We now have a four year old. She began counting down in the summer, I think, for this day to come. She and I made an official countdown two weeks ago to put on the fridge and she was so excited the day it was finally zero!
By coincidence, Aberly's birthday fell on the same day as "Rainbow Day" at TAISM for the elementary school. Although they didn't get to participate in it as preschoolers, they did a special picnic and Aberly shared homemade cookies (by Eunice, sadly, I have been swamped mom lately!) with her class. She even handed out a cookie to a boy in her class with egg/milk allergies, which she knows about and knows he has "special treats" at school, and he promptly ate it before the teachers noticed. THANKFULLY he had no reaction so maybe a blessing in disguise that the parents know now that maybe his allergy is less severe. Or we are lucky it was a small cookie and the serving size was minimal enough. Colin told Aberly he heard she tried to kill Felix at school that day, which of course, was over her head. Silly daddy.
Anyways, because it was rainbow day, Aberly decided to dress like a rainbow fairy. Neither Colin nor I were aware she was doing this as we rushed to get ourselves ready and head downstairs to make her French toast for birthday breakfast. She entered my bathroom (I heard her jingling as she came) and asked me how she looked. What else could I say? It was her birthday and she was so proud to have gotten all dressed up and "beautiful". I put on a little makeup and glitter for her. She was thrilled and of course, got lots of compliments at school.
One of Aberly's wishes is that it would rain on her birthday this year. Well, the birthday gods, all of them apparently, were listening and we got hit dead on by a serious storm. Lightening cracked just over heard when she, Izzy, and Colin just got in the door. Scared her bad and she cried for a bit, but soon was laughing about it. Then it got crazy. Hail started hitting and they were the size of marbles. The wind was howling and Eunice and I could barely pull the upper patio door closed together. After the hail, the rain started dumping and was coming in through the edges of our windows. Colin and I ran around cleaning water and putting towels down. The girls were great and played in Aberly's room, patiently waiting for Aberly's birthday dinner (sitting, waiting on the stove).
We thought we were okay but soon realized we could be in for a serious mess as the ventilation/drain chutes outside our living and dining room bathroom windows were filling with water, and fast. The drains could not keep up with all that water coming so fast. We shut and locked them, and hoped they would stay shut and not leak. To play it safe, we got everything off the floors and rolled up the carpets. Thankfully, the windows didn't leak and we didn't have the mess we dreaded might happen.
The storm finally passed and I got this lucky shot of it from our upper patio.
Damage to our house was minimal. One screen (older) got shredded by the hail, plants leaves were torn up, things outside toppled over, and some decorative trim got knocked off the side of our house. Our neighbor's trampoline got picked up by the wind and blown over their 7-foot high gate. We all wished we would've seen it! At the school, the one gym floor was covered in water, trees uprooted, and the playground shade cover toppled. There is serious fixing to do there.
Around town, some areas experience a lot of water (like the souk and you can see the video here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=770337682993325&set=vb.199846260042473&type=2&theater ) and there is still some standing water in the streets and small waterfalls coming off hillsides. Luckily, Muscat has really improved its drainage system in the last few years and things are much better when serious rain hits. There are only a few places it gets bad. Well, and of course, the wadis around the mountains will fill up and rage! They are very dangerous.
So, there is Aberly's 4th birthday! She had a great day at school, got more than she bargained for with her rain wish, had dinner with her friend Izzy (chili and corn bread by request), talked to Nana and Papa briefly on Skype (internet was very intermittent) and opened presents before bed.
Her Princess and Fairy Picnic birthday party is tomorrow and she cannot wait to celebrate with her friends.
