signs part 3

I just love those signs that don't quite make sense at first glance- then you look again and "oh yeah I get it now!"

don't even ask me how I got this one.

No Blue! No Clown horns! This means you.

I saw this one right as I was hitting my head.

This is a sign that the security on the podium is surprisingly relaxed. 

This is an elliptical bike- simply fabulous. It's a sign that I need to sell my bike and get one.

Would you rather have inner peas or whirled peas?

Just one

This was in Oman- they don't even sell beer in the restaurants- just wanted to make sure I guess.

Settle down- its just  a toy. Honestly.

This is a sign that the pro bike race was in town and these 3 are really good at grabbing the free water bottles the riders toss.

The arabic below states- "actually just a swimming pool but the summer temperatures average 180degrees so you know.."

This is a sign I'm getting old- honestly I got out of the car, took the picture so I would remember where I parked, walked 20 meters, realized what I had done, stopped a group of 20 year olds and said "oh my, please shoot me".

This is a sign you are about to eat nothing but Carne. Thanks Ben- master of the grill.

The sign of the devil- but he sure is sweet and tasty.

A sign outside Luca's classroom.

A sign of things to come?

Kinda catchy that.

I'm either shrinking or the new Red Bulls are huge!

Magic carpets above you in the restaurant- not sure what it's a sign of but I like it.

On my hall duty- I saw this sign.

These were in our Oman hotel room- I sat for a long time deciding which should be used first.

Couldn't turn this photo for some reason- but if you ever get to try zizzle meat- don't hesitate it's awesome.

Turtles, Dolphins, Oman Oh My! -written by Wilder

This past week we went to Oman and they have really nice beaches there, as everyone knows beaches mean cool animals. Some of the animals we saw where Dolphins, Turtles, Jelly fish and lots of little other fishy things. The first time we saw them was in Muscat. We went to a dock and got on a boat. It took us thirty minutes of driving out there and of the captain calling Luca co captain little captain and so on. When we got to the place there where lots of other boats. The driver who's name was Essa drove us over to the group and we saw some dolphins jumping. He drove us away from the crowd to a big pack of dolphins. he let us and the rest of the people on the front of the boat. When we had our fill he took us back to the dock. On the way back he was driving us along the coast. We saw nice hotels and beaches. He took us through an archway and the put us out by the docks. Our dolphin cruise was over. Then a few days later we went on a turtle watching thing. It was late at night. we followed a guy in our cars to a place with lots of other tourists. We waited for a long time and then a man taught us about turtles digging holes and babies. Then we walked a ways to a beach and waited some more. Me and Luca fell asleep. We woke up and walked down the beach to a hole with a massive turtle in it. A man lifted the turtles foot so we could see it laying eggs. He asked if we where done and took us back to the cars. We drove back to our hotel and slept. 

This is the arch.

These are some of the best pictures of the dolphins. they are hard to get. 

Dolphins eat sardines and they hit their heads and tails on the water to get the sardines.

The types of dolphins the bottle nose but there where some spinners that we didn't see any.

Here is the turtle laying eggs.

He showed us some baby turtles. Turtles over all have thousands of eggs but only 1-2 eggs make it.
When the baby goes in the water and lives it waits 25 to go to the beach and lays its first eggs. Then it keeps coming back every 4 years.

here is another picture of a turtle laying eggs. The turlte was about a meter wide and a meter and 1/2 long. Turtles eat jellyfish and the babies are eaten by foxes, crabs, and birds. The crabs eat only the heads and eyes.

Innes... who stares at goats

 There are many goats in Oman and I liked the movie so I figured I would try it.

I think ther goats won.

Oman

For our last family travel in the middle east (gulp) we chose to go close by to Oman. It has mountains, beaches, dolphins, turtles, and really cool hats. So we did a little research into where to go to hike and planned a driving triangle of the country. If we were to do the trip again- I would do a bit more research, rent a 4 wheel drive car, and get a better map. Turns out when the guide book says "the road is paved but not recommended for 2 wheel drive" they mean it- steepest roads I've ever seen!

Take a look at what we were up to.

found a great park in Muscat the first night to stroll around and play in.

Getting ready for our first day dolphin cruise.

This is what 2-3 of our dolphin pictures looked like.

This is what the other 75 pictures looked like- turns out dolphins are incredibly hard to catch... or I just have really slow reaction time.

here flipper, come flipper

We still had time to spare after chsing the dolphins- so we went to the Oman dive center which had lunch, beer, and a beach to sit on- perfect.

doplhin girl

what more do 2 boys sitting in a tide pool surrounded by hermit crabs need? ...nothing

Day 2- We picked up our rental car and headed inland into the mountains. Nizwa was our goal- used to be a big spot on the frankinsence trade route and was the spot to stay before loading up the camels to cross the empty quarter to Mecca. We didn't get any frankinscents mainly because I don't know how to spell it but we did cruise around the fort and ols souk area. It was fun- but we realised as a family that all day in the car with not much get out and explore time makes us all a bit grouchy- we were ready to hit the Jebels (mountains) and Wadis (canyons) the next day.

The minarets in Oman were extraordinary-patterns, blue, very cool.

Wilder guarding the fort

Luca guarding the fort.

let us in!!!

this really should be in the Nizwa fort brochure

Luca and Innes- keeping it real

2 defences: Luca is standing on a trap door, Wilder is looking up at where they would pour the boiling hot date oil on you. Rough!

Day 3- we make it into the mountains- we have been living on a pancake of a country for almost 2 years now and you can just feel how we all get excited to be amongst the contours. Even though we couldn't make it to the top of Jebel Shams in our wimpy rental it was great to be back in the mountains- and cruising up Wadi Ghul was great.

True story: we had barely pulled to a stop and Lisa gets out of the car and just starts running like Forest Gump- we couldn't catch her and get her back in the car for another 2 hours!

Entrance to the Wadi- Omanis are amazing at using every single drop of water that flows out.

"Old town"

Goats, lots of goats... more on them later.

Entrance to the canyon

Each date palm gets its own little alotment of water- each tree produces 200+kilos of dates a year! plus the fronds which are used for roofing and fuel. If you don't dig on dates in this country- big problems.

Wilder photo bomb!

Don't drink the water

Yeah okay so I got a little tired- it was hot and all.

Ahhhhhhhh

Little did we know there would be a free spa treatment at the end of the hike- the little fish would nibble on our feet. Part tickle, part gross.

I have never before seen red dragonflys.

Token flower shot, you're welcome.

Oman has the 2nd biggest canyon in the world, but after actually having been to the bigger one in Arizona I couldn't help but feel just a bit smug

Another town- another fort- they really had to defend their water sources and dates palms back in the day.

Wish I could have taken more pics of the men of Oman- such amazing faces- like they had some stories to tell.

I love it when your door is so big you need a little door inside of it.

Hey mister are you walking your camel... or is your camel walking you?

Day4 and 5. We drove to the coast and stayed at the turtle beach resort (more to come on turtles from Wilder soon). Nice to sit in the sand and relax- then before we knew it it was time to start driving back to Muscat. On the way we stopped at a sinkhole- and got to swim! Luca said "I've never been in a sinkhole before!" - well I guess I hadn't either.

Guardian of the hole