When mom is away….

While mom was away this week, the boys had the house to themselves!  The week was filled with a trip to the zoo, visits to the boys' favorite parks, a trip the Avenues Mall for a haircut and lots of play around the house.  It was a fun week.

The boys are very interested in robots right now.  A few alterations to an Amazon box and the house was filled with laughing robot boys.

King of the hill! 

If you get up early in this part of the world, you will typically be amongst the few to be out and about.  With our boys we do not really have any choice but to be up early, so we often take advantage of early morning outings.  Nathan and the boys were the first ones at the zoo on Saturday morning and had the place to themselves for a couple hours to explore crowd free. 

 Luckily the train driver also gets up early in the morning.  The train ride around the zoo is certainly a highlight of the trip for the boys.  They sit so nicely as the train cruise by all their favorite animals.

 After the nice trip to the zoo there is nothing better than lunch on the front porch. 

We are meeting more of our neighbors and have found our yard full of local childern recently.  The boys have a blast when the neighbors stop by to play.  

 This is Caleb's favorite neighborhood friend, Amani.  They meet most afternoons at the nearby park or field to play.  His parents claim that he has only recently turned two (they have been saying that since we moved here 10 months ago!)  We think he has to be at least four…he is a giant!

The boys showing off their muscles and taking a break at the park for some apple juice and snacks.

 One of the main reasons we wanted to put grass in our front yard was to make a good space for the boys to play in the water during the summer months.  We attempted to do this last year when our yard was sand, and lets just say that did not work out very well.  The weather has warmed up enough to let the boys in the water and last Friday was a perfect day to get out the water toys.  The boys had a great time splashing and jumping in the water.  

 Dad even made a water slide and the boys laugh each time they crash into each other at the bottom. 

On another day Nathan and the boys spent time at a nice park a few miles from our house that is very popular with local families.  On the weekends the whole park is filled with large extended families grilling food and spending time together under the shade of the large trees.  Many families bring large rugs and small grills to prepare food and spend hours enjoying the nice weather.  The boys always end up makeing some friends at the playground.  

Ben is getting very good at walking and loves leading the way any chance he can get. 

 Movie and popcorn night!  Lets be honest, the boys were home alone so there were lots of movie and popcorn nights. 

The boys had a great week together, and mom was so happy to come home to these smiling faces.  Caleb gave mom a big hug and kiss, and said "Mom, I'm so glad to see you!" Ben had a big smile and gave a nice hug too.

There was a nice welcome home cake courtesy of Tes.  That night the boys enjoyed a cake and movie night with mom…it is good to be home with my 3 boys again!

Green Pastures

Hello from Europe! I am here for the week for work, and feel very lucky to be here to enjoy the greenery and beautiful weather. Everything here is very old, hundreds of years old, and every building has its own history. This weekend, I explored by foot and soaked in the charm of this place. There are old churches every few blocks, and I love hearing the church bells ringing loudly as I walk down the street.

This church had beautiful grounds. There were large old trees, and fresh yellow daffodils blooming every where.

Other things I love about Europe are the old painted doors. 

And how the moss and ivy grows over and up most structures.

And the pedestrian walking streets that are quiet in the morning and busy during the day.

And the farmer's markets in the town's square.

This brought back memories of Nathan and my trip across Europe in 2007, and this market reminded me of a particular one market we visited in Stockholm. 

I did buy a pint of strawberries to share with some friends later that afternoon.

And just enjoyed looking at the colorful fruits and vegetables.

It is cherry blossom season, and they are blooming around town.

If you know me, you know how I feel about cherry blossoms = smile:).

We have a few good friends here, and it has been very nice to get together with them, and spend time with their kids. The only thing that would make this trip better is having Nathan and the boys with me. Super dad is having a fun time with the boys. They have been to parks, the zoo, and Caleb even got a handsome new haircut.

Little Shoppers

Caleb really enjoys going to the souk. Ben always has a good time, but he still likes to stick pretty close to us. Caleb on the other hand, likes his freedom to roam and the souk is a great place to explore.

There is a lot to see, and the last couple of times we went, there has been some traditional dancing and celebration going on.

Nathan was holding both boys so I could film, and this kind man was thrilled to hold Ben, eventhough they both look so serious:).

We also stopped by a shop to buy some teapots for a couple of friends. The shop owner asked Caleb what his favorite color was and he said blue, so the shop owner gave him a blue teapot. He held on tight for the rest of our visit.

Then we watched a pretty sunset on the drive home. It was a fun day :).

Happy Birthday Tes

 Happy birthday Tes! Today we celebrated a Tes's birthday, Middle East style. I didn't catch it on camera, but I always love the initial reaction when these firecracker candles are lit.

 Afterwards we all enjoyed some cake.

And the boys painted Tes a pink and yellow canvas with their hands and police car.

It was a nice evening, celebrating a special woman's birthday!

Hide and go pizza

Where is Ben?

'

 He's hiding in the kitchen counter...with his apples and mom's camera lens cover...as if I need any more help losing camera lens covers :). Ben likes to hide and say 'boo.' He thinks it is so funny and he has such a cute laugh.

 Once we got Ben out of the counter, the boys helped make homemade pita pizzas.

 Fresh pita bread, tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and more cheese. Pop it in the oven for 5-7 minutes on 350 degrees...

 Pure deliciousness.

 After dinner, I was admiring how beautiful our fresh colorful fruits looked.

Happy Friday!

Enjoying time together

This weekend we spent a lot of time playing outside, walking to restaurants, baking, and enjoying the beautiful weather. Ben loves to kick and throw balls, and he was showing grandma some of his soccer skills.

 Ben has grown and developed a lot this past month. He is getting noticeably taller and thinner, and he is understanding many new things. Some of his words these days are ball, book, cup, shoes, socks, head, ears, elmo, mama, dada, and nigh nigh.

We have a house of good walkers too. Throughout the week, Grandpa and Grandma treated the boys to Burger King and McDonalds, which is a short walk from our house. The only thing better than nuggets, french fries, and ice cream, is the happy meal toy!

This was the first weekend where it really felt like it was starting to get warm. I think we all got a little suntan on this walk.

 Close by our home is also an area of shops, and of course another place to get ice cream. The boys have had a lot of ice cream these past couple of weeks!

Caleb received a very nice gift in the mail from his Aunt Eileen. Isn't that apron darling? Thank you so much, he LOVES it!

 And he showed grandpa a little bit about cooking pumpkin chocolate chip bread.

 A friend recently gave me the recipe. It was delicious and one of our new favorites around here.

My parents really enjoyed getting to know Tes these last few weeks, and they had fun spending time with her. She takes wonderful care of our us, and my parents are tremendously thankful (as are we) that she is part of our family. She showed my dad a few Philippino recipes and he taught her some Dad specials as well. 

 For once in my mom's life, she is not the shortest person!

This weekend, we also got out with just my parents to eat at one of our favorite Lebanese restaurants. As you can see, we had lots of good looking and even better tasting food. The dessert was especially good, though I'm still not quite sure what it was.

 Afterwards, we watched the sunset by the water.

 

It was sad to see my parents go last night, but I was so thankful for our nice visit and time we spent together. The boys enjoyed getting spoiled by grandpa and grandma, and my parents loved their time reconnecting with the boys. They saw just about everything there is to see in Kuwait, and it was a lot of fun to show them around. I am especially grateful for the experiences they had and the wonderful memories made. Hawaii is a long way from Kuwait, but they are always in our hearts. We love you Dad, Mom, Grandpa, and Grandma R!