I'm still here :)

Where have we been??

Well Alhumdulillah for the blessing of living in the KSA. (MashaAllah TabarakaAllah). We had our semester end break afew weeks back, so we decided to get on the road again to go to Makkah to do Umrah, we also spend time with my parents and did lots of field trips.

We did our usual route Tabuk -> Yanbu -> Makkah and on the way back Makkah-> Madinah -> Tabuk. For the drive we kept mostly the same things I posted about in Muslim Travelers Guide. The few different/added things we had this time were a thermos of Saudi Qahwa (coffee) for Baba and for me I had my same old sweet water thermos and a ziplock of my favorite herbal teas. Since it was a bit chilly the kids even enjoyed a cup of warm tea.

This time (just to make it a fun learning experience and implement the sunnah) I wrapped two of the kids not so favorite fruit and veges aside from a surprise toy. MashaAllah TabarakaAllah they truly enjoyed it and eat it! We also got to revise the Hadeeth and even H repeated the hadeeth after me. Kids learn so much from these little practical examples. It really doesn't require too much extra work, its all about our intention, meaning we want to teach them the importance of exchanging gifts. AR wrapped an orange for me and gave it to him as a gift the next day, the wrapper was his drawing too.

One more thing that we did different  this time was, focusing on the nature and what they can see outside the window. I tried to keep them engaged my saying things like.. "SubhanaAllah look at the amazing colors on that mountain... see how the sand changes colors... Look at the SHEEPS and the white Camels..." We kept saying Allah made all this. Eventually they started showing us things masahaAllah TabarakaAllah. It kept them busy for hours and I didn't even have to pull out the activity kit for a long time! We would look for the mosques and chant hurray for who so it. For H we told her to look for the moon on the minar of the mosque and before we knew it she was pointing at every "moon" and "maadeed" she could see, infact shes still doing that. MashaAllah TabarakAllah.

Around Makkah we got to visit some Islamic historical sites.  InshaAllah I'll be sharing the pictures of some of the places we went too. I was initially not going to share these but I thought it would be nice for those mommies who want to teach their little ones about the Islamic History and how they use to travel. (and learn themselves too) inshaAllah. Also, it would be a nice resource for those who live in Saudi to know where they can take their families.

I apologize before hand for not being able to gimp the photos since I have not been able to fix my laptop.

We took the kids to the different Hajj ground. This is the Mina Valley.

Masjid Nimra in Aaraf,

The mountain of Mercy 'Jabal-e-Rahmah'. We climbed it with AR because he really wanted to go up  and see it from the top.

I took the kids to Haram in the morning times as many times as  I could before the Umrah season opened. They just enjoyed running around freely without fearing that they would get lost. It was the best time MashaAllah TabarakAllah. 

Some pictures of the Jeddah Science Oasis at the Andalus Mall, it was really worth the trip. It was kinda sad to see how empty it was, although it was good for us. It was small but a good size for kids to enjoy and yet not get too tired. Most of the stuff was hands on.

This robot was nice... kids were a bit scared at first but then thay really enjoyed it.

Outside of one of the muesums in Jeddah. you can see masjed Aqsa, and the Haramain.

On the way to Taif from the top of the mountain.

The kids fed the monkeys bananas and tangerines. It was amazing to see how they peel the them so quickly

On top of Shifa mountain. It's the place where the Prophet saw went  when he was sick and when he saw came back he felt better. So the Arabs have named this place Shifa.

The mountain where they the Prophet SAW was stoned when he SAW when to the people of Taif to call them to Islam. There is also an masjed there which they say the place where he prayed, Allah knows best. I remember seeing it when we use to live in Taif.

Inside of the masjed

The fenced area you see here is said to be the farm where the he SAW had taken refuge and the slave man became muslim. 

A fort some say was built by Ali (r.a) and some say by the Turks. Sadly there are no description boards telling what the place but my dad knew these from the older Arabs living in Taif who have had these tales passed down to them by there ancestors.

The top of the tower. You can see the holes in the ball on the top, which makes it seem that it was used in wars as a  fort.

Souq Okaz. This is that market that the Propeht SAW talk about in a  Hadeeth. It's a market that's been there since 2000 years (they say). It located in a rollng dessert plain north of Taif. Now it opens once a year. Till this day people travel to visit this market from all over the kingdom. It was the most popular trade stop for the trade caravans. They carry all sorts of things, Scents (itars and incenses) , handmade and homemade gooddess of all sort, food, and traditional and non traditional clothes, dates, honey, different oils.

InshaAllah I will post the hadeeth as soon as I can find it. 

Courtyard of another museum we went to which was closed. 3 out of 3 museums we went to were closed. It was sad. One of them said if you have a group of 10 then you can go in. 

Baab Makkah (Makkah gate) area in Jeddah. Its just a historical site. There are homes building here that are made out of coral.

Coral buildings.

LOL This board was hilarious. I think its funny in English and Arabic

This was a quick 'break in pictures' for you all.