Saar archaeological site

Here we are at the Dilmun era temple and settlement in Saar. It was ancient and fascinating, but unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of good signage to explain it all. I talked to a woman who worked on the administrative side of the dig years ago, she is going to let me borrow a book about it and maybe I'll have more information then. She said much of what they excavated has been covered again by blowing sand. I think the highlight for the kids were the three toilet paper commercial cute puppies that followed us around the site. But I'm happy to report we were able to leave without a new pet!

Khamis Mosque

The Khamis Mosque is the oldest in Bahrain- with foundations dating back to 692 AD. The twin minarets were constructed in the 14th or 15th centuries. and guess who got to go inside them?!? We were like  "Are you sure?" when the site guide said "Oh, yeah, you can go up." Sure, these have stood hundreds of years- but the rest of the place is a ruin... Way cooler than any lighthouse I've ever climbed- there were small light holes cut in every few feet, it was so narrow, twisting and a real head bumper- people were short back in the day. And two open  windows the perfect size for Edward to fall out of without any guards- so that was a little nerve wracking for this mama, since he and Roger were in the lead! It was amazing- but terrifying at the same time. It was really neat to see the inscriptions and the stairs that led down to the natural well nearby.

 

 Here were are- arriving at the the site.

 The arches still stand are were so beautiful.

 

These are the centuries old stairs leading down to the natural well that was on the site. It is filled in, but the ground was damp- you could tell water was really close.  

 

This is the teeny tiny doorway into the minaret. 

 

We are looking out of the minaret to the opposite minaret to take this photo- wow! It was amazing.

And the guard took this of us peaking out the window. 

And this is us posing next to a beautiful Bahrani door leading to the site. It was a really experience!

Evelyn quote

"I could only find a uniform shirt in the dirty clothes and it was stinky, so I just sprayed some of your perfume on it." :)

Christmas photo

Here is our annual Christmas photo- taken by some friends in front of their house. So happy with it!

Bowling

We went bowling as a family over Christmas break and it was a lot of fun! Edward's shoes were too big for him, as was the ball, which he kind of drop kicked down the lane! While her stance was a little odd, Evelyn won! (Granted we didn't have bumpers and the kids did- she kind of zig-zagged it off the sides!) Good times.

Santa pics

National Day

We bought Evelyn a traditional Bahraini dress for National Day. The school encouraged them all to dress up. Here is her with her cute friends Faye and Sara.

 We got to go desert camping again with some of the very nice ladies at the school. We had traditional breakfast and chicken biryani for lunch that was so good! It was really fun and the weather was beautiful this time.

And here is Evelyn's dress again- showing off the pattern of the Bahrain flag on her sleeves. Awesome!