Decorating for Christmas with the grandparents

After Thanksgiving we jumped right into getting ready for Christmas. Since we will be spending a lot of time together again in Udhailiyah we all pitched in and brought out a lot of the big items to get Mor Mor and Mor Far's house ready for the end of the month. The best part of the day, however, was after decorating. Sitting around with Mor Far on the guitar and singing carols before bedtime was pretty wonderful.

Anika swings a club

One more part of our weekend with Mor Far. I'm posting this for Mark. He is a golf nut and got Anika a little set of golf clubs so she could learn. She'll need a few more lessons but loves to swing a club.

Jebel kites at sunset

It's the day after Thanksgiving and we are heading out to watch the sun set from the top of one of the amazing jebels of Udhailiyah (pronounced "you'd-ale-ee-yah"). We are greeted by gorgeous views of horizon all the way around and a fantastic aerial of the camp that Mor Mor and Mor Far live at. The more I spend time out on the desert the more I love it here. Are you sick of the kites yet? I can't get enough of the kite flying thing. At least there isn't any sappy music backing up the vid this time, right?

Thanksgiving 2009 in Saudi

Thanksgiving was a blast this year. We all went to Udhailiyah and had dinner at MorMor and MorFar's house. The Remsburgs came (local friends stranded in Saudi for the holiday like us). Mark was master chef, guiding us all towards a terrific 2pm feast. After that was kites with the kids and then videos and desert before bedtime. Gerd Inger called and so did OldeMor from Spanaway, Washington. We are posting these vids so we can all feel closer for this pre-Christmas bash.

Dad's favorite hobby

Out behind our house is a perfect place to fly kites.

It is my new favorite pastime after work as often as it is windy.

As for the cheesy music...I had to try out the new flip video options. Leave a comment telling me if you dig the music or if I should "scrap that crap."