Wadis, Birthdays, Thanksgiving, ERs

This was Azeb's birthday. She is our nanny and house helper who lives with us. She is from Ethiopia and has been with us for almost two years. She is very much a part of the family and we all love her. She is a WONDERFUL addition to our life and allows me to do things other than just cook, clean and take care of kids....all wonderful things but I do want to do more while we are living out here! So we had a big celebration for her 30th birthday!

We have had several big rains out here. So a few weekends ago we went to a wadi for lunch. This picture above is a great one to illustrate a wadi....a deep valley cut through rock that water sometimes runs through.

Many of the roads were washed out for a few days or weeks depending on the area. Nothing is built to withstand rain so ANY rain means it affects life totally for a few days...cleaning up messes inside houses and out is a big job.

Just gorgeous (= 

Tom was gone for 6 days and returned home to a surprise birthday party! It was a week early and I had found an incredible grill as a gift. It was pretty beat up but we got it looking like almost-new and it was a huge surpise for Tom. He's been wanting a big fancy grill but we (I) kept saying no (= I found this one at about 85% off! 

And when daddy came home Ryan wanted to snuggle like this with his new quilt from Tutu Lisa's daddy. He loves to pull it all over his head. 

We don't always celebrate Thanksgiving and this year we only decided to do so a day ahead so it was a miracle we got it all put on the table.... 

....due in large part to Azeb's help (= 

This is Ryan wearing his Georgia Bull Dogs shirt pretending to be a baby bulldog and sitting under his daddy bull dog (= Ryan is getting very specific in his role playing and telling you how to sit and what to say etc etc etc 

This is Ryan and Iz who are both three years old. We were at the hospital while Isaiah's little brother got checked out for possible seizures or something. We kept him for the afternoon at our house after getting them settled into the pediatric department. His brother was sent home but they still need an EEG )= 

Camping, frogs and friends

One of the many good things about living here is that when the winter season comes it is FANTASTIC for camping. Because of needing water while camping one always has to do car camping here but we've gotten used to it and have our system down and really enjoy it.

Our two kids and house-helper are also avid campers which makes it all the MORE fun!

We went to a previous campsite that is close to home and it was desolate for the first day and then the second day a HUGE family of 5 white toyota SUVs pulled up next to us for a long lunch. sigh. THEN we went down to the water's edge and ran into some frogs...and then a friend and their ENTIRE family. One of the daughters used to be in Layla's class but had moved and I hadn't yet visited her mom to find out what was going on! So we hung out with them near the water and it was a great time. You've actually read about this family before here and here. They were super interested in our camping gear and set up walked back to our campsite to take a look and see us cooking hobo meals (= So fun.

Both of those are great links...the second one is that crazy one about playdates here!

Anyway - see below for pictures of our camping!

This is just about 30 mins from our house!

We've seen this little door in the mountainside for years but only just hiked up to it today!

Not sure why all the clothing is thrown out in front....I think the place was a store room.

Playing together in the morning...we are BLESSED with kids who like to sleep in and snuggle!!

grr..won't change orientation for some reason....but it is the kids flying kites.

you can see behind us some of the kids from the family we were hanging out with. Always hard to take photos with locals!

Behind Layla is the date farm and banana tree farm further beyond that. A great place to roam around!

This little man was Layla's same age and SUPER friendly. His mom is the one I knew the least but she is a forensic scientist in a crime lab!

snuggling in Azeb's tent. She sleeps in tom's one-man tent.

The After School Club finishes its first week!

We've had a great response to the after school club with 80 students now enrolled and three new classes. We are VERY grateful for the volunteers! Here are some badly formatted photos. Some day I will embark on formatting for blogger. Now.....let's all be happy I am posting. (-;

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Days while the weather cools down!

Just fun times with friends - Azeb our house helper made pancakes in the shape over everyone's first letter. So creative (= On the far left is Layla's best friend since she was three....her mom is traveling for six weeks so we are having more regular playdates and sleepovers to help out her dad (=

 

The two on the end are Jael and Sofie who we see every week...we LOVE them (= He and Ryan will just run up and hug each other!

 

On the far left is a little friend of Ryan.....her mom is reallys sick these days so she also hangs out with us more than normal. She and Ryan are also best buds. 

It is GLORIOUS to be able to play outside! We have five kids who live next door and while they don't speak English they all get along just fine....we bring some toys outside and Azeb usually supervises since she speaks very effective "kids' arabic" and keeps everyone undercontrol. This is the same group of kids who we do the bike races and running races with. Thankfully we have about 7 dollies to share!