Thorin starting to crawl!!

It is amazing how fast he has progressed!!!
These videos represent the phase that I call 'much effort, little result'. It cracks me up how he lays down for a rest and to suck his thumb!!!

Dukan

We spent a wonderful day at lake Dukan, about 45 minutes north of us. It was wild to see so much water in this very dry land!

We are falling in love with these mountains...they grow more and more beautiful to us the longer we are here!

We drove along this range to get to the lake!!

We spent the day with our new friends/neighbors - they live just across the street from us.

Our wonderful driver, Dlshad, with Sterling

We were surprised to met so many Arabs here on holiday. This region provides a haven away from the tumult of the south!
Sterling LOVED playing in the water and had a bit of a meltdown when we had to go!!!
I love this face!

The drive home...

The boys...

I love this series!!!





This video is great! It gets a bit long but Thorins expression at the end makes it worth it : ).

Arrival

Sulaimani International - you can faintly see the mountains in the background.

This 10 minute bus ride from the airport home was the very last leg of our journey and Sterling was increasingly restless!! Chris, one of Tim's new colleagues was kind enough to offer his hat as a diversion!!
Clearly Sterling was happily diverted : )

Meeting our new neighbors (directly across the street from us) - a Canadian/Columbian family with 4 lovely children!!
Our new street
Milaina (sp?)has been so sweet with Sterling!

Sterling, watching the world from our front gate...

The whole family is big into soccer and Sterling loves the balls!!!

The journey...

Hanging out in the airport with my family...


Checking in
Our mountain of luggage

There were two Thai flight attendants on our long flight - they fell in love with Sterling - and he fell in love with this one in particular! He cried a couple times when she had to put him down.
View from our hotel in Amman
Such a happy face before a very sleepless night...

Leaving Jordan

Thorin napping on the plane

How stinkin' cute is he?!!!

First impressions...

Brown...brown...brown...dust and dirt as far as the eye can see...It's a real trip the first time you fly over this land!!


The eggs are better - I don't know if you'll be able to tell from this photo but the yolks are a rich orange...

The sponges on the other hand are quite a different story...this is how it looked after doing dishes ONCE!
Pizza? We've decided to call it naan with a little cheese (if you can even call it that) and some herbs sprinkled over the top...and yes, those are packets of katsup that they provide with each one!

Evening call to prayer...