Author: Robin Chartier

We are going to Oman this month. The orders just say March 2011, but we know they are working on acquiring housing for us and prefer that we come at the end of the month/first of April to give them time to work out all the details in Oman.

The newest development is that we were issued 12 month orders so it is possible that we will actually get to spend a year in Oman instead of only 8 months. I should say it looks likely that we’ll be there a year. Of course it was a “sure thing” that we’d be in Egypt for a year and we all saw what happened there . . .

ETA: And no, I still don’t know what is going to happen with our stuff. We will send a copy of our orders and a special power of attorney to Josh’s boss in Egypt and he will oversee getting our things (and car) shipped to us, but I think there are going to be quite a few hoops to jump through before we actually see any of our stuff again.

Not a big deal, we will probably just have to get some dishes/kitchen things when we arrive in Oman. Or maybe buy here and ship them there. Hmm, and maybe some linens/towels/pillows . . . I better start making a list!

I was just about to write a post about our weekend in SF, but then the hotel fire alarm started going off and a voice recording projected over a loudspeaker ordered everyone to evacuate the building. Seriously. I have to say, the boys were expert evacuators – they popped out of bed (it was 10:30 at night), grabbed their shoes and were out the door before I could even grab my flip-flops and throw on my jacket. I had to run to catch up with them as they raced down the 7 flights of stairs. Because we couldn’t smell any smoke I was sure it wasn’t a fire, but I wasn’t ruling out bomb threat or some other crazy evacuation-worthy event. Thankfully when we got to the lobby we were told that it was a faulty smoke alarm so we didn’t have to go outside, we just had to wait for the fire department to arrive and issue the “all clear.” Since the boys got out of our room so quickly there was only 1 other person in the lobby when we arrived. I did think it was strange that we didn’t see anyone else in the stairwell as we headed down all those steps, but I guess we were just that fast. Over the next 10 minutes the rest of the occupants in the hotel slowly straggled down.I know the whole thing really scared the kids, and it got my heart beating pretty fast, but they all handled it very calmly and did exactly what they were supposed to do. Since now I’m too tired and frazzled to write about SF, I’ll just leave you with some pictures that I took of our girl on our first evening here. Here’s to hoping March is an evacuation-free month!  

It’s a good thing we bought new luggage before our move to Egypt because it has been getting quite a workout lately. We returned home from Southern CA on Monday night and we are packing up this morning to head north for a few days. Thankfully San Francisco is only a 2 hour drive from here — less time for blood-letting and other bodily fluid incidents to occur.

We get to spend the next 5 days in one of the coldest places on the coast in the middle of a record freeze. They were actually predicting snow, in San Francisco, for tonight, but the rain arrived a day early (it has been pouring here) and the cold moves in tonight. Our Egypt clothes are sorely lacking in the warmth department, but we’ll make do.

I would go and buy some warm weather clothes for the weekend, especially since we figured out that Caleb only has one long sleeve t-shirt, but we are waiting on orders to Oman, where it is HOT, HOT, HOT. Yes, hotter than Egypt.

It looks like Oman is a sure thing. Josh says it is, but I’m waiting until we actually have the orders in hand. They could arrive today, next week or . . . ? Then we just have to purchase our plane tickets and we’ll be off on our next Middle Eastern adventure.

I don’t know how much I’ll be able to blog from SF, since we’ll be busy having fun with Josh’s parents (and trying to stay warm!), but we’ll be back on Wednesday. Maybe we’ll have orders by then . . .

Not this one. Let’s wait 20 years or so. OK, baby girl?

My sister’s wedding was wonderful. It was so much fun being there and being a part of things. The day after we got home from Egypt, Wendy called and asked if I would be in the wedding and she was even able to find a bridesmaid dress for me at the last minute. She also asked Josh to help my dad walk her down the aisle.

Wendy was a BE YOU TI FUL bride! Her dress was incredible (and so tiny I wouldn’t have been able to fit one leg in it) and she looked radiant. Since we love Jeremy too, it was a happy day for all of us.

While we were flying home from Egypt, one of the things that we did was make a list of all the good things about being evacuated (extra frequent flyer miles, getting to see our friends in Monterey, being reunited with our cat Daisy, etc.) and topping the list was being able to go to Wendy’s wedding.

Carter was most excited about getting to dress up. He’s quite the clothes horse.(right Kris?) On the flight home he said to Josh, “I’m going to need a tux because I’m going to be in Auntie Wendy’s wedding.” We told him that he was just going to watch, not participate, but sure enough, Wendy had a special job for them. They got to ring the church bell after the wedding (it was a huge, heavy bell with a thick rope just like on Little House on the Prairie). So they all wore matching suits and rang the bell as Wendy and Jeremy exited the church as husband and wife.

(Carter was such a fan of his suit that he insisted on wearing it to church the next day. He and Caleb looked like the Blues Brothers had arrived in the OC when they strolled into service together.)

I have almost no pictures from the day since I was in the wedding and didn’t have my camera on me. Even during the reception, it was lit only by candlelight and white twinkle lights so my camera would have been useless. Thankfully someone in our family captured some of these shots of us on the dance floor.

Carter and Caleb completely surprised me with their willingness and eagerness to dance all night. Caleb asked Josh if he could make his shoes squeak on the dance floor and Josh said, “Go ahead” so the kid danced his heart out for the next 3 hours. Carter cut in a few times while I was dancing with Josh. The first time he came up I was so honored he wanted to dance with his mom, but it turned out that he really wanted to dance with Camille. Figures.

Camille spent most of the night on the dance floor too. I was wearing her in my wrap while dancing with Josh for a while and then she was passed around from brother to brother. She loved the loud music and all the people. When she got bored we’d give her lemon wedges since she is crazy and likes to eat them.

Off to dreamland. This is about where my feet gave out too. My heels were comfortable-ish, but 8+ hours in them and I was maxed out. Caleb was showing me how sweaty his head was from all his dancing – and then he went back for more! He even ended up in the center of a dance circle – the kid has moves!

Yep, we got baby girl’s ears pierced. And they look really cute. After lots of convincing by three persuasive little boys, we ended up at Claire’s. Mom wasn’t so sure about this . . . but the brothers were enthusiastically picking out their sister’s earrings. They decided that she should get June birthstone ones. I have no idea what stone they are supposed to be, but they are a very pretty light purple color, so I agreed. No, this is not after she got her ears pierced. The lady took the alcohol prep pad and wiped her ears with it. That’s why she’s crying. She wasn’t a fan of the drawing on the ears either until I gave her a toy to chew on. Then she was perfectly happy. I was a little wary of how clean everything would be, but the entire piercing gun is in a single use box, loaded with the earrings. The only part that is used again is the trigger mechanism that didn’t touch her ear. “Uh oh. Something strange is going on here . . .” All done! She only cried for a minute. Right after they were done I looked at them and was positive they were uneven – I even whispered to Josh, “I think they are crooked!” But he reassured me they were perfectly straight and when I took her outside and nursed her I could see he was right. What a relief. As far as caring for them, it’s been easy. Her ears haven’t been red or painful at all, not even immediately after. I just put some cleaning solution on them every now and then and twist the earrings daily. They haven’t bothered her a bit.