Last week the movers came to pack out our house. The first day they boxed everything up and the second day they took it all away. We are lucky to get a generous 800lb air shipment, that is supposed to arrive in about 3 weeks, then our sea shipment will be a few months later. This was our air shipment.
The boys had camp all day and Eliza and Tes went to a friend's house, so it was easy for the movers to do their thing. After the first day, our house was a bunch of boxes!
Driving away the air shipment...don't worry, it was strapped down!
They left the loading truck over night and the kids and neighbors had fun playing in it that evening.
Don't worry, these cuties were not packed :).
The second day was loading our sea shipment, it was close to 5,100 lbs! I didn't think we had that much, especially with all the purging I did leading up to the pack out. We had a few heavy items made in Jordan, which probably added about 1,000 lbs of weight, but it's still a lot, and I hope it all fits...
Packing up the crate...
See our stuff in a few months...it's hard to receive it after not having it for a while, maybe we will do more purging when it arrives. It feels reals now and a few days later, we got our flights to Turkey for 23 August! Since the Amman airport is still closed, we can only use special flights that are announced about a week in advance. We will be flying direct from Amman to Istanbul, then driven to Ankara. One more week to enjoy Jordan!
The boys have been taking piano lessons for almost the last 2 years with a wonderful Jordanian/British instructor, Mr. Sam. He used to come to our home, but post-COVID he started Skype lessons which have been wonderful. Last week, the boys had their last lesson with Mr. Sam over Skype. Sam is a very talented and patient teacher, and we have been very grateful for him these past couple years. We have been so impressed with how much the boys learned not only to play the piano, but also about music theory. Once we get our piano back, we plan to resume Skype lessons with him until we can find a good in-person instructor. Here are the last songs the boys played in lessons :).
It's been a good past few weeks, though we've had to say some goodbyes. The kids' friends Sean and Ava, who they met 4 years ago, departed post. Their parents Mike and Cassandra have been nice friends to our family over the years, and they are heading to Moldova. As this life has it, we know we will see them again, somewhere around the world.
Thankfully the COVID situation in Jordan is really good, compared to many places, so we have taken advantage of doing some of the things the kids enjoy. They have been wanting to go to the skating rink for a while. There was only a few other kids there!
Not only is it a skating rink, it is a nerf battle place too and they had so many nerf guns to choose from!
View of our area from the mall. I love the views around here!
This girl is so sweet. She is giving Eliza a kiss :).
She is turning into a good little mommy and you usually won't see her without at least one baby in her arms these days...sometimes up to 3 or 4!
We got new pictures for our visas to Turkey! We are very thankful and excited that Tes will be coming with us too, and all of our visas came back this past week!
Then, two weekends ago we went to an indoor trampoline park and Benjamin landed improperly on his foot. After a couple days of not walking well, Nathan took him to the orthopedic and he left with a cast. They think it is soft tissue injury and not broken, but to be safe they casted him. In retrospect that has been a good choice because he is not always good about using his crutches and we often find him walking (and sometimes running) on his cast. It is busted and held together with duct tape, Nathan takes him this Monday to get it off and get an x-ray to make sure all is ok. Our prediction is, all is good!
He stayed home from camp the first couple days to rest his foot. Eliza enjoyed having them home. Tes gave them popsicles one afternoon ;).
Just a boy and a dog. Benjamin is such a dog lover and he wants one SO badly. One day when he was home from camp, Nathan took him to a pet shop so he can look at dogs. Meet Teddy.
Back to camp! Masked up and ready to go. You wouldn't think it's almost 90 degrees by the way they are dressed...For some reason, they love wearing sweatshirts in the summer. On days we are at work, we see them throughout the day, and even on the playground they are in their hoodies!
Stay tuned for more of what we have been up to really soon!
The boys have enjoyed rock climbing the past several months. We wish we started them earlier because they love it so much and have really done a great job! They had a kind and encouraging coach, Omar, who is a college student, and I think he equally enjoyed teaching the boys. Here are a few pictures and videos of their last class.
Warming up on the rings.
Coach makes the lessons a lot of fun for them. Here he had them race to the top, and winner got a kinder chocolate bar. Benjamin barely won, but he split the winnings with Caleb. Notice Omar is double belaying them...this would never fly in the US!
Another cool thing the boys learned was lead climbing. Instead of climbing from a rope suspended from above, they climb with the rope in hand and clip it into the caribeaners along the way up. They both picked it up quickly, and formed their own methods for holding the rope and clipping it in. Here are the little spider monkeys in action.
It is a multi-level gym and the basement is a giant bouldering room.
The last lesson was 2.5 hours long, (they are usually just an hour), so they could climb as much as they wanted...and the gym is not busy at all these days due to COVID. They then enjoyed a well-deserved lunch of hamburgers, chicken tenders, and onion rings.
Climbing has been a great experience for the boys, and we will look forward to finding a gym in Turkey for them to continue!
A couple of weeks later, we planned a trip to Aqaba, but the reservation got messed up and the hotel was booked one of the nights we were planning to stay, so we decided to go the Dead Sea instead, This was a much better choice for our family, since it is only 40 minutes away and there is endless swimming in pools and floating in the sea. It doesn't get better than that, and for 2 days that is what we did...swim, swim, swim!
Just like her brothers, Eliza loves the water!
And she was indoctrinated to the famous Marriott waterslide. She loved it and went down with us many more times. Every time, she came out with a huge smile and said, 'again?'
What a view, I will always remember this.
The boys and I went to the sea to float on the first afternoon. It was well over 100 degrees, but I couldn't miss one last opportunity to get in and look across at Palestine. In case you needed a reminder....
Debating on mudding up...they decided no...
I decided yes!
Caleb especially loves to float in the sea. The first time we went in 2016, he refused to get in, nowadays he refuses to get out, haha!
We do a swim to the bouy challenge for ice cream...always works!
It was hot, but it felt good.
We ate an early dinner in the room and fell asleep around sunset. It was a good day.
Our room was just a few steps from where we were sitting and was right in front of one of the pools. It was a perfect location. Look at these two cuties sharing an apple juice at breakfast.
Ready for more swimming! Nathan went down to the sea with the boys that morning too.
We swam in every pool, multiple times!
Eliza took a nap and apparently was not too happy to wake up.
But she loved all the space to run and play.
It was such a fun getaway. We have been here many times over the past 5 years, and while this may have been our last visit, this place will always have a special place in our hearts, and many great memories were made here.
