Warming up

Jason does a lot of traveling and in January all of his ladies got the rare privilege of going with him for a little family get away.  It was absolutely perfect timing as we got to go to Oman in the Arabian gulf where the temperature was a balmy 70-80 degrees as opposed to the 30 degree chill we'd been experiencing in Jordan!  It was so much fun to spend some time enjoying the beautiful country of Oman and warm up a little bit.  We all love the beach and the girls especially love hunting for shells and other treasures on the beach.  It was a much needed get away!

Here's Maddie checking out her treasures while Anabelle sleeps in the carrier...

Anabelle didn't sleep long- she wanted in on the action...

Anabelle loved the taste of the salt water on her toes...

There was more to find than shells.  AJ loved the starfish.  They kind of creeped me out for some reason- I was happy to let her be the one handling them...

Lots of exploring, climbing and good clean fun!!

SUCH a beautiful place!!

The girls collected lots of treasures...

including some live ones as we discovered when we got back to the hotel...

Here are Maddie and Naomi sorting through the shells and hermit crabs.  We hoped to return the crabs to the beach the next day but most of them didn't make it through the night...

Almost had a shell disaster the next day.  The girls very carefully washed all of the shells and stacked them neatly beside the shower.  When we got back to the hotel the next night, they were all gone!  I immediately went downstairs to try and talk to the housekeeping staff and I am quite sure that they thought the American lady was completely crazy but thankfully the shells turned up.  They had simply put them in a bag and moved them to the kitchen (because that makes sense, right?)

Anyway, a second close call with the shells when they almost got confiscated by airport security when we went home.  Thankfully they didn't or we wouldn't have been able to use them to decorate our home!   Like I said, we all love the beach, so we've enjoyed bringing a touch of the beach into our family room decor...

Maddie and I filled these glass tea light holders with the shells we found

I was very pleased with how they turned out considering I rarely have an original decorating idea!

The next day we got up bright and early for a several hour drive to the coast to spend the day on the beach.  On the way we stopped at what they called a "sink hole".  I know nothing about it except that it was really beautiful and the girls had fun exploring...

Here's my preteen being a preteen...

The water wasn't even that cold...

After a bit more exploring and it was on to the beach..

Hoping this little one learns to love the beach like the rest of us!!