Halloween and Pictures

Greetings all,
So sorry it's been a while since a blog has been posted. Yes, we have had some adventures that we need to blog about but before we get to that here's our Halloween and also some pictures we purchased to make our house feel more like home!

First, Halloween. In Lebanon, Halloween is more of a "party" night for adults than an activity for kids. Since our school is "The American Community School" the students had the opportunity to dress for the occasion.  Thanks to our friends Andrea and Philippe for finding us a couple of pumpkins for the girls. We chose to paint them because it's still in the low to mid-70's here and we wanted them to last.

Delaney worked hard on her side of the pumpkin

Tim worked hard as well!

 Above is Janna's "Pumpkin" winking. Yes a picture of our cat, Pumpkin, on the pumpkin.

 Of course, here is Midge's Angry Bird!

 Delaney's side is the MAD side and Tim's side is the HAPPY side below.

 Now, about the actual trick-or-treating! We emailed the staff in our building and warned them that we were coming around. The kids were a great hit. We are only one of two families with kids here in our building so the girls felt pretty special.  One of my colleagues freaked Janna out a little when she was dressed as an old hag when she answered the door. They also insisted on a trick for the treats. Delaney supplied them with a riddle. As we were heading up the stairs we could hear someone making "woooo" noises in the stairwell. Yes, that was the MS Vice-Principal Phil on the 9th floor. He answered the door with a neon orange wig on. Mind you, Phil shaves his head so it took a little bit for Delaney to recognize him! On the top floor the elevator doors opened to cobwebs, spiders and a funny little witch that made noises. Andrea and Philippe answered the door. After the girls got their treats many of us met in their apartment for drinks and conversation. What a wonderful building we live in! Here's a picture of the girls!

Now for the pictures! Tim and I went to this artists shop around the corner from our apartment. George has been painting Ein el Mressieh (the area we live in) for over 40 - 50 years. We purchased some prints from him to make our home feel more like we live in it!
Here they are. Sorry they're at an angle. I was trying to avoid glare.

 This first one is of right down the hill from us before the Corniche existed. The Mosque is still there and where the call to prayer we hear throughout the day comes from.

 This one above is also pre-Corniche but further down the street. The AUB clock tower is in the background. We found this one to be interesting because the building on the far right is the American Embassy prior to when it was bombed during the Civil War in the '80s.

 The one above is Ein el Mressieh about 1930's

 This is the print Janna picked out. Stairs like this are very common here and create a courtyard for the house.

This one is of the Chapel we walk by often on our way home or to school when we go through the American University of Beirut campus. I'm sure we will do a blog of the AUB campus sometime. It is the most beautiful campus I have been on!