July 13, 2004
Travels even farther North
Brooke is standing up. Boy, are we in trouble now. She pulls herself up every chance she gets. She has only fallen once. She can also get around pretty quickly. She spent an afternoon following Tyler around trying to take his Matchbox cars. Watch the video below to see how to crawl on tile floors (no knees!).
Brooke crawling (video, may take some time to download)
I'll be walking soon.Our friend Allen Hansen, one of the church members here, volunteered to show us around the Golan Heights, the northern most part of the country. Allen is nearly at the end of his military service and had a free weekend. Despite the fact that the Golan Heights is technically disputed territory, it is actually very safe.
We visited Nimrod's fortress first. It is way up north near Syria and Lebanon. It is a 13th century Muslim fortress, despite a tradition that it belonged to Nimrod of the Old Testament.
Nimrod's FortressNimrod's fortress is one the highest places in Israel, 815 meters (2700 feet) above sea level. Don't forget, the lowest place on earth is the Dead Sea, over 400 meters below sea level. Now we have been to the lowest and one of the highest places in Israel.
View from the topNimrod's fortress has cool spiral staircases that descend into the mountain. From these rooms there are lookout points and arrow slits.
Spiral staircaseWe visited Banias next. It is one of the sources of the Jordan River. There is a an ancient shrine to the Greek god Pan. The location is called Banias because there is no "p" sound in Arabic. Also at Banias are the ruins of Caesarea Phillipi.
Banias stream
Tyler entranced by Banias stream(video, may take some time to download)
On the Sabbath, we had an exciting day. The new missionary couple came to Tiberias. They will be helping support the church members in this area. They are the Powells from Bountiful, Utah. We are thrilled, they will be a big help to our little branch. A new family came to church as well. They are also here on relocation for Intel from Portland. We were glad to meet them, they even have an 18 month old daughter for our nursery class. We are glad to have new friends living near us in Haifa. After our church meetings we had our monthly potluck dinner.
The other big news this week is that Tyler started pre-school. Tiffany is pretty reluctant to have him go, but at the same time is excited to have a break. It is half-day, every weekday. So far he hasn't been without Tiffany there at least part of time because we are easing him into it. He has already painted, held a hamster and watered a flower garden. He likes his new friends, but he mostly likes the new toys.
Tyler-isms:
"I have a tour bus like outside would have." - After choosing a Matchbox bus.
"She has a little mouth, that means a little spoon and a little bowl." - Watching Brooke eat.
"I didn't wake up the neighbors and screamed loudly, I screamed softly." - Explaining his actions at 7 a.m.
"Actually ..." - When he wants to emphasize something.