Nakhel Fort & Barka Beach

Nakhel Fort   

We've been to several forts recently, but this was the most beautiful:

 

 

Can you spot four Porcaros?

 

Bedroom

"Private Discussion Room"

 

Ethan "making macaroni."

We're glad that Omani museums are so kid-friendly.

Barka Beach

Barka is a fishing town about 1hr north of Muscat.

Chasing seagulls

 

"Shell Beach"

With November morning temps in the mid 70s, fishermen are wearing their cold-weather gear.

Locals gather to check out the daily catch.

 

 SURPRISE!  Black ink squirted out when the boys tried to clean these squid.

Nizwa

We went to Nizwa, one of the largest cities in Oman, during the Eid al Adha holiday.  The "Festival of Sacrifice" or "Greater Eid" occurs 70 days after Ramadan and commemorates the prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.  The holiday lasts 3+days and most Omani's go to their home villages to celebrate with family.  Many villages have traditional dancing and drumming during Eid, but unfortunately we missed the show. 

Nizwa Souq

Nizwa Fort

 

Climbing Claire

 

Ethan enjoyed the spooky dungeon.

View from inside fortress wall

 

David chillin' in theMajlis (living room)

 

 TYPICAL.

Indian men love Claire!  They are always asking if they can take pictures of/with her.  I suppose they miss their own children back home.  Claire attracts a lot of attention from both men and women wherever we go.

The Cuties

Time for some pics of the cuties!  Ethan is 3 1/2, Claire is 18 mo.

Tractor lover

Book lover

Ethan gets to go to McDonald's when he earns four "spoons" on his "ice cream chart" for being good on the way to/from preschool.  

We all win when Ethan earns his four spoons!

Eating date cookies outside David's office at Sultan Qaboos University

I take pictures of Claire on the (rare) days I do something cute with her hair

We've recently begun enacting the "Three Little Pigs"

Beautiful eyes (just like his Dad!)

Claire talks like "Boo" on Monster's Inc.... so cute!

Seriously sweet

Claire and friend... the two youngest kids at church

Claire loves her "Beebee" (dolls and other children!)

Ethan loves his new wheels

Chillin' in the stroller

Ethan LOVES doing homework for preschool (tracing letters, etc.)

Claire likes to get in on the action, too

(no, those are not her circles or stick figure)

 

Ethan & his favorite buddy in time-out together

Claire sure loves her big brother!

Primary activity

Sometimes we do "normal" things here in Oman, like participating in church primary activities!  This year the children have been learning about the importance of families, and they learned a song about being "builders" of Eternal Families (I was the children's music leader in Athens, and I'm happy to have the same calling here in Oman!).

Today the kids wore construction hats and name badges as they circulated around different stations where they learned to "Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God" (Doctrine & Covenants 88:119).

 Little builders & primary president

 

Ethan LOVED decorating his "Prayer Rock"

(put it on your pillow to help you remember nightly prayers)

Planting "Seeds of Faith"

Cute Phillipino brothers from church are really sweet with Claire.

Oman vs Brazil game

I know I should be posting about Christmas right now (which was great, by the way) but I feel a need to blog chronologically!  David and I went to the Oman vs Brazil soccer game last month.  It was a lot of fun!

Waiting to get in

Oman vs Brazil

With most Omani fans wearing white dishdishas, and everyone else wearing team colors, the stands looked very festive very festive.

Cute Omani boys waving flags

Notice the Indonesian lady behind us on the left.  We wondered what she was doing at a soccer game by herself, until we realized she was probably chaperone for the Omani teenage girls in the next photo:

 

We figured the two girls wearing checkered headdresses over their faces were probably protecting themselves from the aerial cameras.

TV commentators

We weren't the only ones who brought our cameras to the game.