"Christmas morning- Part deux" - January 3, 2011

We got back to Abu Dhabi late so "Christmas morning from family" was delayed to this morning.  The kids were very excited to open their presents.

I don't know who is having more fun with dressing up the dolls - Wayne or Samantha?

Nice pout Sam!   Gotcha, no those are not Rice Krispies in the box.  :)

Patrick is loving his cool things he got for Christmas.

Sam likes to get new clothes, especially when they're pink.  Work it, Girl!

Madaba - January 2, 2011

This was our last holiday breakfast - I guess it is up to us again to make breakfast and clean up after this :(  The kids did really enjoy the honeycomb that they put on their toast every morning.

We had all day to tour around before heading to the airport for around 4ish.  So it was off to Madaba to see the Byzantine-era mosaics.  The most famous one is on the St. George's church floor - the oldest Palestine map in existance.  It was orginally 15m to 25m long and 6m wide, made up of more than 2 million pieces and made in AD 560.

Around the church there were more mosaics of various biblical scenes.  They were quite beautiful.

After the church we wandered around the town and checked out the touristy  shops.  We went into one shop where a student was working and they let Patrick and Samantha have a go at making a mosaic - such concentration.  I think it was the only time on the whole trip that Samantha was actually quiet.  This was great for us and the shop keepers because it gave Wayne and I time to shop (we ended up getting a really cool piece).

We did some touring of the country side (below) and went to Wadi As-Seer.  We went past a Roman aquaduct and the Iraq al-Amir (Caves of the Prince) on the way to the Qasr al-Abad (Palace of the Slave).

This palace is thought to be pre-Roman; built between 187 and 175 BC.  There are still some animal carvings left: panther water spouts, a lioness and her cub, and some eagles.  The blocks for the building are the largest  blocks found in an ancient structure in all of the Middle East - 7m by 3m but only about 20 cm thick.  This made the stucture susceptible to the earthquake in AD 362.

Our final pictures of our Jordan trip were taken when I made Wayne stop so I got get some shots of the huge cacti that they used as fences and boarders (below).

We also tried to do a little bit in Amman but got frustratingly lost in the narrow, crowded, one way streets - so we gave up and headed to the airport.  All in all it was a wonderful vacation and we got to see so many cool sights both here and in Egypt.