The Camel Races

A few weekends ago, we decided to head out with a couple of friends and some guys here for work to the Camel Races! That's right - I said Camel Races! With Camels racing around a huge oval track that's maybe 3km long!

We arrived there around 1pm on a Saturday - about a 45 minute drive out from the city to the desert. The races didn't start up until around 2pm, so we walked around, looked at some camels, had Jill sit on one and hung out. There weren't a whole lot of people there - and as far as I could tell, we were the only westerners.

At 2pm, we heard (by the honking of car horns) and saw that the first race had begun! In the distance, we could see lots of trucks rounding the last end of the huge track and heading up our way to the finish line! Apparently Kuwaitis drive their trucks alongside of the camels to watch them as they race the whole way - while honking their horns repeatedly (including camera crews)! The camels ran past us with their little motorized whips on their backs to make them run fast while we cheered them on! It was very interesting to watch! If you want to watch a video of them on youtube that was taken in Qatar - click on this link here.

It takes a while for the next race to get ready, so we hung out and waited for the next couple and then made our way over the pens to see the camels race into them when they finished their race!

It was a great time to be out with friends, enjoy being outside (or continually have to squint against the blowing sand) and share in a once-in-a-lifetime experience! We're glad we can check off "Go to Camel Races" off our to-do list here - but will gladly take anyone who wants to go with us during the winter! (it's too hot in the summer)!

P.S. the most unexpected thing about being there? That Jack started crying without warning. Dan took him over and talked to him and found out that he was really upset for the last little camel who finished so far behind everyone else (there was always one last little one trotting along behind the pack) and that he lost and no one was there to cheer him on. :( So pitiful!

Beautiful flags flying

Waiting for the camel races to start!

Handfuls of fun sand!

A camel being led

Cutie Elizabeth

and making a face like her father's!

Girlies hanging on the camel pen

Camel prints in the sand

The camels racing towards us!

At full gallop!

The guy on the camel texting while finishing up behind all the camels and making sure there's no stragglers...

Dan and Jack

Matt and Sweet Elizabeth

The Group

Fun Night

The other week Jack wanted to have a friend over for a playdate. He lives approx. an hour south of us here in Kuwait, so we set it up for a Thursday afternoon - that way I could pick up the boys after school (friends can't ride the bus home) and let them play here for a bit. We then took him with us to Happy Hour at work for dinner and then we drove him home! I also invited one of Megan's friends to come home with us, too, even though she lives down the street from us and rides the same bus - that way the girls would have someone to play with, too!

It was CRAZY picking up the kids afterschool. I have picked them up after afterschool activities, but picking them up at the end of the school day was the most insane thing I have ever seen! I am so thankful for our buses and that I don't have to do that on a normal day! There were cars EVERYWHERE near the school, honking and trying to fit through small spaces and not letting anyone in and high schoolers everywhere in the street. Ugh, it was not fun. Anyway, we managed to pick up the kids, have them home here for playdates and then enjoyed dinner at work! We drove Cesar home. He said it would take "6 hours" to get to his house - thankfully he was wrong!

We didn't arrive at Cesar's house until almost 9pm and his parents were so hospitable and gracious to have us in for a bonfire in a fire pit in their back yard - complete with mini hot dogs, mini hot dog buns and smores!!! Oh, and their house is located on the beach (the cleanest, nicest beach in Kuwait), so we were only steps from the Gulf! We hung out there until almost 11pm - the kids were exhausted, but it was so nice to hang out there with the bonfire, tiki torches and great conversation! Such a fun time and such a treat!

Megan's Arabic Mid-Term

Megan has her Arabic Mid-Term Exam Wednesday. These 2 pictures are page 1 and 2 of her exam study guide. Notice that it's all in Arabic. It's hard, because I can't really help her with any of it. She just needs to go over it and over it, so that she remembers where all the accent marks belong and how to write everything out correctly. She's done a great job so far with it, but it is insanely crazy. I can't imagine high school students being able to do this in the States with 6 months of a language, much less a 4th grader! 18 more months of it for her...and Jack will start it next year, too! We'll see what happens with him - I can't imagine it will be good, but maybe he'll surprise us.

Our 12th Annivesrary!!!

We went out to dinner last night at PF Chang's for our Anniversary! A good time with good food talking over things. And today I get to go in for a little "lunch date" at Dan's work for some Ruby Tuesday's :) We've been married for 12 years and were saying that 12 years from now, Kylie will be a senior in high school, Jack will be a sophomore in college and Megan will be in her last semester of college, Lord willing! That's insane!

Maybe sometime we'll make it to St. John's for a vacation...but for now, we got to be out in 44F weather celebrating our marriage in the 3rd country we've lived! Happy Anniversary my Tweeter!!! I love you so much and am so thankful to be married to you!!!

Teacher's Christmas Presents

Pottery Barn Score

I went with a friend to Pottery Barn Kids last week - because she heard they were having a sale. It was a GREAT sale for the items they had on sale...I spent 7.500KD TOTAL($27.45USD)!


I purchased a set of twin Star Wars sheets that I've been drooling over for 4+ years for Jack. They are $69USD right now on the Pottery Barn Kids website - I paid 4.750KD ($17.38USD) for them! NEW!!! Flat, fitted and pillowcase! So great! Kylie said that if Jack didn't want them, she would :)


I purchased 3 Sabrina Medium size medium tone baskets for 0.750KD each ($2.75USD each)! The kids needed something to hold their books on their bedside table :)


I purchased 2 sets of these Dollhouse Foam World sets for 0.250KD each ($0.91USD each)! We might keep one and give away one!

We purchased what we could, but told friends about it so they could go get what they needed (awesome crib sheets for 1KD or ($3.66USD)! So fun!

New Year's

We had a great New Year's Eve! Our plan was to hang out with the kiddos - enjoy the day - and maybe go out to dinner. I went out the night before to pick up ingredients for Queso and a bottle of sparkling cider. Can I just tell you that I hadn't made Queso in 4 years? It was too expensive to not be doable in Thailand - wanna know how much it cost me here??? To make a crockpot of Queso with 2 lbs ground beef (normally you would do 1 ground beef and 1 lb pork, but we can't get pork here), 1 can of Rotel, 1 jar of salsa, 2 lbs of Velveeta, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and 2 bags of tortilla chips??? $42USD Seriously, that's insane. BUT, Dan had been wanting nachos (not sure if they were the same as what he was thinking), but it was so yummy and all the kids loved it! It was a great treat to make here after not having it for 4 years!

We headed out to take the kiddos out to dinner at PF Chang's :) We weren't sure if they would like it, but it was a hit - and their kids menu was great (around $5USD for each kids meal, which included a drink)! We loved the dinner there and had a great time - then came home, played some sleeping queens, had ice cream, headed up to our roof to toast the New Year (at 8pm) and put the kids to bed! It was a great way to ring in the New Year :) Happy New Year 2012!!!

Jack

Kylie

Megan

Me and my Tweeter

The Gentlemen

The Ladies

Fried Rice for Kylie and Lo Mein for Megan and Jack!
We couldn't believe how tender their chicken is compared to most chicken you find at a Thai restaurant!

Jack and Daddy with yummy friend green beans...sooooo good!

Our Family in front of PF Chang's

Ice Cream

On the roof!

All the essential items - Cider, glasses, a cigar and lighter...

Toasting the kiddos

Our family on the roof!

Daddy and Kylie being fancy with their sparkling apple cider!

Megan and Jack being fancy

Kiddos and Dan overlooking Gulf Road

Our Hokie family on New Year's Day!!!

My Tweeter enjoying a cigar and a cup of coffee New Year's Day at the park :)

Kylie's Birthday Party

Kylie's Birthday Invitation

Kylie had a Very Merry Birthday Celebration this year! We decided to go with a "Christmas" themed party - and did lots of fun holiday things: the kids colored Christmas pictures and bookmarks, played Pin the Star on the Christmas Tree, Pass the Parcel, made Christmas ornaments, decorated Christmas cookies and played Holiday Musical Chairs (with Christmas music playing)! We invited 7 kids, but knew that lots of families travel over Christmas break. Kylie's best buddy here, Jordyn, came (we figured if only Jordyn could come, it would still be a GREAT party!) and her favorite boy in her class James and another little girl Hanya also came! The kids had a great time and Kylie had a blast! She's such a riot, because she doesn't like cake - so we always have to come up with another idea for her! For her 4th birthday we did brownies, for her 5th we did ice cream sundaes and this year we just decorated the biggest cutout cookie with a "6" on it and sang her Happy Birthday :)

Front Door Sign

Our column decorated for Kylie's party (she wanted red and green streamers)!

Our Family with the Birthday Girl

Kylie and James

Kylie and James making silly faces...James' face was "Mr. Bean" that he had been practicing for a while :)

Jordyn and Kylie

Kylie and Hanya

Coloring while waiting for everyone to get here

Presents!!!

Dan's work of art! He was so proud of himself that he said he might have it laminated :)

Kylie placing her Star :)

The final "Pin the Star on the Christmas Tree" Tree!

Playing Pass the Parcel :) James won - gummy worms and light up pinchers to pick them up!

The boys goofing around :)

Decorating Christmas Ornaments

Kylie, Jordyn and Hanya

Holiday Musical Chairs

Waiting to blow her candles out while being sung to!

Kylie's Birthday Cookie

Icing and decorating Christmas cookies

Dan, Megan
Hanya, Kylie, Jordyn, James and Jack

My big 6 year old!

Jordyn gave Kylie a "best friend" bracelet - Jordyn has one that says "Friend" on it and Kylie's says "Best" :) Too cute!