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."

Tee Ball Time with Anika at bat

Anika does a lot around camp. This is evenings two nights a week: Team Gecko Tee Ball. One night is practice. One night is game. This video shows Gecko game-on against the Pirates. Everyone plays all positions and everyone gets to swing until they hit. Everyone also gets to run home. So I guess you win if you have more people showing up to play on your team. It's a fun way to create a family memory. Anika really is great at concentration and execution. Check'er out!

Hitting the park

Saskia has grown a foot since we landed and is into everything. She likes vanilla ice cream more than chocolate and prefers wearing her right shoe on her left foot and the right on the left. She is cute 100 percent of the time no matter what she is doing. When she isn't busy putting her shoes on the wrong feet she does find a table to run into with her head and stairs to fall down. We are on our toes with this one.

Going out with the girls to explore the neighborhood is the absolute best. There are so many different places to choose from that are just a few minutes away. Since we live on the fringes of camp with the desert to our backs there aren't a lot of cars and makes our little street one of the safest around.

Getting out and down the street to the closest swing makes for a fast way to kill an hour before dinner. Anika and Heather take the lead. Raja Lane is our little hook of a street off the main avenue.

Desert Trivia: Riyal Lane is our "big" main street off of the main artery running through camp called Rolling Hills Road. Not that all this means anything to you all so far away but you might recognize names as we continue to blog. The camp is really small and there aren't that many roads to get to know. Heather knew them before we got here.


Here is Heather and Anika 2 minutes later crossing Riyal over to the local tire swing. Note the shade. Nice and cool there: only double digit degrees hot. Sweet! We barely break a sweat.


Anika gets to try out all the swings first in case they break. That said, Saskia is getting more tired of this trend and braver with every walk. Anika is such a great big sister. Showing Saskia the ropes on everything. Sometimes we have to remind her that she isn't the mommy but for the most part she is so sweet and a perfect blend of patience and endurance dealing with little sisters tantrums and mommy and daddy's over protectiveness with everything. We will let Hong Kong rules go completely one day. Give it time, Anika. Your parents are trying.

All right, Saskia. You can go next.