August in Full Swing...

This month has been busy, full of visitors, and fun events!

Our friends vacationed in The Big City for a few days so we went to the water park here for the 1st time! It was so much fun seeing these 3 reunite... after all they have been best buds since they (Micah & Lucy) were 3 months old and Morgan was 2 y/o! 

Thought getting a family pic would be best before getting all wet!

 

Here's the Kid Area... Pretty Awesome! 

The kids seemed so big going up and down the stairs to and from the slides all by themselves... thankfully the kids' slides were pretty slow moving compared to the adult slides but it was still such a great setup for the kids to play!

To my surprise, they actually sat still for more pics... probably because Mom and Dad tricked them with having a cold drink!

August 7, 2013 Randall and I celebrated 9 years of marriage... our last year in single digits! Its pretty amazing as we looked back at our journey thus far... we've lived in 4 different countries, have 2 amazing kids, learned a 2nd language that we can fully function in and we get to travel to some pretty awesome places... We love our life!

And thanks to Randall's Uncle Mike, Aunt Janet and his cousin Thomas who visited us (arrived on the 7th), we got to enjoy a wonderful anniversary dinner at one of our favorite places, P.F. Changs! Love this man, my best friend, partner and father of our children. So very blessed!

Randall's family stayed with us for 5 days and we explored some of the city... of course we had to take them to the mall that sits at the foot of the Tallest Building in the World! We enjoyed our time with them so much and it was so encouraging for our whole family to be with family! 

And last but not least, Morgan and I drove down to our old city, in a neighboring country to witness a dear friend (of 4 years) get married. What's interesting is that as long as you know someone, who knows someone, who's a friend or neighbor of the bride or groom's family, you are welcomed at weddings in this part of the world. But this wedding had so much extra meaning to us as this dear friend really helped me along in language and worked at the daycare Morgan and Micah went to for the 2 years we studied language. So thankful for memories like this one.

Surviving the Summer Heat!

How do you survive the Summer Heat in the Desert???

You get really creative. As a sequel to the previous post... more updates and pics of what we have been up to this summer. 

First of all, its Ramadan. Ramadan is the "Holy Month" where Muslims all around the world are fasting (from food & drink) from sunup to sunset... with the hopes of becoming closer to their God, reading their holy book, and spending time praying.

How does this effect us? Well, all eating and drinking during the daytime is forbidden in public areas... so we typically stay inside during those hours and maintain our normal schedule as much as possible. Randall continues working (sometimes at the office, sometimes from home)... and the kids and I (Liz)???.....

We "borrow" crafts from pinterest, we do homeschool stuff, read books, watch tv, play boardgames, create inside forts out of bedsheets... cook, bake... we do it all!

Below is a pic of the kids doing homeschool... it sure was interesting for me as their teacher and mom to find a balance of "keeping the peace". Morgan is so super smart and loves to talk... she has had preschool and kindergarten experience and knows the ins and outs of school. Micah, on the other hand just wants to shout out the answers and "beat" Morgan to the answer (if possible). So.... we practice taking turns. A. Lot. 

Thank you Pinterest for ideas.. but I decided to turn a craft idea into a school idea... So I had the kids take construction paper and tear it into pieces... while I was cutting rectangles of white card stock and writing the ABC Letters in pencil

Then the kids used the glue sticks and created their ABC Cards... YES, we will be utilizing these later on in homeschool.

We've played boardgames.... Its fun and "interesting" trying to get our 4 & 6 y/o to play by the same rules... throughout the game

We read. And Morgan has practiced reading to us. 

The kids get creative and turn their bunk-beds into their fort a.k.a. movie theatre... where they watch their ipods and pretend they are at the movies

We do swim! Usually in the evening when the sun is setting and its bearable to go outside. The Kids LOVE the water!

 

Just for Fun...

And lastly... the most recent event was Morgan's oral surgery. Bless her heart... she has a small mouth, with too many teeth and therefore is really sensitive to cavities and other issues. The Dentist did a general anesthesia then extracted 1 tooth, did 2 root canals and capped 2 teeth. A total of 2 hrs for her surgery. She is a REAL Trooper and was SO Brave! 

Thank you for all of your emails, prayers, texts and phone calls... Morgan is recovering and healing beautifully! We are so blessed in so many ways!

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!!! 

Exploring Our New City...

We have officially moved to our new country and have been here for about a week. What a blessing it is to be in a city where we can go to various places such as parks, museums, malls, etc to get away from the heat and the humidity!!! We were introduced to Children's City  by some of our friends who joined us at the Museum this week. 

This Children's Museum reminded us a lot of a museum we went to in Texas with our family... it was inexpensive and full of interactive play for the kids, educational and a lot of fun! Although, we weren't greeted by a camel in Texas like we were in our city!!! 

Below are the kids exploring all the scientific exhibits of the museum... Morgan and her friend were attempting to put the "human stomach and organs" back inside the body! 

There was a section of the museum dedicated to the history of our country's history and heritage... and of course there was a "Magic Carpet" all the kids rode... So Fun! And yes, that is a "mouth" the kids are sitting inside in the pic to the bottom right... kindof freaky when you look at it from a distance.

More exploring... and to end our afternoon, we attended a show in the museum's planetarium.. it was a flashback for Randall and I as we remember field trips from our childhood to the planetarium... the kids didn't fully understand all the facts of the "Oasis of Space" show, but were mesmerized by all the cool orbits and planets flying their way! A definite resource for future homeschool outings esp when we get to the subject of Science!

Come visit us and we'll take you to the Children's City... This museum sits off a beautiful creek, including a nice park with tons of green grass... Definitely a place to visit when its cooler outside. 

Check back for more adventures, outings and exploring of our new city!