Birthdays, Bizarres, and More

A bit belated, but here's some more pictures from Benjamin's birthday. These firework candles are amazing and we will enjoy them as long as we are here!

Make a wish, sweet boy.

The cake turned out good, you can never go wrong with chocolate :) Dig in birthday boy.

Who wants to open presents? Meeeee

Ben got nice gifts and says thank you for them all!

I think we have another music lover in our family ;). He had a fun 3rd birthday!

Another day this past weekend went to a Diplomatic Bazaar downtown. The late Queen Zein Al Sharaf started a charity called the Mabarrat Um Al-Hussein Home for Boys, to help disadvantaged orphan boys. This bazaar is one of the biggest charity events of the year and all proceeds go directly to this charity. There were over 50 nations represented at the bazaar, selling food and handicrafts from their country. The US Embassy represented with selling all beef hot dogs. We left with a big bag of food from Thailand, India, and Brazil and chowed down when we got home. Next year, note to self...go really hungry!

Caleb ran into his best friend Shawn and said that was the highlight of his day!

Brotherly love while waiting for Indian and Thai food.

Hot dogs and ice cream, the American dream!

Brazil had really nice fruits and veggies on display and delicious baked goods. They also did a Capoeira performance which was fun to watch.

And we found Kuwait!!!

Yummy Thai food we enjoyed for dinner.

The next day, we were off for Columbus Day, but the boys had school, so Nathan and I took a drive to Madaba, which is only about 1/2 from Amman. We heard there was a nice walking tour that went by the main sites, so we started at the Visitors Center and were off. Madaba is known for its mosaics, and is thought of as the mosaic capital of the world. There are so many beautiful mosaics on ancient church floors, walls, just about everywhere you look. These mosaics are from the archeological park, that contains the remains of several Byzantine churches and famous mosaics.

Famous mosaic on Church of the Virgin Mary floor, was discovered in 1887, in what was a private home at the time. The mosaic was built in the 6th century on a Roman temple, and it was renovated again in 767 AD.

Famous mosaic on the floor of Hippolytus Hall that shows the 4 seasons, also from the 6th century.

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All of the churches were on an old Roman street that ran through town. In the late 1800's Madaba was resettled by Christian families that came from Kerak, in the west of the country, and they built their home on the ruins, unknowingly and found them as they built. 

This is the oldest mosaic in Jordan, from the baths of a fortress built by King Herod dating back to the 1st Century BC!

It's a great time of year here and flowers are in bloom!

Streets of Madaba

Church of the Martyrs

St. George's church (mosaic map church of the biblical sites of the Levant)

We ended the day with pizza for lunch, and visiting some mosaic shops. It was a fun 1/2 day off exploring the country.