New times

**Writers note: Okay so warning you there are lots of pics here, words may be captioned as opposed to story like. Long post.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Home from France safe and sound.

The morning after I got home Mother approached me and whispered, "You will have to keep Amon occupied after school for a little while today, it is his birthday and I have planned a surprise party for him." looking at her a little confused I asked, "But he is pretty much a loner mother, why would you plan a party?" She told me that it was not a real party per se` just us, some balloons and a cake. I agreed to keep him busy after school and went out to wait for the bus with my brother.

Since Amon gets out after I do, I went to the park to read some of my book while I waited. Since the park is right across the street from school I could hear the bell ring when class let out. I went to the road and called to Amon when I saw him come out, and asked if he wanted to come hang out.

Amon was happy not to go home right away, but really wanted to do his homework, so we both sat and did ours together. I helped him a little bit, and we had small conversations. Amon is not a big talker. After our homework was completed, I told him I would push him on the swing for a while. I pushed him for about an hour, when I realized the sun had gone down. It would be curfew soon. I called up Mother and asked if it would be okay to come home now. She said yes, that she would be done by the time they got there.

We came in the house, and our mother showed Amon his cake. He seemed surprised and happy. So far, no one that day had wished him happy birthday, and he thought everyone forgot.

We were going to have his little celebration with just us but just before he blew out the candles, our cousin Zebulon came in the door and joined us. Amon did not mind. He made his wish and blew out his candles. Finally he was entering his teen years!

We all sat down and had cake together. Actually that was the best cake I have ever had. Zebulon even went back for second helpings. After the cake Mother presented her gift to Amon, an easel. He absolutely loved it and spent the rest of the evening painting. He had always been an artist at heart, just never had the opportunity to practice.

Way before the sun came up the next morning Mother entered my room and woke me from a deep slumber. I was still so tired, but she obviously wanted something, and it was important. I told her she would have to wait until I made my bed and got dressed. She told me to meet her out back, and left the room.

When I was dressed and ready, I met her outside. Where she told me she was ready to train me in Martial Arts. I was thrilled. Today is a school day, so that is why she had to get me up so early. We trained for an hour, then I went and took shower, had breakfast and left for school.

After Amon and I finished our homework, we all had dinner. During dinner I informed them that I would be leaving again for a few days. I went upstairs, packed and called my taxi to come get me.

In Egypt I :

Found skeletons buried under rubble and dug them up. Lots of treasures were to be uncovered and discovered. Keys to collect and Gems to gather.

I moved statues to solve puzzles and go further into the catacombs. I also took a lot of pictures for my job as well. There were fire traps to get around or disarm. In addition to that I got trapped in places, and had to solve puzzles to escape.

For some reason I found a bathroom in a tomb I was exploring. But you know I would not pass up the opportunity to have a nice relaxing bath, having gotten so dirty exploring. The little ducky made it fabulous, I'll have to get one of these for myself.

There were doors to unlock or discover. Mother did call while I was exploring, just to check up on me. I told her I was in Egypt and everything was fine.

There were times I had to move statues to get to something I needed. Dark holes to find things in, switches that opened doors, or treasures.

I found a sarcophagus at one point and thought I would check that out. Unfortunately, something pulled me inside and locked me in for a moment. Then it threw me out of its hiding place. That was something else.

When I was finished exploring I headed back to the market, where I met a few nice people. One of the locals even taught me a new song. The night before I left I decided to try my hand at snake charming. I actually coaxed him out of the basket! Although he seemed more threatened than charmed.

I got home right after my brother had finished his dinner. I guess he was more of a slob than I knew, because I snapped a picture of him 'cleaning the dishes' in his own special way. I just rolled my eyes and went up to my room. Today was my birthday but I had asked Mother not to do anything about it. I was getting to old for parties and it did not matter to me.

I also told Mother that I planned to move out tomorrow. She cried for a while, but said she knew this was coming. She actually told me that she had place a lot of money in a savings account that she was giving to me when I decided to go. She handed me a key to the family storage, and a check for nearly 30,000 simoleans. I tried to refuse it, but she insisted I take the money and whatever I wanted from storage. We hugged, then both went to bed.

The next morning I got on the computer to confirm my plot of land was available to move onto. And the house was constructed, also that it passed inspection. It was all ready for me, just needed me to move in the furniture. I was really excited to move out. It was not like I was leaving forever, I would come visit. I told Mother and Amon that they are welcome to come see me anytime.

Mother played a song for me on her guitar gave me a hug and I walked out the door, to start my own adventure of living life.