Jebel Akdar

This weekend we went camping up to an area known as "Green Mountain" or Jebel Akdar. It was wonderful to escape the heat in Muscat and camp at around 2000 meters. This is our fourth trip up to this plateau, but the first time we have ever camped with so many people. There were a total of 10 families and 41 people that we went with! It was a little crazy, but for the most part the 21 children exhausted themselves by playing from the moment we arrived until the sun went down.

Taj and Mia did there best to keep up with all the big kids. After trying to keep up with the 5 and 6 year-olds, Taj quickly fell back to the old stand-bye - playing with his cars in the dirt. He also discovered the excitement of climbing trees. He spent hours pushing himself to climb up the large Juniper and Olive Trees that are present in the area. Mia has been getting over a rough cough. She was not quite herself, but took the adventure in stride trying her best to do everything her brother did, including climbing trees.

After a somewhat restful sleep, we went for a great walk along fantastic gardens built on rock terraces. The last time we were in the area, Taj was Mia's age. We even went to the same picnic spot as we did two years ago, but this time we were unable to picnic due to Ramadan. Even though the villagers are fasting and not drinking throughout the day, many were busy harvesting pomegranates and carrying them up the steep sides of the gardens.