Snorkeling and Diving

We brought the kids to the beach on the next day and set them up to snorkel while we went diving. Our pictures were quite green that day but we saw some really cool eels. After we took them to get some grilled camel which they gobbled up.

A day in the water

We spent a whole day in the water. We hung out at the hotel during the morning and afternoon having a great time at the beach and in the pool. Carl loves body surfing and the girls had a great time finding snails in the sand.

Carl and I then did a late dive from a boat. It was a great dive although the visibility was not the best. We really loved seeing the octopus. After the dive we enjoyed some grilled camel meat from a vendor by the boats.

Camels camels everywhere

We decided to drive up the mountains to see Job's tomb and thought a good way to entertain the kids was to offer a prize for the first person to spot a camel. Carl ended up being the first one. We then went on to see many, many camels. For the rest of the trip we continued to see camels everywhere. They put on their hazards when the camels are on the road and stop traffic. It happens a lot.

On the way up to Jobs tomb we saw some baby camels on the side of the road and of course not realizing we would be seeing many, many more had to get pictures. There were some guys in a car and I could not figure out what they were doing on the side of the road watching the camels since they were locals. We then realized they were herding the camels from their car, just sitting there talking on their cell phone and drinking sodas. I'm not kidding they were following the camels in their car and if the camels got into the road they would get out and urge them off with a stick.

We then saw more camels off the side later and wanted pictures with them. As we were posing the kids for pictures some women in the distance started yelling at us so I figure they were the camels keepers and we were bothering them so off we went again.

We finally made it to Job's tomb. Inside the mausoleum is a big square on the ground covered by cloth which is where he lies. On the wall were different pages from the koran. Through a window we could see his praying grounds. At the entrance was a box where you took off the top and inside are the impressions of his footprint. He had very large feet.

We had to do a car switch (our rental decided that it did not need to go into any specific gear) and then we were on our way again. The blowholes are by caves that aren't really caves but an over hang, it was fun and we saw a sea turtle swimming in the bay. Since we were not in the Karif season (which is in the summer) it was dry and there was just a little mist coming out the blowholes. The best part was the beach in that area. It was really beautiful We had fun body surfing since there were better waves than at the hotel beach. Carl and I kept going out a little further to get the best rush on the wave. We got caught up by a big wave which flipped me arround and I hit my head and shoulder (the skin on my shoulder is just now starting to look a little normal and is still a little painful to touch. The first thing I thought was "Crap I better not be hurt and mess up diving." I was fine, just banged up and we went back to the hotel soon after.

Salalah

On our way.....

We had been looking forward to this trip for so long, and now we were finally going. At airports here they make us wrap the carseat and they did such an excessivly thorough job we had to take a picture.

We arrived in Salalah in the afternoon. It was really lovely. Here is the view from our rooms, I love the coconut palms. This first day we hung out at the hotel with the kids, played at the beautiful beach and enjoyed the slide at the pool. After the kids went to bed we drove arround a little and were surprised at the number of Chinese restraunts in the area. If there are that many maybe one of them would be good (we really miss good chinese food).

We had the most fun........

I know many of you just had your spring breaks and vacations but the Agrens feel confident in declaring that we had the most fun of anyone on any vacation. In fact, our trip to Oman was so incredible that instead of giving one huge blog I will break it up into several blogs. We just got home tonight so once I get the pictures off the camera I will add them to the posts, please be patient, I will probably overshare but I want to get all the info down before I lose the details in memory.




Our first day was our flight to Sharjah(UAE), followed by a six hour layover.



We then flew to Muscat(Oman). The first thing we noticed were the mountains, we have really missed mountains in Bahrain. At night they light up some of them with colored lights whichs goes along with the arabic tendency to bedazzle everything, really, seriously. We then went to the hotel that we had booked sight unseen, there is a reason there were no pictures of the rooms on the internet.



Yes it really was that bad, even little Carl made comments about it as being a junkyard (our kids are really spoiled with hotels). But since we were just sleeping there that night then getting up in the morning and going to Salalah it worked fine. (To be continued)

Too much of a good thing

Lately Carl has been complaining to us after he eats that his stomach hurts. He groans and mopes arround the house then dramatically lays on the couch holding his stomach. We ask him all sorts of questions as to why ect and he always says he doesn't know. Today I gave each of the kids a hot dog for lunch with celery sticks, which is a treat for them, and went upstairs to finish my workout while Missy watched over them for lunch. A while later Carl comes upstairs moaning and groaning about his belly. I asked him what was wrong and he again said he did not know. Ha-Na came running in asking if they could eat a piece of their easter candy (after easter it gets put away and rationed). I asked them if they had eaten all their lunch and Carl says "I tried but I could not finish." I thought this to be odd considering he eats more than anyone in the house. Then he says "I just couldn't finish the fourth one". "Fourth what?" I asked. He then goes on to tell me that after he had finished his lunch I had given him he asked and received more hot dogs from missy and finally stopped at four. Carl does eat a lot, well after each of us finishes dinner he continues. I had to then have a talk with him that the purpose of eating is to be satisfied not stuffed till we burst or in his case moan and groan for an hour. It amazes me that all that food fits in his little body. Again tonight he was his usual self, he had two helping of chicken, three helpings of pasta and four helpings of salad, and that was where I stopped him. If he is eating this much now I am scared to see him as a teenager.

Sweetening our horizons

When we first came to Bahrain we had the goal of trying some new fruit each time we bought produce. That lasted a couple of months and we did add Lychees to our palate (especially Ha-Na) but then we stopped trying new things. With our time here coming to an end (probably, maybe) we decided we ought to take the opportunity to expose ourselves to some more new flavors. Today we brought home Mangosteens and Rambutans. They are both from Southeast Asia. The mangosteens have a hard deep red rind and look like something I would have stepped on before we tried it. When you open the shell there is a segmented white fruit inside. It is very sweet and we all liked it very much. Rambutans are more fun to say and look at than exciting to eat. They are good but they are pretty much the same as Lychees if you have had the chance to eat them. The difference is that the Rambutans are covered with long soft spines and are red so they look like something you would see in a sci-fi movie which makes them more fun to eat than lychees because you can let your imagination run with the experience.