Christmas in Egypt!

We went to Egypt for Christmas this year with our friends Simon and Rachel and sons.  Its was a great time.  We were a bit worried about Egypt being in the news an awful lot in our run up to the vacation, but we didn't encounter any protest-related difficulties.  In fact, it appears to have kept the crowds away and lower the strength of the Egyptian pound against the dollar, which is terrible for the Egyptian economy, but pretty nice for us.  

Here are a few highlights:

Christmas Eve ~ we took a "one-horsed open sleigh" called a caleche to the sound a light show at the Karnak temple in Luxor, singing Jingle Bells the entire way.

Christmas Day we had a treasure hunt organized by Rachel and went to church in town.  Since the church catered primarily to tourists, the mass was in Italian, French, English, and Latin.  The best part was probably the sermon, which consistent of 5 minutes of silence.

The temples, tombs, statues and museums in Luxor were amazing.  We were limited in taking photos -- particularly in the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.  They were the most impressive with the original painting still vibrant after 3000+ years.

Fun in the sun ~ Ani caught some fish nuggets on the Nile along with swimming and general relaxation.

Finally, what's a trip to Egypt without seeing the pyramids?

The Many Days of Christmas Vacation!

School holidays are always a bit of a challenge for me.  I'm hoping to keep the kids busy with crafts and activities so we don't descend into the whining woes until the afternoons. So, here we go:

"On the first day of Christmas vacation, my mommy occupied me.....with a homemade nativity."

thanks to http://marloesdevee.blogspot.com/2010/12/make-your-own-christmas-crib.html

"On the second day of Christmas vacation, my mommy occupied me.....with a portrait of baby jesus."

"On the third day of Christmas vacation, my mommy occupied me.... with a hideous gingerbread house and matching pyramids to represent our ill-fated vacation."

"On the fourth day of Christmas vacation my mommy occupied me... with a homemade snowglobe"

"On the fifth day of Christmas vacation, my mommy occupied me with various other crafts such as snowflake making, cookies, and general art projects, but she was pretty well burnt out by the end of week one."

Happy Halloween

We had a nice Halloween this year.  Ani was a leopard and Leena was a skunk.  They visited about 15 houses and raked in quite a bit of candy.  They are sleeping now, so perhaps it's time to raid their bags.....

Happy Halloween!

Family Tree

My upstairs neighbor's piano music inspired me.

She -- I think it's a woman -- went through a particularly intense song phase, pounding out low notes with force.  As a result, a few of our old family photos fell off the wall and the frames broke.  Hanging up things here in Nairobi is difficult since the walls are concrete so hanging something up requires drilling a hole in the wall, filling the hole with wood and then pounding the nail into the wood hole.  Not great if you are imprecise, like me. So, I decided to freestyle a fabric fancy tree and affix the photos to it, instead.

As usual, I get points for creativity and NOT for careful execution, but overall, I think it turned out okay.  We'll see how long it hold with mere double-sided tape, but at least it won't come crashing down with shattered glass the next time a moody broody piano piece is played.

My girls

Here is Ani and Leena's sibling photo from their old school at Madari Kindergarten.  I like my girls a little disheveled - it means they are having fun. Since Ani started primary school, they now go to Braeburn here in Nairobi.  They both like it a lot, although we miss Madari's small and comfortable setting.  

Getting back into it

Like most reluctant blog owners out there, I have been letting Facebook function as a way to keep people updated on my growing girls.  But, as some people leave Facebook for either security concerns or the time-suck that Facebook can be, I have been asked to get back into the blog world.

So, here's the status of my little -- or should I say not-so-little -- ones.

                                                                              photo by Jean-Marie Detcher

Little Leena is 3 years old now and hilarious.  She is supremely confident.  She walks into a room and says, "Hey everybody, I'm HERE!  It's LEENA!"  and thinks everyone should applaud.  Her favorite things are: Diego, chocolate, comfortable leggings, and playing with boys.

                                                                                        photo by Kim T Seels

Annice is 6 now and started primary school.  She gets up every morning and puts on her uniform and trots off to her class at Braeburn Primary.  She loves school and I love that her name seems extremely boring compared to many of her classmates (Shlok, Ngonie, Yuli, Tirok, King, Milka, Shami to name a few).  Annice is our resident artist and our walls are covered with her creative creations.  Who needs to buy art when you can just have a rotating installation that is continually improving?

Ben and I are just doing our thing and not particularly interesting, but there are potentially interesting elements for the blog in the future - an upcoming Christmas vacation in Egypt and then a hopeful plunge into the Kenyan adoption process.