Eid Exploring

The rest of our week off was like a dream. It made us realize how fortunate we are to live here, and that we might actually grow to love it, instead of just tolerate it :) We went to a new beach, farther away but with actual waves. It was beautiful! Owen was thrilled to be in the water, like one of the big kids. As I turned around from taking this picture, I was faced with two other ladies snapping pictures of Owen. Apparently he'll be making it into other people's vacation photos as well...

walking into the beach

Jumping with the waves

Hailey liked the water alright, but LOVED the sand - she rolled, played, and ate it with equal gusto. 

The next day, we decided to go to a little water park right by our house.

You can just see the grand mosque in the distance - obviously, the kids were feeling quite calm and sober at this point!

Surfing Tyler!

Hailey's favorite was the bumper boats, even though she didn't really understand steering and kept her boat spinning in a constant circle!

Will absolutely loved this slide, and just went down over and over. There were lifeguards all over the place, from the top of the slide to the bottom and everywhere in-between (seriously, I've never seen so many in one place), so it was nice not to have to feel like I had to keep all eyes on all the kids every single moment.

Owen got partied out and took a nice hour-long nap.

 the race is on!

We made our first visit to the Iranian Market, the plant souq, and the fish market. The Iranian market was full of all kinds of little treasures, like cooking utensils and fly swatters (the kids each came home with one, after proudly haggling with the shop owners) and other random odds and ends. After one look at the plant souq, I was in love. I got a couple indoor plants, and the kids each picked out a little plant. I also got a banana tree and a lemon tree, which I have very high hopes for! They were so cheap it was hard to walk away, but as Ken pointed out, we REALLY don't have extra room in our car, so we'll have to come back again... I didn't get any pictures at the fish market since I opted to stay in the car with our (by that point) crazy kids, but let me tell you, they sure know how to cook fish and shrimp! We picked some out, had them cook it, then brought it home and ate it. It was great (plus, I didn't have to do it!)

Our last day of break we went to the zoo. After my experiences in Egypt, I vowed never to go to a zoo in the Middle East again, but we'd heard good things about this one, so I gave it a try and I'm so glad I did. WE GOT TO FEED GIRAFFES! How cool is that? They certainly weren't shy about grabbing the food out of our hands, and it was pretty neat to be so close to them.

Owen decided if it was good enough for the giraffes, it must be good enough for him. Oh yuck.

The camels were also not shy about grabbing food, even if it wasn't intended for them. After this shot, the camel proceeded to grab the rest of the food from the stroller, then lick the stroller and try to chew on it. It was not at all deterred by me yelling at it and trying to shoo it away.

This one wanted to see if Ken was hiding any food in his mouth... We also encountered a man wearing a giant snake around his neck (he told Hailey she could try it if we went to the reptile section, since she was fascinated. We decided to wait on that one), some cool tigers, and an adorable baby kangaroo. The whole experience made up for the extra half hour we wandered around in the car, asking directions from little shops along the way. Someday, I'm going to put up traffic signs here that (a) accurately show the directions to things and (b) are placed where everyone can see them. Until then, we're going to get really good at asking for directions :)