The Beginning of the School Year- Back to Beirut!

We returned to our home in Ein el Mreisse, Beirut! I came mid-August to assist with training for the beginning of the school year and Tim and the girls returned a week later.  It has been a busy start but filled with wonderful "welcome backs" from our Beiruti family!

When we returned, our kitties Hadiyyeh and Kousa were happy to see us again and as playful as ever!

Curious Hadi, wondering where the flash is coming from!

Happy but hot here on the couch.

Our Kousa always wants to get in the duffle bags while we are unpacking.

Just a favorite spot.

It's always cooler under the bed for a hot longhair kitty!

We had a staff retreat for a day up in the mountains. What a nice place to be! Here are some pictures from our day.

These were right next to a group of tomatoes. I thought they were pretty.

Our good friend Sharon did the ice bucket challenge!

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This was the entrance to where our training would happen.

Such a beautiful view of the hills of Lebanon and a Mosque in the distance.

The plants were very pretty.

Our friends are awesome too! This is Zeinab. She is kind, funny and full of smiles!

School started the next week. Here are some first day of school pictures on our balcony.

Janna is now in 4th grade. Time does sure go fast!

And Delaney is in 7th grade now!

We also had an opportunity to go with the new staff to the "Florida Beach Resort" in Chekka. Chekka is just north of Batroun in the northern part of Lebanon. It was very nice and relaxing.

The Mediterranean water was really salty. 

Always nice to have lunch with friends!

Some of the new staff we now work with. A nice bunch of people and great additions to our school!

Our Hawaiian sweetie, Julianne enjoying the sun.

The girls had a great time.

Janna had a good time as well!

They dug a huge hole with a moat around it. Too bad some kid came over and filled it in before we could get a picture.

It was Tim's birthday. He had a nice relaxing time.

 Overall, it has been a nice start to the school year. While we miss friends who have started adventures in far off places, we have connected with new ones as well. Here's to another great year in Beirut!

Tourists in Our Home State

Here are some more pictures of some of our adventures from home.  We truly felt like we were tourists  in many ways. Since our house is rented out my sister and brother-in-law graciously let us stay in their basement.  In my opinion, I feel that this turned in very well.  I enjoyed having time with them and the rest of my family.  We were allowed to call their house "home base" and go everywhere we needed/wanted to go whenever we wanted!

I hope my friends who are less familiar with Washington State enjoy these pictures of our summertime adventures!

When we got home and picked up Cooper, he was so excited that he wanted to get in the car and just go! Definitely Tim's dog! Thanks again to the Kleins for watching him last year!

These next pictures are from Eastern Washington.  It was very hot this summer but also very dry.

While the wildfires raged in the mountains, the smoke came to the lake.  These are pictures of the sun at about 6:00 in the evening.

After the smoke had cleared out a  bit, we went up to Dry Falls. I stopped and took a picture of the canyon/coulee from above.

Dry Falls was once larger than Niagara Falls.

We brought Delaney's good friend Lexi with us once.  Here is a picture of them with Janna at Dry Falls.

The illusive "Gene" came to see us. So nice to see friends you have seen in a long time!

Yes, that is me pulling Janna in a floatie. Just some fun in the sun!

Since it was so hot, the kids staying in the water until almost 9:00 this night.

We also went to Grand Coulee Dam.  The new laser light show is great. I would recommend that you see Grand Coulee Dam sometime in your lifetime. It's huge!

We also went to a Mariners game with our good friends Paul and Jill!

This is where the WORLD CHAMPION Seattle Seahawks play, Century Link Field. Otherwise known as "The Clink". Sadly, we didn't get to see them. 

Paul was a little startled by my taking his picture.  It was so nice to see him and Jill!

It's great to see the Mariners win a game!

And of course, we had nachos and what you see above, GARLIC FRIES! YUM!

We then went and visited our friends Mark and Glenda who were staying at Birch Bay one afternoon.

It was so nice to see them and Savannah. Such a wonderful dog!

Janna was startled when I showed her a small crab on the beach. It was moving towards her at a fast pace when I showed it to her!

The tide was coming in but the water was really warm!

No, we didn't make this sand castle but we had to take a picture of it. It was impressive. Sadly, I'm sure it was gone by the next day. Washed out with the tide.

Delaney getting a henna tattoo.

Janna got one too!

This guy was nearby watching the girls getting their tattoos.

After getting the artwork, I had to show this kids and Tim a little bit of my childhood. I went to the C Shop every summer. I love the candy sea foam, the ice cream and the white chocolate. All hand made there!

The day before I flew out to Beirut the family spent the day at the Seattle Science Center as well.

We went to EMP, Experience Music Project. A music museum dedicated to the history of music, mostly from Seattle.

This is a "tornado" of instruments. It's at least two stories high.

We also went to the Butterfly House in the Science Center. This was a big hit with the girls!

A few of the eating

This one thought Delaney was interesting....

We then went up the Space Needle. The girls had never done this.

What always surprises me is that many of the students at our school have a picture of this on their computers because of Windows 8. They don't realize that it is real!

The "Lego" version.

As always, the view was spectacular! ...and cloudy!

In the distance, where we saw the Mariners Game.

It didn't seem so high up when we were up there. But this view makes you realize how tall it is. It takes 45 seconds to go up the elevator to the top.

As always, Washington State is home. The place where we grew up. I am happy we had the summer there but happy to be back in Beirut!