Water Wonderland

I sometimes forget how lucky I am to be living somewhere surrounded by WATER. It means that there is a way to escape from the heat. Somehow, I always seem to convince myself it won't be "that bad" or last "that long," then I find myself disgruntled that it is practically Halloween and I still sweat just being outside. 

BUT, back to the grateful/lucky part - we have so many nice options, and we've been trying to take advantage of them. Our friends introduced us to spot where they like to kite. We enjoy lazy, relaxed evenings there, and Will has even ranked it #3 on his list of favorite places. It probably has something to do with the fact that (a) we eat sandwiches for dinner (b) we let them run around and do whatever they want and (c) our friends actually kite, so we all have something fun to watch.

This is what kiting looks like. I'm thinking it takes some serious coordination, which is why I am a spectator.

The water is really shallow for a long ways out.

A couple of shovels and pails, and we're good to go. Well, unless I pack one less shovel than there are kids. Someday, I'll learn to count.

Colby wants to learn how to kite :)

Did I mention the plethora of slimy little hermit crabs? Endless fun. Endless yuck too when you accidentally take some home in the sludge of your sand bucket.

Another water option we've been enjoying is the water park. The kids get braver each time (despite the lack of photographic evidence - all the pictures are from the kiddie area because I can't afford a repeat of that time I dropped Ken's last phone in the ocean…)

Owen has been happy the camel is back. He wouldn't budge until we took a picture and showed it to him.

Too much fun!

Any chance we find a person kind/brave enough to watch the crew, Ken and I go kayaking. This past time, the water was AMAZINGLY shallow. We could stand way out in (what felt like) the middle of the ocean!

Good times, beautiful mangroves. Until we tried to go down this little section and started getting bit by dozens of little flies… It suddenly became less magical and we hurried home :) Let's hear it for good stories and memories!

Car Museum

One Saturday, after we'd been back in the UAE for about 3 weeks from our summer trip, I told Ken we needed to go do SOMETHING or I was going to go absolutely stir crazy. I live for our weekend day trips and adventures, so the long weeks of outrageously hot weather make it hard at times. So, we decided to go see the Car Museum, which is a collection of the sheikhs' cars. (A) it was still too hot for an outing (B) as we reached this place, way out in the desert past Abu Dhabi, we realized we were basically out of gas and the nearest station was - you guessed it - back in Abu Dhabi. This led to a REALLY tense drive home. Tense for the parents that is. Not our finest moment… It was a rather impressive collection of cars, and the kids had fun running around through them all.

First crazy car we saw. Tyler is holding a bamboo plant he had just bought at the store, with his own money. He was afraid to put it down and went as far as asking the security guard to watch it for him while we walked around the museum. Given that we were the only people in the place, I'm sure it was safe. He's named the plant Fortress and takes better care of it than I do of my own kids (just kidding). 

This car was the most exciting, namely because you could run and jump underneath it :)

Will opted for a snooze in the tire.

Tyler picked this as his car

Whereas I was more practical, and went for this minivan version of a golf cart.

Hailey was all over the rainbow car!

Will wanted the the one that matched his shirt (there was one car for each color of the rainbow)

A view from the "overpass"

The highlight of the museum, for the kids, was the ball pit inside this tire. All five of the kids fit in there at the same time.

Completely Colbs

Our baby turned 1!! It seems altogether too fast. We've learned a few things through the years - namely, Colby could care less what we get him for his birthday, and would actually prefer a cardboard box to some fancy toy. Add to this the fact that we already have mountains of toys, and we told the kids to just do something creative for him and he would appreciate it. They decided to make him a sign out of blocks, but ran out of steam after the "happy"in "happy birthday Colby." We told them he'd understand :)

At 1 year old, Colby weighs 23 lbs, has 1 tooth, crawls like a speedy little machine, and insists on being held and constantly. He is the mellowest, happiest little guy, and waves at everyone. He doesn't understand what "alone time" means, and believes he should be involved in whatever his siblings are doing at the moment.

Our neighbors and some good friends joined us for cake and ice-cream. Colby was fascinated with the balloon they brought him.

Shots from the month - he had his first turn on the trampoline with everyone. He was a little overwhelmed, but happily crawled around. Excuse the artistic haze, it was really humid!

Most days however, he is forced to watch from the other side of the glass, as the kids and their friends jump. His mean old mom feels like it is the best opportunity she has to cook dinner!

There's that sharp little tooth! He can eat almost anything with it.

This is his "happy" face, the one he makes right before trying to grab the camera out of my hands. We sure are grateful for this cute little guy.

Munchkin Moments

This past month we've had a lot of time to "enjoy" the indoors since it has still been too hot to really go out and play. Here's what's been going on at home: Hailey: I'm learning how to braid Hailey's hair. For the most part, she is pretty patient and complimentary in regards to my efforts. 

Her entourage, as she leaves for a "princess" birthday party

Hailey is delighted that Colby FINALLY takes a bottle. She constantly wants to feed him. And I graciously allow it (who am I kidding - it buys me an extra 4.5 minutes to finish the dinner prep!)

She's still going strong with her swim lessons. It is amazing how much she's improved in just a few short months. 

I helped put together a co-op preschool for her with some other moms in the area, and she loves it. Here she is, ready for that first day. She insisted on bringing a notebook to take notes in and anxiously worried about what homework would be like. I had to break it to her that it wasn't going to be quite like THAT kind of school.

It doesn't hurt that her best little friend is at school with her!

I already had my week to teach. Here we are, flying through outer space in our rockets. These kids are a blast!

Owen: When you have an older sister, you tend to want to do everything she does too. And when your awesome cousin (pictured here) always wears flowers behind her ear too, sometimes you've just got to go with the flow! 

If you ask Owen how old he is, he'll say 4. If you ask him where he lives, he'll say Sri Lanka. He can accurately sing the beginning of the call to prayer, keeps trying to sneak rides on Hailey's bike when we don't pay attention, and throws some 5-star tantrums when things don't go his way. The boy has spirit!

He's starting to dig this "big brother" thing.

Nothing like a giant chokehold hug first thing in the morning!

 I've got two people I can dress in matching clothes once again, at least until they're old enough to think its not cool.

Owen can always make us laugh. Ask him to tell you a joke - he's got a whole series.  He's quite a hit with the under 6 year old crowd :) 

Will suffered from a mysterious ailment one day last month, from which he made a full recovery once the bus was far enough away he knew I wouldn't risk running out and chasing it down. We had fun grocery shopping together and visiting the fish market. Will's new love is reading - he's devouring chapter books by the dozen. He makes his Reading family side proud : )

Colby: Deserves his own post, seeing as how he turned ONE this past month! Here's a teaser.

Tyler: Unfortunately, this thing called school means I don't get as many pictures of Tyler and Will. However, this gem highlights Tyler's weird human trick of sucking his nostrils together (apparently these tricks are all the rage in the 3rd grade. I know all about who is double jointed, who can wiggle their ears and so forth). It is more impressive in person, and he brings it out any time he's in trouble because he knows it makes me laugh.

Every now & then I remember to snap a picture of them all together. Nothing like a morning bike ride to get some popsicles! 

They were all hiding under the stairs while Ken did some drilling - the extras are my adorable neighbors that double as the sisters Hailey doesn't have.

With all these personalities under the same roof, we don't seem to have many dull moments!