Jungle Bungle Movie

We ran out of things to do over this five-day weekend, so to entertain the kids we made a movie. Grab some popcorn and sit back to watch our 7-minute production.

YouTube Video

OR

Colin's Birthday

Our little Colin turned four this week. We took a tour with the Embassy of an olive oil factory the day after his birthday. Colin loved seeing the machines that smashed and mixed the olives.

It is fun living abroad because you always find neat things in the host country that you can incorporate into your own traditions. Here is our latest discovery, Jordanians have fireworks on top of their cakes (wedding, birthday, etc). We did a trial run on his actual birthday and it was a huge hit. Shelley made him two ice cream cakes, one for the family on the 10th and one for his party that weekend. Both were balls because Colin LOVES all sports. He is our little jock. We are thinking of sticking these fireworks all over the turkey for Thanksgiving! What do you think?

Party Time! We invited a few families who have kids Colin's age. They played sports-themed games and we had a barbeque. We made all the kids eat in the sunroom off the kitchen. It made for easy clean-up since you can practically hose-down the mess onto the patio.

We cannot have a birthday party for Colin without a pinata! He is our pinata boy. They were so cheap in Mexico we use to buy them for toys for Colin. We would tie one up in the backyard when he was two years old and he would hit it for weeks till there was nothing left. This one came in our shipment and it was hard for Colin to wait for the big day (thus the tape job to keep it together where he had gotten to it). We taught his new friends the "pinata song" in Spanish and it was pretty cute listening to them all sing their best version.

Cake #2! We started with real candles and then put on the fireworks. The kids were all so excited that we did not get any pictures since we were both trying to keep the kids away from the fireworks.

Funny moment: We did the pinata first so Colin was already eating candy when it was time for cake. We sang to him and no one noticed he was eating a taffy when it was time to blow out the candles. He blew and the candy went flying across the room! All the kids could not stop laughing. Colin of course wanted the candy retrieved for further enjoyment and did not even notice everyone laughing at him!

We sure love our Curby! He is at a fun age. He is either making us laugh or driving us crazy. He is full of energy and never stops moving. He still LOVES to eat and when he is not eating he likes to pretend to be cooking and eating. The latest thing he does is he pretends to prepare the Sacrament (from church) while playing in the sand box. He will say a pray and bless the bread and water (his sand toys) and then pretend to partake. It is pretty funny.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CURBSTER!

Marine Corps Ball at the Dead Sea

Last night Shelley and I attended the Marine Corps Ball. This is a yearly formal ball hosted by the Marine Detachment assigned to the U.S. Embassy. The event celebrates the Marine Corps birthday. This year, the Marine Corps turned 234 years old.

The event was held in an outdoor arena at the Movenpick Hotel at the Dead Sea. Even though the nights are cold in Amman, at the Dead Sea the temperature was perfect for an outdoor event. We enjoyed the buffet dinner around the pool and then danced for several hours.

Me and my good-looking wife.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Thank goodness Halloween is finally here. Andrew and Colin have been wearing their costumes for about a month now. Colin wakes up in the morning and wants to put on his costume first thing. They both love to dress up and are very excited for trick-or-treating. Between the Embassy and the American School they have had plenty of Halloween activities to keep them busy and their costumes dirty!

Halloween

We had a couple of friends over to carve pumpkins. Since pumpkins are expensive in Jordan, we resorted to carving melons and watermelons. They don't last long, but they do offer the advantage of allowing you to snack on them while you are carving.

Andrew and Colin with two of their friends at the school Spooktacular activity. Colin was too busy eating cotton candy to smile for the picture.

On Thursday (the last day of our work week), several offices in the Embassy decorated their space for trick or treaters. We had over 170 kids stop by and trick or treat. Our staff decorated our office based on the Michael Jackson music video Thriller. It was very popular with the kids and adults.

Gaby and her friends at school.

Tour of Our Home in Jordan

Several family members have been asking to see pictures of our house. Here is a small tour. We live in a four story apartment building. We have the whole bottom floor of our building. It is quite spacious and feels like a house.

When we arrived to our new home in Amman, it had all standard-issue white walls and a lot of empty rooms. Shelley has since decorated the house very nice. We had several rooms painted, bought plants, and arranged the furniture. It now feels like home.

Above is a picture of our living room.

The family room is where we spend most of our time. It has a sliding door that leads out to the side garden.

Off the living room is a hallway that leads to the garage. Shelley put together several black and white pictures to hang on the wall. The stairs lead downstairs to Shelley's craft room.

This is our formal dining room. We do not use it often since we have a table in the kitchen.

The door in the background leads to the lobby of the apartment building.

Shelley made the maid's quarters her craft room.

She likes it because it is entirely her room and out of sight.

The master bedroom. It looks out to the backyard.

Colin is our beach boy. We thought it was appropriate to decorate his room with a beach theme.

Andrew has a very unique room. We arrived to a room that had murals of fish, safari animals, and cars on the walls. We thought it was perfect for Andrew.

Gaby chose the yellow color for her room. She also helped her mom decorate with the vinyl flowers. It is a girly room that we convert to guest room when visitors come over.

We have a small grassy area in the backyard. We placed a swing set and sandbox in the yard to encourage the kids to spent time outside.

The Holy Land continued.....

The kids got a little ride at the Mount of Olives.

The Garden of Gethsemane

The kids and Luisa at the end of Hezekiah's Tunnel.

The 45 minute trek through Hezekiah's Tunnel was a highlight for the kids. This tunnel is over 3,000 years old, you need flashlights to get through it. We were walking in water the whole time. The kids felt like real explorers. Colin cried the first few minutes (it was a little scary at the beginning) but then he loved it along with the others.

Pita and falafel sandwiches for lunch. Grandma and Grandpa loved their first falafels.

"Granny" and Gaby had just enough time for a short camel ride while we stopped for gas near Jericho.

Standing above the Western Wall with the Dome of the Rock behind us.

We biked around the Sea of Galilee. What was once a small fishing village is now a tourist city with all sorts of recreational activities.

Murphy's Law: Ten minutes after you rent bikes the first rain of the year will fall in the Middle East! Grandma and Grandpa kept going while we waited out the rain under the trees. At least we were all in our swimming suits!

Three generations of Hawkes' men at the Israeli Jordan River baptism site.

Swimming in the Sea of Galilee.

View of the Sea of Galilee from Caparnium, where Peter lived.

This is near the Mount of the Beatitudes.

We spent our last day at the beach at Netanya, Israel. The kids were so happy to be at the beach. The water was really warm and we all were so happy to relax after a very full week!