February 2009...

February was HUGE adventure month for us! It started off with some more snow and then it was Mark's 35th birthday!! Yeah, babe...give me a month and a half and I'll be there with ya'!

The boys made some very special presents for Daddy! They couldn't wait for him to open them and it was quite the task for me to get them to keep the secret until "the day".

The all made artwork for him to decorate his office at Marathon. They were so proud of themselves....Landen's, the one in the picture, looked like some of Picasso's work!! We had a yummy family dinner....and don't forget the cake and ice

cream! The boys LOVE when it is someone's birthday...fun, fun, fun!

After this came one of the BIGGEST adventures of our lives! We surprised the boys and told them we were going on a two week holiday to Egypt! Mark and I had planned it all in the early Fall of 2008, so we were already excited. But that was too long for the boys to know and have to wait, so we opted to tell them just shortly before we were actually leaving! They, especially Cameron, were very excited...we had "done" Ancient Egypt twice while homeschooling. It was one of Cameron favorite things to study and he just seemed to "soak up" all the facts.

There is no easy place for me to even begin to tell you about all that we did in Egypt! It was jam packed with absolutely amazing people, places and things. I will try to highlight the trip and post a bunch of pictures for you to all enjoy!

This is the Mick Clan, plus our personal tour guide, "Super Mo". He told us the reason he went by "Super Mo" is because their are TONS of Mohammeds and if we needed him and called out "Mohammed!"...every other person would be turning their head wondering why we were calling them! :) He was fantastic guide. Cameron love to challenge him with all the facts that he knew... I was so proud, as was Mohammed! We had lots of fun together and even had him join us for most meals, as he was great company. The boys adored him and actually cried when we left to head back to Scotland!

Cameron took this picture! What a great job!

Okay! Just realized the time...I must get to bed... I could stay here and keep going, as everything is nice and quiet, but I will "pay" for it tomorrow. :) The boys will rise early and we are actually having company over for dinner...and I don't think it would be right to nod off at the dinner table...:) So, there is a little "taste" of Egypt for you. I will try to meet you back here tomorrow! God Bless!

February 2009…Egypt!

    Once we told the boys we were going to Egypt, we did some fun Egypt activities! The boys were archeologists…digging for treasure! Tap, tap, tap, brush, brush…blow. For impatient little boys, this lesson in “Gentleness is important, as you may destroy the treasure,” was a tough one. :) But the soon seemed like pros and couldn’t wait to get to Egypt and see if they could find “real” treasure.

   Cameron was so excited to pull out all his Egypt homeschool stuff and get reading! He was constantly grabbing us or his brothers to say “Did you know…?” It was so great to see so much excitement and knowledge about Egypt in our boys! Homeschooling let us do SO much and they all soaked it up!

     Here are the boys after our long  journey from Aberdeen, Scotland to Cairo, Egypt! They are becoming such great travelers! The only bummer was Air France broke Landen’s buggy, and at this point we were looking at a two week holiday and NO buggy for our toddler…ugh! But we were going to make the best of it and enjoy this once in a lifetime adventure!!

All of us at the Giza Pyramids!

Looking from the pyramids toward the city of Cairo.

One of the Great Pyramids of Giza ,called the Pyramid of Khafre.

     Because its apex is in better condition and it is located on an elevation (of about 10 meters), Khafre's sometimes appears to be the largest of the three great Pyramids of the Giza Plateau.  However, originally it was some three meters lower than its neighboring pyramid belonging to Khafre's father, Khufu.  In fact, the walls of Khafre's pyramid are steeper than the Great Pyramid of Khufu (53^o 10' as opposed to Khufu's 51^o 40^'), so it contains considerably less mass. It's name is "Khafre is Great".

Some of the camels were “dressed” beautifully! The colors were amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

     From a more distant spot to get a panorama of the Giza Pyramids! Breathtaking! Even typing this now, I still can’t believe we were REALLY there!  

   

 

 

 

 

 

January 2009…

     The year 2009 brought many great things, but first it brought COLD! You see, during the coldest spell here, our boiler went kaput, and we had NO HEAT! Brrrrrrrr! We turned it into a "fun", mini- adventure...keeping the fireplace roaring, bundling up in layers in the house, all sleeping on our bedroom to conserve heat and playing games and reading books snuggled on the couch in the lounge. We got small fan blown heaters to try and help cut the chill from the air, but the house is big and that was a challenge to do. We made the best of it and in a little over a week, we were all hooked up with a brand new boiler system and we toasty once again! All part of the "big" adventure...:)

     Trevor was to have his 7th Birthday party, but...SNOW, SNOW, SNOW! It was cancelled due to snow! Now that would NEVER happen in TEXAS! :) But we rescheduled it for the following weekend and the boys had a blast in the snow. They built their very first snowman, made snow angels and had snowball fights. The smiles went from ear to ear and seemed to last several days...

     Looking out our 3rd story window, toward Union Street and the North Sea....reminds me of the roof top scene in Mary Poppins, but with snow added! :)

     Trevor, our BIG 7 year old, eating his birthday breakfast of choice....Hot Cross Buns! YUM!

     Trevor being sung "Happy Birthday", by his 1st grade class at the International School of Aberdeen. Look at that grin...

     Trevor picked Chiquito's, Aberdeen "Mexican" family restaurant, for his birthday dinner. Maybe it was his way of "having" a bit o' Texas on his big day! :) He was very excited about his Play Mobil airplane!

 

     Finally, his party...Trevor opted for a Bowling Party at Cadona's...he had all his friends there (including brothers)...it was great fun! Trevor even ended up with the highest score! Above is Cameron showing all his best bowling moves!

     Lots of birthday fun! Gets very wild when you get this many 7 year olds together...tons of fun...lots of laughing...

     Congratulations Trevor, 7...you are getting soooooooooo big!   God has great plans for you!

           The end of January brings with it another big Scottish tradition...Burns Night! Mark and I went to our very first Burns Supper!

     A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, author of many Scots poems including "Auld Lang Syne," which is generally sung as a folk song at Hogmanay and other New Year celebrations around the world. The suppers are normally held on or near the poet's birthday, 25 January, sometimes also known as Robert Burns Day or Burns Night (Burns Nicht), although they may in principle be held at any time of the year.

     We were able to get all dressed up too, as it is a "Black Tie" occasion, but all the Scotsman wear their traditional kilts. Burns' poems are read, Haggis eaten, the Loyal Toast is made with Scotch Whiskey and it was all concluded with a ceilidh ( a traditional Scottish dance)! It was great fun...looking forward to next year's!