Oh how glorious we got to sleep in today and actually function on our own schedule without having to pack for the whole day and then worry if I brought everything! The mission was wonderful, but having some control of what you do and when you do it is evenso much better and need I say much more relaxing. We woke at about 8 and had a leasurely breakfast. The hotel buffet breakfasts have all been so wonderful and different from what we are used to as breakfast buffet's. Sure they have an omelet bar and a hot bar with waffels or pancakes, but they also contain many cold salads such as couscous, quinoa, black bean, etc. Then they have the fixings for a regular green salad and bread puddings, potatoes, various cheeses. various breads and sweet rolls, different fish selections and fresh squeezed juices. Wow we have been eating good. After breakfast we caught a taxi to The Museum of the Diaspora. We called Danny, a friend of mine from high school who is a professor at Tel Aviv University and study the way plants work, so he could meet us in the front to show us around the botanical gardens. We strolled throught the gardens and greenhouses and Danny told us different and interesting things about the gardens. As it happens I thought Danny was a botanist, but was informed because he doesn't really know the names of plants, that he is a genetisit. So the tour was from a different perspective and very different. The most interesting aspect, and the kids, Andrew and I agreed, was the two story plant house that had the plant on the 2nd floor and you went to the first floor and saw all the roots (how long, the color, how deep they would grow and their shape) it was very cool. Danny then took us to get ice cream and left us at the museum where we went in looked around the gift shop and headed back to our hotel for some much needed beach time.

The beach was great. The sand was soft, but hot, the water was warm and a pale shade of bluish green. The sea break walls kept the waves from being to big, but they were definitely big enough for the kids to body surf. Zach swam a while then pestered us until we took him to a store to get a shovel that we can leave here when we go. Zach, Emma and Dania then proceeded to dig a whole in the sand in hopes of hitting water to fill up the whole. Afet a short time a Israeli boy came over and started helping dig. This activity kept Zach happy and occupied for quite a while. Before we knew it it was 6 p.m. and we were still hanging at the beach. We ran home got cleaned up and walked down the boardwalk for dinner. It was a lovely day.