It is hard to believe that one year ago, we welcomed Eliza Rose into the world. She has been such a blessing to our family and she is pure love. Eliza is a very sweet natured little girl. She is goofy and loves to make people laugh, and she wants to be part of the action. Eliza's personality is mix of both boys in many ways, but she is her own person and we love the sweet addition she is to our family.
Eliza is cruising all over the place, and it won't be long before she is walking. She loves all foods she has tried and especially loves her milk. She has 8 teeth and working on a couple more. Eliza wears size 4 diapers, 12-18 month clothes, and size 4 shoes. She weights 22.5 lbs (75%) and is 30 inches tall (85%).
Eliza's smile is contagious. She loves laughing and making people laugh. She loves listening to music and we equally love hearing her sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, probably her favorite song these days. This girl also loves to be outside, playing, and going on walks.
Poor girl had a tummy bug on her first birthday, but the following day we celebrated, though she still gagged on the frosting - a pure sign she was still not better!
Smash cupcake
Benjamin playing happy birthday for the birthday girl :)
Oh how we love you Eliza Rose! Happy first birthday. We are so excited to watch you grow and know that God has a great plan for your life.
The boys are in their third and final year at ACS! Caleb is in 2nd grade with Ms. Malhaus and Benjamin is in 1st grade with Ms. Sweiss.
The boys have had great experiences and opportunities at this school the past few years, and we are very thankful for the great teachers and friends they have made.
The week before school started, we took a quick trip to Jaffa and Tel Aviv to enjoy the beaches and explore the area. We stayed in Jaffa, which is a few miles south of Tel Aviv. Our AirBnB was in a great location to easily walk to Jaffa Port and explore the city. On our first night, we walked to the port and along the boardwalk.
We ate dinner at a famous restaurant called 'The Old Man in the Sea,' inspired by Ernest Hemingway. They served fish, of course, and the restaurant is famous for all the other dishes they brought to the table, which I think was 21 in total...as you can see in the picture. We all enjoyed sampling the different foods and the very busy atmosphere. The restaurant was packed and the servers appeared to be going full-speed all night long. It was really impressive to observe and kept the kids occupied watching all the excitement. The falafel and hummus was one of our favorites, which this part of the world is known for.
After diner, we walked watched the sunset and came across these kids jumping in the water!
Enjoying the sunset.
Benjamin especially liked the suspended sailboats. The Jaffa port was a lively and fun place to explore.
The next two days we visited the Tel Aviv beaches. The beaches in Tel Aviv were perfectly set up for families. They had a very organized system to purchase umbrellas and chairs, and each beach had public restrooms and a restaurant. We took a taxi each day to the beach because we didn't want to give up our parking spot on the street right in front of the AirBnB. The beaches were very crowded and full of families.
The boys love the beach and they had fun digging in the sand and swimming.
Eliza is a water lover too and she had fun sitting on the shore and playing with beach toys. This lucky girl even got to take her naps at the beach. We are so thankful for how easy going she is. If she is around 'her people' she is happy!
We went to a different beach the second day and the waves were quite a bit bigger here.
Enjoying lunch at one the beach restaurants.
On our last day, we explored Jaffa. Enjoying a beautiful view of the Tel Aviv coastline.
Admiring the old beauty through the side streets.
They even had a small souq that sold lots of trinkets, carpets, furniture, and of course fresh fruits and vegetables.
After dinner, we ended the evening downtown Jaffa to see the famous Clock Tower, which is one of seven clock towers built in Palestine during the Ottoman period. This tower has two clocks and a plaque commemorating the Israelis killed in the battle for the town in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
The next morning we had breakfast and headed back to Jordan. We were thankful for the time away, the opportunity to see another new place, and the ease of having so many places to see within driving distance of Amman.
The boys attended summer camp at the Embassy for the fourth and final summer. We are so thankful that the Embassy hosted the camp each year. Not only was it a lot of fun for the boys, it was nice for us to have them on compound with us and get to see them throughout the day! Each week of camp was themed, and the last week was a talent week and the kids put on a talent show at the end of the week. It was a really cute show to watch and we are proud of the boys for getting up there to participate with their friends, and share their talents with the community.
Benjamin told jokes with his friend Isaiah. He loves making people laugh and they did a great job with that!
Caleb and his friend Corbin and Bethany did some magic tricks. Caleb is typically more shy, and we were so proud of their performance!
In addition to camp, we had lots of fun playing at the park near our home and at the Embassy and enjoying the sunny, long days for the rest of summer.
This girl melts our hearts and is such a little joy to be around!
It was a fun summer and we are gearing up for school to start soon!
Within a few days, Caleb lost two teeth #'s 7 and 8, and Benjamin lost tooth #2 on the same night! There were lots of broken windows and notes to the tooth fairy this week :)
The boys thought it was fun to lose a tooth on the same night...within minutes of each other!
Of course, Caleb dabs for everyone!
The tooth fairy brought each boy a note and a dollar per tooth, and everyone was happy in the morning :).
