Day 7: Thanksgiving celebrations

Today was a day of resting and feasting. Although actual Thanksgiving is tomorrow, we celebrated today because tomorrow morning we are heading on a road trip to Jordan. And it was the perfect day to do it, it rained and rained so hard all day. The rain never stopped and in fact tonight when the girls went upstairs they realized that their room had been flooded from the rain! There was literally an inch of water in parts of their room-yikes!

Anyway, the girls had school today and Haydin even had a performance in the morning that we all got to go and watch. It was so cute, she was great and it was so fun to see her school and her classmates.

Morning cuddles with my love bugs. On this day of Thanks, I'm so thankful for my sweet little family.

Haydin killing it during her 1st grade show.

Kari and I slaving away at our Thanksgiving dinner

Sebi entertaining himself with pinecone earmuffs.

Final preparations and CJ finessing his smoked turkey masterpiece.

Let the feasting begin!

These 3 were ready to devour some turkey. The other two, there in the back... not so much. 

Hannah had a special request that I sit next to her. I felt so honored!  I love her so much and I love the bond that we share with these kiddos even though we're lucky to see them once a year.

Day 6: Dead Sea and Jericho

Today we headed to the Dead Sea with CJ and Haydin and stopped by Jericho for one of CJs favorite lunches. 

The Dead Sea is 1400 ft below sea level and 10 times saltier than the ocean. Because of the salts and minerals, it works wonders on your skin and has even been used for its healing powers. Also because of the salt, you float vs swim. It's the strangest feeling... You just float with your feet up like you're on a raft except you're not. Somehow we picked the best day ever. The temp was about 70 and no one was there, we literally had the beach to ourselves!!!

This is the view as we walked down, it was quite beautiful.

Again, because of the salt, this water can be dangerous. Especially for children, I was so nervous about Sebi getting some in his eye and the wiping his eye, it would burn sooooo badly!!

The girls were so excited to float in the water

Stella found tons of salt crystals 

Mike and CJ soaking in the salt

Stella and mike floating

CJ and Haydin floating 

Stella and Kenz

Mud baths

Mike and I went for a mud mask too

At first he was unsure, but...

Eventually, Sebi got in on it too! 

He loved the mud

We even put it on our faces

Mud face and a view.

After we washed ourselves clean, we hopped in the car and headed to Jericho, the oldest city in the world. Jericho was unreal... although it resides in the West Bank it was everything I imagined the Middle East to be: Kids riding bikes down the main street, guys riding donkeys, big trucks, camels, street vendors, bright colors and the smell of middle eastern spices filling the air. And again the Palestinian people were so kind and welcoming, We loved it!

We had to stop by CJs favorite peanut guy and buy some peanuts.

The girls eating their pitas and Jericho chicken

My family of blondies really stood out here. Little girls were coming up to Stella, rubbing her hair and pinching her cheeks... She loved it:)

Probably one of the strangest things... You can pay to ride a camel at the gas stations-ha!

Day 5: Ramparts Walk, Shuk and Birthday Celebration

Today was my 34th birthday and what an amazing place to celebrate... During this week, CJ's girls are in school so rather than have them all miss the entire week, we are just pulling out one each day so we can spend some quality time with each niece and Stella and Sebi can hang with each cousin separately. Today the adventures continued with a trip back down to the Old City to do the Ramparts Walk and see some of the Muslim Quarter which we didn't get to see in our first tour.  

The Ramparts walk is where you get to get up on the wall surrounding the city and walk around it.  We were told by security that we were not allowed to go into the Muslim quarter beyond the shuk so we couldn't do the full walk.  Luckily the main area we were wanting to see in the Muslim quarter was the market, so we weren't too disappointed.  And it did not, disappoint.  It was fantastic, with a fast paced hustle and bustle, tons of bright colors, the smell of fresh falafel and spices, and the storekeepers constantly shouting out in Arabic for you to buy their goods.

After our walk on the walls and about 20 minutes of shopping, it began to rain. And it rained hard, so hard that all of our clothes were soaked and we were freezing after a few hours in them. We warmed up with a nice warm lunch with hot drinks and then headed home for a cozy evening in the house.  Kari made me an amazing cake and it was the perfect way to end another amazing day!

Mike and Sebi walking the wall.

Stella loved walking the wall and imagining she was a soldier shooting intruders.

Here's a view looking outside of the walls.

Walking the wall.

Hannah wasn't as sure about some of the higher parts of the wall.

A view of a mosque in the old city from the wall.

Stella and Hannah in front of the Dome of the Rock.

Day family photo #1

Day family photo #2

Stella waiting for her fresh squeezed pomegranate juice.

The girls sharing a fresh pomegranate juice in the Shuk. 

The crew walking through the shuk (Arab market).

Embracing the culture... falafel and pomegranate juice.

After a long day of walking and shopping in the Shuk.

A man carrying a cross along the Via Delarosa to pay homage to the suffering by Jesus.

CJ bought an umbrella for 20 shekels (about $6) it was the best investment of the day!

We had to visit the Church of the Holy Sepluchre one more time and this time Stella and Sebi got to experience it too.

Inside the Church of the Holy Sepluchre, this is the spot where they believe the cross was hammered into the ground.

Silly cousins, smiling despite the downpour of rain!

Lunch at the focaccia bar, it was the perfect warm, delicious comfort food on a cold rainy day.

Fresh hot cocoa, perfect way to warm up.

Thanks to Kari for making this amazing cake... it was above and beyond, she woke up at 5am just to make me a special cake. I felt so honored:)

Great way to end yet another amazing day!