Check out the intro video for Congreso I in Porvenir...



drop by if you are in the area!

Queen Karina

check out the beauty mark

she did a great job

proud mama

love this one

feeling beautiful

hamming it up

Mr. Mark

with Nevine, but more importantly, with soda!

Don't drop it! Mark goes bowling

We went bowling yesterday, a first for our kids! Each push of the ball down the lane took about 80 seconds to reach its destination at the other end, but the jumping and horrays that were emitted each time a pin fell were worth the wait.

assessing the challenge

the wait

the results

"is this my ball?"

"I wanna play too, Karina"

"Yaay! I got it, I got it, I got it!"

"did you see that? I threw it like this, and then..."

"but where is MY ball?"

Family Holiday over Easter

We had a five day break as several holidays rolled into one over Easter weekend (Eastern Easter was april 27) so we headed to our favorite place -- the Red Sea! Rather than go to our regular getaway we headed South 6 hours to El Gouna where we rented a one bedroom apartment for four nights. We literally opened the back door onto the swimming pool so it was about as perfect as a family vacation can get. Karina's favorite memory: 8 bowls of ice cream in 4 days! The shame was that we forgot to pack our camera! I couldn't believe it. During our stay we visited my friend and colleague Francoise at her new home and she was kind enough to take some family pics and great shots of the kids... thanks for that Francoise (and Karina thanks you for the bowl of ice cream) :)

A Day Away

At the end of March we took advantage of a long weekend to head out to Anafora, a Coptic retreat center an hour North of Cairo. It was a great change to get away from the city, from the house, and spend some time outside with the kids.

This is Karina's first try at photography... pretty good aint it!

We took a long walk

found some ants

spent a lazy afternoon reading

visited the donkeys and water buffalo

and enjoyed the company of our good friends Jim and Heather

this is what the place looks like, very nice:

and a final photo by Karina to finish off the trip.

Late Post - Dec 07 Boat Trip

These are actually from quite a while ago as they were taken last December during our trip to the Red Sea over Christmas, but it took my dear friend Heather 3 months to get them to me. But it was worth the wait because these are probably the best family photos taken in 2007! Thanks Heather!

Mother's Day

Yesterday Mark's nursery (previously Karina's) had their little mother's day concert.

Mark had been showing off his repertoire for many days leading up to this and I'd hear refrains of "mommy, mommy.... I love you... kiss..." and other such lines as he practiced around the house.


When the big day came, however, he didn't do much signing.

Though he did remain in his spot with the class, he spend his 15 minutes if fame looking at me and mouthing a near-tears "mama, mama, mama, mama..." while the other kids sang away.

Ah well, he was cute anyway. Note: look for his hand in his pocket in one photo.



Next event: Karina in a production of Snow White this May! She has the role of the "Selfish Queen" (no wicked witches in this part of town!). That will actually be a big "concert" with a proper stage and everything. We are growing up!

Dizzy Day

Rather than have a party for Karina's 5th birthday (Feb 12) we spent the day at Dream Park, a small amusement park here in Cairo. It was the kids' first experience at something like this and they LOVED it, especially Karina! She's a little speed maniac! Karina's best friend Nadine and her parents were with us. Much fun was had by all as you can see from the grins in these photos...