Camping during New Years

Check out the color of this water in the photo below

Can you see Cole? We camped on this beach for 2 nights over New Years. There was white beach as far as our eyes could see with no one on it but us. It was wonderful! Since the moon was only a tiny sliver, the night sky was like a blanket of stars. Throughout our camping trip, I kept thinking how fortunate I am. With the best ever life partner and 2 happy healthy boys, my life has never felt more complete as it does these days.

Cole sits alone watching the waves. Although he can't yet swim, Cole has really gotten into surfing. Thanks to all the surf videos he watched with Eric & the movie Surf's Up, he talks about surfing a lot. He even has his own board (a piece of wood he found during our last camping trip).

eating dinner and watching the sunset

another beautiful sunset

The drive home took us about 8 hours! We took lots of shi-shi breaks for Cole and Tai eats about every 4-5 hours. Both of the boys are such great travelers. Like most babies, Tai loves car rides. And Cole happily played in his car seat, ate yummy snacks, looked at his books and loves our music. Along the way we saw lots of camels, which Cole loved.

Camping with our housemates @ Ras Al Markaz

We drove about 800 km south to go camping for 4 nights with our housemates, Ale (with the hat) and Luca. It was a beautiful trip. We had this whole huge beach to ourselves! We played, swam, walked, explored, ate well (thanks to our Italian housemates), slept, relaxed and had a great time. Cole loves camping! Ale & Luca are always so wonderful with Cole. We really like living with them. They have added a lot to our lives here. Tai was amazing! He seemed happier camping than if we had stayed home. We plan on taking lots more camping trips while we're here in Oman. If you look closely at the photo below, you'll see our tents & cars near the ocean.

The 4 of us

Tai @ 2 months

I'm a bit embarrassed about this next section of photos b/c I have so many photos of Tai. But I just love how much he smiles and love that he smiles for so long. "Tai" means Peaceful Mind in Japanese. In these next photos, Tai seems to be at peace with his world.

Riyam Park

This is Riyam Park, which is fairly close to our house. But unless it is winter, it is too hot to really enjoy it. Now it is getting much cooler so we're outside lots.

Tai sleeping in the shade while we're having fun @ the park.

random ladies at the park- just wanted to show you how women dress here

The Boys and J Visit E @ Work

E's work is a 5 minute walk along the beach from our house. If you look at the photo below, you might be able to see our house (a big white building kinda above C's head). This photo is of J & the boys arriving to E's work site. C running towards E to give him a hug.







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The 3 of us leaving the site so E can continue working.

National Day Celebration @ C's School

As National Day was approaching, C & his classmates learned about Oman.  For the school's National Day Celebration, the children at C's school wore clothes from the country they were from. Below you'll see photos of C and the kids from his school singing songs for their proud parents. After they sang, everyone had a big snack (Each family was asked to bring a snack from their country.)  and later played Omani games. 

Cole is very happy with his school. He feels comfortable in his surroundings and loves his classmates and 4 teachers. Eric and I love the fact that most of the kids are Omani. Only about 4 students of the 20 in his class are not Omani. His closest friends are Yahia from Egypt, Quinn from Fiji, Jude from Lebanon, Buthaina and Mohammed from Oman.

Cole and his classmates. Cole and his good friend Quinn from Fiji are the two islanders in Aloha shirts, but Quinn who is sitting right next to him decided to duck for this photo.
Cole's classmates

A few shots of my boys