Our weekends are usually very slow and homey kind of. Both E and myself wait for our slow weekends and want to just be home together. Most of all we want to slow down from our fast and hectic, and sometimes even hysterical, weekdays. We usually meet our families for a big common dinner on Friday eve, which we all love. These dinners tend to end late at night. On the day after, we usually have a very late wakeup with a slow coffee and another one right after.
BUT, after a few cold weekends and a few rainy days (rainy as it could be here…) we wanted to go out and see some ׳after the rain׳ visitors, that we know will stay here for just a very short time. We planned to have a day trip with friends, on last Saturday, which means picnic bags and packing all kinds of stuff. I hate the “waking up early” part of a day trip, but we planned to go out early and we had to prepare some food and pack our picnic bags + the usual day trip packing. The advantage of going out early is that you can come back home early and still have few hours of weekend at home. After we had everything packed in the car + happy minions sitting at the back, we went on our way. We drove not more than 30 minutes to the Southeast, on the road to Jerusalem, till we arrived at this little green paradise. As soon as we found a place to stop, the kids were out of the cars running into this ‘after the rain’ piece of nature. The place was covered by these red coloured Anemones, but not only them. It was like a fresh sun & flowers shower. The kids were running all over the place finding treasures under their feet, climbing the little hills and exploring some hidden, ancient caves and some shy Cyclamen hiding under the rocks.Now don’t get me wrong and don’t grow high expectations please, we haven’t done more than a small walk around the area to explore. There was no need to go far, all these little colourful ‘after the rain’ visitors were actually under our feet, right there within the green grass – all over the place. The place was full with so many colourful flowers + these little black olives fall off these amazing old olive trees. I love this type of small size black olives, they are gorgeous.
We looked for a nice isolated area where we could spread our picnic mats, open our food bags and our coffee thermos and just spend a slow day together at this ‘after the rain’ paradise. The weather was super deliciously perfect, not too cold and not too hot, not windy – just perfect. Perfect for a slow and quite outdoor day with friends and with happy kids.As soon as we sat quietly on our picnic mats, with my first cup of coffee, I took this Hili bag out of my bag, and gave it to sweet little Hili. I put a small notebook with some tiny little colours from Muji, inside this pink flowery ‘Hilibag’ and she was so happy to receive it. It kept her happily occupied and it made my heart sing. We had some nice food there + this delicious ricotta brioche cake for desert. We spent hours of talking and laughing and eating and enjoying ourselves together.It was really a slow, pretty, enjoyable kind of day, all arranged by nature. We couldn’t ask for more. It was such a refreshment for all of us and no doubt helped us recharge our batteries before we begin the upcoming busy week. On our way back, in the car, we found these Beehives. E stopped the car so the kids can see it. I couldn’t get closer but managed to shoot this picture from a distance. These amazing Almond trees in bloom were smiling at us all the way back to the main road. Such a bliss. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of this white awesome bloom, I just couldn’t stop staring at them. They are so beautifully fresh – isn’t it a magic?
We drove all the way back and I felt my heart was full of this positive energy. We had a slow drive back home, kids were falling asleep and we were just listening to music all the way back.
Well, actually we came back early enough to unpack our picnic bags and stuff back in place + we still had the time to sit and watch an episode of ‘the good wife’ (which I really love btw).
Hope you enjoyed this day trip I shared here, I hope these colourful flowers cheer you up a bit, till you have your ‘after the rain’ visitors. Don’t worry, Spring is on it’s way to you, xoxMo.

ps. all pictures are smartphone pictures taken by me.

after the rain, Anemones, colourful flowers, day prit