Jasra Handcraft Center

Scout and I explored the Jasra Handcraft Center this week also.  It is a place to check out the local artist scene with a emphasis on the old arts, and handcrafted items.  Some of it was cheesy, like this pencil topper.

Some of it was beautiful like this gypsum carving/molding, and the model ship building, (of which I did not get a picture)

 Of course, I see quilt patterns.

Bahrain Fort at Dusk

Daddy wanted to go check out the Bahrain Fort with us, so we decided to go in the late afternoon, and I discovered that there is a museum adjacent to the Fort that I didn't even know about. It was nice to go enjoy the museum, have a snack in the snack bar, and then explore the fort and the beach.

This was a cool bee sculpture outside the museum.

 The little green area and beach next to the museum.

 Excavation the older coastal fort

 Our Family

We took a break and walked down to the adjacent beach, lots of people were wading and picnicking. They even had people selling popcorn and ice cream and giving pony rides.  It was a little party on the beach.  The flats were covered in all sorts of crabs and sea life, the kids loved exploring it.

 Walking back toward the fort as the sun sets.

 

Running Again

Buddy loves to run, Princess likes it, but gets tired easily.  Munchkin is just starting to run.  The base here has races at least once a month.  My kids love them.  They did a Mothers Day 3K, at 6:30 in the morning on a Thursday.  So after this, they showered, ate breakfast and walked to school.  Notice the huge smile on his face as he lapped some adults. I had a guy come up to me after the race, and say that Buddy was his best motivation.  He was hoping to beat him, but couldn't quite manage it.  Buddy loved to be faster than lots of adults.

 Princess started out strong, but didn't finish quite as strong.  She did finish though, and I was proud of her.

 Munchkin completed the first lap, took a break for the 2nd lap and then rejoined Daddy for the 3rd lap.

Finishing the race, still going strong and with a smile.

 This is the top kid finishers.

 Happy with his medal.  He will do more races and will attempt his first 5K before Memorial Day.

Peace Camel #3

In Amwaj at the Lagoon. This was just a mommy and Princess outing.

The Grand Mosque

We did get a tour of the Grand Mosque.

This is the one place where all women are required to have their head covered and wear an abaya.
The clothing is actually 3 pieces, the dress is the abaya.  The head covering is the hijab, the face covering is the niqab.  Only the full head, dress and full veil is the Burqa.  I was only required to wear the abaya and a scarf for a hijab.

Out of respect the boys wore pants instead of shorts.

Inside the mosque it was beautiful and we had a great guide who taught us a lot more about Islam than I ever knew.  Including how they wash, and how they pray, and even how they determine when is the right time to pray.  We did get to hear the call to prayer and then watch the actual prayers at mid-day.

This is the inside of their rotunda.

 The huge chandelier -

 Outside the main hall, was an outdoor area as overflow.  The lights were hand blown from Italy, the Marble was imported from another place. Not much was actually from Bahrain.

 This is from the balcony, we could not be on the main floor for prayer time,

 This is the mid-day prayer, only men, and all in a line.  When one line is full, only then do they move to the next line.

 Being the quilter that I am, I kept seeing patterns everywhere.  This is the design on the carpet.

 This was on the wall.

These were on the windows.

The Desert and the Tree of Life

We finally took some time to escape from the city and go explore a little more of the desert.  We drove down to the southern portion of the island and really got to see the old Bahrain.  Of course, parts of the desert were full of trash and old oil infrastructure, but it was fun anyway. The kids loved the tree of life.  That may have something to do with the fact that there were 2 ice cream trucks there, and we bought them ice cream.

The following picture is a panorama pic of the desert on the side of the highway.  You will probably need to click on it, so see it larger.

 The desert here is not all sand, it is more rocky and hard.  The pictures you see of camels with sand dunes in the desert are not from Bahrain, The sand blows around here, but there aren't really dunes with loose sand.

 This is the tree of life.  Full of tourists wandering around a tree in the desert.  Of course we had our own photo shoot, like the rest of the tourists.

 This is another panoramic picture, I am standing in the middle of the tree.

 Yes, you can climb up into the tree.  There is some graffiti on the tree, but not as much as I expected.