Discover Oman - Seeb Fish Souk

This morning I chaperoned Tommy's class on a field trip to the Seeb fish market.  I had Tommy plus two girls in my little group and while one of the girls was pretty tough about the whole thing, one had a hard time with fish blood (and there was no shortage of fish blood in this market) and I kept reminding her that if she was actually going to vomit, she had to let me know so we could get to a gutter because it wouldn't be polite to vomit on the fish.  Or even near it.  Luckily, we made it out vomit-free.  I thought it was a very interesting field trip, even while I felt awkward that sixty loud students traipsed through a market where people were trying to buy and sell fish while it was still fresh.  I would have bought fish had I spoken Arabic and had I brought a cooler with me.

Our Trip - Seattle photos

A pretty Seattle walk to stay awake for a bit longer on the day we arrived.

Dinner with Uncle Don, Gina, Uncle Vyn and Aunt Jan!  Still very jetlagged.

Christmas Eve dinner (but not on Christmas Eve).  We had the Kent family traditional "breakfast for dinner" and it was delicious.

Uncle Max still polls at numero uno with the kids, so he's not allowed to sit by his pretty girlfriend.

Mom's first crack (or not?) at Pecan Rolls.  She did an amazing job.

The flight museum is probably our favorite, especially in light of Tommy's new favorite reading topic -- WWII planes.
He impressed two docents with his knowledge.  Interestingly, I had a nice chat with a docent who was the main test pilot on the 777, and he explained that I have nothing to worry about flying over the pole, because that sucker can fly on one engine for 5 hours.

Lunch at Portage Bay!  Like the olden days, expect I didn't wear pajamas.  Sometimes I wish I could have an hour with my 22 year old self and see if I could entice her to behave just a bit better.

Eli and I can never forget these plastic animals because our daughter cried and cried until we bought them for her (horrible parenting, but she was crying for 10 so this felt like a compromise) and now she just keeps them in a box and never plays with them.

Tommy getting a clean bill of health on his optic nerves!  We are so relieved.  (He was super jetlagged.)

At SeaTac.  My kids can't see one of these things and not demand a photo.

THIRD CHRISTMAS!

Dad made a tasty apple pie.

Guess who got a shooting range in the basement and a beebee gun? Thanks, Grandpa!

Mom and Dad took us to Sound of Music -- Dad is less excited than he looks to be there...

But I am more excited than I look so it all evens out.  The kids really loved it and were perfectly behaved.

Then we went to the most delicious restaurant in Burien!  

Do you think he'll mind that I posted this? Happy New Year, everyone :)

Our trip -- Laramie

We had such a great trip home.  It's nice to be back here, and back to our routines, but it was so much fun to be with our families at Christmas, and Eli and I are so glad that we embarked on the expedition.

We began the trip in Seattle (I'll put those pictures in the next post), and it was during those first four days that we felt absolutely terrible due to jetlag.  We had Christmas with my extended family (thank you all SO much for completely spoiling my children!), went to the flight museum, caught up with a few friends, and took Tommy to the pediatric ophthalmologist who confirmed that Tommy's optic nerves are a-okay.  Yay!  Eli and I also did some quick Christmas shopping.  Then, we repacked and flew to Laramie.

It had been two and a half years since we had been in Laramie, and it was so great to be there for six days.  Laramie is very relaxing.  It's a short drive to anywhere you want to go, and there aren't too many places you want to go :)  There were two times in six days that we were rushing out the door:  the first was to church on Christmas Eve, and the second was to the movies on Christmas day.  We overlapped for three of the days with Brett, Chinka and Ranesa, which made Christmas itself big and exciting - so many presents under the tree.  We went sledding every day, and it even snowed on Christmas.  It was very cold, but cozy and nice indoors which is where we spent most of our time.  We had such a nice visit.

Then, we returned to Seattle.  Eli and I had a nice day of shopping sans children, we exchanged gifts with my parents (so if you're counting, that's three Christmases the kids enjoyed) and Mom and Dad took us to The Sound of Music at the Fifth Avenue.  It was SUCH a fun show, and the kids really enjoyed it as well.  I was impressed with the singing and the sets and it was fun to remember how lovely that theatre is inside.

Here are some (quite a few) Laramie photos:

Why is it so much more fun when Grandma sleds too??

Tommy's uncles know exactly how he likes to play.

Opening one gift on Christmas eve after church

They were PERFECTLY behaved in church (but I think Tommy burned his finger on the candle).

Christmas morning!

Catching up

We went to the US for the holidays, so now I have lots of catching up to do.  I just spent an hour looking through Eli's photos, trying to figure out what to post and how to categorize them, and I'm not really close at all.  But, I wanted to let you know that we are back in Muscat, the kids went back to school, Eli went back to work and all of that means that I can now blog in peace and promise to come back soon.

Also, I tried to send Christmas cards, but my kids were just beside themselves.  I might send you a Valentine, though...