Eric swims the Thames

Eric's swim last summer

Ellie and the Jelly

Ellie is the type of girl that flings herself off the bed trusting someone will catch her. She heads down the stairs on her own not worrying about the consequences. When Alex first started navigating the stairs he would always wait for us to hold our hand when going down. Ellie believes she can do anything Alex can and her curiosity worryingly has no limits. Yesterday evening Emma took Alex and Ellie for a stroll and play on the beach. Ellie found a portuguese man of war (blue bottle) jellyfish lying on the beach and just had to pick it up. Emma had to rush her home as she was in lots of pain. She was rubbing her face and also Emma's so now it was worse. When she got home we soaked her hands in vinegar and fairly quickly that calmed her down as the pain slowly faded. It was quite a sight, Ellie sitting in my lap with her hands in a bowl of vinegar, her face all red and puffy and we couldn't tell if it was from all the crying or whether she had spread the stingers to her face. Emma's neck was now hurting and we were worried Ellie had spread the stingers to her face and eyes. (Interesting point is some web sites say to soak in vinegar and others say not to, some say to rinse with fresh water, others say sternly no fresh water, only salt water!)

We decided it would be best to take her to the hospital to have her checked out, so Emma was off to the Royal Hospital with Ellie again. (Ellie spent 4 days in the hospital in August with suspected Meningitis which in the end turned out to be a severe throat infection) It turns out Ellie hadn't been stung to badly. The doctor gave her some anti-histamines, some cream for her rash that was appearing and said to give her some more panadol and to keep a close eye on her through the night. The doctor said rinsing in vinegar the best thing for a jellyfish sting (The visit to the emergency room at the hospital:$20!!) By the time they got home Ellie was feeling much better and she had a good night sleep. This morning she is back to her normal self and only has some small welts on her hands. Emma's neck is feeling much better also.

On the way home from the hospital Emma went through McDonalds since it was late and we had missed dinner. They had given Ellie an orange balloon. This morning when Alex found it he knew right away it was an "orange french fry balloon!" McDonalds french fries are one of his favorite foods and he already can recognize the McDonald "M"

Dinner at the Al-Bustan

Thursday night we went out for the nicest meal I have ever had. Our friends from Australia had told us about the new restaurant at the Al-Bustan Palace Hotel. The Vue by Shannon Bennett is the first restaurant I have been to that is the restaurant of a world famous chef. Those of you that know me know I am more a Chilis, TGI Fridays, or In-n-Out Burger type of guy. There is no menu at Vue, just lots of courses of amazing, creative food. We went for five courses plus desert. There were also several other culinary treats in between the courses. It is the kind of place that has a wine specialist who can recommend a specific wine for each course. We didn't quite go for that option though. Each dish was a creative masterpiece that none of us had seen anywhere else before. Perhaps the highlight was the cigar for dessert. It was brought out in an ashtray and looked like a smoking cigar. It was actaully chocolate with a chocolate filling. The smoking end was a small piece of burning coconut husk.

It was an amazing dining experience and really made us realize how creative top chefs can really be.

The next afternoon, Friday afternoon, we were back at the Al Bustan for champagne brunch on the terrace with beautiful sunshine and spectacular views of the newly refurbished gardens and swimming pools. This time we had all the kids, Will and baby Emma from Oz and our two munchkins Alex and Ellie with us.

Renee, Michael, Renee's aunt Sue, Will and baby Emma have gone back to Sydney after a great visit with us. We are now busy getting ready for the movers and taking care of business for our upcoming move to the Caymans.

Ellie's visit to the mosque

Football and Holidays

Saturday night was the final of the 19th Gulf Football championships here in Muscat. Oman had qualified for the final again after losing in the final the last two tournaments. They have never won the tournament. It is interesting to see how a country where they don't drink celebrates their big sporting successes. We witnessed it during the last tournament when they went crazy even though they finished second and they did it on a larger scale Wednesday night when they won their semi-final match. They take to the streets in their decorated cars and drive around very slowly on every road, honking, blowing whistles and hanging out of their cars waving flags. They ride on top of the cars, hang out open doors and wander around the roads. The police stand on the side and watch silently. We got caught up in it out of ignorance two years ago and this past Wednesday because we were on our way to the airport to pick up friends coming in to visit from Australia. The highway was almost at a standstill with the celebrations. Women in their black abayas were wondering down the median of the main highway waving large Omani flags.

Knowing this we chose to stay close to home for dinner on Saturday, the night of the finals. We walked over to Kargeens, a local hangout near our house. The outdoor coffee shop next door and the inside of the restaurant were packed with fans cheering on the large screens. After 90 minutes of scoreless play and another 30 minutes of no score they went to penalties. Each side made their first five penalties and on the sixth one the Saudi player just missed the post and Oman scored theirs which set off celebrations like no other. Fortunately we only had to walk home, but had to shut the windows as the honking went on all night.

Somehow we missed the announcement that the next day had been proclaimed a holiday. (It is still good to be Sultan!) We are still not sure how you would have found out. We finally learned at 0800 the next morning when we took Alex to school only to discover there was no school as it was a holiday. While it was a tournament for only eight teams, it is the biggest moment in Omani sporting history. It is interesting to realize that football fans are all just as crazy anywhere in the world. Several days later the flags are still being waved, the scarves are still around the necks, and the honking can still be heard at times.

Football, Rain and Art

I apologize for my little girl sending out her unauthorized blog, we will try to keep a closer eye on her next time.

Two years ago, in the last Gulf Cup, Oman finished second to the UAE. You would have thought they had won the World Cup the way they celebrated here in Muscat. We know as we were out on the road when it happened. This time around Oman is currently hosting the Gulf Cup Football championships over the last couple weeks. You can always tell when Oman wins their game at night as you can hear the cars honking all through the night as they drive around. You can see the lights of the National Stadium from our roof. The Omanis are very patriotic, especially when it comes to their football. Everyone dresses their cars up in the national colors of red, white and green. They take their car to the detailers to have it done professionally, and have lots of flags, stickers and other decorations plastered all over the car. We even saw one guy driving around in a black car covered in red hearts, why he chose heart stickers we still haven't figured out. They also all wear scarves in the national colors. It is OK when we have cool weather but they still wear their supporters winter scarves when they have big matches in the summer months.

Last night a big lighting storm came through with high winds and some heavy downpours. The rain continued today. We don't get a lot of rain but when we do it really comes down and floods many parts of town. Our front windows leaked like usual and we had flashbacks to when Gonu hit and we had towels all over the floor in our front room. Two of the schools were shut today. There was much talk on the radio about what they might have to do with the semi-final football matches scheduled for tonight. The rain has let up so the matches are going on as scheduled.

On Jan 5 I missed a step coming down the steps in our house and landed badly on my left foot. I heard the crack which inspired me to go to the hospital right away. The x-ray confirmed that I had broken the outside bone in my left foot (the one that runs to the little toe). I have been in a cast on crutches when I do manage to get off the sofa but am not allowed to put any weight on my foot. Tonight I had to go back to the hospital to have the temporary cast taken off and have more x-rays. On the way past the stadium to the hospital you could see the stadium was already full and cars were parked along the road for a long way past the stadium. Oman is playing Qatar in the first semi-final. While waiting to have my x-ray the game started on the TV in the waiting lounge. The hospital was anxious as everyone started to watch the match. Even the Omani ladies working behind the desks were glued to the screen and shouting at the Omani players to shoot everytime they got near the box. They did manage to get my x-ray done and my foot is making progress. I have another cast on and am not supposed to put ay weight on it for 3 more weeks. I will probably have the cast on for five more weeks. This is a bit of a bummer as we were looking forward to both being off work with some nice weather to take advantage of everything Oman has to offer. Now it looks like the cast will be off just in time for us to go. That is the bright side! Oman has just beaten Qatar 1-0 so we are in for a noisy night and an even bigger finals night on Sat.

Alex took his first steps tonight towards being a proper little boy as well as an artist. We have friends from Australia coming in later tonight to visit. Emma's best friend from Australia with her husband and kids. We will be venturing out onto the roads in the midst of football mania to pick them up from the airport. Alex took his purple marker and drew a huge mural all across one of the white walls in the guest room to help welcome our friends.

Ellie here

I am now 18 months old and they've been treating me as a baby for far too long so I have hacked into mom and dad’s blog to get my side of the story out. My big brother Alex got to tell you his side of the story when he was just 6 months old and then they have done nothing since! I was born on June 10, 2007 just after, Cyclone Gonu, the biggest storm of the last 100 years to hit. It is a good thing I was in no hurry to get out because we would not have been able to get to hospital with all the roads flooded out. We have spent both my summers visiting family in and. I really enjoy having all my cousins around to play with. I had a really big birthday party for my first birthday at the American club here in Muscat. Most of the guests were Mommy and Daddy's friends as being only one I only had a few friends (I have changed that now). I did get to wear my pink tutu and fairy wings though. I really enjoy driving in the car, flying on planes and playing at the beach. Like all good girls I love to get dirty and play in the sand and mud. It has also been lots of fun having a friends Golden Retriever stay with us lots as he makes a good horsie.

My big brother Alex is an enigma to me. He usually plays with me very well and I really like playing with all his cars and trains. It seems that is all he is interested in. When he gets tired or bored he starts hitting and pushing me and taking my toys from me. Mom says he isn’t really trying to be mean and he usually comes back and says he is sorry after they take him away. For a big two year old who goes to nursery three mornings a week he can be a big wimp. He is even afraid of rain. A few weeks ago while at the doctors office there was a huge thunderstorm with heavy rain. I wanted to go out and play in the rain but he cried and refused to go out. We don't see too much rain over here but we had to wait at the doctor’s until the rain stopped. This past summer in he would cry "ouch" if we were out walking and it started to rain on his head. While in this past summer we got to ride on the real Thomas the Tank Engine which is Alex’s favorite. No one really noticed, but I thought it was really cool too! Daddy went swimming down the Thames for 2 days. He said it was very cold (15 C) but it was very beautiful and lots of fun.

We have had lots of visitors from Australia, England, the U.S. and even my cousins from Romania. As you would expect everyone thinks I am the cutest girl ever! I am not that keen on having mom try to fix my hair up every morning. I just pull the clips out later. They don’t match the chocolate, yogurt, marker and dirt I prefer to wear on my face. Alex and I really love life here in. We get to go to the beach and the pool all the time. When mommy and daddy are at work Latha, who is from Sri Lanka, looks after us. She is just like that nanny we see in the movie Mary Poppins just that she doesn’t sing to us.

In August of 2008 mommy stopped going to work and she spent lots of time on the phone in her pajamas at strange times. I think she had finally had enough of her job here and wanted to spend more time with us and decided to start looking for somewhere else even cooler than Muscat for us to live. Not too long after Mommy put all the Christmas decorations up, daddy also stopped going to work. I think that was because it was Christmas holiday. We went to the American club to see Santa come in on a camel and then he gave us presents. Then we flew to see our cousins and hope that the real Santa could track us down. It was very cold there but it was fun getting dressed up and going out to see all the Christmas trees and lights and having Christmas all over again (Santa had already visited us in Muscat). Then in January daddy didn’t go back to work like he usually does so I am getting very suspicious that we will be going somewhere else soon. Now daddy just sits on the couch all day with his left foot in a big cast and he walks with two metal sticks. His foot is broken and he can’t go anywhere with us right now. Mommy is doing a pretty good job keeping us entertained though and this afternoon we went to the beach and for ice cream.

Mommy has started to sell a lot of our stuff and movers have been coming by to see how much stuff we have and try to figure out how to get it to our new home. We are keeping a close eye on her as we fear for some of our toys! I overheard that Mommy has found a job with a law firm in the Cayman Islands, so that is where we are heading. She is very excited as the hours will be far more flexible and she will be able to work from home sometimes, so we should see more of her. No news on what daddy will be doing but hopefully he will be able to take us to the beach every day and not find a job until September. There are lots of open water swims there so he is excited about being able to do those. We will be leaving the end of February and will go through England for a short visit to see my Nanna and Da before going to the Caymans. We are all very excited about the big move and hope we will get lots of visitors.

I will miss the only home I have ever known here in Oman. I will be sad to leave all my friends from all over the world and the friendly people of Oman. Mommy went to see the Caymans in December for a dew days and said it was really nice! They say I am still too young to have my own email so you can send all comments for me through mom and dad or leave a comment here on the blog.