mark one year!!

We recently attended a birthday party for one of Vivian's British classmates. I had a chance to chat with the celebrants dad. They've been here for quite some time...almost four years. We suddenly realized that Thess and Vivian have been here for a year already. Time really passes by fast when you're really active and busy all the time. Vivian's first year in BSM really just flew by. Apart from Thess' knee mishap, the past year was truly enjoyable.

The year wasn't without any major setbacks or challenges but I guess its all just part of life. There were occasions family activities had to take a back seat behind work priorities. Thess and Viv were real troopers during these times. A lot of weeks this year, I had to spend out in the desert for work. Or on weekends, I'd spend a few hours in the night on-site for a customer. Last December, for the very first time, I skipped a school event of Viv's because of work - it wasn't a good feeling. But, of course, as the old saying goes... We work to live; not live to work. So I really try to keep the balance.

Thess has gotten her own sets of friends around the city now. During the periods I would be out of town for work, I'd be comforted knowing that she's out and busy with friends. She has kept herself busy with taking care of the two of us but she also has her own 'mini' projects keeping her busy - her plants, her baking, her stage-mother-ness during Viv's activities (hehe) and we've had several dinner parties at home for our Filipino friends and their families.

Vivian has had the best time amongst all of us I think, what with school activities, making a lot of friends in and out of class, going to parties, attending ballet. She's definitely grown up a lot - not just in terms of the physical - but also socially and academically. She's really a great reader now. She's appears to have a liking to books now; my and Thess' constant book reading hopefully is rubbing off. She's not the best in math yet but she can count up to a 100 now without missing a beat. She's all set for her next term in Year 1 starting September.

We have had great times together here in Muscat in just this one year. Exploring the city, swimming in the nearby beaches/hotels, shopping in the souqs and malls, movies here and there. One can really feel that the city businesses are on its way to building up more of itself, new malls expectedly opening up soon, more shops, more restaurants. Much like the time they first arrived last year, the family energy is still quite there for this place...