more piles of really old rocks

Are you sick of pyramids yet? This one is the Step pyramid. Bet you can’t guess why . . .

They’re doing some sort of “restoration,” which means that every few minutes a large shower of sand and rock would start raining down. We didn’t get too close.

 

There were plenty of other things to climb on and around though. Like this mini sphinx. I always wonder how much of what we see is authentic and original and how much is brought in to give people something to look at. Like this sphinxy guy was just lying there like he had fallen off a truck. No thought to placement or anything.

 

Obligatory self portrait of baby and me — I have gotten better at this. And it helps that I have long arms.

In addition to the pyramid, there were other tombs to explore and climb.

and to jump from.

 

Carter is always such a good big brother. No, Camille didn’t suddenly have a growth spurt. Our friends from Turkey came to visit and Carter made it his job to look out for her, hold her hand, etc.

It probably seems disrespectful that we let our kids climb on the ruins, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not like the Egyptians are taking good care of them.  The kids were exploring inside this tomb, wondering what they would find . . .

The secret of the mummy’s tomb is that it is actually a trash dump and a toilet. Yep, there was human poop in several of the recessed places. And of course, once the boys discovered it, they went running around to all the different hiding spots yelling, “No poop in this one!” and, “Ha ha! More poop!” 

We come to view the wonders of the ancient world and my kids manage to turn it in to a poop hunt.

So no, I really didn’t feel bad about letting my kids stand on the rocks to take pictures. It’s not like we were defacing ancient historic landmarks or anything.

Unlike Naolah, who wanted to make sure we all knew he was here. In 2009.