Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Nature
Yes. I know. I have failed to keep up with posts on a regular basis. I apologize. Really though, we have good reasons... mostly we're just getting used to our new reality. Not home anymore, but not at our new home either, and we're not on vacation yet.
We're happy with our temp apartment. It's a small 2 bedroom, but comfortable. The two twin beds for the kids, plus their dresser, take up most of their room, so we joke that their walk-in closet is the 'play room'. They don't seem to mind the lack of elbow room and they do have run of the place for play.
We all have been enjoying some actual TV shows. We haven't had cable in years so watching channels rather than DVD's has been interesting... not better, but different. Enough to draw us in and turn us into couch potatoes for unusual lengths of time. Honor loves iCarly. Brian seems more interested in the news and other such sources to fill his need to collect facts, trivia and other misc. bits of knowledge.
We have also all been hooked on an online game called Wizard101 - fun for kids and adults. Seriously, we recommend it.. go ahead, give it a try. It's free. But don't go until you finish reading here or you'll not be back for hours! (which gives another reason my blog has been neglected... the kids' computers are packed away and gone; I have to share!)
We went for a walk at a nearby lake the other day. We started out saying that we were going to take a 'short' walk. We ended up walking all the way around... rather tricky as the trail didn't actually go all the way. Seems we aren't the only ones who like to finish what we start though because as we came to the looped end of the paved track marking the end of the trail, we saw a footpath heading off into the brush. We managed to skirt the edge around the whole 27-acre lake. The kids have never had a chance to wander 'off-road' like this. Over branches, through the brambles... spying all sorts of bugs, flowers, birds and creatures. We had to rush them a bit because they wanted to stop and search every nook and cranny of the path... and we honestly had no idea how long the lake was! We wanted to get home before dark or before it rained!
Despite our hurrying, we caught sight of several rabbits, evidence of beaver, and squirrels; small song birds, water birds, and even large heron. We saw some lovely brightly colored insects, including a well behaved dragonfly who, at first flew off when we approached his perch, but went back and posed when we asked him too. (It never hurts to ask). We saw fish and turtles in the water, and amazingly enough, found a momma turtle digging a hole next to the path in which to lay her eggs! We couldn't help but watch her a moment - we wouldn't have approached so close except she was right next to the trail (the official trail, not the footpath) and we didn't even see her until we were right next to her. Anyway, the kids loved the birds the most, and the birds loved the kids too... the birds would have loved them more if they'd had crumbs, but no such luck. They both asked if I would buy them small notebooks so we can go out again and they can draw pictures and take notes... how can I say no to that?!
I hope these photos are clear enough - enjoy!
We're happy with our temp apartment. It's a small 2 bedroom, but comfortable. The two twin beds for the kids, plus their dresser, take up most of their room, so we joke that their walk-in closet is the 'play room'. They don't seem to mind the lack of elbow room and they do have run of the place for play.
We all have been enjoying some actual TV shows. We haven't had cable in years so watching channels rather than DVD's has been interesting... not better, but different. Enough to draw us in and turn us into couch potatoes for unusual lengths of time. Honor loves iCarly. Brian seems more interested in the news and other such sources to fill his need to collect facts, trivia and other misc. bits of knowledge.
We have also all been hooked on an online game called Wizard101 - fun for kids and adults. Seriously, we recommend it.. go ahead, give it a try. It's free. But don't go until you finish reading here or you'll not be back for hours! (which gives another reason my blog has been neglected... the kids' computers are packed away and gone; I have to share!)
We went for a walk at a nearby lake the other day. We started out saying that we were going to take a 'short' walk. We ended up walking all the way around... rather tricky as the trail didn't actually go all the way. Seems we aren't the only ones who like to finish what we start though because as we came to the looped end of the paved track marking the end of the trail, we saw a footpath heading off into the brush. We managed to skirt the edge around the whole 27-acre lake. The kids have never had a chance to wander 'off-road' like this. Over branches, through the brambles... spying all sorts of bugs, flowers, birds and creatures. We had to rush them a bit because they wanted to stop and search every nook and cranny of the path... and we honestly had no idea how long the lake was! We wanted to get home before dark or before it rained!
Despite our hurrying, we caught sight of several rabbits, evidence of beaver, and squirrels; small song birds, water birds, and even large heron. We saw some lovely brightly colored insects, including a well behaved dragonfly who, at first flew off when we approached his perch, but went back and posed when we asked him too. (It never hurts to ask). We saw fish and turtles in the water, and amazingly enough, found a momma turtle digging a hole next to the path in which to lay her eggs! We couldn't help but watch her a moment - we wouldn't have approached so close except she was right next to the trail (the official trail, not the footpath) and we didn't even see her until we were right next to her. Anyway, the kids loved the birds the most, and the birds loved the kids too... the birds would have loved them more if they'd had crumbs, but no such luck. They both asked if I would buy them small notebooks so we can go out again and they can draw pictures and take notes... how can I say no to that?!
I hope these photos are clear enough - enjoy!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Did we fall off the edge?
No. Not we didn't go off the edge of the Earth. Just to the other side.
We spent a day, and part of the night, saying goodbye to our friends. We packed up our house, loaded our bags...
... and in the middle of the night, we walked out the gate. Saying goodbye to our Cairo home of 4+ years.
We spent some boring time in airports...
... and some silly time.
How silly? Check out Honor's amateur rock video...
yea... that silly. Well, we thought it was funny.. maybe you had to be there, bored and over-tired?
Anyway. Honor's kitty (as well as family members and other plush animals) had their photos taken multiple times - due to limited subject material and the boredom of a 6yo photographer.
We are also the proud owner of multiple airport photos as well.
Gotta love digital cameras! For travel entertainment, we find that handheld games are good, but the kids can also keep entertained with the camera, my Palm Treo (PDA with drawing and game apps), as well as with good ol' fashioned pencils, crayons and paper. A blank notebook ususally gets more use than any coloring book.We had a bit of a delay in Frankfurt, but never ran out of things to do.
Finally we loaded up for our final leg of the trip.
Kitty and Honor got comfortable too.
Kids, of course, nabbed the window seats.
and off we went.
Thank you daddy for the upgraded tickets. Seats were so comfy that I actually slept on the plane... I've never slept on a plane! But I snoozed through most of both flights. Honor, my seat partner, slept less than I did, but showed how mature she has become by keeping herself entertained and by interacting politely with the attendants on her own. Brian and Brad were on the other side of the plane and had a comfy flight too. Amazing how fast a 5+ hour flight, followed by a 9+ hour flight, goes by when you sleep through most of it. Yay! And the rest/comfort really helped us handle the landing and all that fun stuff, processing the rental car, driving to our destination, and getting up too early the next morning for work.
We arrived in the US with rain clouds... and rain! How refreshing!!
We landed among trees and amazing green-ness. It's taking some getting used to. The kids are begging to have their very own, first ever, umbrellas. Honor says the air is 'heavy' .. good description of the humidity. We've enjoyed finding rabbits, deer, squirrels, groundhogs, birds, fish, etc. The kids even found a bird sitting in a nest the other day. A lot of the local wildlife have been granted names as well... wonder what they think about that?
Our temporary home is very comfortable and perhaps later I'll do a review of the company we are renting from - Marriott Execustay - after I have a bit more time to fill out my impression of the service. So far, very good.
and so now, we are off on our new adventure...
We have appointments, admin stuff, etc, to keep us very busy the next few weeks... and as we do not have all that much for the kids to do here inside the apartment, I rarely get to use my own laptop(!), but, I promise, when I am able to pry it away from little fingers, I will try to not only keep up posting about what we are doing now, but fill in with some flashback posts on the fun stuff we did before we left Cairo.
Missed ya!
We spent a day, and part of the night, saying goodbye to our friends. We packed up our house, loaded our bags...
... and in the middle of the night, we walked out the gate. Saying goodbye to our Cairo home of 4+ years.
We spent some boring time in airports...
... and some silly time.
How silly? Check out Honor's amateur rock video...yea... that silly. Well, we thought it was funny.. maybe you had to be there, bored and over-tired?
Anyway. Honor's kitty (as well as family members and other plush animals) had their photos taken multiple times - due to limited subject material and the boredom of a 6yo photographer.
We are also the proud owner of multiple airport photos as well.
Gotta love digital cameras! For travel entertainment, we find that handheld games are good, but the kids can also keep entertained with the camera, my Palm Treo (PDA with drawing and game apps), as well as with good ol' fashioned pencils, crayons and paper. A blank notebook ususally gets more use than any coloring book.We had a bit of a delay in Frankfurt, but never ran out of things to do.Finally we loaded up for our final leg of the trip.
Kitty and Honor got comfortable too.
Kids, of course, nabbed the window seats.
and off we went.
Thank you daddy for the upgraded tickets. Seats were so comfy that I actually slept on the plane... I've never slept on a plane! But I snoozed through most of both flights. Honor, my seat partner, slept less than I did, but showed how mature she has become by keeping herself entertained and by interacting politely with the attendants on her own. Brian and Brad were on the other side of the plane and had a comfy flight too. Amazing how fast a 5+ hour flight, followed by a 9+ hour flight, goes by when you sleep through most of it. Yay! And the rest/comfort really helped us handle the landing and all that fun stuff, processing the rental car, driving to our destination, and getting up too early the next morning for work.
We arrived in the US with rain clouds... and rain! How refreshing!!
We landed among trees and amazing green-ness. It's taking some getting used to. The kids are begging to have their very own, first ever, umbrellas. Honor says the air is 'heavy' .. good description of the humidity. We've enjoyed finding rabbits, deer, squirrels, groundhogs, birds, fish, etc. The kids even found a bird sitting in a nest the other day. A lot of the local wildlife have been granted names as well... wonder what they think about that?
Our temporary home is very comfortable and perhaps later I'll do a review of the company we are renting from - Marriott Execustay - after I have a bit more time to fill out my impression of the service. So far, very good.
and so now, we are off on our new adventure...
We have appointments, admin stuff, etc, to keep us very busy the next few weeks... and as we do not have all that much for the kids to do here inside the apartment, I rarely get to use my own laptop(!), but, I promise, when I am able to pry it away from little fingers, I will try to not only keep up posting about what we are doing now, but fill in with some flashback posts on the fun stuff we did before we left Cairo.Missed ya!
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