Another Year....

Today is my birthday and it has been a little bit strange to be in a new city where we don't know anyone and don't really know the city yet. It is one of those times that makes you miss friends and family and wish you could somehow click your heals and be in another place. Thanks though to everyone who sent birthday wishes. They really meant a lot!
All in all though...it was a good day and we were able to get out and about in the city a little bit. We have been thinking about looking for another apartment that is closer to the school that we will be attending, and wanted to go out and look for something. We started out going to the school/daycare that Caleb and Judah will be attending to give them a deposit and then made our way to our school where they have a bulletin board with listings of places for rent. We saw one place that looked like it had some potential, so asked one of the guys at the school to help us make the phone call and thought we would go look at it. He told us that it was within walkin distance, so we thought we would try it out and see how long it would take us. Ugh....after about 20 or 30 minutes or so of all downhill walking in the hot sun, kind of like the downhill streets we have in SF, but with a 3 year old and a 1 1/2 year old, we still didnt really know where we were going and people were pointing us farther and farther....we thought, "there is no way this is within walking distance" The area we had now found ourselves in is definitely the older part of the city. A lot more crowded and a lot more little shops, with lots of things going on. We finally decided to catch a taxi to make it the rest of the way, and by this time Judah is asleep on Mike's shoulder....once we get into the taxi Caleb is not far behind Judah and begins to slowly slouch over in his seat. As we drove around and the taxi driver was a bit lost and the temperature was somewhere in the high 90's and the area around us didn't look too inviting, we dropped the whole idea and headed back for home. By that time, we didn't care what this new place looked like. So, we are thinking more and more about staying in the place we are at, even if it is a little far from the school.
The rest of the day ended up good, because another couple with a little boy called us and asked if we wanted to go to a park with them. So we spent the last half of the day at the park and then went and got Shwarma's for dinner. Mike shared with them at dinner that it was my birthday, so overall I had a great day! Still not the same as with family and friends, but God was good to bring some new friends for us to go out with.

Here is a pic of Judah on the slide at the daycare they will be going to. Called , "Little Stars"Caleb in the sand with the other kids. They are really excited to start their new "school", and are clueless that we are even still there with them. Hopefully this will continue to last.

And this is a pic of the building....just to give you an idea....