Family Fun

My parents and a dear family friend, "Ms Paula" arrived yesterday afternoon (right on time with all their bags-PTL- they had very short connection times).  I thought this would be the perfect chance to write about our time together and in the process write about some of our favorite things to see and do around Lebanon.  First things first, though- when grandparents arrive there is always much build up to all the treasures that will be found within the suitcases- and wow did they all three bring the mother load this time!   The girls had so much fun getting into their goodies.

Here are all the girls in our new clothes with Ms Paula.  We're getting ready to head downtown to our favorite restaurant...

Naomi was very proud of her new hair bows ("I look just like Sarah Ann!" -her cousin-)  

Sadly I didn't take pictures of our spread for dinner.  Called meza- a wide variety of salads and we got some grilled meats as well.  BUT, here are the girls, Ms Paula and Da (my dad's grandparent name) eating Bliss House ice cream- one of our favorites!

Our jet lagged travelers got a good nights sleep, we got up and had crepes for breakfast (one of Jason's specialties) and then loaded into the car for a road trip to Byblos- one of our favorite escapes out of the city.  I guess several countries in this part of the world have a city that might claim this, but according to many Byblos is one of (if not THE) oldest continually inhabited city in the world.  Here are the girls at the beginning our our typically 45 minute drive- all smiles.  Almost two hours later when we finally got there (traffic can be a bit unpredictable...), the smiles had faded a little but we had lunch then all was well.

We (or more specifically the girls) had hoped to be able to climb out on the rocks but the water was too high so we had to just walk along the concrete ledge beside the water.  Here are the girls a few years ago at Christmas with their cousins climbing out on the rocks.    I don't think the tide has been this low since then, but every time we go they want to climb on the rocks...

And on a side note, here's the octopus that we rescued.  It was stuck in a pool of very low water and we moved it to deeper water...

Anyway, back to today's trip.   Since Paula has never been here, Mom and I did the tour of the old citadel with her.  There are phoenician ruins, along with a crusader castle kind of all on top of each other.  It's right along the coast of the Mediterranean so pretty much any direction you turn there is a beautiful view.  Naomi and Abbey came with us to the ruins.

Notice all the yachts in the background out in the sea..

A view looking back at the castle...

Always love climbing on all the rocks that would probably be incredibly off limits at any site like this in a different country--  here, anything goes...

Pretty view...

Maddie opted to say with Da and Daddy in this little coffee/ice cream shop.  It's built into the wall surrounding the citadel right in the middle of the shopping area.

Catching up on American Girl doll news...

This is what happens to your car when you forget that you put a bottle of sunscreen on top of the back wheel, since your husband has already walked away with the key.  

And no trip to Byblos is complete without a stop for Gelato on the way home.  Yummy!

It would have been the perfect end to the perfect day, but when we got home, Jason opened the trunk and things had shifted and the ceramic pot that we bought crashed to the ground.  Sad...

Hopefully I"ll be able to replace it.  The stand is lonely..

Mom and Paula bought lots of fun things too (that I didn't get pictures of).  Thankfully I also bought these fun pictures and coasters.  They are Lebanese sayings painted in fun, bright colors on tile.  One is a wall hanging and the others are coasters.

All in all a great end to a great day!