To tide you over

Until I can get around to a real post, here's a little cuteness.

Jess helped Sam with his bath and then got him all fixed up afterwards.
He thanked her by promptly getting into the girls' stuff, but his brand of cute makes most anything forgivable I suppose.

My Favorite Place in Cairo

Show of hands who thinks this is going to be about a donut place.

Yeah yeah, y'all can put your hands down now. Because you're, surprisingly, wrong. I know! Go figure.

Saturday, Kevan, Shon, and Kirsten and I went to the Citadel. And guess what! I still don't know much about it. We weren't interested in hiring a tour guide. We'll do that another time or read up on it before we take the kids there. No sending me hate mail about my missed educational opportunities; it's not my fault tour guides are boring.

So as I was saying, we went to the Citadel, home of the Muhammed Ali mosque (see! I learned something!)(just don't ask me who he was)(though I'm pretty sure it's not the boxer). He has a really cool mosque. Really, it was just gorgeous. I am a fan of great architecture.

This is the front of the mosque:
And one of the sides of it. Aren't those columns beautiful? I love me some good columns. And those round lights hanging down? So pretty.
This is a close(r) up of one of the many intricate iron windows:
And a shot of the ceiling inside one of the arches with the chain from the light hanging down from it:
A view of downtown Cairo from the outer wall of the Citadel. Hint: not fog. The Citadel is on a hill just outside of the downtown area. That narrow tower you can kind of make out just left of center (no singing Suzanne Vega, please)(ok, you can if you want, but don't make me hear you doing it, please)(and no need to tell me about it either)(please) is Cairo Tower, which is on an island in the Nile right in the main part of the city. It's maybe 2 1/2 miles away. Looking out over the city, it really reminded me of San Francisco, except colorless.
This is an umbrella from a snack cart just outside the mosque. I was thinking maybe Utah could adopt it as their slogan.
In order to go inside the mosque, you go around the back and enter a courtyard to get to the entrance. This is the clock tower over the courtyard. Kirsten showed off one of the two facts she knows about the place when she told us that they (I don't know who "they" are, probably the people who say you can't swim for an hour after eating) got the clock from the French in exchange for the obelisk in Paris, but then they never could get the clock to work. Pretty though.
This is the courtyard from the entrance to it. The structure in the middle is where worshipers can wash before praying.
I looooove this picture. Clearly, I am enthralled with symmetry. This is looking down one of the walls inside the courtyard:
To provide a little scale (Kevan's six-feet tall)(when he stands up straight):
The back of the mosque from inside the courtyard:
Another corner of the courtyard:
Sigh. So delightfully symmetrical:
Ok, fine, I'll stop with all the pictures of basically the same thing. Now we go inside the mosque. Look how well the lights are all lined up! Symmetry obsession aside, aren't those lights cool? This is taken from just inside the entrance, looking towards the front of the room:
Another shot of, er, basically the same thing:
A look up at part of the ceiling:
One of the stained glass windows :
The main chandelier in the middle:
And another look up towards the ceiling:
When I took this picture, I was sitting on the floor just past the middle of the room, over to the right, and looking back towards the entrance:
And this is zoomed in on the door more:
As we were stepping back outside, I was approached by one of the many souvenir vendors, and when I told him, "La, shukran" ("No, thank you"), he said, "You speak Arabic bery {sic} well!" Again proving my theory that an extensive study of the language is completely unnecessary.

Anybody who's coming to visit, listen up: we're going to the Citadel. And if you get the chance, see what you can find out about it before we go, 'k? Thanks.

I think I'm glad

that I don't have any pictures to go along with this post.

Yesterday's Quote of the Day (I'm sure you'll be shocked to know that Megan's the one that said it):

We're sitting at the dinner table, eating (yes way!), and I was asking the kids about their day at school. One of the things I asked was if they had made any new friends that day. Complete silence. Everybody just sitting there, blinking at each other. And then Megan pipes up.

"I got to know the boy I been kissin' at school! His name is Gabriel!"

The conversation that ensued included but was not limited to topics such as Limiting Kissing to People to Whom You Are Related and Saving the Kissin' for After You Get to Know Someone.

Kevan's First "Real" Contribution

Some have asked what I contribute to the blog. My biggest contribution has been to let Sara do all the writing. WARNING: my first real post lacks the excitement of the usual epic adventure and it won't read like Sara's posts. However, there won't be lots of words, and there will be some pictures to look at. My kind of post.

I noticed lately that the kids have become very interested in the blog and ask to read it a lot. I guess it's like looking at the family album...only funny...at least when Sara posts.

This post is mostly for the kids--especially Emma--and the grandparents. These pictures capture some of who Emma is, and some of them are pretty good photographs too.

After the new year, the younger kids got to see some of the places in Washington, D.C. that only Jake and Jess had seen before. It was freezing cold, but Emma still wanted to pose for a picture at the Jefferson Memorial.
"The Awakening," a statue of a giant bearded man that appears to be emerging from the ground, was a favorite of ours when we lived in D.C. It was perfect place for Emma, who ran around and jumped and climbed all over the statue.

In Monterey, when it was time to come inside for dinner, Sam was always digging in the dirt, and Megan was always playing at a neighbor's house. Emma was usually climbing a tree. (photo courtesy of Grandma Lewis) Emma can never swing fast or high enough. Never. I can't wait until she gets a driver's license. No, really... Emma looked up from her book just long enough to get one good smile. Then she was right back into her book.
Emma really wanted to climb the rocky peak behind Grandma Raynes' cabin in Teasdale. She made it.

At Capitol Reef, in Central Utah, Emma climbed into every nook and cranny she could get into, including this cave in the canyon wall.
Evaluating how much fun she is really having. At least she wasn't fetching a wayward baby brother...in this picture.
Sunday, uhhh, I mean Friday before church in Cairo.
Standing by the mast at the front of the boat, feeling the wind. Almost exciting enough for Emma.
Emma: I love you! Dad

Christmas nuthin'!

I'd wager that most mothers would tell you that the first day of school is waaay better!

Our 8th grader:

Jake the 6th grader:
Emma, Miss 3rd Grade:

And introducing, our newest Kindygartener! (A.k.a., I am now 4/5ths of the way to livin' the dream.)

I had to have an intervention and fix her hair. While the above 'do is cute, she still hasn't mastered the art of hairbrushing. Plus I wanted to get her hair off her neck, sensing perhaps she might get a little, shall we say, warm today.
Sam, not starting school (only 36 more months to go!), but still wanting to get in on the picture fun:

He really wanted to show the camera Daddy's bike:
We were all going to walk to school, but Megan and Emma really wanted to ride the bus (plus the older two needed to be there a little earlier than the bus would get them there for 1st day instruction stuff), so we went in two parties. This is the Walking Contingency setting off:

And this is the We Somehow Think That a School Bus is Going to Be Cooler (As in Temperature, Not Social Status) group, waiting for their ride (clearly, neither has ever been on a school bus before):
Getting on board:
This is Megan at the end of her day, next to her cubby, holding her day's art project. I think the hair-off-the-neck was a good call, don't you?
We have a tradition in our family that we go out to eat for dinner on the first day of school, and that the Kindergartener (if there is one) gets to choose where. This evening's schedule--between the mountain of paperwork to deal with (I can now confirm to you that it is a worldwide phenomenon: they have not yet discovered a way to keep you from having to fill out the SAME FORM for every child)(maybe someone will someday invent something that would make an exact replica, perhaps a "copy," of said form so as to cut down on both useless repitition and hand cramps, but that's just the dreamer in me talking), first day homework, and a youth activity Jessie needed to get to--we just didn't have time to go out. So instead Megan chose a distinctly Egyptian dining experience: McDonald's! "Wha?" I hear you say, "What's Egyptian about McDonald's?" Oh but I will tell you, gentle reader.

They delivered it:
Taken from our balcony. Yes, that's really a McDonald's delivery scooter. Hmm, perhaps I am already livin' the dream...

And here I thought it took hard work and perseverance

But it turns out that all you need in order to achieve your dreams is to come shopping in Cairo. I just don't know what you non-military are going to do. I guess keep workin'! Suckahs...
And a full shot of the doorway, so that you can truly appreciate the full awesome-ness of it. Kevan included to show scale. (No, not really; he's included because, well, he was there). I don't see how it gets any cooler than an eagle and pyramids. I feel my dreams coming true already.
I've been wanting to get a shot of that doorway since the first time I laid eyes on it a month ago, but this is the first time we've been there when there hasn't been anyone around while we were outside. I am truly a chicken.

And now for some gratuitous picture posting. This is purely for my benefit and the joy these pictures bring me. Earlier this week, Sam was not very happy about going down for his nap (I know! Shocking!), but we just let him be and eventually he settled down/accepted the inevitable. But when I went in to check on him later, this is the sight that greeted me, much to my sheer delight:
And an aerial view:
So that you don't think I'm pro-suffocation, that blanket is very loosely woven, and I pulled it off of his face right after these pictures were taken. Also, you should know that ever since he was a tiny baby, he doesn't truly settle down to sleep unless he has something on or near his face. He almost always has that over his face when I check on him at night, and I always pull it off. And sometimes, even in his sleep, he puts it right back on.