Pioneering life with a babe

pictures to come...just have a horrible internet connection so it will have to wait.

This week has been memorable. anjuud. ( that is arabic for "for reallz") after 24 hours of traveling with a sick-therefore-intensely-cuddly bear we arrived in our place of dreams. the city we have so much love for, and have longed to live in for so long.

Beirut. immediately we are struck with the energy, the people, the fashion, the honking horns, and the warm greetings being shouted to us and to each other along the streets. Claire's cheeks get pinched, her body squeezed, and forehead kissed about 1o times a day here- by strangers.

They direct us towards our hotel room- which has no windows. ha! somehow the caldwells got what we like to call "the bachelor pad". no windows, but a big flat screen TV. so for over a week, we have had no natural light. time feels a little endless because 8 am feels the same as 3 pm. you just flip on the fluorescent lights.

As drew has been scouring the neighborhoods for viable living options, i have been trying to think of different options of entertainment for my little 15 month explorer.

here are things we have done:

gone on searches for woof-woofs.

gone on long walks in strollers and in the Ergo.

watched the waves crashing on the corniche.

found a slide and slid down over and over again.

visited every other little friend in the hotel...rivers...yasmin...isaac...novi...

watched tele tubies in french. (such a weird show!)

colored.

played patty cake a lot!

gone seaching for bub-bas ( balloons!)

still have not made it to a play ground ( due to rain, naps, distance and so forth) but when we do, it will be glorious!

I love how different life is with my buddy. that she is so silly and loving and cuddly. that my life really has had to slow down, that being in this new city, i am searching for balloons and dogs and when i find them, we feel like we have struck gold.

i think about the women in the great-west wagon trains and the ones who had babies or 15 month olds and how their perception of things or o-so-different than the other travelers. our victories are smaller ( her appetite is back!) but hours are filled with so much more richness.

more to come...