Author: Robin Chartier

I’m joining the land of the living today. We’re headed to church soon and then later tonight, Josh and I are going out salsa dancing. At Maadi house they are having lessons followed by dancing.

We are getting a babysitter, but realistically, if Camille is upset while I’m gone, she’s only going to want Calvin once she figures out that I’m not there. She’s happier with him anyway. She’ll be totally fine — happy and playing and then I’ll walk in the room and she’ll start whimpering and crying like a crackhead jonesing for her next fix.

And when it’s time to put her down for a nap who has the magic touch? Calvin. He even has a special playlist on his ipod touch that he titled, “Camille’s Nap Music.” He will sit and pat her back in rhythm to the music. He perches his ipod on her back so she can hear the music, but not mess with it. His system works.

The other two boys are also pretty good at getting her to sleep. Last night she was fussing so Caleb climbed in bed with her and started singing “Away In the Manger” and patting her back. He would have been successful except each time she turned her head away from him he would climb over her and switch sides so he could sing right into her face. Not so sleep inducing.

Basically, if I want her to sleep, I have to turn her over to one of the individuals in this house with a non-functioning chest. It doesn’t keep her asleep, but it’s a start. All of them like to take over for me once I’ve given up and then a few minutes later, emerge from her room with a big grin that says, “Victory!” *sigh*

So, mama’s going out tonight and leaving the baby in good hands. Six of them.

So I haven’t left the house in two days so I don’t have anything that exciting to share, but I am feeling better. Just really tired still. I want to post a video of something special that we got in the mail today, but our internet is slow at the moment so I have to wait until it speeds up so I can upload to youtube and then link to it.

My brain isn’t feeling very clever or creative, so I’m just going to post a few pictures that I’ve taken over the past few weeks that haven’t fit into any of my other posts.

When we take the boys to Tae Kwon Do there is a coffeshop downstairs where we hang out and have a latte. When I dressed Camille that day I realized it looked like I poured a bottle of Pepto all over her, but went with it anyway. She is pinked out.

Coming home from the pyramids — I can’t figure out why all these coils of wire/extension cords are hanging from the trees.

Dude delivering propane tanks. We also saw a kid of about 10 riding a donkey with 2 propane tanks strapped on like saddlebags, but I wasn’t quick enough with my camera.

I don’t know what veggie that is, but she’s got a lot of greenery on her head. We passed lots of farms in our drive along the Nile. It made me want to grow things in my garden.

This sight did not make me want to work in the garden — it did make me want to recycle though. Sometime we’re going to go to this place called Trash City where all the trash eventually goes. They sort through it and reclaim things and repurpose them and supposedly 85% of the trash is “rescued” which is better stats then in the US. I’m waiting to see it with my own eyes.

I love that the kid is cruising around on a donkey, but what I really wanted to show you was the kid riding a donkey and texting. Again, too slow on the trigger.

I really hope that is just a shelter/shade for people working in the fields, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that people live there.

OK, internet is still too slow for my video, but check back later to see it. I’m going to go have dinner now. Josh made Mac and Cheese (yes, from the blue box) and cause that wasn’t gourmet enough, he added bacon. I think I feel my arteries cramping up just thinking about it.

And now for the video: our friend Pam sent us this awesome camel named Mustafa that sings, “Ice, Ice, Baby.” Camille isn’t sure if she likes it or is scared of it.

I don’t know where she found it. She heard we were living on Mustafa Kamel street and said, “I have something to send you. Just wait.” It was worth the wait!

Blah. Hoping my fever is gone by tomorrow. Thankfully baby decided she didn’t want to miss a minute of my misery, so she spent the day not sleeping and yelling at me to get better.

Are you sick of pyramids yet? This one is the Step pyramid. Bet you can’t guess why . . .

They’re doing some sort of “restoration,” which means that every few minutes a large shower of sand and rock would start raining down. We didn’t get too close.

 

There were plenty of other things to climb on and around though. Like this mini sphinx. I always wonder how much of what we see is authentic and original and how much is brought in to give people something to look at. Like this sphinxy guy was just lying there like he had fallen off a truck. No thought to placement or anything.

 

Obligatory self portrait of baby and me — I have gotten better at this. And it helps that I have long arms.

In addition to the pyramid, there were other tombs to explore and climb.

and to jump from.

 

Carter is always such a good big brother. No, Camille didn’t suddenly have a growth spurt. Our friends from Turkey came to visit and Carter made it his job to look out for her, hold her hand, etc.

It probably seems disrespectful that we let our kids climb on the ruins, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not like the Egyptians are taking good care of them.  The kids were exploring inside this tomb, wondering what they would find . . .

The secret of the mummy’s tomb is that it is actually a trash dump and a toilet. Yep, there was human poop in several of the recessed places. And of course, once the boys discovered it, they went running around to all the different hiding spots yelling, “No poop in this one!” and, “Ha ha! More poop!” 

We come to view the wonders of the ancient world and my kids manage to turn it in to a poop hunt.

So no, I really didn’t feel bad about letting my kids stand on the rocks to take pictures. It’s not like we were defacing ancient historic landmarks or anything.

Unlike Naolah, who wanted to make sure we all knew he was here. In 2009.

My dad dropped in to pay us a quick visit. Oh wait, he didn’t. He went to Vegas instead.

It must be nice to enjoy the Great Pyramid with a margarita in hand. Swim up blackjack anyone?