Seattle!

We've only been in Seattle for ten days, but it's been full of fun!  On Monday we go to Laramie so my next post will be filled with photos from time with Grandma Sid and Grandpa Ollie.

Our trip here was great - the 14 hour flight felt fine and while Lizzie steadfastly refused to eat any plane food, I was more prepared than I have been on previous trips and managed to keep her tummy full enough to not get sick.  The jet lag wasn't great, but it's over now :)

The highlights of our trip so far are named Dylan and Winnie.  There aren't many pictures of Winnie but if you look all the way at the bottom of this post, you will see her and she is worth scrolling through all the other photos.  It has also been nice to see Dylan and Winnie's parents, whatever their names are.

Playing near the beach after hiking through the woods with Grandpa

The kids have spent lots of time in trees, including the one below on the right, which is in Mom and Dad's front yard.  They formed a club with a secret password.  Grandpa has been admitted membership because "he can make things for us".  So far, Grandma and I are o-u-t.
The zoo - see the penguins swimming behind Lizzie?
More penguins:

Dylan playing in a puddle with a stick.  I sent these photos to Eli and he replied, "OMG, JUST like T!"  And it is true that my sweet nephew reminds me quite a lot of my sweet boy when he was (nearly) three.

Here is Lizzie happily holding Hannah's baby Jade, and walking to an antique carshow holding hands with Dylan.
The hike!  Can you guess what the best part was? (The snow.)  Lizzie received lots of compliments from our fellow hikers - and she made it six miles which is very impressive.

Water fight with Grandpa in the backyard.  I'm not sure how the game worked,
but that's Tommy doing the "obstacle course" while being squirted..

At the park near my parent's house

A meeting in the back yard.

The girl you've been waiting for!!

Lizzie reading to Uncle Vyn, in a tiara of course

Finishing up the school year!

Hi friends - sorry for the long absence.  It has been a busy month, but I suppose they are all busy and that's not much of an excuse.  Here is a summary with accompanying photos.  We are now in Seattle (arrived on June 11) and are finally over jet lag, hallelujah.

The weekend after my birthday, I went on a girls trip to Dubai (it was 36 hours long).  We had the below delicious drinks:

(We still miss Kathy)

We spent quite a lot of evenings at the beach.

The Lu received a clean bill of health on her arm (except that it will still be healing for two months more):

We went to the park at the same time as a woman brought a big box of kittens.  So that was painful.
We went on a very fun trip to Dubai so that we could spend three days in a row with Eli before we abandoned him for the summer.

We had our last playdate with Miyu (who is moving back to California!) and our LAST DAY of kindergarten and third grade!  My kids are too big now.
We said goodbye to Daddy...

Amazing Uncle Andy

So we had a quick visit from Uncle Andy over my birthday, and we all had such a wonderful time with him.  This is a guy who has never told one of my kids "no".  Not once.  ("Uncle Andy can we watch funny cat videos on youtube?"  "Uncle Andy will you play hand ball with me?")  So they think he's the best ever.  And when they had to be at school, he cheerfully accompanied me everywhere (except my exercise class which is women only) and got to have a nice little look around Muscat.  The first few days after he left were a bit lonely for the kids and me...And after we dropped him off at the airport Tommy and Lizzie were inconsolable for quite a while.

(Sadly, most of these photos are crappy. Sorry.)

Handball

Tour of the new airport

Grand Mosque

Youtube cat videos

I'm 40! Can you believe that?

Guess what? I'm 40.  I was a pretty hot mess for the week or so leading up to the big day, but the evening before Eli had a dinner for me at a restaurant I love with my friends and Andy, Brett and Chinka.  It was such a lovely dinner and I had SUCH a nice time.  Eli asked my friends to say what they like about me and it was so sweet.  I didn't want it to end.

TAISM ball, Beach and a Podcast recommendation

YOU GUYS. Where have I been for the past two years? Stuck in a podcast rut, I suppose. (That's not fair, I absolutely love the podcasts I listen to. But I do run out of material sometimes which is okay because then I just listen to the Killers, but still, I love podcasts.) Anyway, I read about Alec Baldwin's podcast called "Here's the Thing" and I JUST LOVE IT. He talks to such interesting people and he is a talented interviewer. I recommend trying an episode or two. My favorite so far is his interview with Ira Glass, but as I type this I'm listening to him talk to Paul Simon. Yesterday I listened to Amy Schumer and Kristin Wiig.

On Friday night, we went to the TAISM ball and I had so much fun that I made Eli stay up much too late (as he had to go to work in the morning). About the picture of Eli and me below: I have noticed lately that in photos my left eye is often not quite as open as my right eye. (I KNOW. WTH?) Anyway, I look creepy because I was making an effort to have equally open eyes.

Creepy eyes.

Twins.

The guy who took this photo must've been a little bit drunk - this is the end of the evening.

The next day, I took the kids to the beach.  Lizzie wanted to go to the Hyatt and she kept screaming, "I'M NOT GOING!" when I told the kids to put their swimsuits on for the beach.  After a nice pout on the beach mat, she decided that she would play with her friend Sophie who happened to be at the beach as well, and later confessed that she had so much fun.  My kids are ridiculous.

Sophie's big brother and Tommy practicing their kayaking.  This was SO MUCH fun.