We had a quiet few days and decided to stick to our routine since it was the weekend here (Friday and Saturday). We took Mika out for the first time on her bike to her favorite local pizza place.  We do this every Saturday for lunch. Josh decided to join us.  Our pizza had just come out of the oven and we were enjoying our first bites when the siren went off.

I’m not Israeli, so I still panic when this happens. I  was screaming for everyone to come and asked the people at the restaurant loudly “Where is the shelter?”  They casually motioned for us to go inside and pointed to the bathroom. Since we go there every week I had always wondered why the bathroom was so large with space being a premium in Tel Aviv. Now I know why…it’s also the mamad!  Others quickly joined us in a more casual way. The restaurant workers didn’t even bother to come inside.  Many brought their slices of pizza and beer in too!  We heard several loud booms above us. One man told us he was stuck in Israel because his flight to San Francisco had been cancelled when the American Airlines halted flights.

When it was all over, we went outside and I looked up.  You could see a white ring from where the Iron Dome intercepted one of the rockets.  One of my friends also told me not to go out until 10 minutes after it’s all over because you could be injured by shrapnel falling from them sky.  

My friend send me a photo of the sky above her apartment.

Another friend sent me photo of smoke coming from the street in a nearby town she was visiting. The Iron Dome had failed there and a rocket hit in the street.  One person was killed.

Summer was home alone, so I panicked and wanted to call to make sure she was ok. But, I remembered I had taken her phone because…well, she’s a teenager.  We had biked there with Mika, so it would take some time to get home. We sent Josh home on a scooter to check on her. He called when he got home and she was fine. The kids are doing remarkably well with all of this. They know exactly what to do, where to go and are more relaxed than me.

I was very anxious yesterday after hearing there was a direct hit where the Iron Dome failed and one person died. The rest of the night was uneventful and we all had dinner at home outside.

Later that night I read that Hamas was planning to shoot more rockets at Tel Aviv after midnight. It’s interesting how they announce sometimes when the rockets will come. You can’t completely trust it, but in this case they said they wouldn’t shoot rockets between 10-12. Meaning after 12 we should expect something.

Of course, I couldn’t sleep.  Mika was asleep, so I went over our plan with the older kids for the night. Shortly after midnight, the siren went off.  We all slept in the basement – but not sure Jim and I got much sleep.