Music anyone?

I have discovered that Olivia LOVES the piano. She can sit there for 30 minutes or so just happy as can be. And she will scream at me when I take her off of the piano bench. Who knows... maybe some day she will play.

She also loves any music with a really strong beat. Hip Hop is a favorite. Whenever those cars drive by with the really loud base thumping she starts wiggling and bouncing around with a huge smile on her face. Matt entertained her at Best Buy one day by pushing back and forth next to a stereo with rap or hiphop or something like that playing. (I do hope that isn't a sign of things to come......Yikes!)

Funny girl!

Katy is soooo patient. She has so much hope that Olivia will share her food. And of course Olivia is always willing to share much to Katy's delight!

Geocaching with friends

My friend Aliza and her daugher Emma went with Olivia and I geocaching today. We found three caches! Here are a few pictures of us.

Pigtails!

Olivia had her first pigtails! She amazed me! Olivia sat really still while I combed her hair and put the pigtails in. She knew she was cute! Of course there were a few tears right before the photos and you can still see them on her cheeks. She was mad because I took the comb away from her.

Taking a bath

I thought I would show a couple of pics of Olivia taking a bath. She used to hate baths until she spent a week at Uncle Joel and Aunt Shaleign's place. I don't know what they did but now she loves to get into the tub. She gets so excited when we go into the bathroom and she tries to crawl into the tub whether her clothes are off or on!

Hello from Cairo

Well Andi has been asking me to post for a while, so I thought I would take a few minutes today. My travel schedule continues to keep me very busy. Since September, I have had trips to Bangkok (and a side trip to Singapore), Rome, Madrid, Tirana (Albania), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Cairo, and now I am sitting in Nicosia (Cyprus). I will be here in Nicosia for about a week and a half and then it's home for the rest of the month.

Cairo was a real treat. I have wanted to visit Egypt for a while, so I was glad to get the chance. The pyramids were amazing as were all the rest of the sites. I had two extra days between my conference in Cairo and when I needed to be in Nicosia, so I took a side trip to Luxor, which was well worth the trip. I am also really looking forward to my trip to Israel in April.

Rome was a great trip too. Since I was in charge of the conference, I was able to time it to coincide with our anniversary. Andi was able to meet me there and meet many of the foreign service nationals that I work with in my project. Rome was fantastic...as you would expect. with all the historical sites that we have all heard about. We also did a side trip to Pompeii...which was fascinating. It's rough when you have to make a project decision to hold a conference in a place like Rome...but I suppose someone has to do it, right? Oh, I can't forget to mention all the beautiful art and sculptures in Embassy Rome--we had an art tour of the embassy. What an amazing place to work! A special thanks to Sha & Joel for babysitting Olivia for the week.

And I can't forget my quick trip to Singapore-- Just a few days to visit with the old folks! And then on to Bangkok for work.

Oh and I can't forget that in September we also threw in a quick trip to Washington, DC for training and a Labor Day trip to a lake in North Carolina with our neighbors.

Well, work continues to go very well! We continue to keep the progress moving quite well. We have increased the pace for this fiscal year and should be able to complete the project by March 2008--which would mean we have completed about 95-100 embassy conversions in 2 1/2 years--as compared to the 28 my predecessor did in 3 years prior to my arrival. With a 70% reduction in costs per conversion, I'm proud of what we have been able to do--yes some federal employees are looking at cost efficiencies.

Well, I am definitely looking forward to a few weeks home for Christmas. Andi's family will be coming to Charleston for Christmas too, so it should be a fun filled holiday... After the holidays, things get started really quickly. I have trips already scheduled for Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Accra (Ghana), Maseru (Lesotho), Seoul (Korea), Hong Kong (China), Tel Aviv & Jerusalem (Israel)...and that's just for January to April. So next year will keep me busy, busy too!

Well it's getting late, so I'd better close for now. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Take Care,

Matt