Discovery Place and Aquarium

On Sunday we went to the Scientific Center with Tes and a friend. It is a kids discovery museum, aquarium, and IMAX theater all in one. It is a great place for kids to learn and explore, especially in the heat of the summer!

Ben's first lesson in electricity.

Caleb is learning about centripital forces.

And the best part is...a huge sandbox!

Next we went to the aquarium. Caleb found a new pet turtle :).

Ben liked watching the penguins

We ended our trip playing outside by the gulf until we were all sweaty and ready to go home.

We took family nap, then we had a friend over and Shina came over to cook Indian Biryani Chicken and Rice. Tes has been wanting to learn how to cook Indian food, and Shina is a great teacher.

I was hanging out with Caleb and Ben so I did not partake in this cooking lesson, but I sure did my fair share of eating!

Hope you all are having a good week!

Around town

We enjoyed the last couple of days doing different things around town. Ramadan ended on Wednesday night and Eid started on Thursday. We were excited for restaurants to be open during the day again, and on Thursday morning we met some friends for breakfast at a Turksish restaurant. The malls are pretty empty in the mornings, so Caleb had a lot of space to run. He must have run about 20 circles around this fountain!

 We spent a lot of time at home this past week since most things were closed during the day. We really enjoyed the extra time we have had with the boys, and we think they did too. Ben is getting around very well, and he is starting to pull up on things around the house. Doesn't he have the cutest little face! He is every bit of sweet as he looks.

 We still don't have our household items, but we find ways to have fun indoors. Don't get me wrong, we have plenty of toys that we shipped through the mail. But sometimes you can't beat a big empty Rubbermaid over any toys :). This was a fun car while it lasted, until Caleb started pulling Ben's ears...

On Friday, we were invited to a pool party. The home was in a beautiful neighborhood on the gulf, and we had a great view of the ocean from the pool. We all swam for a couple of hours, and Caleb ran around the pool area playing in the grass and with the other kids. Afterwards, we had a BBQ and ate lots of good food. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but we had a good time and both boys were pooped by the time we went home.

Today, we went to the Friday Market. It's one of the oldest open air markets in Kuwait, and they sell all kinds of items. The market is huge, 1km by 1km of shopping, and you can find just about anything you can think of there. It reminded me of the Sunrise Flea Market my dad used to take my brother and I to when we were younger. We got the there at 9am and it was already 100 degrees outside, but it was covered which helped. We were all hot and sweaty by the time we left, but had a good time looking around. Nathan and I plan to return by ourselves to check it out more.

 We all took a nap today too!

This afternoon Caleb and I made rainbow milk toast. Add food coloring to milk...

 Paint the bread

Place it in the toaster oven and enjoy!

Tonight Nathan and I got a babysitter and went on a date:). We went to a Lebanese restaurant, and it was delicious! He had a chicken dish and I had a beef dish. By the time I thought of taking a picture of our food, it was already gone. We enjoyed cappuccino and Lebanese coffee, and then did some serious people watching.

 The malls here are out of control! Maybe it was this busy because of the Eid holiday, maybe not? For my Virginia friends, it was like shopping at the Tyson's Mall during the Christmas holidays. The parking lots were jammed, and you can see what the crowds are like. The culture is up and about much later than in the States, malls and restaurants are open very late, and kids are out and about at all hours. This picture was around 9pm, and little kids were running around everywhere. I guess that is why things are so quiet in the mornings around here, and we will enjoy that since our boy are up early!

The big screen was some kind of Sea World simulation. The kids would walk into the middle of the floor and their picture would project on the screen. Whales, polar bears, penguins, and other animals would appear on the screen and it seemed like the kids were there. There was a long line for this attraction.

One more day off until we are back to work. It has been odd being off work all week, but so nice to have time together as a family. We are thankful that the region has remained stable, and pray that God continues to protect all of the people.

Ben is 10 months old!

Happy 10 months old, Ben! This has been a big month. Ben babbles dada, mama, baba, waves, claps his hands, crawls all over the place, he pulls up on furniture, and puts his hands up when he wants to be carried.  He smiles and laughs often, cries if he needs something, and he starting to really express himself.

Ben wears 12-18 month clothes, size 2 shoes, and size 4 diapers. He has 2 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth, he nurses in the morning and night, has a bottle every 3-4 hours, and he is eating all table food. Ben takes 2-3 naps a day, and he sleeps from about 7:30pm - 6:00am. He and Caleb are enjoying sharing a room, and at night Caleb asks if Ben is tired and points to his crib.

Ben plays with whatever is in front of him, and he watches everything Caleb does. He crawls after his big brother, and it will only be a matter of time before they are running around together.

We are so thankful for our sweet Benjamin. Happy 10 months!

 

 

 

 

Indian Chicken Curry and Rice

Tonight we had a friend from India come over, and she showed me how to cook chicken curry and rice. Nathan and I love Indian food, and WOW, this the most delicious we have had yet!

 

She brought over spices from her country, and she ground them together. I think it was a combination of garlic, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, and some other things I can't remember.

To make the chicken, first, chop onion, garlic, tomato, and green chili.

Next, add bay leaves, and sauté the all of the ingredients in oil.



Then, add the chicken, Indian spices, coconut milk powder, and water. Bring to a boil and cook on medium heat for a while.

To make the rice, first sauté onion, garlic, and green chili. Then add water and rice, bring to a boil, and cook until the rice is done. Finally, fry raisin and onion in oil as a topper



Here is our wonderful chef, Shina.

While I was learning how to cook, Nathan fed the boys dinner and played them some tunes before the bath.

 

We tried to get Shina to stay for dinner, but she insisted that we eat without her. So after the boys went to sleep, we had an Indian dinner date, and it was delicious! I wish I could capture the smell and taste of the food in the blog. The food was so wonderfully spiced and aromatic!

Good thing is we have lots of leftovers. I think we will be eating a lot of Indian food this weekend :).

Mohawk

We went swimming with some friends today. Check out this cool dude's hair do!

Haircut, and then some....

Caleb got his haircut today, and he did great.  He sat very patiently the whole time while Toto cut his hair. I will post more pictures tomorrow because I got a little sidetracked this evening when I realized that....

While Caleb was sitting so patiently, he managed to download $54.99 worth of shows to the kindle. We are now the proud owners of a few seasons of Blue's Clues, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Doc McStuffins.

Here he is saying, suckers! Nathan and I got a good laugh this evening when we realized what happened. Let's just say the parental controls are turned back on.

Sweet and Silly

How sweet are these two little boys? We thank God everyday for choosing us to be their parents. And I thank Nathan for taking these pictures of the boys :).

These little boys are silly too. Caleb has learned the word goofball, he knows what it means, and he is a big goofball often!

If you can't tell, Caleb is riding in a mop bucket and he loved every second of it!

 

Ben is developing so much. He learned to wave, and he likes to practice his new skill

He is also an incredible eater, and he eats mostly all table food now. They do not really have baby food here, and my amazon stockpile is wearing thin, so he started much earlier than Caleb. It's been a great thing to get him on table food early (Caleb ate mostly baby food until almost 13 months).  Ben loves feeding himself, and all I have to do is boil vegetables each week for him to eat. Some of his favorites are melon, apples, avocado, rice, potatoes, spaghetti, chicken, hummus, crackers, beans, cheese, chicken nuggets, peas, and carrots. He has not turned down anything yet.

Random picture, but this is our house top to bottom. We have a LOT of stairs around here. Our home looks pretty bare because we do not have our shipment yet, but we should be receiving it in the next couple of weeks. Hope you all have a great week!

 

Bubbles

Ben likes to stick out his tongue and blow bubbles. He also likes to stand up while holding onto furniture. Love this sweet little boy!

A cool evening in Kuwait

We had a cool spell the last couple of days. This evening it was only 110 degrees, so we decided to walk to a park near our house. 

The park belongs to a pre-school across the street, and it has real grass that is green and watered every day. I say real because some people have astro-turf as their lawn. The play structures are covered this month because the school is on break for the summer, but it will re-open in September. The park is covered with the rubber ground, and it has a track around the playground, soccer field, and lots of space to run. When we first moved here before it got too hot, the park was busy every day. We should see the same in the coming months again.



Meet Tes! She is our nanny who started earlier this week. Rose was our temporary nanny this past month while we were waiting for Tes to arrive. We will miss Rose, but will see her from time to time, since she also works for an Embassy family. Tes is a very sweet woman and is great with the boys. You will hear more about her over time :).

 She colors with Caleb every day, we are getting a nice collection of his artwork started in the playroom.

 After an evening of playing at the park (well, Ben slept the entire time and looks like he never quite woke up), the boys enjoyed a bubble bath and hit the sack.

Happy Wednesday!