Summer has Arrived!

Summer has arrived in the Desert! What do we do when its over 110 degrees outside? 

We stay inside. Where there is a/c. We get creative. Make things. Eat. Be goofy. Eat some more.

I decided since ice cream is a family favorite, that I would learn to make my own, rather then pay $5 + to have ice cream out once. Now don't get me wrong, we don't eat ice cream on a daily basis. It serves more as a fun treat. But since it is summer... and I can make ice cream in the a/c... you get where I'm going... I made homemade vanilla ice cream the other week... and it was really tasty!

creamy ice cream  (recipe)

Poor Micah.. wasn't sure if he was actually hurt here or just trying to stay cool! 

Lately we have had to go to various government offices for visa stuff... Although Randall, being the Man... and being in a predominately Male Culture... did most of the running around and on occasion, the office people may have wanted to see the kids or me to prove that we were actually in the country... 

Anyways, there was A LOT of waiting time for the kids and I... so what did we do? We took goofy pictures.. Tends to happen a lot! 

The kids played on the ipad (also tends to happen a lot)

and ipod... Geez... how would our kids "survive" without all of these electronics? (haha)

Because Everyone else is trying to stay out of the heat... they tend to gather in the Malls here... thankfully, the malls are big, clean & have plenty to choose from for entertainment purposes. Although, we tend to stick with the inexpensive to free choices...

Hence... why we went to a mall the other day to catch the free Smurfs show. I think it took us 30 mins to get there, 30+ mins to get back; we arrived 2 hrs earlier then the show started due to a misprint of show times on the internet.. But the kids got to see the show! All 25 mins of free entertainment, in the a/c...At least the kids enjoyed it!

The kids were invited to a B-day party the other day.. our neighbor's daughter turned 5 y/o and the kids were excited to play at a new indoor playground that is about to open (it was a private party). It was really a neat play area and the kids LOVED it!

And to end the party... an Amazing cake! Seeing as I have a huge interest in food... baking, decorating cakes, creating fun & good food... I was super impressed by this b-day cake! Of course it was done by a professional baker, but it was really good cake! 

Did I mention that we tend to get creative? esp when its hot outside.. or should I say scorching outside? I think Randall best describes it, "it feels like a blow dryer is blowing in your face..." but I would add, a blow dryer and a slight drizzle in your face at the same time. Gotta love the humidity on top of the heat!

Anyways... Morgan really wanted to make a "snow globe"... so we did! We bought a container and some fake flowers, but used glitter, glue, etc that we had at home. 

Morgan was very proud of her snow globe, full of pink flowers, with pink and purple glitter!

Check back again... as we are about to enter into the month of Ramadan... in this culture, it is forbidden to eat, drink (even water), chew gum or smoke in public during daylight hours... YEP... the next month is going to require lots of creativity... like to the Next Level!!!