Cairo Turns:

It was such a fun day celebrating Cairo's 8th birthday.  She started getting fun phone calls from cousins and other loved ones far away first thing in the morning and throughout the day.  Thanks for remembering her.  She had a great day.  

We took Krispy Kreme Donuts to her classmates at school.  After school we had a small celebration with friends from the compound.  We had cake and ice cream and opened gifts out by the pool.

One of the fun gifts she received was a collection of scrapbooking supplies in the fun box shown in the picture above.

We had magic candles that wouldn't stay blown out.  She had to huff

and puff

and try and try again before they finally stayed out.

Inside the great pyramid..Sam decided to see what it's like to be a mummy.

Going deep into the center of the great pyramid.

We had dinner at the Khan al Khalili the first night.  It was so much fun to just be together.

Boys with their harvest on the Nile.

Brad is always the host.  He really knows the meaning of egyptian hospitality.  He even serves the kids!

Cairo on the Nile.  Ahhh, what more can I say.

Jenn and Skip in the background..Kids at the Khan up front.

I don't know if these security guys at the pyramids really need camels or if they have it set up for the tourists...Almost seems too cliche but I love it anyway.

Our turn acting like egyptian statues.

Cairo gave some candy to a cute little local girl.  See the story below.

Cairo makes her TV debut: In Egypt of all places!

A man of the people..Brad was a pharaoh in a previous life.  He is so "at home" in Egypt and the egyptians..LOVE HIM!  He even got asked to make a TV appearance.  We were at the pool on our last day in Luxor and a television crew came up and asked Brad if they could interview him.  During the course of the interview it came out that he has a daughter named Cairo.  They thought that was so great they wanted to interview her too.  It will be aired on a local egyptian channel about travel in Egypt..We'll surely never see it but it was classic to have them pick Brad out of all those tourists in upper Egypt.

Some of the best experiences were just watching Brad and the kids interact with local egyptians.  What a thrill.

Temples and tombs...tombs and temples..The kids held up great.  Especially when you consider they don't really care who built them or how long ago.  These are kids who have grown up watching a favorite movie about a theme park where dinosaurs roam again....How can they be too impressed by tombs?  I know on some level, everything we do leaves an imprint and hopefully, we'll all go back see it again together.

Now the mummies that were in the tombs...That really got the kids excited..Thank goodness for the mummies!  I'm so glad they hung in there for the Cook kids.

King Tut's tomb in the Valley of the Kings...Luxor.  At least our kids know that Tut wasn't buried in a pyramid.  They did learn that much.  They also got to see his mummy.

Luxor Temple.  Our first stop.  First morning in Egypt.  The kids were great and seemed to even be a bit impressed.  Especially Sam.  He loved seeing all of it.

We were so lucky to have it work into Brad's parent's schedule that they were in Egypt doing their mission work at the same time we were.  When we realized the timing we convinced them to join us in Luxor.  What a treat!  We spent 3 nights and two days exploring together.  What great memories to share forever!

Picnic on the Nile's west bank

We sailed across the Nile to have a picnic and watch the sunset.  We were able to enjoy the quiet beauty of Luxor as well as great food.  We were all amazed at the local egyptians who really still use the river for livelihood.  Fishing and harvesting wheat went on from sunrise to sunset.

This cute little girl was following her father around as he did his work on the banks of the Nile.  Cairo was so taken by her.  Grandma and Grandpa Cook had given Cairo some Easter candy and she still had some Whoppers in her pocket.  As she watched the little girl, suddenly she asked if she could give the candy to her.  We gave her permission so Cai hopped off the boat and chased the little girl.  Then Cairo sat on the bow of our boat watching the little girl...waiting for her to eat it.  It was so great to witness our daughter, in her own way, on her own level...experiencing Egypt as I did.  Realizing how blessed she is and how many different kinds of people we share this planet with.

After she got over her shyness, the girl took the candy out and started to open it...Cairo was thrilled.  "She's eating it!"  She was so happy to have shared a small gift with that girl.

Whenever I feel like my job as a mom and taxi cab is tough..I'm going to think of this woman..That's only one example of what Egypt does for me..PERSPECTIVE.

First morning in Luxor...Kids on the Nile.  Honestly, I'm not trying to rub it in..I'm so grateful.  How many people get to have their ultimate dreams fulfilled.  Four healthy children, a healthy marriage to a hotty and we were all able to revisit the place where I set my sites on someday bringing my family back here with Brad.

Four kids on a felucca on the Nile.  We sailed to the West Bank of the Nile where we had a picnic and watched locals fishing and harvesting wheat.

Finally, I Was Able To Share Cairo With My Family....

My first visit to Cairo was a life-changing experience..Not only did I realize I had to find a way to convince Brad to marry me, but I realized the world is soooo much bigger than each of us alone.  I know it sounds trite but, really, to a 23 year old single woman from Cache Valley..My world was really small.  Mom encouraged me to go without hesitation.  Now that I'm a mother of a daughter I realize how huge that was for Mom and Dad, to send me off to visit Egypt in the midst of the 1st Gulf War, and a guy that I had briefly dated and was totally gaagaa for.

Mom said she had always wanted to go to Egypt...That was all it took.  I decided then and there that I was going.  Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom and Dad for your encouragement and support for that adventure of a lifetime.  Since then I have dreamed of the day that Mom would get to Cairo with me.  Dreams do come true!  I got the guy...I've been back to my beloved Egypt a few times since...always with him...and I never tire of either one.

Loving the lanterns at the Khan Al Kalili Souk.  I bought 3 of these beautiful lanterns and one antique lantern to hang in the house with a light bulb wired into it...

The other side of Cairo.  We went to the Citadel and Mohammed Ali Mosque.  The view is amazing from there.  If you look through the smog you can see the pyramids in the distance.

Ticket booths were something there was no shortage of.  Brad's first, second and often third stop after getting out of the van was to all the ticket booths to buy entrance to each tomb, pyramid and site at that destination.

Entering the mosque at the Citadel.

After their initial interest in the pyramids, the kids invented games to play and could have spent the entire day there playing and running around these great wonders of the world.