Just in case you ever wanted to know . . .

Just in case you were wondering . . .this is how close you can get to a US military ship in the Middle East before you get waved off. We just wanted to take a little look at it, but apparently, the authorities preferred that we did so at a distance for some strange reason. :)

We are stylin' now!

Just to tell you how pathetic our lives have become, we have some really exciting news! Muscat now has something that could almost be considered a legitimate mall, with a Borders (on the left in the picture), Banana Republic (to the right in the picture), a Gap, and several other pretty decent stores! Those of you back at home probably take all of this for granted, but up until now, if you wanted anything that resembled decent clothing or home decor in Muscat, you had to drive 4 hours to Dubai. I'm not saying that we are shopping in style now, but at least it is a major improvement. So much so, it's about all anyone can talk about. You say the words "City Centre" (that's the name of the mall), and people's eyes just light up. It's crazy. By the way, Happy early Thanksgiving to everyone!!