The Stecherbush Abroad

I know, no parents, no teachers. What does this have to do with a parent-teacher Conference. I don't even really think these pictures do justice to a fun morning. The 2 day holiday that is called parent/teacher Conferences was a novella for us. New, and also a short novel or a long story. Sigh. I scheduled them, one with Elise's main teacher, same for Sennia, 2 of Alena's classes she isn't doing as well as she'd like in (although she's doing exceptionally in all) and the interesting set up for middle school where you sign up for a 2 hr block and then jump in and out of teacher's waiting rooms. I concentrated it into an evening and left the rest of the time for spending with my kids. Definitely don't get enough of this these days. For the record book, all the teachers I spoke to had wonderful things to say about my children. Elise struggles with some reading and some of the math but nothing that worries me. The other 3 got comments like "...is really...

She's adventurous, with the strongest desire to do and be important. She fights fear and frustration EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. She always has. When I'm with her I feel her deep deep desire to do big, hard, brave things. I feel her love for people. I also feel the fight that is inside her to do these things. She fights against her fear and anxiety. This often comes out as frustration and anger. I understand her. I see her disappointment at rejection and how hard she struggles to internalize and cope. She desperately wants to be loved and to be part and also to fulfill her own greatest desires and ideas and not be stifled by her places as youngest child. Also, she had a snaggle-tooth. We tried to find any way to get her to pull it. She just couldn't trust us. So we waited.  And it happened. She lost it brushing her teeth. It bled, she was SO excited. And that, is the moral of this story. She will have to fight the battles I so want to smooth over for her. She will have to find her br...

Matt is always digging up adventures and the kids had a day off so we went off anticipating seeing a castle/fort. I reluctantly agreed to go if I could study going and coming. Not quite as effective as studying at home but I thought I could make it work. We arrived to a closed castle. Boo! So we made a stop to check out this hot springs. SO WIERD. It looks like a wadi but it's hot. There are fish, there is everything to make you think cold clear water but it's hot. Lots of local people enjoying the prophet's birthday. Up those stairs is a stone pool like a hot tub. We didn't come equipped to swim but Elise slipped. It would be fun to go back and hike up and see how far it all goes and how the temperature changes. Lots of nibbling fish.  These red dragonflys are everywhere in Oman. I think they're stunning. We also found a small, very uninteresting fort to stop by on the way home. Elise and Sennia actually had a fun time running through it. This staircase was incredi...

We had the day off for the Prophet Mohammad's Birthday  so we went to . . . a wadi. Wadi Hoqin, Hoyqain, Hoqayn. It's spelled differently on every sign. Cyclone Shaheen left it's mark everywhere here. The highway was completely washed out a couple of times but they were already temporary roads and everything was being repaired. The Sultan is committed to improved infrastructure for future storms. There was no hiking involved on this wadi, You drive to a parking lot and walk over. The tricky part is just getting the right location. Matt made a pin. This was a little tricky footing, nothing serious but you do have to climb down to the water a bit. It was really beautiful and green because of the cyclone. I'm amazed at what comes alive with just a little water. A good portion of our day was spend jumping off rocks. There were a lot of people enjoying the wadi and they were cheering and clapping and a few of them joined us. We don't speak the same language but on the ot...