Family Sukkah Project 2015

I realized this year that I've been labeling each year "Sukkot 20XX"... and it dawned on me that all I needed was the year. After all, it's not like we're doing the hand prints on a sukkah panel on Pesach, right?

This year, we were honored and thrilled to add a new hand print, from our newest grandson, Otniel. It was also fun to see how the hand prints have been growing on my two boys, and on our three year old grandson.

This year, we did the other half of the sky. It's above me, partially hidden by the schach.

To see all the previous years, have a look right here.

Pesach Vacation Photos

We decided that heading to the Negev would be a less crowded option for a family day trip. Plus my husband and I wanted to do some first-time astrophotography.

We first went to Talmei Yosef to a moshav there that's a farm. We got to pick purple, white, and orange carrots, a score of different types of cherry tomatoes, scotch bonnet hot peppers, and tiny cucumbers. They also have homing pigeons the kids got to release.

Afterwards we went to the Alpaca (and llama) farm, where were saw a shearing demo, we got to feed the llamas and alpacas, the boys rode a llama and a donkey, my daughter and I bought some knitted items made from alpaca wool, and we really had a nice time. The place was nicely kept, the people working there were so nice and courteous, and the place wasn't overly crowded.

Then we drove over the Ramon Crater for some astronomy and astrophotography.

We had brought jackets, sneakers, socks, and long pants to change into because once the sun goes down, it gets really cold. Plus the wind was really blowing. By this point in the day... well, early evening... the boys were wiped out from our prior excursions, so once the sun went down (about 7:30) they crawled into the car.

Jupiter and Venus were of course bright in the night sky. Orion and the Big Dipper were easy to spot, as were the Pleiades. My husband and I tried our first attempt at dark sky photography, and it was not too bad for a first attempt.

The bright dot towards the bottom is Venus and the cluster of stars to her "2 o'clock" are the Pleiades.