2 yr well exam---camp pictures---Eid (09.04-09.10)

Kids update:

The kiddos love bath time. Lately, they've been taking longer and they like to "swim" in the tub. Skyler started to lay down one night and spread her arms and legs out like she's swimming. Then the boys did it too! They even kick their legs and splash the water. They all do this while laughing...it's so funny to watch them. And it gets pretty wet too, water is usually everywhere on bath night! Once they get bigger, I don't know how they'll all fit in the tub, might have to take turns.

I am so happy that they actually love to eat their veggies. The boys actually like their veggies more than Skyler but she will eat it b/c they're eating. They love squash, carrots, yams, green beans, corn, cabbage, spinach, peas, and brocalli.

They all LOVE Barney, especially Hudson. I can't believe this, but they do. It's the one show that everyone sit down to watch and not move around. One night after the kids were asleep, Dan and I were changing channels and Barney was on. We watched it for a bit and I guess he's just a nice big purple friend to them w/that soft voice of his. I told Dan his arms look small in comparison to his body...it's unproportionate, I can't help it, that's what I noticed. I guess it's better than The Wiggles...now that...I hope the kids don't get into, but I don't think they are on the kid channels here.

Terrible Two's, yes I'm seeing signs of it, mainly w/Skyler. She's the one who seems to have the worst tantrums. She will throw one for just about anything if it's not her way. She takes a toy from her brothers and if we take it back or they take it back, she throws one. She'll throw one if she doesn't have the pants, shirt, shoes, hat, bowl, plate, cup, fork, spoon, toy, basically anything she wants and she doesn't get she has one. Boy I can't wait til she gets out of this phase, please hurry up!!! The boys do have them too, but when we explain to them why they can't have certain things, they seem to get it and stop the tantrum or go about doing something else.

Hudson likes his Daddy time, he's been grabbing Dan's hands after dinner and walk to the TV so they can watch Jim Jam together. The boys are saying "TV" for when they want it on and "off" to turn it off. Everyone says "music".

At bedtime I say a bunch of goodnight sayings to them in English and Vietnamese. Tobin is repeating the Vietnamese words that I say, it's so cute, it just melts my heart when he says them. :-)

What's happening:

Sun, 9/5- Dan finally got the housing stickers for both cars. Now we're able to leave camp without worrying about the hassle of getting back in. We returned Brian's car a few nights ago. I'm so thankful for all of the people who helped us get situated. We did another Panda shopping trip and Semira watched the kids. I also registered for an art class (beginning printmaking), it was the only one that works w/my schedule, but the instructor told me I was the only one and she needed one more person before she could teach the class---BUMMER! I would love to take the silk painting class, but it's around the kids dinner/bedtime...so will have to wait when they are a bit older and easier for me to leave the house...when they're in college! HA!

Mon, 9/6- Skyler's 2 yr well exam. The boys were crying when I left. Semira held them by the dining room window so they could see me leave and I only saw Hudson cried when I drove off. She told me they cried for about 10 minutes and stopped. This was the earliest appointment we could get close to their birthday. I met their pedi, Dr. Tajeda, a very nice and funny flippino doctor. He's the best pedi on camp, I think all ex-pats go to him. She got the Meningococcal shot and her stat is: 21.6lbs and 32.7". Since she stopped drinking milk, he gave her a Vitamin D prescription. We also need to come back in Oct for the flu vaccine.

Wed, 9/8- Boys's turn to see Dr. Tajeda. Semira said Skyler pretty much cried, stopped and continue throughout the whole time, I think she realized she was alone. Dan met me at Dr. Tejada's office. The boys got the Meningococcal shot too and Vitamin D prescriptions even though they still drink milk, he didn't think they drank enough. Their stats:

Tobin- 22.5 lb. 31.1"

Hudson- 19.9 lb. 30.7 "

Thurs, 9/9- Ramadan ended and Eid begins. Eid is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan (fasting). Everything in Aramco and outside of camp is pretty much closed until night time. Dan is off work too. We gave Semira time off thru next Mon. for Eid. YIKES! What will we do w/o her? Take care of our own kids??? (j/j) Only thing I'm not looking forward to is sweeping the floors everyday while she's out...poor me! We took the kids to get some paint swatches after breakfast, I wanted to get the rest of the house painted before our shipment comes.

Fri, 9/10- We planned on taking the kids to the Hobby Farm for breakfast and start the tradition, but it was closed for Eid. We tried the Golf Club House and luckily it was opened. Once again we feed the kids breakfast first and then took them there. And once again they ate again. They all love pancakes and bacon. They love to dip the pancake into the syrup! This place is so kid friendly, they were able to run around and no one really cared about it. I think we'll go here more often. It's run by Flippinos and they have a really yummy Flippino breakfast dish w/grilled beef or chicken, eggs, and fried rice- DELISH!!!

After their nap, we took them to the Eid celebration on camp. They had bounce houses, face painting, clowns, and lots of yummy food! They loved jumping! It was our first time using the triple stroller in an outing besides our walks. We did get a few stares, but not as much as we normally do in the States.

Pictures for the week:

I finally got around to taking some pictures around camp. The landscape is amazing, the effort and time spent on maintaining it especially in the heat, these guys have the hardest job! Picture taking of public places in camp and outside camp is somewhat forbidden especially of Saudi people, mosque, etc. All of my pictures are taken from inside the car.

One of the waterfalls, there's a really big one at the main entrance, but I don't want to get in trouble should I get caught.

close up of one of the side

speed limit: the top number is in Arabic, bottom is English, but in kilometers. 65 km is about 40 mph, that's the highest speed you can go on camp...constantly having to watch my lead feet. If we get caught for speeding it affects Dan's yearly merit increases.


the trees- I love the way they shape the trees here, it's like the movie "Edward Scissorhands".

check these out!

One of the main road near our house, Pennisula. The red truck is the police.

Parts of the camp has really lush landscaping and the other part is what the desert is...dirt and sand.

this is a park, trail system next to the Golf Course. I've seen people walk and jog here even in their abaya and head scarf! There are several ponds here and throughout camp, but all of the water has been drained. Apparently before we came there was a drowning incident involving a Saudi kid and I've heard there are about 2 or 3 more since then. The company decided to drain the ponds and maybe even fill it back up. There's a petition going around to not let this happen as some people feel it should be the parents responsibility to watch their kids and not place the blame.

I can't remember which street this is but look at the little trees!

Movie theatre, they don't have the latest release, but I hear it's really cheap...we haven't been since we watch all of our movies on cable and it would require us getting a sitter.

Skate park: for when the boys and Skyler are older.

Outside camp: Ikea, next to this is another shopping strip where we go to the Panda grocery store, Toys R Us, and some smaller shops

this is across from Ikea, it has LOTS of stores...I have never been into any of the stores. I've only gone to the Panda store, yes another one across the street from the one by Ikea and the Centerpoint home store which has clothes, kids toys, home accessories, furniture, etc. (where we bought our chandelier)

the ceasar in Saudi, see the "family section" sign. restaurants are separated by family and single men.

Saudi homes from the freeway

KFC and Burger King. KFC is actually really good here except the only sides they have is cole slaw and fries. And instead of rolls, they give you hamburger buns. I don't care for BK hamburgers, MacDonald's is actually better.

Saudi homes: they are designed to minimize the women from being seen from the public. every house has the big wall/gate surrounding it and the windows are always covered.

this is one house!

our breakfast ritual on the weekends. I've notice they are fitting on these chairs a lot better since we first arrived. In the beginning, their faces barely pass the top of the table and now you can see their whole faces from the table. Nothing's changed...Redford's still under the table when they're eating, Molly not so much. (Hudson, Tobin and Skyler)

On the way to the Golf Club and I look back and they were holding hands. Skyler and Hudson

Tobin and Skyler

Skyler

Hudson, Tobin and Dan w/Skyler

Hudson and Dan

Hudson

Tobin, hey that's the high chairs we had...I wondered if it's the same one.

Skyler

thrashing the golf magazines after breakfast

Eid celebration: Hudson

Skyler, check out her clothes, all of her bros even the shoes.

Hudson and Skyler

Skyler and Tobin

Tobin