. Sometimes I don't know where Ella gets all of her sweetness and peacefulness, and then my mom visits and I realize it just skipped a generation.

Having my parents come stay a couple weeks with us definitely made Israel feel much more like home to me.