Jerusalem highlights

At some point Laura and I went to Bethlehem to the Palestinian Heritage Center. It was terrific.
Meanwhile, back at the Albright ...

V and L hung out with Ari. They also went to the Biblical Zoo but I had the camera with me in Bethlehem so no pictures of that. Lilah loved the large Noah's Ark there.

Here's L hiding behind V in the Albright garden. They were fairly wild at the Albright, much to my embarrassment ... but a shayne punim makes up for a lot.

crazy from the heat

There were a couple of really hot days when we happened to be in the Negev desert so I could work on material from two sites. Near Lahav we stopped at a dead sea products store that was blasting AC as well as dance music. We said "Yes" to carrots.

the finished product

I forgot to include a photo of the finished chocolate items in the last post. They looked great, and melted only slightly during the 5-minute trip back to the house.

the chocolate work

Finally, a work to do, just like at school. But this one involved chocolate! We went to Galita 'chocolate farm' again this year and L made two chocolate lollipops and four chocolate-covered cookie sandwiches. She was very engaged, as these pictures show.

serenity now

in Jordan 4

We're back from Jordan. The above scene was unfortunately NOT from our final drive north to Irbid to return the rental car yesterday, or from the insane taxi ride to the border after that. Seatbelt use is optional in Jordan, and we didn't always use the car seat that we bothered to bring (see post and pic on Alysia's blog). The trip was hard on L and A I think. ACOR, the American school in Amman, is terrific, but I always felt that we were making too much noise in our apt, downstairs, or outside. I feel that it would be hard to stay awhile (months) with kids. Well, it would be hard for us.

At some point I'll post pictures from our day at the Children's Museum in Amman, which was on the list of museums to visit, actually. We went our first full day in Amman with Alysia, Jason and Eli. It's a great museum.

I was in Jordan because I am looking at the ways women are portrayed in daily life scenes in museums in Jordan, Israel and Palestine. It was hilarious that the ONE display I went to Madaba to see was dismantled or something; you can see the rotary grinding stone abandoned in this open glass display case on the left.

We are tired from the trip, but will hopefully hit the Israeli museum circuit again starting tomorrow. I will miss the ubiquitous pictures of Hashemite royalty. L and A were entertained with postcards of Abdullah and Rania during the taxi ride to the border yesterday. L was very impressed that a real king and queen live in Jordan in a real palace.

This picture was taken in the Archaeology Museum in the University of Jordan. Visiting the museums (7 total in Jordan in 5 days) was pretty maddening, as I ran around taking notes and pictures while the girls constantly distracted me. These museums were not interesting for L.

Two more weeks left, and many more museums to visit and more ground stone to record.

in Jordan 3

in Jordan 2; or, tender loving corn

in Jordan

We've been in Jordan for five days and we leave tomorrow. It's been pretty great and it's too bad we can't stay longer. Here are some pictures. No captions are really necessary.

cousins, etc.

Cousins Maya and Gilad came to visit our first weekend in Israel. Here is everyone hanging out at the pool.

A couple more pics from our first days on the kibbutz:

Playing in Haifa Mall.

In the tub with Ofri and Itamar.

Too many (unpublished) ground stones at the prehistory museum at Maayan Baruch.

Sarcophagus fun.

an evening stroll through the kibbutz

Classy, eh?

Here's the oldest part of the kibbutz, where we had our wedding reception 9 years ago. On the opposite side, behind whoever took the picture, now stands a restaurant with expensive sandwiches.

Pool and falafel

You'd think I'd have time to post pictures and stuff frequently because we're on 'vacation' and all, but it's been pretty busy around here and I haven't had much time to fool around on the computer. Plus, said computer (new netbook) is pretty slow and small and everything is more difficult than usual. Anyway. While at the kibbutz, we've spent most late afternoons/early evenings at the pool. The covered kiddie pool is nice, and there are always lots of kids hanging out. Here is Lilah and her friend Talia posing on the edge.

Nice hat, huh? Baby's first Tiberias falafel pictures. This was the sweaty-head day. The falafel was pretty good, although it wasn't cooked so well in the center. The salad selection was very good.Here's Abba and Vivi posing in front of the falafel stand.

L opted for a barad - snow cone thing from the big churning tank. It's sweet, cold, and cheap. It's since cooled off here a bit, and we had great weather Saturday-Tuesday, went we spent one night in the north with relatives and the remaining two nights on the coast at friends'. I then spent two days working at Haifa U. Tomorrow we're heading to Jordan for 5 days.