Hard week over

Last week was not my favorite week, and I'm glad it's over and we're on to a new one. Brian had an extremely unbearable work schedule all week, with midnight being his EARLIEST night in. Finally on Friday, I called to tell him I failed my driving test again (third time was NOT the charm, despite the fasting and prayer and practicing). While we were on the phone, he shared one of those "now-is-probably-not-the-best-time-to-tell-you" things, telling me he would probably be working most of the weekend as well. He DID work most of the weekend, leaving Saturday morning and not returning to the house till midafternoon Sunday. Rough stuff.

Unfortunately, my lack of discipline when he's working late causes me to stay up till 2 or 3 just hoping he'll come in, making me grumpy all day for having stayed up so late. It's not like anything really terrible is happening in my life, but I feel like murmuring just because I'm sleepy and I miss my husband. I woke up this morning vowing to turn over a new leaf... already did some laundry and housework, and walked down to Subway to get a turkey/ham sub-of-the-day for lunch. Let's hope things look up from here!!

Cute stuff about Sammie

I mentioned that our camera broke on our second to last day in Egypt. That means any blogging I do in the near future will be text only. No more pictures, sorry. I'm afraid I'm out of practice at making my writing entertaining enough to be read without pictures. So what you'll read here will sound more like a journal entry of sorts.

I have cute things to share about Samantha. She's started her own gibberish language that is absolutely adorable. Just this week, it seems like she figured out her mouth will make weird sounds if she moves her tongue around different ways. So she goes jabbering away, sticking that little tongue out and moving it around. Most of what she says sounds kind of like "gliglug gully glglly" Lots of hard "g" sounds. I love it!

She also started saying "ah oh!" when she drops something. In fact, she intentionally drops things so she can say "ah oh, ah oh, ah oh!" over and over. I'm almost inclined to count it as her first official word, since she uses it to mean the same thing every time. It's true, she's been saying "dadng" for a few months now, but it's hard to attach a real meaning to it, as she says it all the time, about everything. So, maybe we should count "ah oh?"

Samantha has developed a new love of trying on clothes. For months she's been bringing me her sweaters and coats when she wants to go outside. But now she just gets on with it on her own. And she doesn't stop at jackets -- she loves trying to get on pants, hats, socks, etc. She got one of my shirts out of the washer today and came running through the living room with it around her waist, like a skirt. Cute.

Her latest greatest in that department is that she knows how to reach into her pants drawer while standing in her crib. (Her dresser is right next to the crib.) So, after her afternoon nap, she empties half her pants into the crib and starts trying them on. Last week I heard her making lots of noise in there and went to get her up. When I walked in, she was standing with her back to me, a pair of denim shorts on her head. She turned around and I could see two little eyes peeking nervously through the leg holes, wondering if she was going to get in trouble. I started laughing, and she pulled them off proudly, giggling with me while she waved them around in the air. Man I wish our camera was working for that one.

Samantha's also getting really good at lids... pen lids, tupperware lids, water bottle lids, etc. She can open most lids fairly easily. At a play group last week she opened a brand new water bottle she found in our friend's kitchen and went around sipping while the other kids were looking at her like, "where'd ya get that?" I was a bit embarrassed at her help-yourself attitude, and surprised that she got it open. Those six teeth of hers work wonders! She also opened a red ink pen yesterday and drew pretty pictures all over the cover of our Home Health Guide. Then this morning, she opened a tube of my waterproof mascara. Brian quickly closed it back tightly and handed it back to her -- both of us thought I must have left it open or something. Well, thirty seconds later, she had it open again, and had painted a nice black strip of mascara down the front of her hair, as well as smearing it all over both hands and a nice spot on the kitchen floor. Pretty Sammie!

She had to have a bath after that episode. Anyone out there have toddlers develop a fear of baths, after they've LOVED bathing in the past? Sam's always really enjoyed the water. But this past week she really freaks out when it's time to get in the tub. I'm not sure if it's something that happened (suds in the eyes, too hot of water or something?) or if it's just a phase. She was a wiggly, screaming girl this morning and really didn't calm down until I gave her a pacifier. How weird.

It could have to do with Brian scaring her with the garden hose last weekend, I suppose. He was planting veggies and she was playing on the patio. He said he turned on the hose and she got a little worried, so he thought he'd show her it's only water. He started waving the stream toward her, and she began to cry. So he wave it a little closer, so she could see it was nothing to hurt her. She really freaked out then, and ended up huddled in the corner, crying. Guess waving the hose at her was not the right idea?? And that was after she had huddled in the corner crying while he mowed the grass. She's a little scared of the back yard now, I wonder why?

Right now, she's tucked away, fast asleep for the night. She still sleeps wonderfully from 8 to 8, which is such a blessing -- for her and for us! We sure love this little girl so much. That's all for now, folks.

Artsy Egypt

This is the last post on Egypt, I think. I know it's nice to see pictures with people in them, which is why most of what I posted had us in the photos. But it's also nice to take some artsy pictures of cool places, so this shows some of the beautiful, amazing places we saw while we were there.

More from Egypt

I know I'm probably scaring people away by adding so much from our trip to Egypt. But it was just such a fun trip, and I want to be able to remember it. I mean, I guess this is sort of my version of scrapbooking, eh? So, on with the remaining picts from our trip...

SABBATH DAY IN CAIRO
In the Arab world, the Sabbath day is actually on Friday, and the weekend is Friday and Saturday. Yes, even members of our church have Sabbath on Friday. So, we got to go to the unofficial Cairo branch of the church on Friday morning. It was great! They were doing Seminary graduation for the youth, so all the speakers were the graduates. Then, they had their annual branch photo, which they invited us to join. We stayed for all the meetings, and chatted with members after. Most are expats from the US, just in Cairo for a few years. Brian only knew two people from his time there seven years ago -- high turnover rate, it seems.

We got our traditional photo in front of the building. Brian loves to take pictures of our church's meeting houses around the world. This one is a large villa, transformed into a very nice chapel with classrooms and other meeting rooms. I was surprised to see a bathtub in the women's bathroom, until Brian explained how they converted it from the villa several years ago.
After, we walked over to where Brian used to live, just a few blocks from the church. It was really nice and well kept. There were some old men in front shining shoes... 10 - 12 pair lined up on the ground waiting to be shined. They wanted to shine Blaine's, but he declined.
FINAL DAYS IN CAIRO

The next day we went to the Egyptian Museum, a fascinating, memorable experience. Below, we're sitting in the courtyard in front of the museum. It's a gorgeous building, but a little tired inside. They have over 120,000 artifacts inside -- mummies, coffins, death maskes, vases, cases, chairs, beds, necklaces, bracelets, and on and on. Most of the pieces are just sitting around large rooms, many completely unmarked. If they are marked, it's only by old typewritten sheets of paper in wood frames, not matching and hardly readable. We kept commenting on how the Egyptians would do good to partner with a world class museum, like the NY Met or something, to properly display their amazing works! No photos inside the museum. But I borrowed this one below, from the museum's web site, because it was by far the most amazing piece we saw -- Tutankhamun's (King Tut's) death mask, made of solid gold, weighing about 22 pounds! It was quite a remarkable piece to see, much more arresting in person than in a photo. The room where they keep it also contains the sarcophagus where he was laid, brightly painted and preserved in so many gorgeous colors.

After the museum, we went up on the hill to the Citadel, a fortress that dates from the 12 or 13th century. Inside is the gorgeous Mohammed Ali mosque, which we didn't get to tour because it was already closed. But we got some great views of the city. And walking down from the Citadel, we passed a place called the City of the Dead (pictured below). It's where the people are so poor they actually live in the ruins on top of the tombs of their dead. It was very sad to see the absolute poverty of the people.
We spent some time that evening relaxing in a gorgeous park near the Citadel, overlooking the city. Parks are hard to come by in Cairo, Brian says. So wherever there's a nice park, it's bound to be mobbed by people. This one was no exception, with the grass looking rather mauled. There were lots of families and young couples... all of them loved watching Samantha.
And Samantha LOVED wandering around, even though she kept falling over because the hill was too steep. She didn't mind a bit!
We went back to the main market of Cairo that night, and Brian took us through the section where they sell spices... cumin, pepper, paprika, fennel, coriander, sesame, garlic, parsley, tamarind, etc... all sitting in huge barrels. They had black pepper corns, as well as green ones, red ones, and mixed. Blaine bought a big bag for just over a dollar. We couldn't stay too long, because the aromas are too strong. Lisa and I were coughing and sneezing like crazy after just a few minutes. But it was really fascinating to see. I didn't even have to pay to take this picture (a first, it seemed!)

That night we got to see a performance of the Whirling Dervishes. They're more famous in Turkey, I think. But they do a free performance every week in Cairo for tourists. It was great! It's basically a bunch of guys in long robes with skirts tied over the top. They spin around and around in circles and dance around the stage to loud Arab music on drums, horns and tamberines. One of them spun for 22 minutes straight in a counter-clockwise circle, and then stopped on a dime without even looking dizzy! Sadly, our camera broke that night. So we only got a couple pictures, before they started spinning. Oh well.
And that brings us to the end of our trip. The last day we saw more pyramids, which were amazing. Samantha saw yet another camel and cried her eyes out the whole time we looked at the pyramids nearby. That evening we went for a cruise on the Nile in a felucca boat. It was really nice and peaceful, and Sam loved dancing in the middle of the boat.

We went back to our hotel for a few hours that night and then packed up and headed to the airport for a 3a.m. flight (ugg). We had a layover in Amsterdam with just enough time to take the train into the city for a bite to eat and a quick look around. We were home by early afternoon, and ready for bed shortly thereafter! What a fun time, thanks for listening. :)

Egypt, Part 2

Hey, I decided my last entry was getting too long, so I'm breaking it up a bit...

MORE OF LUXOR
Here's one more from Valley of the Kings -- Lisa and I are standing outside the tomb of Tutankhamun, owner the most elaborately decorated coffin and death mask, etc. His "goods" are now in the Egyptian Museum, so we saw them later on. Very cool.

And here's one of Samantha (below), enjoying every bit of the trapsing around, as you can imagine. If you look closely at the sign beside her, you'll see her pacifier tied to the bottom of the sign. We didn't even know she'd lost it until we were on our way out and stopped to read this sign and saw someone had hung it there after Sam threw it on the ground. (Aside: the Egypt trip was Sammie's last with her "pluggie," as Brian and I call it. Starting last night, she's going without. Let's just say today's afternoon nap was a struggle settling her!! Wish us luck as Sam says bye to her soothing friend.)
This was a common sight most days, little sleepy girl. She did very good, catching naps in her stroller or in my arms in the taxis. She also slept really well every single night, waking very happy and ready to see some more!
Our hotel in Luxor was a really nice Sheraton, right on the Nile, with two very nice swimming pools. We made sure we had time to enjoy our place, even though we were rushing to see all the ruins. Blaine sweet talked them into letting us get a late check-out our last day there, so we didn't have to leave until 9 pm!
We were surprised to see how green and lush everything was, right along the Nile. Palm trees and flowers and green grass grew everywhere. All those pictures of the ruins are out in the desert, about 20-30 mins drive away from the Nile basin. The poor people who had to build them probably had a long commute! But it was interesting to learn that it's the dryness and the sand that actually preserved things so perfectly. We saw one pyramid that was built with rock from the Nile basin, and it was in very shabby condition, because that rock wasn't solid enough.
Here's our spot at the pool. Sam loved it. Blaine and Lisa brought her some water wing floaties, which she really liked. She insisted on wearing them even in our hotel rooms at night.
A view of the Nile, in back of our hotel.
We took the night train back to Cairo, then did a quick tour of a mosque and the market before flying to Sharm el Sheikh. Here's the mosque...
Do I look authentic? I was surprised they let us take pictures in the dress, but they seemed fine with it.
SHARM EL SHEIKH

Sharm is a resort town on the Red Sea, at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. We got a steal of a deal on our rooms... only $25 per night, through a UK travel Web site. We were actually a bit doubtful whether we were being scammed, but luckily it came through perfectly. Our place was a nice 4-star, breakfast included. We spent a lot of time hanging out in our rooms, swimming at the pool, and checking out the markets. The view from our balcony...

Family swim time...
Enjoying the room...
Walking near the beach, or, at least trying to find the beach??
We wanted to ride in a glass bottom boat to see the cool coral and fish on the reef -- a less wet way to snorkel. Well, the last boat went at 3pm and we got there too late. So we rented a paddle boat with a slide on it (hard to picture, and I didn't get any great shots of it), and we paddled ourselves around in the red sea for an hour.
We each took turns sliding down the slide into the Red Sea. Lisa's picture turned out the cutest, so here she is... Brian deleted his. ahem.
Sunset on the Red Sea, from our paddle boat. It was a lot of fun, except that we didn't get to shower for hours, and had to walk around with dried salt caked on while we toured the market.
MOUNT SINAI

I think this was probably the highlight of the trip for me, just because it was such a unique experience. We hired a guide to drive us to Mt Sinai, then we hiked to the top together. We rode camels part of the way, then walked the rest of the way... up a ravine and then 750 stone steps (Blaine counted). There was a little chapel built right on the top, where we got our picture taken. It was cold on top, and very hard to believe Brian slept overnight there, the first time he climbed it! Samantha HATED the camels. She cried whenever they came near, so Brian walked way ahead with her in the pack on his back. Blaine, Lisa and I rode behind on the camels... not a comfortable ride, for those who wonder. I think next time I would opt to walk. But it was an experience to say I rode a camel up Mt Sinai, for only about $13. Not bad, eh? Here are the picts...

Rest stop where we left the camels. Our guide, Mahmoud (or Moody, as he told us to call him) sits between me and Lisa. Sam is crying because she sees a camel.
Below, Blaine and the camel size each other up. Notice Blaine's hat... He got it for $5 and was very pleased with it. Everywhere we went, people kept calling him Cowboy, or making jokes like "where's your horse?" He adopted his own theme music from India Jones.
The chapel on top...
Pictures near the very tippy top...

Back from Egypt!

Well, we made it to Egypt and back again already! What a fabulous vacation we just had. It was such a fun, exciting time, seeing so many things I've only seen in pictures. The various photos we took will hardly do it justice, but hey -- at least they prove we were actually there, right? I'll take a few days to finish this entry, but here's a start...
THE PYRAMIDS

This first shot (above) is in front of the Sphinx and the pyramids. It's kind of an optical illusion, because the Sphinx is nowhere near the size of the pyramids, but it looks like it's almost as large, when taken from this viewpoint. And below, you can see how MASSIVE the pyramids are up close! Each layer of stone is nearly 6 feet tall. Apparently they used to let people climb the pyramids, but they're steep enough that one or two people died each year so they stopped letting tourists climb. Smart move, I think.

Here we are, all of us in front of the pyramids. My brother, Blaine, and his wife, Lisa, joined us for the trip. They ventured inside one of the pyramids to see the inner chambers. I started to follow, but it was tight and dark and hot and I experienced my first case of claustrophobia and high-tailed it out of there in a hurry!
In this one (below), I paid 5 egyptian pounds (about $1) to sit on this camel and get my picture taken. The camel was named Moses. His owner pestered me for about an hour before I finally caved and got my photo. Thanks, Moses.
This security guard came up and picked Samantha up out of her stroller, sitting her on his knee. he then patted places beside him for me and Blaine to come have a seat, and mimed that we should take a picture. I thought it was cute of him to want a picture with us, so I had Brian take one. Immediately he mimed that he would liked payment for the picture, saying "baksheesh" which means, "I'd like a tip." I reached in my jeans and pulled out a bill I thought was 1 egyptian pound. Handed it to him and watched him smile as he pocketed it quickly. Then Brian started talking to him, and he pulled the bill out again, handing it back to me. I had accidentally handed him 100 egyptian pounds instead of 1 pound! Oops! Some kind of tip. Good thing Brian was around to help me find my way around, eh?

LUXOR

After a day in Cairo seeing the pyramids, we took the night train to Luxor. The train was nice enough, with private cabins and bunks -- dinner included. Samantha slept on the floor in her pack-n-play. We awoke as the train arrive, about 7 a.m., just in time for a full day of site-seeing in Luxor. First, the Luxor temple, pictured below. It was amazing! I'm not good at remembering which Ramses did which bit of the temples and such. So, no names or dates on these picts. Sorry. Just know, they were VERY old, and VERY well preserved, and VERY intricately carved.
Blaine had some creative photo ideas that he enthusiastically insisted upon... copy the statues! It was a bit comical to see how many people stopped to watch us pose for this one below. I bet they were just jealous they hadn't thought of it first.
And this one, below, is another of Blaine's creations. Brian and I are acting out the scene carved on the column behind us. I bet no one ever thought of that before, in all the thousands of years that carving has been there, eh?
We visited Valley of the Kings (below), where all the ancient pharoahs' tombs were. That's where they found all the mummies, so well preserved. The mummies and most of the artifacts from the tombs are now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (which we saw later). But inside the tombs, the walls are intricately carved with heiroglyphics and paintings. It was incredible to see how colorful and beautiful they were. They wouldn't let us take pictures of the tombs, for preservation. But I bet you can imagine, eh?
Poor Lisa decided to investigate a small, abandonded tomb. Well, turns out it was full of animal poop of some variety, maybe camels? She was overwhelmed by the oder and didn't get past the entrance. We offered support by laughing and taking her picture in the dung-infested entrance.
This is in front of one of the tomb entrances. While we were standing in line to go in, something remarkable happened... it rained! Rain is a rarity in Egypt -- maybe once or twice every couple years! Yeah, so what if it was just a tiny shower?! We actually saw rain in Egypt.
We stopped at the temple of Hatshepsut, ancient queen of Egypt, on our way back to our hotel. We didn't go in, but it looked very fascinating the way it's built right out of the hillside.
I'm going to have to stop here for tonight... will pick up later tomorrow, I hope.