He was up 7:10. We packed and got ready to go. He was happy here that he could climb up on the platform next to the sink and wash his hands from there. We talked about our plans and I said we were going to Jordan. He responded “Did you say fly to Jordan? Our car isn’t used to flying?…How? You think our car can drive underwater?” We loaded the car and said goodbye to the room. Had another full breakfast. People spotted some small ibex or something right out the windows. We stopped at reception to use the bathroom and were on the road a little before 9.
Stopped for gas about 45 minutes later at a Paz Yellow. An odd place to hear “To Be with You” playing on the speakers. I got a couple mango uncles for us and we left before 10:30. August and I drank one and saw a lot of acacia trees, rocks, and wadis out the windows. I read about 9 chapters of Paddle to the Sea to him then he played Seuss Band with Cherie. We passed signs to a sculpture park along the way and I marked it for the next time we come that way. Also saw a couple ostriches inside a fenced area. Cherie had a cracker mix that had spicy crackers in it. August kept eating all the different kinds of crackers, asking if they were spicy too even as he kept eating them. He watched one Sarah and Duck, then we parked at the crossing at noon.
We rearranged things and left the car and walked to the crossing. August got upset when we had him walk and Carly had to pick him up. His one moment of nervousness. He then did really well as we made our way through. Very few other people, so it went pretty easy. At one point we sat on a bench for a few minutes and admired a mosaic. He asked what a border is and we talked about natural and political borders. He was then making borders on the ground dividing one country from another.
On the Jordanian side our guide met us and passed us through the rest. We had two cars and August and I sat in the back of one with Carly in front. Our driver was Rebecca. She is from Italy and recently moved to Jordan. We got to the hotel, Hotel Jardanah at 1:30. Well, 12:30, as we found out that Jordan doesn’t move to daylight saving time for a couple days. As we waited in the lobby he told me how he didn’t have the bottle cap anymore. He had been playing with a bottle cap as we arranged our car – it had been some sort of spinning machine or something – and I had thought he had picked it up on the ground. He then dropped it when Carly picked him up. I didn’t pick it up as my hands were all full. He now excitedly told me that it had been the mango bottle cap and that he had littered; “My first time littering!”
We have a big room here at the hotel. August had fun jumping on the bed and played with the remote. It was too loud and he said “We need to control that puppy!”
After awhile we all headed out to the south and west for a walk. Ended up at a place called Memories Castle for lunch. While we waited for the food, Carly took him to the bathroom and they had a hypothetical discussion around the question “Could we send someone to the sun right now?” I walked up the block at one point to look around. We got our drinks; August had the best mango drink we’ve had and I had a Turkish coffee. Again, very good. Food finally came. Carly had ordered a couple of the salads and hummus and I got the traditional meal of Jordan. Chuck got the fish and Cherie a chicken and lemon dish and we all shared around.
We left there at 3:10. Went to the Mina Bazaar shop across the street. A guy that worked there was sort of chasing August when August wasn’t responding. I picked August up and he was actually having fun. He wanted to instead chase the guy, but Chuck had by then started talking to him. We looked around a little more and August was blasting things and the guy, then with Carly headed back to the hotel.
We were back to the hotel at 3:30. He had the power to take away abilities. When I threatened to sleep in the bed by the key so I could simply pull it out when I was too cold, he took away my ability to control the AC.
Chuck and Cherie were back and we left before 4. We walked down towards the shore. We stoped by a fountain for a couple minutes while Cherie and Carly went into a gift shop run by a feminist organization. We then continued on. The sidewalk had accent bricks making shapes that sort of looked like Tetris pieces and August was jumping on them, playing Tetris.
Down at the beach we found a spot and stayed there for the next hour and a half. A busy beach with dozens of boats picking up people and taking them out for short rides. August at first didn’t like the rocky sand but then kept playing and playing with it. He also liked the garbage, and was playing with that. He and Carly had a bit of a game called Rock or Garbage? I waded in the Red Sea a few times (we figured out the gulf was called two different things depending on which language you use). A girl, 6 or 7, came over and talked to us a little. August wasn’t too interested though. He said he was “too busy”. He made power pouring sand, and they made a blob monster. A couple of college students came and did a video of me and August making fools of ourselves (well, me) trying to repeat Arabic words they said.
Finally, we gave him five minutes more of playing time. It was getting dark soon. We got ready to go and I asked if he wanted to touch the water before we left. He agreed and we waded in the water a little. Kind of a mistake as he now wanted to play in the water. He played for a few minutes, making his feet wet, then dry, and dropping sand in the water.
On the walk back we heard the call to prayer and Carly taught him about praying. He asked questions about praying and god. Carly was nice enough to let us stop at Pistachio Sweets and August and I chose two things. We got those and took them back to the hotel. As I carried him he showed us how he was working on blowing his nose.
We got back at 6:15. He really liked the idea of sharing the treats with Oma and Opa so we went to their room and shared them. He was getting crazy on their bed though so we eventually headed to our room. The lamps were hardwired into the wall, so to move the beds together I took the lampshade off of one. A new toy for him that entertained him for a long time. After awhile he asked “Dada, can I wear this as a hat or not?” He did that, and we played a lampshade game where I tried to push the dangling things under it and he pushed them out. On the floor he spun around and asked “Are you amazed by me spinning around on one foot?”
Finally, we were on the bed and talking about how fun travelling was. I was asking him how much he wanted to travel places and he had a yes meter where he lifted his legs up to show how much he wanted to travel places. Basically, he really wants to go to every country.
He was asleep at 7:45.