Shalom!
So we made it after 26 hours of travel time. Our trip started with a delay due to fog in Idaho Falls, but we were still able to make our connections. When we arrived in Atlanta we breathed a little sigh of relief when we saw our bags coming off the conveyer belt. In Atlanta while waiting for our plane to Israel we were given a little preview of what we would be seeing. Some of the men gathered together right by us and began praying (rocking back and forth reading from their scriptures) Jared kept staring at them, so we explained about what different religions do, I guess he and Jackson saw them do it again two more times while on the plane. Jared found it very interesting. Ben, Isaac and I were able to get business class tickets (working for an airline rocks!) for those who find this unfair to Jackson he'll be up front on the way back. (I'm not that mean) When we touched down there were cheers, one of the flight attendants made the comment "this is the only flight this happens on." We arrived at 5:30 p.m. Israel time (8:40 a.m. utah time) We slowly made our way off the plane and out towards custom, preparing for all the interregations we might be given. We walked up to a booth with a mid 20's girl, she looked at our passports, stamped a piece of paper and flirted with the boys. We then took the papers and handed them to another girl who let us into the baggage claim area. Luckily english signs were posted but our flight never came up, finally we noticed some people from our plane at a carousel that said Toronto. We got our bags (yeah!) and went towards the dreaded customs sign, (first stopping to get some shekels from the ATM) We walked through the customs door, a man was on the phone we looked at him he waved us through some other doors and lo and behold we were done. At this point we decided we should get some smaller bills so I sent Jackson off to buy something small from a store, he went to a bakery, when I asked what kind of change he got he showed me that he didn't have much. I asked how much the brownies were, he said 20 shekels (5 dollars!) each he bought four. I told him he was never going to live this down. Next it was to get our rental car, it was suggested to us that we would be o.k. driving to Jerusalem, we figured it would be better then the bus ride and cheaper (until we had to pay insurance, whole other story) I was very nervous about finding our way, but Jackson always seems to have a knack for finding our way so I put my trust in him and started praying. Let me just say prayers are answered. We only had to do one U turn and went straigt to the place we are staying. (Friend that Jackson worked with) We then got ready for bed at 10:00 p.m. and were promptly back up at 12;45 a.m. we then tried to go to sleep again. We woke up while it was still dark Jackson asked me what time I thought it was and I hopefully said 6:00 a.m. unfortunately the clock read 4:00 a.m. We all got up and had some breakfast and then sat around the table discussing events that took place in the bible and what we would be seeing that day. It was a great opportunity to teach the kids about the different prophets and stories in the bible, it was even better that when it got lighter we just had to open the blinds and point out and say "see right there is where it happened."

Today's itinerary
Sleep until 10:00 a.m.
11:00 walk 30 minutes to Jaffa gate (one of many entrances to the Old city of Jerusalem)
It rained on us the entire walk there but we were prepared with umbrellas and rain jackets
11:30 reach Jaffa gate head towards David Street
now David street is not really a street it's more like an alley (think Khan Kalili mom, dad and J)
lots of shops and shopkeepers saying "welcome, let me show you what I have" "looking doesn't
cost anything" "Welcome, Obama" "Where are you from"
If you do go into one, be prepared to haggle, we had one guy hanging on to both of our arms trying to get us to stay when we said no thank you. I did get some fun things like my red purse you see in the pictures.
12:00
Stop to eat right by where they just excavated Roman columns from the Byzatine era, we had pizza and calzones, I had a cheese and olive, Jackson had mushroom, sooooo good! The boys stopped and thanked the gentleman who owns the shop and told him it was the best pizza they ever had, it gave a cute hug to Bennett and was smiling from ear to ear, so fun. We then meandered our way to the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) I say meandered because we didn't have an exact map and had no clue where we were going, I enjoyed taking in sights and smells (reminicent of my stay in Egypt, it was strange to smell a smell I remembered from when I was 11 yrs old) The wall is actually smaller then I thought, it is divided into two sides one for men and one for women, Jackson and the boys put on paper Yamika's that are required. The wall is actually a retaining wall that was built when Herod's temple was erected (during the time of Christ) it is the only thing left, after the Roman's destroyed the temple in A.D. 70. It was so amazing to touch the wall, and see all of the little prayers written and placed in the walls cracks. We then decided to go to The Church of the Holy Sepluchre, where many believe Jesus hung on the cross and was buried. Again we couldn't find a place to get a map, so we began wandering (left our frommers book at the apartment) after a little bit we see a sign in the walkway that says 8th station (there are actually 14 stations you can follow that lead to the church, they represent different point of the saviors walk to His crucifiction. We figure we have to be close, suddenly a man steps up and asks if we need help, he unfurls a a little map showing where all the stations are and then suddenly shows us a map of the old city. We look at the map and find we have been going all around the church the whole time, by this time the kids are tired and asking when we are going back, we stop in a little shop and get some yummy Bakalava and hot choclate and then decide to head home and try again tomorrow, at least with a map.
Tommorrow:
Church of the Holy Sepluchre
Dome of the Rock
Bethesda Pools (where Jesus healed a man)
Upper Room (Last supper)

Things are going really well, we feel very safe. Hopefully we have better weather tommorrow!