Bahrain - Post 2: Manama Souk and shopping, Tree of Life, and afternoons at the pool

In the mornings we would get out and explore the city, then come home for a family nap, and spend the afternoons swimming. The first morning we went to the Manama Souk. The souk is in the old part of the city. It was a very lively place. The streets were windy, shops were covered, and people were walking, driving, and biking around. In the states we have Walmart and Targets, in the Middle East, people buy everything they need from the souk. 

I love the color of all the spices.

This building was beautiful and completely tiled. My DSLR camera is not working right now, otherwise I would have had a lot of fun photographing the fine detail.

I think the architecture of the mosques are so pretty, especially against the perfectly blue sky.

Walking through a neighborhood downtown.

In the afternoons, we went swimming. The hotel had a private beach area and plenty of space to play. Caleb's last trip to the beach was in Ft. Lauderdale, FL when he was 4.5 months old, and this was Ben's first time.

Caleb liked to run around, dig in the sand, and get his feet wet. 

Ben liked touching the sand, but he didn't realize he was able to get off of the towel. It was funny to watch him reach really far for something. Unlike Caleb, Ben does not like to get very dirty.

How cute is this little burrito?

The next morning we drove into the desert and went to see the Tree of Life, which is a local tourist attraction about 45 minutes outside of Manama. According to wikipedia, the Tree of Life is a 400 year old, 32 ft. high tree, sitting on top of a 25 ft. sand mound that formed around a 500 year old fortress. It claims to be the only  major tree growing in the area, and it has  approximately 50,000 visitors a year. The drive through the desert was interesting. After reading about the tree, we saw a bit more vegetation than we were expecting, and a lot of pipeline.

If you know Nathan and  I well, you know we prefer using a map to a GPS. When we moved to Kuwait, we purchased the Middle Eastern maps, thinking we may need the GPS at times. Well, this trip reinforced why we do not like to use the GPS, on multiple occasions. That day, it drove us through an oil field and some military bases down unpaved roads, to get to this tree.

Here it is, the Tree of Life!

The reason we only got this close is because the direction we came in, there was a barricade blocking to unpaved road to get around the tree. When we got a closer look, it did not look like tourists hanging out under the tree, so we decided to take some pictures, and drive back through the oil field.

Our path to see the Tree of Life :). Thankfully, the GPS directed us back to the main road.

Afterwards, we stopped at a small rug district that Nathan found during a previous trip. The shop was filled with beautiful carpets from around the Middle East, and this man had a story behind every one we looked at. It may seem rude to have the boys running all over these carpets, but this nice man insisted.

When we got to the store, the boys were in strollers. Within 2 minutes, they were crawling and running around all over the place. The man said, I have 14 brothers, don't worry about it at all. And if you want to go out shopping or to eat, leave them here and I'll watch them! We didn't leave the boys, but we did let them explore while we shopped.

This man is from Yemen and has been living in Bahrain for almost 25 years, with his wife and son. He was very sweet with the boys, and genuinely enjoyed letting them run through the store. He, amongst many other people, said Ben looks like an Arab baby!

Afterwards, we went to a schwarma stand that Nathan ate at during his last visit.

It was delicious!

In the afternoon, we hit the pool again. These boys were ready to swim!

The pool was packed all day and until late at night. Kids stay up late in this part of the world, but our kids still crash early.

The pool had a waterfall that Caleb really liked.

The boys attracted a lot of attention from the hotel guests. We were one of only a few westerners at the hotel. Most of the people we met were from Saudi Arabia. These two sweet sisters loved playing with Ben, and they kept trying to take him out of the float. They spoke very little English, but we managed to keep Ben above water :).

We enjoyed the hot tub after going in the big pool. One little girl told us the hot tub was the toilet ...I'm not sure if something was lost in translation, or if she really thought it was a toilet. Maybe it was because this hot tub was packed day and night. Thankfully, so far we have steered clear of any weird ailments after sitting in the hot tub!

Some pictures of the hotel

We had two good days exploring Bahrain, swimming, and playing at the hotel.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain - Post 1 - The journey through the desert

This weekend we took our first family trip to Bahrain. The time was restful and relaxing, exactly what we wanted. We love taking road trips and were so glad we had the opportunity to drive. To get to Bahrain, we drove through Saudi Arabia, which was an interesting and very pleasant experience. We spent time in Saudi each way and had a great time there. We thought we would beat traffic leaving at 7am on Friday, but because of the Eid holiday, a lot of other people had the same idea too. It was about a 45 minute drive to the Kuwait/Saudi border. The border crossing was busy and hectic, but the boys did great. A very nice Saudi officer shepherded us through the process once he realized we did not speak Arabic. We were thankful because there were several times we really would not have known what to do.

The drive through Saudi was very interesting. The roads were in good shape, and there were many gas stations along the way. Gas was about 1/2 the price of Kuwait, about 25 cents a liter. The scenery was more diverse than we expected. When we first entered Saudi, it was barren desert, and we would occasionally see flocks of black and brown camels. As we got more south, there was much more greenery and oases. It was very beautiful, for a desert.

 

The Arabian Desert

Black camels

We stopped in the city of Dharan, close to the Saudi/Bahrain border, to explore for a few hours. The city was modern, streets were clean, and the traffic was orderly. We drove down to the corniche to look at the water. They had a beautiful boardwalk, lots of playgrounds, and families were out walking. It was a lively place. Afterwards, we went to the mall for lunch and to look at the shops, then continued on to Bahrain.

                                           

Saudi Arabia has always seemed like a big mystery to me. It is a very conservative Islam country, and it is an interesting place for a woman to live, or in my case to travel through. One thing unique to Saudi is that all women, regardless of their religion, wear an abaya. Everyone we talked to while we were here was very friendly. People stopped to talk to us and play with the boys. One shop owner even opened a back room so Caleb could watch TV while we walked around.

This is the causeway connecting Saudi to Bahrain.

The water was a very pretty color blue and there was not a cloud in the sky, it was picture perfect.

The border crossing at the Saudi/Bahrain border was very orderly and much less crowded. There was even a man serving people tea as we waited for passport control.

Manama is a very modern city, with many skyscrapers and resorts. This picture is of one of the three mosques I saw our entire time in Bahrain. I think they look so pretty lit up at night. I say this is one of three, because there are usually a couple of mosques in every neighborhood in Kuwait, and two within a couple of blocks from our home. While in Bahrain, it was nice to get a full night sleep without being woken by the dualing mosques I hear every night. Though Ben did wake up at 4:30 and 5am two of the mornings...

When we got to our hotel, there were lots of people out and about and loud music playing. The hotel catered to families, and our room had a large tiled porch overlooking the pool. 

  

We spent a lot of time early in the morning and in the evening before bed hanging out on the porch while the boys played with their trains and trucks.

We were very thankful for this opportunity to experience Saudi Arabia and take a driving trip. More pictures and posts to come, of what we did during our stay:).

Sunrise in Bahrain

We are having a great time in Bahrain and we enjoyed our visit to Saudi Arabi. We head home tomorrow, more pictures and blogs soon.

Ben is one year old!

Happy 1st birthday Benjamin! One year ago at 7:14pm, we welcomed you into the world, and you have been the sweetest little boy from the day we met you. We fell in love with you before you were born, and you are loved by so many family and friends.

You have gotten so big this past year! You were 7lbs 14 oz when you were born, and you now weigh 22 lbs (50%), and you are 28.5 inches tall (15%). You wear 12-18 month clothes, size 4 diapers, and size 3 shoes. You have 8 teeth and you eat everything we give you. Some of your favorite foods are mangos, apples, bananas, green beans, baked beans, and macaroni and cheese. You feed yourself, and you usually end up eating Caleb's left overs too! You nurse in the morning and at night, and you drink a bottle every 3-4 hours. These past couple of weeks, you even started drinking out of a sippy cup.

You sleep from about 7:30pm - 5:30am, and you take 2 naps a day. You crawl fast and pull up on furniture. You take steps when holding onto things, and soon you will be taking off on your own.

You are sweet, smiley, and playful. You like when we chase you around the house and when we tickle you. You like to play with trucks and push balls on the floor. You You like playing with Caleb, and you two are developing a healthy brotherly relationship. When Caleb hits you and pushes you down, it is all in love.

 

You babble dada, mama, baba, and nana. You understand the word book and ball, and we can tell that you are soaking in the environment around you. You wave hi and bye, clap your hands, you like to stick out your tongue, and blow bubble noises on us.

You are the sweetest addition to our life, and thank God everyday he choose us to be your parents. Happy 1st birthday Benjamin Aaron!

Grandma Rose

I had the pleasure of meeting Grandma Rose in September of 2006. The first time we met, she was living in an apartment with her cat, Sugar, who was on a leash so he could hang out outside with Grandma and her friends. From the moment I met Grandma Rose, I saw her wit, love for others, and spunk. As I came to know Grandma Rose over the years, she was a joyful woman, and she always found a way to make us laugh when we visited. Though I did not know Grandma Rose in her earlier years, I have heard so many wonderful stories. I also learned that she helped potty train many people in town through her in-home daycare she ran for twenty-five years. Not many people can say that!

Nathan loved his Grandma Rose very much, and he has many fond memories of her. Last year before we moved overseas, Nathan went home to visit his family in Illinois. During that time, he took a memorable drive around the rural area around Nathan's hometown. Nathan's family has been in southern Illinois since the early 1800's, and Grandma Rose was showed him where she grew up and told him a lot about the history of the area.  She told him all about her life, the places she lived, and things that were going on with her family. Many of the homes her family had are no longer there, but the memories and legacy of her life will go on forever. Nathan will always remember his special car ride with Grandma Rose.

Grandma Rose was a loving wife, mother,  and friend. She had 7 grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren, and 2 great, great grandchildren! We are thankful for the time she spent with us, and that she got to meet Caleb and Benjamin.

I love this picture of Great Grandma Rose and Caleb from Christmas 2011, in Mark and Betty's house.

This picture was taken in Christmas of 2012, at the Golden Corral in Effingham. We had a fun afternoon talking, laughing, and filling our bellies at the all-you-can-eat buffet. 

Another sweet picture of Great Grandma Rose and Benjamin from Christmas 2012, at Mark and Betty's house. Grandma Rose had such a sweet way with babies, you can see the love she has for her family.

A friend of mine wrote a story for her daughter, that reminded me of Grandma Rose.

We carry a light that beams out to this world.  This light is called our soul light. Our soul light comes with us where ever we go. When acting in kind and loving ways, our soul light shines bright and lights up this world.  Some people have forgotten how to turn it on their soul light. You can help remind them by keeping your light shining bright. 

Angels see you by this light. This light that shines is your truth. This light is constant and everlasting. Thoughts and actions may change your light at times, however your soul is like a rainbow, bestowing it's beauty to the world.

Let your light beam like the sun, radiating outward to everything you see and touch. Let your light feed the plants, the flowers, the trees, and the birds. Let your light feed your family, your friends, and strangers by making their day brighter and having your kindness and love around. 

Grandma Rose, your soul light beams outward on us, and helps make the world a brighter place. We love you today and always.

Virginia Rose McPeak Freeman

August 8, 1920 - October 5, 2013

Where the East meets the West

Nathan recently returned from some travel to the crossroads of where the East meets the West. He said it was green, lively, and an interesting place to visit. Enjoy the pictures!

 

 

Happy 4 Year Anniversary

Happy 4 Year Anniversary to the love of my life! With each new day and new experience we have together, I love you more and more. We have been on a lot of adventures over the years, and I love every minute of them. I thank God everyday that he choose me for you.

Nathan's Birthday

Nathan was away the last few weeks, and he got home last night! We missed him a lot and were all excited he was back with us. While he was gone, Tes took great care of our family.

We celebrated Nathan's birthday last night, and I cooked his traditional birthday meal of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. Since we can't purchase pork on the economy, we get what the Embassy has available, and we were able to find some delicious Bratwurst.

Each year I make Nathan a birthday cake, and this year I decided to try his mom's ice cream cake roll recipe, that she always made for his birthdays growing up. I probably should have talked to her first to get some tips because did not look quite as nice as hers, but it sure tasted good. And of course we celebrated Middle Eastern style. Good thing we did not have 33 of these candles! Just 3 make our smoke alarm go off.

We played with the boys for the rest of the evening and enjoyed being back together. Tonight the boys helped Nathan opened some nice gifts he received from family.

We love you Nathan, Happy 33rd birthday to you!