Sahara Desert Day 2

Day two in the Sahara started out by watching the sunrise on Salt Flats. The Salt Flats looked just like the Bonnevile Salt Flats in Utah. I wasn't too impressed since I grew up by Salt Flats. BUT, I was impressed with the salt statue. Look for it in the slide show below. We also took a ride in a Land Cruiser through the desert. We saw some of the BIGGEST sand dunes I've ever seen. We also saw another setting for Star Wars. You might recognize it from Star Wars Espisode 1. The kids could careless about the star wars stuff, they were so excited to get out and roll around in the sand. The sand was so soft. It felt like powdered sugar. We filled up three water bottles of it to bring home. Bailee was really lucky and found a sand crystal in the sand while she was digging.

Along our drive we saw real Shepards watching their flocks. Perfect for this time of year. We saw Nomads living in huts. We also saw wild camels. They were everywhere. In fact, I would dare say we saw as many camels as we did buffalo in Yellowstone last year. There was even a road sign that said "Camel Crossing". Our driver thought we were crazy to get so excited over camels. Little background of our driver. He is Tunisian. When we hopped in to the Land Cruiser we started speaking English with him and he said, "No English". He proceeded to ask if we spoke Tunisian, Arabic or French. Of course we said no. He then said "Spanish?" Jon jumped all over that one and said "Si!" It was so weird hearing Jon speaking to this man in Spanish. He would carry on the conversations and then translate for the kids and I. See, missions do pay off!!!

From the Star Wars scene we rode over to a little village called Chebika. Chebika is famous for a little waterfall with beautiful scenery. It seriously was breathtaking. The movie The English Patient was filmed here. (I'm beginning to think only movies are filmed in Tunisia!). Jon bartered with the village folk selling souvenirs and got a steal of a deal on a rock with purple crystals inside. Don't know what we are going to do with the rock but hey, it was a good deal!

After Chebika we made a long bus ride back to the resort to enjoy our last day in the sun. When we went to the airport we found out you aren't allowed to take any Tunisian money out of Tunisia. We went on a major spending spree to try and use the 40 dinars we had left. After arriving home and starting the mounds of laundry, I found 1 dinar left in my pocket. Oops! I guess you can say it's a rare coin since you can't find it only in Tunisia so I'm willing to sell it to the highest bidder!

We loved Tunisia and would go back in a heart beat! Enjoy the pictures of our last day in the Sahara.

Sahara Desert Day 1

The middle of our trip we took a two day excursion to the Sahara Desert. It was a long bus ride (6 + hours both directions) but so worth it! Along the way we stopped in El Jem to see a Roman Amphitheatre. This is one of the greatest monuments that the Romans left in Africa. It was amazing and has got us excited to go to Rome in March. The movies Gladiator and Star Wars were filmed in this Amphitheatre. Our walk from the bus to the amphitheatre was even more exciting. As soon as we got off the bus men came from no where wanting us to buy some map or something. They would grab your hand and put the map right in your hand and then ask for money. Also, there were men selling souvenirs along the way and they would come at you with junk and want you to buy it. They were touching the children's hair and faces. It was freaking me out! I picked up Tally and had Chase and Bailee hold on to Jon's hands and told the men in English and Dutch NO! I was glad to get in the Amphitheatre and back to the bus all in one piece.

We left El Jem and headed to Matmata. Along the way it was so interesting to see the landscape change from Olive trees as far as the eye could see to Date Trees. Matmata was also another setting for the movie Star Wars. We ate lunch in a Trogloodyte (man made caves where people live). Not sure what Star Wars movie was filmed here but we took some picture. The lunch was traditional Tunisian food called Goos Goos. It is like a stew with some kind of yellow rice. It was pretty good. In Matmata there are large mountains with barriers built around. Again, another scene from Star Wars. Jon recognized all the stuff from the movie but I had no idea. (okay I'll confess, I've never seen star wars!)

From Matmata we headed straight for the Sahara to an oasis village called Douz. It was in Douz where we hopped on our camels and took a ride in to the Sahara and watched the sunset. It was absolutely beautiful!! Our pictures don't do it justice. Talynn rode the camel with me, Chase rode with Jon and Bailee had to be brave and go alone. Talynn and I were the first on the camels. I was so nervous but didn't want Bailee to know so I tried my best to be brave. As soon as the camel stood up I think I threw out a little scream. It was so weird. Next was Bailee's turn. She didn't want to get on the camel but our tour guide didn't give her time to think about it. He just threw her up there and up the camel came. She had a few tears in her eyes and was holding the reins so tight she lost feeling in her fingers but she was so brave! The camels made very discussing noises and slobbered and spit a lot. If you ask the kids there favorite part of the trip they will tell you the camels. It was pretty awesome. As the sun was setting both Jon and I looked at each other the same time and said "Can you believe it? Here we are, sitting on camels in the Sahara watching the sunset." It was a moment I hope I will always remember. From the camel ride we went and stayed the night in a beautiful hotel in the village of Douz. It was pretty weird thinking we were staying in the middle of the Sahara in an oasis.

Enjoy the pictures of our first day in the Sahara.

Kids Club

On the Resort there was an entertainment team. They had programs for adults and children. My kids were a little worried going to Kids Club the first day but they had such a great time they couldn't wait until it was time to go again. Hayet was the Kids Club counselor and my kids loved her. The first day she asked all their names. For some reason she didn't hear Bailee, Chase and Talynn. She heard Bailee, Jason and Helen. We kept repeating the names and she still said Jason and Helen so we just decided to go with it. The second day she finally figured out Chase's name but never Talynn's. The whole staff loved Talynn (I think because of her beautiful, long blonde woman hair) and called her Helen. You would hear them yelling Helen clear across the resort. The funny part is Talynn would answer to the name of Helen and asked us if we could start calling her Helen. By the end of the trip she wanted us to change her name to Helen. We still laugh about it. Everynight there was a mini disco for the kids to go dance. My kids were a little scared to dance in front of everyone staying at the resort so mom would join in on the fun. You know I'm always up for a good dance off!!!

Speaking of Dance Off, well, everynight after the Mini Disco the entertainment team would do some kind of program. One particular night Hayet came and asked me if I would be a part of the show and dance. I love dance off's so I was thrilled to participate. Now a little background, JON HATES TO DANCE!!!!! He leaned over to me after I said yes and says "I hope they ment just you and not me." I told him of course they just ment me. Well, they started announcing the dance competition and it was worded this way "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome tonight to a great show. Tonight we have for you a dance competition. Four COUPLES will compete against each other dancing to five different songs." The look on Jon's face was priceless. He says "Absolutely NO WAY!!!" I just started laughing. After about 5 minutes he leaned over and said "Maybe, just maybe it will be okay as long as we all dance at the same time." He barely got the words out of his mouth when the announcer says, "First couple will dance to a waltz." I thought Jon was going to run from the room and hide himself. Again, I just started laughing. The first couple danced a beautiful waltz so I knew we had be cleaver or else we wouldn't stand a chance. Jon and I decided to just go out and have a great time dancing any way we chose. It turned out to be a hit! I threw out some sprinkler moves, Jon imitated the dance moves on the movie Hitch and made a pizza and threw away the Q-Tip. The crowd went wild! It sparked Jon's dancing abilities and he was ready to go for the next dance. The next dance was the twist. Again, we went out and did our own thing. I didn't know what Jon was doing until I about stumbled over him. He had twisted himself right to the floor and was lying on his back twisting. I was laughing so hard I couldn't move. When the dance was over Bailee leaned over and said "You guys are so embarrassing!" After dancing to a Tango, Tunesia Belly Dance, and how you would dance at a Night Club the points were tallied and (drum roll please) we came in SECOND place!!!! As we were walking back to the room that night Jon said, "Don't you every expect me to do that again!" It was a great time. Wish I had pictures to show.

Okay, back to Kid's Club. Jon and I loved having the kids go to Kids Club. It gave us some alone time together which we haven't had in a long time! We actually remembered that we do like and love each other and can still laugh together. Here is a slide show of some of the fun stuff the kids did at Kids Club.

Tunisia

For Christmas Jon and I decided to take our kids to a warm climate. A guy at work told Jon about Tunisia. We had no idea where Tunisia was or anything about it. Tunisia is in North Africa. The climate is around 65 - 70 degrees this time of year so we decided to go for it. We stayed on an all inclusive Resort right on the beach in Hammamet, Tunisia. Since there is so much to blog about I decided to make different posts instead of fitting it all in one. Enjoy!

We arrived in Tunisia Saturday night. It was so dark! We had a van pick us up from the airport and take us to the resort. As we were driving along I kind of got a sick feeling. Every round about (which there were a lot of round abouts) were police. Jon commented "Umm, are they looking for suicide bombers?!" It felt kind of creepy and I was wondering what we had gotten ourselves in to! Before going on the trip I looked up Tunisia on the USA government website making sure it was safe for Americans to travel and the only red flag it had was beware of H1N1. Well, H1N1 is everywhere so I didn't give it another thought! We arrived to our Resort safe and sound. The Resort was gated with a guard so I felt pretty safe inside the walls. The next morning we woke up to BEAUTIFUL sunshine!!!! We haven't seen the sun in so long it took forever for our eyes to adjust. This vacation was planned with only three things in mind: rest, relaxation, and family time. The first day we enjoyed laying in the sun, walking along the beach, swimming in the pool and eating everything in sight!

Hammamet, Tunisia
View of Mediterranean Sea from Resort

BAILEE'S X-MAS LIST

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, Cheese-It's and Jolly Ranchers. I figured you could pick them up for me while your delivering presents in the U.S.A. Thank You! Bailee