Christmas and Happy New Year!

What a lovely Christmas we have had this year.  December was busy in preparation for Christmas from the get go.

 

EC Christmas Concert.  Adorable.

 

 

The Rauk's entertaining Ugly Sweater Party. 

 

 

Decorating our very faux Christmas tree.  

 

It may be fake, but I love it and our ornaments, Mom!  Sadly (or luckily) they know no different!

 

Yup, still filled with Christmas joy! 

 

The annual school Christmas party.  Fake snow for the event and lots of craft/activity tables.

 

 

The annual Staff Christmas brunch.  A visit from Santa, carols, cookies, a movie, and lots of fun! 

 

Besides the Ugly Sweater party, we enjoyed a couple other adults only Christmas parties this year and loved spending time with friends (one of the parties was hosted by this fantastic couple and dear friends, Hannah and Eric, that is why they get the feature photo).    

 

A evening exchanging gifts with Eunice before she left to have Christmas with her family in Tanzania.

 

Christmas photo time, girls!  Yeah, that'll do.

Finally, Christmas break arrived and we looked forward to the main event!

 

GeeGee (Nancy) arrived on the 22nd and the girls were thrilled.  Once she had unloaded, slept, and settled, we made cookies, enjoyed a fantastic Christmas Eve dinner, and a fun-filled Christmas morning/day (we opened Santa's gifts, Nana/Papa gifts, and a few from mommy and daddy).  We also went ice skating that day, something Aberly had been dying to try for a long time.  She found out it wasn't as easy as it looked.

 

 

 

 

   

Despite leaving on the 24th, with travel time and time zones, Connor arrived late on Christmas night and so we had another fun-filled "2nd Christmas morning" with presents to all of us from Connor, GeeGee, Kevin and Chrystal, and Papa Skip and Angie.  Connor was so gracious to pack over their gifts with him.  Everyone was so generous this year and we all felt so blessed and loved by their heartfelt and thoughtful gifts.  GeeGee put together a fantastic 2nd Christmas dinner and set a beautiful table (which I have no photos of!).

With Connor here, we got out to show him the sights as well.  We had lots of fun touring around the city, eating out, and getting outside the city for some adventures. 

 

 

Aberly and I also had a super fun and fancy mommy-daughter adventure (her last Christmas gift) by going to see "Broadway on Ice" at the Muscat Opera house.  It was an amazing show with a small ice rink on the stage (mini Zamboni during intermission!), some live singing, beautiful costumes, and lots of beautiful ice skating. 

 

Tomorrow, we head to Sri Lanka with Nancy for our Christmas vacation, which we are super excited for.  

It makes me think, as I sit here on New Year's Eve, how lucky we are to have the opportunities we have had by living in Oman.  This past year (and the years before) has brought new friends, new experiences, new life/world perspectives, challenges (good ones) to our ways of thinking, and new opportunities to us as a family and individuals.  A lot has changed for us and we look forward to finishing our 2014/2015 school year here before moving back to Bend. 

There is so much we'll miss by moving away, but we know that there will be a lot of new adventures for our family back in Oregon, as well as being close to family and dear friends again.  It's bittersweet, but we know we are making the right decision for ourselves at this point in our lives.  Who knows, we may end up overseas again (which we would be up for!) but we hope it's in a new capacity with Colin in some type of writing or outdoorsy career.  Our lovely HS principal (the one who hired Colin when he was the MS principal) told us he gives us "one or two years" before we are back overseas.  We shall see if he is correct!

Happy New Year to all of you and I hope your year has brought you new challenges, new opportunities, and new perspectives as well!

Thanksgiving and Family

Well, it's almost Christmas, so how about I blog about Thanksgiving? 

Any other time, I would've shrugged that off and forgiven myself for failing to get something up, but this time, I can't, since my family came for their last visit to Oman.  It was a whirlwind, packed house, but wonderful visit, and we are so thankful they could all come to celebrate Thanksgiving with us (at a Turkish restaurant!) and to get out and explore.

First up, Andrew arrived.  He was super excited to see the girls and to play!  My parents didn't know he was coming.

 They were super stunned.  Operation surprise complete!

They were jetlagged, of course, but rallied hard to celebrate Aberly's 5th birthday the next day.  Aberly loved waking them up that morning and getting some good cuddle time.

A few days later, we headed out on our friends boat down the coast to a little cove, complete with turquoise water, sun, and gentle winds.  We relaxed, had lunch, swam, and sunned.  It was a really lovely day, with lovely company! 

 

 

Our next adventure was at Wadi Shab.  We'd heard how great it was, but didn't realize how great until venturing in ourselves.  If you don't know, a wadi is a valley between two hills that can be dry or full of water, depending on the weather and natural surroundings.  Wadi Shab always has water and so there is a lot of wildlife (mainly birds, insects, and such) and greenery.  The water is crystal clear and the perfect temp for swimming!   We left Em at home with Eunice since it was a pretty big hike, but Aberly came along and did fantastic.  She loved it!  Poor grandma was nervous a lot of the time watching Aberly with all the rocks and ledges, but we just told her to look away and concentrate on her own feet :-)  And congrats to my mom for making the trek in!  Her old self would've been too nervous and worried, but she overcame her nerves, and made it in!  It was also a pretty physical feat and thanks to her continued diet and exercise, she was able to do it, unlike years ago, when weight would've held her back.

 Andrew and Colin both took the plunge and jumped from the cliffs.  No way for me, but they loved it!  And of course, Nana Elaine watched with a racing heart.

We did have down time between our adventures.  It usually involved games, books, cartoons, and  just being goofy.

After my parents left, Aberly and I took Andrew to the Grand Mosque for one last hurrah.  All visitors have to respect local expectations for dress, so legs and arms had to be covered, and of course for women, head and neck.  I'm not actually in an abaya; it's a black shirt and black long sleeved top I have, but with the black head scarf, it definitely looks that way.  I was actually quite comfortable.

 Thanks again, my family, for the happy visit!