Friday, September 16, 2011

Luxor, Egypt

We rode a night train from Cairo to Luxor, leaving our house at 6:30 pm to ride a taxi, the metro and finally to the train station to board the train at 8:00.

 Every single one of these shots were blurry. However, you can see how small the rooms were with a sink and bunk beds. I was excited about sleeping on a train, but every time the train stopped, it woke me up. So none of the adults slept very much at all.

We arrived at Luxor at 6:30 in the morning, dropped our bags off at the hotel and began our tours.

 We visited the Temple of Hatshepsut.

 The Temple of Karnak

And the Temple of Luxor

We also visited the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, but we were not allowed to take pictures at these sites. There were some beautiful tombs in both of these valleys and were well worth the tours. However, my favorite places to visit were the temples because of the statues and carvings in the walls.  Also, the temples required a lot less walking up and down stairs in the hot, hot sun.

If you are interested in seeing more pictures, check out my facebook page. 

Friday, September 9, 2011

Hello, My Sad and Lonely Little Blog

I've finished my list for the day.
My children are safely tucked in bed and my husband is away attending a friend's wedding.
I've called and chatted with my dad.
I've called my best friend and been rejected by her answering machine.

So now, I have a glass of sweet tea and I'm listening to YouTube music videos of Brad Paisley's new album, This Is Country Music, as I type. Many thanks to my brother-in-law, Josh, for making me aware. He has a fun rendition of Life's Railway to Heaven, which reminds me of all the hours Brian and I spent years ago playing that song together.

Baby #4 and I have reached 19 weeks along this week. One more week and we are half-way through this pregnancy. I cannot believe how fast it has flown by. Last week I finally starting feeling movements from this little person.

Apparently, if your blogging strategy is daily life... you really should blog as life happens. Because now I'm so far behind, I don't even know where to start. I've been taking pictures with you in mind. So, the best thing is to just take a quick look at the past week or so.

Emily drew a picture of what she wants this year's birthday cake to look like.

 "i want Blue iceing and a Rocet Ship with stars for the Picther and a lemen caKe."

Last weekend, we took a train up to a friend's beach house outside of Alexandria. I have no pictures of the beach because it was just beach and I didn't want sand in my camera. This photo is courtesy of Brian, I was dozing in my chair.... the girls were watching Bug's Life and a little girl on the train came and joined them. 


 This is my Greek Salad at a restaurant in Alexandria. I thought it was beautiful.
(That may be the pregnant talking.)
 This was at the same restaurant: photo also courtesy of Brian. All three girls were having fun admiring the fountain... until Sophie threw Bear into the water. So during the taxi ride back to the house, Brian hung Bear out the window to dry him off. It was funnier if you were there...

 This is the only picture of beach that we got... (photo courtesy of Brian). The water was beautiful and the waves were tremendous. Although, about ten feet into the water the waves were so big they would knock me off my feet, so the girls weren't loving all the waves. They did have fun playing in the sand.

Sophie absolutely hated the beach. She detests sand and the waves scared her. Most of the time I held her and tried to coax her into having a good time. But at one point, Brian and I set her on a boogie board and built a sand castle around her. Her very own little purgatory. Poor baby.

 A couple of days ago, I had put the veggies and ranch dressing on the table and was in the kitchen with Brian finishing up dinner. When I came back in, this is what I found...

Emily and I got our hair cut this week. Emily needed a trim and I needed my layers shortened, but Savannah didn't get to come with us. As a consolation prize, I borrowed some sponge curlers from a friend. We have wrapped her hair up three nights in a row now. She loves it and curly hair is absolutely adorable on her. Maybe tomorrow I will get a picture of the cuteness.

Speaking of tomorrow...
We are receiving some much anticipated visitors in Egypt tomorrow. Brian's parents and sister, Sarah, and brother, Stephen, are coming to spend two fun weeks with us. My girls do not know what to do with themselves, they are so excited. We have so many things to show them about our life here and, of course, many tourist things to visit.

If I get a chance, I'll try to keep up with blog... but I want to focus on enjoying having family in my home. So no promises.