More holidays

The cheer continued, with Daddy swooping in like a superhero, and the grandparents setting the stage for all kinds of holiday fun-







Daddy and Emmett joined the Armenians and pastor Margaret for a dinner and stimulating conversation about religion.
                                         

Meanwhile . . . back in the middle east . . .



- Posted by Laura

Location:Street 14,Al Maadi,Egypt

Christmas cheer and Emmett skis!

the NYc studio when we arrived- it was like a dream

So much so that instead of sleeping the boys jumped out of bed at 1:30 am and played raucously until Grand Kath came at 6 am. Mommy then slunk off to the Wythe hotel to read about a memoir by a divorcee having the time of her life.  hmmm . . . . (JK, dk!)

Here are some more shots from the fantastic Houston christmas festivities (before we fell asleep).  These were taken by special guest star Peter Bradford, and feature Mimmie's handsome new fella, David Gonzalez, as well as some cute kids someone found somewhere:

Then off to Vt for a snowy christmas with Grandpa Peter and Grandma Susan. Here we are opening scooters from Grandpa Doug and Grandma Nancy.  *Huge* hit.

Emmett hit the slopes for the first time!

He wasnt actually that into it.  He's kind of Egyptian about cold and snow.

He is, however, very into superheroes at the moment.  Here he is in an awesome pillowcase/cape handmade together with Aunt Anna.  He wore it proudly all over Manchester.

And Thomas was a snowboarding machine . . .

Meanwhile, we interrupt this bulletin of christmas cuteness for a glimpse of life on the shady side in cairo early 2013:

Dave just hosted a security training for journalists led by a former cage fighter, seal team six super bad-ass. After the training, here is the man's description of what happened next:

"Thanks for the message. It wasn't much really mate after I left you
guys I went back to the hotel.  Chilled out for a chilled of hours
then decided to go for some food. Plus I didn't realise the back of
the hotel ran right by the Nile so took the long route back. There was
a youth asking to clean shoes etc. I said no thanks the. He asked me
for money. Being the person I am I was aware someone was now behind me
also. So I played it sensible and gave a small amount then the asked
for more when I said no, one grabbed me the other stabbed me with what
could only be described as a sharpening steel. I disarmed him after
being stabbed and gave him his weapon back (straight into the upper
shoulder). The other one I still had hold of and subsiquently
dislocated his left arm.
Not much to tell really. Glad you had a great day and I hope you learn
a lot.  Thanks again david for your kind hospitality and stay in
touch.
Oh by the way the police said " they'll look into it". Lol.
Cheers mate. Stay safe."

Cheers!

- Posted by Laura

Home for the Holidays

We have quite a backlog of memorable moments.

Here we are at the start of the trip, in a pose we stayed with pretty consistently while in the States:

This was at the lovely Houston family holiday party in New York City.  I think pretty much the entire readership of this blog was at the event anyway, but we sure had a nice time.

While we were away, Dave lost the gerbils.  But its ok, because a new stray cat had kittens in the yard.

Goings on

Here is Emmett with his swim "coach" Khalil at Maadi House.  Emmett can swim underwater now! Without armbands!

Santa came to Maadi on a camel, and the boys were pretty ho hum about it.   Here Thomas is asking him for a flamethrower for christmas.  I'm not kidding.  Santa said no.   

But the main event, bigger than christmas in our family, was Thomas' 7th birthday!!!  Unlike the last two years, when he wanted gifts but no children at his party, this year he wanted to invite twenty children!  I was so happy about that, I just went for it.  Dave says it wasn't a party, it was an extravaganza.

 We kicked things off with a birthday sleepover with Max and Alex.  We watched a movie and ate cupcakes.  Here the boys are building a baroque Ottoman castle for our two new dwarf hamsters.  Their names are Fireball and Lightning Bolt.

Then, a party.  We had a bouncy castle, clowns, a magician, and a treasure hunt.  

Cool guys . . .

Thomas loved it.  If you enlarge that photo and look  carefully you can see his little grinning mouth-

Whoever is responsible for this picture should never be allowed near a camera again.

Emmett had a great time too, and is now planning his 4th birthday party in March.

We leave for the States in 9 days!  Also, there has been some news here in Egypt.  You may have read something about it.  sp;