Our Thanksgiving

For the first time in 4 years, we sent the kids to school on Thanksgiving - just like in Bangkok it wasn't a holiday at school, but this year we felt they should be there because they were actually doing Thanksgiving activities there! Dan played flag football with some other guys from work (and 2 girls)! I went and cheered him on :) Then we came home and cranked out some yummy Thanksgiving foods before the kiddos got home and we headed out to our friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner! We made mashed potatoes, creamed onions and 2 pumpkin pies :) We joined friends from Dan's work for a wonderful dinner in their rec room in their apartment building - it was perfect! Everyone brought food, the tables were decorated so nicely, the kids had their own table and there was a playground outside for the kids to play on! It was a great night and I'm thankful for the friends we've made here to be able to spend Thanksgiving with!

We've got Bikes!!!

We've got bikes!!! And helmets and an area to ride (while Mommy and Daddy stand in the street so no cars run over us, hopefully) and 2 dirt/sand lots to ride in and a Mosque to ride by and the Arabian Gulf to look out over!

Riding to the Mosque

Lookout Point

Nothing like riding your bike with a broken arm!

Jumping curbs

Enjoying the ride

They enjoy playing by the little mini cliffs :)

Thankful

I asked the kids who they were thankful for:

Kylie: Grammy and Grandad...and Uncle Johnny

Megan: Mom Mom and Mary Kate

Jack: Mommy and Daddy

If you didn't make the cut, please know that you were added in the ensuing conversation that took place for the next 5 minutes listing all of our family, cousins and friends :)

Class Pictures

Megan's 4th Grade Class

Jack's 2nd Grade Class

Kylie's Kindergarten Class

Marine Corp Ball 2011

We attended the Marine Corp Ball in honor of the 236th Birthday of the founding of the Marine Corp on 11/11/11. (The birthday is actually 11/10/11.) We sat at a table with friends from work and it was a blast! I'm thankful we got to sit with them, because otherwise it would have been very awkward - there were 400 people there and we probably knew another 20 total people there. I was planning on having a dress made at the Fabric Souk here - but found a dress already made at the Fabric Souk for 7KD or approx. $25USD! It was in the Indian Heritage store at the souk and so fun!

Megan and Kylie helped me figure out jewelry - I ended up wearing a necklace that my Mom had given me from junk jewelry my grandmother had and a pair of earrings that Megan made this summer with Grammy! They looked great with the dress! Dan wore his nice tux and we had an 8th grader come babysit our kiddos!

The Ball was held at Dan's work outside - and it was a perfect night! Dan commented that you can actually do that somewhere where there is virtually no chance of rain (i.e. in the desert!)! The father of one of our friends was the Guest Speaker, so that made it even more fun - he's currently commanding in Afghanistan and it was a pleasure to meet him and hear him speak! I'm so glad we went - it was such a fun night - had a crazy group of guys DJing that kept playing weirdly slow beats, we got to watch a whole slew of women who were clearly not from work dancing in very different dresses, lots of Marines there to celebrate and really yummy food! They did a great job and we had a great time!

Our fancy outfits

Dan and Kristen

Stephanie and Tony

Erin and Josh

Zac and Cara

Mat and Jill

Our fabulous table with lots of wonderful salads set out - then they had a buffet line for the main course! And a dessert buffet line, too!

The infamous Bread Bowl - that we couldn't figure out if it was actually a bowl made out of super hard bread or just plastic made to look like bread - until Zac broke it apart and we learned it was really bread!

Josh trying a small piece of the bread bowl and Mat examining it closely

The Dance Floor set up and lighting

One table in the back of the area set aside for the Marines who gave their lives for their countries and can only join in in spirit.

Kuwait Towers

Not our Christmas Picture, but a cute picture nonetheless :)

The kids have had off this last week for Eid al-Adha! Dan had off for all the days but Wednesday - Sunday, Monday and Tuesday for Eid al-Adha and Thursday for Veteran's Day. We played tourist one clear afternoon and visited the Kuwait Towers! We walked around, took our Christmas Picture and went up in the tower! It goes up 120 meters and has 2 lookout levels - the top one has a platform inside that spins around and makes a full rotation in approx. 30 minutes, so you can see the whole city! I'm so glad we went - it was totally fun - and a really clear day to see everything!

Dan wanted a picture of him holding up the Kuwait Towers - then everyone wanted one!

Jack

Megan

Kylie

Me

Everyone enjoying being able to run around

Dan and Jack goofing off and trying to see if we could get it to look like Dan's head and Jack's feet - not quite, but still fun.

Their record cover - if they ever release a record

How could I not love round towers with turquoise polka dots on the outside! With palm trees, they're perfect!

Dan pointing out where you can see Kuwait City!

Me and my Tweeter overlooking Kuwait!

Christmas Fun

Santa asked the kids to line up and wait patiently for their presents!

We went to our first Christmas Party of the year at Dan's manager's home last weekend! She had people over to eat chili, watch and sing along with the Grinch who Stole Christmas and enjoy a visit from Santa! We made Cheddar Beer Bread to go along with the chili - and enjoyed lots of yummy food and partially destroyed her house!

Apparently there were only 2 kids in the office last year - and this year there are a ton! So, the big kids were all playing a game where one kid would hide a toy and the rest had to find it - Megan hid the toy and Jack thought it might be behind the t.v.. It wasn't. He did, however, manage to knock it over and break it without hurting anyone (for which we are so thankful)! Another guy in the office had an extra t.v. he brought over to replace hers. Some child (we don't know which one) also tore off a ball from around her Rocking Camel (yes Camel - it's awesome)! I'm not sure she's ever going to have us over again...

Jack was happy to wait :) Santa gave Kylie some sidewalk chalk (that she has played with every day since) and Megan and Jack a fun toy :)

Santa and AJ

Dan and Jack

Kylie and her little buddy Elizabeth - they were in matching outfits that night!

Wow

I drove to school to help out in Kylie's class and it took me 1 1/2 hours. Not fun. There were 2 main roads that I take there and both were backed up. Not sure why on the 1st road - but the second? This is what I saw:

Crazy.

By the way, did we mention that Dan was in a car accident a week ago? He rode in with his friend, who was driving his car for the first time here, and a lady ran into the front right of their car. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. Dan and his buddy were fine for the most part. I'm thankful that his friend's car was a Dodge Durango, so it wasn't badly damaged - the lady's car, however, was scrunched in on her driver's side door (a mercedes). I'm thankful they were okay. It was her fault - she tried to do a u-turn from the middle lane and ran into them. Crazy.

Halloween Cookie Decorating

Our friends Mike and Meredith invited us over this past weekend to decorate some Halloween cookies! Meredith had made tons of adorable cut out cookies for the kiddos to decorate - and invited us and 2 other neighbor families! The kids decorated their cookies with icing and sprinkles and gel pens and more sprinkles :) And, Meredith made some seriously Halloween goodies to eat - oranges hollowed out and carved to look like pumpkins and hold fruit salad, a spinach hummus cracker graveyard, butternut squash soup and more! We had a great time hanging out and eating - and it was super nice of her to have us over!

Meredith with her 2 little girls - they cracked us up decorating their cookies - more icing on each one than on a 9x13 cake :)

Spinach hummus graveyard

Orange jack-o-lanterns

Big kids and friend Ava decorating cookies

Megan's ghost and pumpkin

And her Haunted House