Daxsphere

Dante and Talyn in front of the Indiana Jones Coffee Shop in Petra, Jordan.

We rode horses for a short distance on our way to see the Treasury. We discovered after the ride that Nyssa was allergic to the horses.

The space between the rocks was narrow. It doesn't seem so bad while you are walking through.

Family picture with the Treasury in the background. It was a bit dusty as you can see.

Sitting at a souvenir shop in front of the treasury.

We have been wanting to see this place ever since watching Indiana Jones. It was amazing to finally be there!

This is a picture looking in the doorway. It is very plain on the inside. I wish we would have been allowed to go in.

Detail of the columns.

You can't tell from the picture, but we were standing on this little ledge of rock.

These are some of the other carvings into the rock. These are not as well preserved because of the direction of the sun and wind.

A funny picture of Nyssa looking like she is kissing the camel.

Here are even more homes carved out of the rock. This was part of the ancient main street.

Our guide took a picture of us through an opening in the rocks.

Standing in a cave with a amphitheater behind us.

Talyn, Nyssa and Dante posing in a cave with beautiful colored rock.

This was the Monastery. We had to climb up 900 stairs to get here. There was an option of riding donkeys up to the top but we chose to climb. It was worth it!

It was cold and windy up at the top and was starting to rain, so we didn't linger.

It rained lightly as we walked down those same 900 steps. It was quite slippery in some spots. The view was nice though even if a bit scary.

A nice bottle of wine with lunch after all that climbing...well, for the adults anyway.

Ancient Roman city of Jerash. As you can see it was raining. It rained a lot on this trip. This was such an interesting place. We would love to go back during better weather and really get a chance to explore.

Our pants were so wet and the umbrellas kept turning inside out.

The main road of Jerash. We could see the grooves in the stones from where the chariots and carts had travelled.

Us with a temple ruin in the background.

Dante, Nyssa and Talyn with the Dead Sea in the background. It had been raining for a couple days, but cleared up long enough for us to go into the water.

The water was a bit rough though and looked brown, but the boys were enjoying it anyway.

Nyssa and Dan floating in the Dead Sea.

Christmas display at the Bangkok airport.

Dante took a picture of us in front of the giant Christmas tree in the lobby of the hotel in Bangkok.

Boat ride through the canals. The life jacket was just a bit big on Talyn.

View of buildings from the boat.

One of the many temples we saw.

Talyn and Dante posing next to the stairs of the temple.

These stairs were really steep, especially the ones near the top. Deanna had to turn around and climb down them backwards like she was on a ladder.

From the top of the temple, looking out onto the water.

The beautiful mosaics in the background were made from old ceramic pottery.

There were tons of catfish in the water. We bought bread from a floating market and fed it to the fish.

Dante and talyn posing with the mosaic flower on the temple.

Here is Talyn throwing bread to the fish.

These royal boats were very ornate.

Another temple in the background. This one was gold.

We really liked all the detail on this one.

Deanna decided not to pose.

Beautiful colors on this one.

Jade Buddha

Talyn ordered coconut juice. If didn't taste much like coconut.

Christmas light display at a mall in Bangkok. It was so nice to see lights and decorations as there isn't much of that in Kuwait.

The grounds of our hotel in Chiang Mai. This is Deanna's all time favorite hotel. It was very peaceful and relaxing, not to mention beautiful.

A look at the wing or rooms that we stayed in. This is actually a view of the back porches. It was a great place to sit and relax and admire the trees.

Nyssa, Dante, and Talyn making dragon faces.

Statue on the hotel grounds.

Stairs with dragons.

Dan and the kids next to a small river at the hotel.

A wall at the hotel that looked like a really long dragon.

Heading toward the lobby.

I have no idea what kind of fish these were, but they are HUGE. The were in the fountain at the hotel.

Another picture of the things found on the hotel grounds.

The hotel has it's own rice paddies.

Covered outdoor bar at the hotel.

Dan and the kids standing in a really cool doorway at the hotel.

Nyssa waiting for food at the Chinese restaurant.

And this is the food. It was well worth the wait. They had the best dim sum.

Front entrance to hotel.

Golden temple

Talyn took the stairs down and Deanna took the elevator. When she told him that now he's probably going to be tired later and not want to walk on the next part of the tour, he had an interesting response. He said that it was like exercise and he was using calories and since she didn't take the stairs she wasn't going to lose weight.

Old temple.

Another view of the old temple.

Nyssa putting gold leaf on the statue at the temple.

Xystus Family inside the temple.

Deanna liked the way this one looked.

Dan and Deanna playing with 2 tigers. Deanna is about to lay down on top of one.

Deanna not to happy to be walking on this type of bridge.

This elephant was painting a pictue of a tree.

Nyssa, Dante and Deanna on our first elephant ride.

Our elephants walked across the river.

Bamboo raft ride. It would have been better if we had worn sandals for this.

Personalized welcome cookies from the hotel in Chiang Mai. The kids were very excited.

The lobby of the hotel.

Talyn hanging out in the lobby reading.

Phuket Island walking tour. We really liked the architectural style of this old house.

Nyssa riding a water buffalo.

We watched a demonstration of how they train monkeys to pick coconuts.

More elephant rides.

I think the guides liked to pose in these pictures as much as the tourists.

Posing with our elephants.

Nyssa feeding an elephant. We bought a basket of friut to feed them. No need to peel anything...they eat it all.

Tsunami evacuation route sign.

Nyssa waiting for our boat ride.

Pool at hotel in Phuket.

On our way to eat lunch after swimming.

This was Nyssa's lunch.

Phuket Fantasea show. This place was interesting. It was kind of like a theme park, but without the rides. It had shoping and arcade games, as well as the big theater where we saw the actual show.