Happenings

Hi there,

Yet again I've fallen down on my blogging duties.  We've been doing our normal stuff, and I've gotten to have a couple fun girls nights, so it's been a good couple weeks. 

Last weekend we went to a birthday party for Benjamin's friend Matthew, who turned three.  It was at a kid's gym, and was really fun.  Sadly Benjamin had just started a runny nose and was pretty fussy.  He got distracted a little with the ball pit and slides and we tried to participate in the songs and group stuff, but he started losing it before the snack and cake time.  Matthew's mom kindly sent us home with an amazing goody box and a cupcake.  Benjamin was very hesitant about the cupcake, even after I cut it up for him, so I ended up enjoying it.  But he loves the play-doh and bouncy ball and other fun toys, and it was definitely a fun outing.

Matthew's mom, Rebecca, kindly took this photo during a playdate at a park nearby.  Benjamin's having fun, I promise.

Last Thursday I met up with Emily to get nails done, which was awesome since I hadn't been in ages.  I desperately needed that pedicure, and it's always fun to hang out and catch up a little.  I also had book club last Tuesday night, there was a huge group of ladies which was fun.  We had read "The Cookbook Collector" which we all deemed passable, but nowhere near the level of Jane Austen, to whom the author had been compared.  Lady, get serious.  If someone makes that connection, you just say how ridiculous that is because Jane Austen is in the canon and you are a medium-talent writer with no hopes of your work lasting for over a hundred years.  (I was not impressed.)  Our next title is "Rules of Civility" which sounds promising.

Benjamin enjoys playing with his new puzzle.

Thursday night this week was really nice, I got nails done with a girlfriend after she finished work and then we ate dinner out at a fun restaurant, the Blue Fig.  I'd heard it was good, and I loved it.  A little smokey for my taste (this is Jordan, so oh well) but the food was great.  I got pesto pasta, and even though it was simple it was delicious.  And it was fun to be out of the house after dark.  (Yes, I'm that much of a homebody.) 

Last week and this one I finally made it to the toddler playgroup at the British Embassy.  It's really fun and more low-key than when I visited the American one back in August.  We may try that one again sometime, but the British one works better for our schedule at this point.  I've met up with two other girls I know from book club, and we've done lunch afterward both times.  I hope it's a trend, because it's so nice to get out of the house, and socialize.  Being around lots of other kids is good for Benjamin, but he's still shy.  One particular little boy was very grabby and taking all these push toys, and Benjamin didn't fuss when he took his toy, he just watched him.  I'm glad he's good at sharing, at least so far.

He loves to read books about the potty, and sits on it occasionally.  Slow and steady is our motto at this point.

I think those are all the highlights from the past couple weeks.  I can't believe it's almost the end of February, time is really flying by.  I hope everyone is doing well!

-Rachel

Benjamin Turns Two!

Hey guys,

Well, Benjamin's birthday is here!  Our sweet boy is now two years old.  Hard to believe that time has gone by so quickly.  We are so grateful to God for entrusting us with this little person. 

This morning Benjamin ate breakfast and then we opened presents, before Thomas had to go into work for a few hours.  I went a little overboard, I had bought a used tricycle before we moved but then also got him a book and a stuffed animal.  And a bell for the trike, cause why not.  Thanks to Mimi and Papa, Grandma and Grandad, and Aunt Priscilla and Uncle Trevor for sending such awesome gifts! 

It's like Christmas all over again.

This is technically an alligator, but we're saying it's a crocodile because Benjamin loves crocs these days.

We're calling him Lyle, because of the book.

Big box of Curious George.

Bear family puzzle.

So cute, you change the outfits on the Mommy, Daddy and Little Boy bears.

Book of poetry for kids!  Benjamin loves poems/rhymes.

Another George item from my parents, thankfully there's a balloon store nearby that filled it.

Thomas pushed Benjamin around in the tricycle, at great speed up and down the apartment.  And Benjamin likes ringing the little bell too, which cracks me up.

His feet don't quite touch the pedals, but he'll grow into it.

Zoom!

I was a little scattered this week and didn't prepare much in the way of festive food, but I did manage to make some cupcakes.  From expired cake mix...  Shhhh don't tell.  I think it's safe, I mean it gets baked in the oven.  I only had cream cheese frosting, so I made red velvet cupcakes.  Benjamin wasn't too sure about them, but had a couple bites.  He likes the cake part, not so much the frosting.  I think he doesn't like wetness or sticky things, so I got the fork out and that helped a little. 

I can't believe it was two years ago he was born.  It seems both like forever and not long at all.  Some days are really hard and I just hope he doesn't remember much, but then others like today are really fun and nice.  I'm glad I didn't try to do a big party thing this year, but maybe next year or when he's got more of an opinion about things we'll give it a try.  We are so blessed and thank God every day for him.  Benjamin Cade Larkin, Happy Second Birthday!

-Rachel

Recap and Low Stakes Dilemma

Hey guys,

Sorry it's been way too long since I've posted.  I've been zoned out most of the New Year, and then we had a visitor (while Thomas was gone.... sigh) so it's been a little weird so far.  But now it's February!  How in the world is it already February?  Yikes.

OK, so a couple weeks ago my good friend Clay flew halfway around the world to come hang out with us for a week.  It was really great to see someone from home, who I've known for ages.  Is it 17 years now?  If not, it's very close.  We all went to the Dead Sea for one night and stayed at the Marriott, which was far and away better than the Moevenpick which we tried the last time.  I think we'll stay there again.  It's more like a normal hotel, but very nice and everything is accessible, instead of the thousand and one steps at the other place.  The weather was also a million times better, since it was January and 60 degrees instead of July and 110/surface of the sun.  A little warmer would have been nice, but it was totally fine.

On the way back home after spending one night at the Dead Sea, we stopped at the Baptism Site.  They take you to a muddy hole next to an old building, which is supposedly where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.  I'm not sure what archaeological proof there is for this particular spot to be THE place, but there are a ton of Orthodox and Catholic churches congregated in the area.  And we also went down to the Jordan River, where you can see the Israeli side about 100 feet away.  There was a choir singing in a pavilion on their side, I think they have a more sophisticated set up.  Anyway, it was pretty neat and definitely something worth seeing, at least once.

Thomas left the next day, so Clay and I fended for ourselves.  We ordered in a lot of food, ate lunch at the embassy and did Thursday night dinner.  He got to meet the moms who hang out at the playground on Thursday afternoons, and saw a little of what life is like here.  He did some side trips on his own to Petra and Wadi Rum, since I wasn't really up to being a single mom on the road.  Thankfully he had a great attitude, even when Thomas got delayed and came back a couple days late, on the day Clay was flying out.  It was a lot of fun having him around, and Benjamin really likes him.  He still talks about his friend Clay.

At the moment I'm trying to decide whether or not it's worthwhile to continue taking Arabic classes.  I'm really grateful for the opportunity, but I don't like being the only person in the class.  I'm honestly not putting in any effort, which must be frustrating for my teacher and just makes me embarrassed.  We've only now started doing the alphabet, after 5 months, and there's a lot that I still don't have memorized.  I'll probably keep going for a while longer, just to have the excuse to get out of the house and have a lunch date with Thomas twice a week.  (Moms of small children, I know you understand.)

I'm also realizing that we most likely won't live in this area of the world again, and there's no way I'll have time to keep up with Arabic when we're back in the States.  I feel like I'm letting myself down but I also want to be practical.  Maybe I should try putting in a teeny bit of effort and see if that makes life better.  Or maybe I should find someone at the German embassy who can tutor me.  I do miss being capable, if not entirely fluent, in German, the loveliest language of all.

I hope January treated you well!  I'll try to get back to a normal posting schedule, hopefully interesting things will happen.

-Rachel

January, so far

Happy New Year!

I know, I'm very late.  The Christmas post extravaganza took most of my energy, so now I can give you a quick account of our January thus far. 

We got back from Paris on Dec. 29th so we celebrated New Years Eve at home.  Benjamin went to sleep at his normal time, around 8pm.  Thomas played a video game and I read until close to midnight, when I brought out the sparkling apple juice.  Pretty delicious.  After that I went to bed and Thomas stayed up til the wee hours.  Welcome, 2013!

I started back to Arabic class, but Laura dropped it because she's very busy and needed to let it go.  So now it's just me, as Emily is still at home enjoying her new baby girl.  I hope they can find someone else to get in the class, it's awkward with just me.  I know it's a great opportunity to have one-on-one language lessons, but my instructor is pretty scattered most of the time and honestly, I don't study.  So, that might impact how prepared I feel at class.  We did start the alphabet today, so hopefully I can master that and then feel more confident.  Fingers crossed.

It's been a little sad to not be in Western Europe, I miss the good, soft sandwich bread and the abundance of pastry places.  I'm sure I could find equally unhealthy sources of bread-y food here, but since I'm in the car whenever I go somewhere, it's not like I'd just happen upon it while ambling around.  And I'm not using up anywhere near the number of calories, so it's a good thing there aren't amazing sweets everywhere.  I think I gained about ten pounds while we were on vacation.  Totally worth it, though.

The biggest surprise/excitement of the new year was all the rain we got a couple weeks ago, and then the snow last weekend.  It was nuts, after my class and lunch with Thomas on Wednesday I had him drive me home so he could take the car back to work, so I wouldn't have to pack Benjamin up to pick him up later on.  While we were walking to the car it was just blowing snow everywhere and felt a lot like living in Virginia again.  Very odd.  And it just kept coming for a couple days.  It was fun to walk around and talk with Benjamin about the snow crunching under our boots. 

Making tracks in fresh snow.

After the storm, it became sunny again and it's been in the 50s this week.  Not warm, but the snow has all melted.  I'm glad to have the sunny skies back, and to not be afraid to drive anywhere.  There were a crazy number of accidents within a 24-hour period, due to the storm and people being idiots.  Just yesterday I was stopped at a light behind a small-ish sedan with three little kids and a woman in the back, the kids were just hopping around, not buckled in, definitely not in age-appropriate child seats.  It makes me so angry.  I mean, don't you care about the lives of these children?  Ugh.  American rage moment.

That's it so far, just back to normal, eating lunch at the embassy and hanging out.  I'll post again once exciting stuff has happened!  This will be the year of seeing things in Jordan, or at least that's my hope.  I've been trying to drink more water but that's not really a resolution.  And I'm attempting to just drink one caffeinated beverage a day.  We'll see how that goes. 

I hope 2013 is off to a great start for all of you!

-Rachel

Christmas in Paris Part 4

Last one!

Thursday we took a bus to the metro and then to the Louvre.  We walked along the Tuileries Gardens and just made it to the museum when it started raining.  We went to the McDonald's inside for lunch, and it was packed.  (In our defense, evidently the French love McDo, as they call it, so it was part of acting "local".)  Trevor and Priscilla gave us tickets that skip you to the front of the line, which was a huge deal, since the line was super long. 

We knew that with Benjamin creeping up on naptime we wouldn't have a lot of time to linger, so we made straight for the Mona Lisa.  Naturally the crowd around it was substantial, so Thomas snapped a picture and we moved on.  There's so much to see, and it's such a gigantic place, you'd need a solid week to give it serious attention.  We went through just one wing, and didn't stand and pay serious attention to the vast majority of the art.  We saw a good bit in about two hours, considering it is extremely unfriendly to strollers.  (Tons of stairs, sporadic and unhelpful elevators.) 

The crowd in front of the Mona Lisa.

The Wedding at Cana by Veronese.

No idea who is pointing.

Winged Victory

Benjamin is asleep, I'm taking in all the art.

 

This guy has the most intense expression.  He creeps me out.

We met up with Priscilla and Trevor and walked back to Notre Dame, but the line to get inside was crazy long and standing outside in cold drizzle appealed to no one, so we moved on.  We walked along the Seine and passed some bridges.  One has lots of locks on it, people write their initials with their beloved's and supposedly that signifies their unending love.  They get removed from time to time, but then crop up again. 

We passed the Pompidou Center, but had neither time nor energy for another museum.  We headed back to Valerie's apartment and ate yummy Christmas leftovers and watched "Persuasion", another of Trevor's presents.  I love anything Austen, and sitting down after a long day of marching felt glorious.

Friday was more relaxed, Trevor drove us to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a town about 20 minutes away by car.  We went through lots of tunnels to get there, which was the highlight of the trip for Ben.  We walked through a nice park and up to the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which is older than Versailles.  After checking out the bookshop, we walked downtown.  If I could live there, I would, it's lovely and much less hectic than Paris.  

We walked through a toy store and a central open-air market.  We bought some pastries and camped out at a coffee shop for a bit.  Priscilla ordered me a pain Suisse, which was a revelation.  It's one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.  I need to return to France just for that.  Fully gorged on sugar and coffee, we went back home and rested.  That night we went to an Italian restaurant near Valerie's place, La Romanelle, for our last night in France.  Afterward Thomas and Trevor went to see "The Hobbit" in 3D, while Priscilla and I hung out at Valerie's.

Entering the park.  My hair is out of control.

Benjamin was excited to meet some goats.

Pretty park.

 
 

Formal garden.

Favorite picture, ever.

Priscilla, Trevor, Thomas and Benjamin.

Priscilla and Trevor in front of the gate where they got engaged.  Awww!

The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

The day we left, Saturday, we were able to relax a little.  We walked to Priscilla and Trevor's for breakfast and they surprised us with more delicious pastries (pain Suisse again!) and we chatted for a while.  We went back to the apartment and started packing.  Valerie's apartment really made the trip amazing, it was so great to have space to stretch out in, and be able to put Benjamin in the other bedroom.  She also let us use her washer, although I'm very spoiled with having a dryer, the stiffness of the line-dried clothes was startling.  And she didn't have a TV, which is shocking for such screen-loving people as Thomas and I are, but we did very well.  (We watched movies on the computer screen that Trevor brought over.)  

Trevor and Priscilla drove us to the airport Saturday afternoon, dropped us off about 2:45 for our 4:50pm flight back to Amman.  Checking in was smooth and we found a nice lounge area to wait in until we started boarding.  There was another family with a toddler boy sitting nearby, so he and Benjamin shared trucks and played a little.  We got the bulkhead row, which was amazing with Ben, I sat by the window and Thomas sat in the middle.  Benjamin really enjoyed looking out the window and seeing lights and clouds.  I had all his snacks ready, and his water bottle.  I forgot completely about the pressure thing, so flipped the top again and soaked myself.  Oh well, we had a good laugh.  Benjamin didn't fuss too much on the plane, even though we got back about 9:30pm Paris time, 11:30pm Amman time.  He fell asleep in the car on the ride home and went down again quickly in his crib.

We had such a great time, it was a really fun vacation.  It was awesome to be in Europe again and to see France for the first time.  It was especially great to hang out with Priscilla and Trevor every day and have them lead us around.  I think it might be tricky to do it without knowing the language but of course it could be done.  Traveling with a toddler though, I'm really grateful we had them to lead the way.  We did a lot of walking, much more than I've done in recent memory.  Since Amman is such a car-focused city it was a big change.  But Benjamin loved the different modes of transportation and still says "metro" and "train".  It's sad to leave behind the good, soft sandwich bread, but it's also nice to be home and back in the old routine again. 

We are so grateful to Priscilla and Trevor for putting up with us!  And to Valerie for allowing us the use of her lovely home.  Hopefully we can visit again before we leave Amman.

Thanks for reading!

-Rachel