Learning to Trust and Lean: February 2020

This February both continued the relative chaos and uncertainty of this year and felt a bit like the calm in the eye of the storm. The period of mourning ended on February 19. But concerns of Coronavirus definitely started to grow before the month ended.

We started the month with Mamaw and Papaw still in town. Then right after they left, Stephen had 2 weeks of trips. It was basically back to normal as far as home life goes. We even squeezed in date nights with the boys in between his work trips (J took me to Jollibee, and E took Stephen to Five Guys). We didn't watch the Super Bowl because it began at 3 am. I was happy that Kansas City won, though. E had a one day wadi trip mid-month, and J went on his first overnight trip at the end of the month. It was a year 4 camping trip in Muscat Hills. He had so much fun boating, drawing maps, creating sand designs for retention walls, and all sorts of other activities crammed into a 2 day, 1 night trip. He is excited for longer trips in the future. My favorite part was that they taught the kids how to set up tents so that they set up their own tents with their tent buddies. My second favorite part was going on a day date with Stephen to hike and snorkel.

My date at Jollibee.

Stephen taking J to camp

Getting ready to swim across the water at Bandar Khairan.

For Valentine's Day, I planned a special breakfast for the boys with special donuts from 3rd Street Donuts. 3rd Street Donuts is an LA company that has now 2 locations here in Oman. The story I've heard is that an Omani man was in school out there and loved the donuts. When he prepared to come back to Oman, he talked the owner into franchising. The original owner got his first passport to come to Oman to help set up the company and give training and tips. It's a really cool store with fun, unique donuts (spider man, unicorn, tiramisu, Oreo, seasonal options, etc.) For dinner, the American Club offered a special Valentine's Day buffet complete with free babysitting and feeding of the kids. It was a fun night with good food. I especially enjoyed the coconut shrimp. The next day, I made my healthier version of Carnival's chocolate melting cake as a dessert.

Choosing their donuts... I purchased heart shaped ones for the next day, but I allowed them to choose a donut for a end of week treat, too.

Both boys had sports days at school. They had a good time and Ruwi (their house) won the year 6 sports day, but they placed second on the year 4 sports day and second overall for Key Stage 2 (Years 2-6). Sports day this year featured morning activities basketball for E and beachball (think simplified basketball with no dribbling and a kid standing on a bench as the "goal") for J. The mid-day activity was still various athletics such as running, jumping, and shot put or javelin throw. It was different because they couldn't use the speaker system since we were still in the midst of the days of mourning. The coaches just yelled as needed to direct change of activities. After sports day, I could pick them up early from school. We went for ice cream at McD.

McD ice cream reward

The week of February 16-20 was our mid term break. We ended up staying in town thanks to BSF commitments the first half of the week and the Muscat Marathon at the end of the week. Stephen was also called away for a last minute meeting on Thursday, so I guess it worked out that we stayed home. I did take the boys to the Sultan's Military Museum on the Thursday of the break. It was a fun experience. It costs 1OMR per adult, and they assign a military personnel to escort you around and explain the exhibits. Friday morning was the Muscat Marathon (and half marathon) for us adults. Stephen ran the full marathon, and I ran the half marathon. The boys participated in the kids run portion on Saturday. J ran a 1k and E ran a 2k. The distances are based on birthdays.

Checking out some guns as the Sultan's Military Museum (Bait al Falaj)

Stephen ran his full in 4:08 with too few water stations.

Race bling! I ran my half marathon in 2:04. Not my best time, but I was pleased.

The boys and their race bling.

The big end of month activity (aside from J's residential trip) was E's Peter Pan show at school. Two days of all day rehearsals at school followed by 3 nights of shows. He had a blast, and the kids all did a really great job. E was Tim Darling (there were extra Darling kids in this version). He wore a night dress as his costume. 😂 After the show, E attended a cast party at the Vacher's house. Mr. Vacher is the headmaster of the school (or ruler over the school according to J). A fun happenstance of timing was that Stephen and I ended up with a bonus date night the Wednesday of the play because J was at camp while E was at his play. We went to a new to us restaurant, Park Burger, then came home to watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Park Burger is a Denver restaurant here in Oman. They serve excellent burgers with many fry options (including sweet potato!!!), free refills on sodas, and they will lettuce wrap your burger. It was delicious!

E after closing night showing off the treats I bought him and his costume.

Love this painting over the door at Park Burger. I mean there's Peyton! I even love how they showed the difference in the mountains.

A lettuce wrapped burger with an egg and sweet potato fries

As for us adults, we had some activities of our own. We went to the first show at the opera house once it opened, an opera titled The Sea Treasure. It was the opening of an all Egyptian opera. It was a fun experience where our seats were upgraded twice. We also went to the Canadian Stampede, a country-esque party, and a sunset dhow cruise for a friend's 40th birthday. Both were fun nights with friends.