guideApr 8, 2026

7 Days of Holiday Vacation in a Warzone with Kids - Part 3

I’m mad - honestly, I'm furious. What was the point of all this? After 40 days in a shelter, a midnight ultimatum, and a sudden ceasefire that feels more like a surrender, Part 3 of my 'Vacation in a Warzone' series dives into the bitter reality of Middle Eastern politics. From the frustration of being left away from the negotiating table to the quiet, heavy realization that 'normalcy' is just a temporary mask. This isn't the professional DevOps blog I planned to write, but it’s the reality we’re living.

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Yaniv FridbergFounder and publisher

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If you started from here, go and read part 1 and part 2 of my “Vacation in warzone with kids” story.

Monday 06/04/2024 - President Trump gave an ultimatum to Iran until Tuesday morning to surrender and agree to his terms. We will know soon where this is all going - whether this war continues until Independence Day or if it will be over once Passover ends. Personally, I don't see it ending soon; I think this is going to take more time. Trump doesn't like long wars - he likes to see results and move on to the next thing - but he also hates looking weak.

Wednesday 08/04/2024

From Hero to Zero

Not long after midnight, just before Trump’s ultimatum was set to expire, Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as part of a two-week ceasefire with the US.

I’m mad - honestly, I'm furious. What was the point of all this? Why have we been stuck in shelters for over 40 days? Israel wasn't even given a seat at the negotiating table, as if we weren’t the ones suffering the most from this war. Once again, the US has shown it doesn't understand how the Middle East actually works. It’s all about who blinks first, and this time, Trump was the one who blinked.

I’m sitting here wondering what Russia and China make of all this. Trump went from claiming Iran's "civilization will die" to saying "Iran can start its reconstruction process," while hailing this two-week ceasefire as a "big day for world peace."

Who actually believes this shit? Really? "Start reconstructing" what exactly? Their war machine? Their missiles? Their atomic bomb? I’m sorry to say it, but we aren’t that stupid. Nothing has changed, except for the fact that Iran now understands exactly where the US is weak.

Wednesday 08/04/2026

The last day of our "non-holiday" vacation.

Today is the last day of Passover, so it’s a holiday just like Shabbat. We went over to my mother’s for a barbecue, and my sister’s family was there too. We all realize that the war, as we’ve known it, is over - at least for the next two weeks. This is just how it is in the Middle East we are always in some kind of war. This is how it was when we were kids, and this is how it will be for my grandkids.

Tomorrow, the kids are finally supposed to return to school. It has been a very long time since they were last there. Between the trip to Thailand and the war, it feels like they have grown up and changed. Honestly, so have we.

We ate and we talked at length. No sirens went off in the background, making it a nice finale to the "freedom holiday," even though we know it’s only temporary.

I’m tired - I almost didn’t sleep last night. I’m not sure how we are supposed to go back to work and our normal routine after all of this. I know it will be hard - for us, for our children, and for everyone. It’s funny, I originally started this blog to write about my job in DevOps, intending for it to be a professional technical blog, but that just hasn't happened so far.

The Buds 2 - I took my wife’s SAMSUNG Galaxy Buds 2 after she bought herself a pair of AirPods Pro. She found a good deal on them when my daughter got her new iPhone. I was actually wearing them while writing the previous chapter of this series. What I like about them is that they sit well in the ear; they don't move around, and the sound is good. I really like them.

PXL 20260408 150622014 — picture of my Buds 2

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reviewApr 6, 2026

7 Days of Holiday Vacation in a Warzone with Kids - Part 2

Between the 3:00 AM sirens and the gray, dusty skies, the fatigue of the war has started to wear us down. This "holiday vacation" has become a series of impulse buys - from a PlayStation 5 to an iPhone 15 - as we try to find any way to pass the time and keep the kids happy while they’re stuck at home. It’s a strange, conflicting reality: feeling spoiled for shopping in a shopping mall while others suffer, yet struggling with a complete lack of willpower and a desperate need for a vacation just to recover from this one. Our sleep is broken, our parenting rules are bending, and we’re just trying to make it through to the next day.

Gaming Opinion

7 Days of Holiday Vacation in a Warzone with Kids - Part 1

In the wake of a Passover Seder punctuated by sirens, the holiday "vacation" begins. But how do you maintain a sense of sanity when the sky isn't quiet and the airlines have grounded their fleets? From the grueling 3:00 AM sprints to the communal shelter to the strange culinary inventions of bored children (Matzah Pizza at 10:30 PM, anyone?), follow the first day of a family trying to find a "temporary sanity" in the midst of war.

Passover Under Fire

The plan was simple: finish the shopping, get the chicken in the oven, and host our first-ever Passover Seder at home. But by the time I was hiding in a 'secret room' in a supermarket shelter with my son’s classmate, his family, and their dog, I realized this wouldn't be a normal holiday. This was my fourth trip to the shelter before 11:00 AM. Between a smart lock with a dead battery, sirens interrupting our grocery runs, and a family living in a small room inside a bunker, the morning felt a lifetime long. Even as I finally got the sweet and spicy chicken into the oven, a fresh wave of eight consecutive alarms forced us back underground. We almost considered canceling, but we couldn't do that to the kids. They needed this one night of family and tradition. Despite the threats from the sky and the constant rush to safety, we eventually sat together to read the Haggadah and share a holiday meal. It was a Seder we will never forget a celebration of freedom held between the sirens.

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