Sunday, June 30, 2013

Cherry Lemonade Baked Donuts

 We decided to make Cherry Lemonade Baked Donuts last week! We've been going to Jamal's - a fruit and vegetable market - before shopping at Lu & Lu's every Sunday.  I took the kids to Jamal's for their first time ever and a man named Ayman came to help us.  He had the kids try flat Saturn Peaches, yummy plums, three different kinds of grapes, pineapple and crazy apricots that were lime green instead of the normal orange color!  They loved everything and we bought quite a bit...and still only spent about the equivalent of $15USD!  The apricots were packages with cherries, so when I came upon this recipe on Pinterest, I figured we should try it, since we had all the ingredients!

This is what the professional pics look like of them :)  

 Kylie having fun with cherries - she was my de-stemer :) and cracked eggs for me!

 Jack was my lemon juicer...and cracked eggs for me!

 Megan was our photographer, our dry ingredient measurer and helped make the glaze!

 Me pitting the cherries so we could maserate them and squeeze the cherry juice out of them!

 We used a mini muffin tin because we didn't have a mini doughnut pan :)

They were DELICIOUS!!!

If you want to make them - go HERE for the recipe!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Messila Water Village

 
 The kids and I ventured out to Messila Water Village last week!  We've seen the sign for it while while getting gas - it's this crazy sign below - and it looks kind of sketchy, but we've had friends who have gone there with their little kids (2-3 year olds) so we figured it would be a fun thing to do!  I looked it up online, but like most places in Kuwait there is not a website for it.  I looked for blogs with info about it - and found out that there are "Ladies Only" days and "Family Days".  On the Ladies Only days, only ladies, girls and boys  - we thought - under 10 were allowed!  It sounded perfect!  Turns out, it was boys under 6, so we had to come back the next day for a Family Day :)  

We arrived right when they opened on a 111F day with water bottles, sandwiches, fresh fruit and snacks in a cooler, swim gear, towels and sunblock!  Because we were so early, we got a great little cabana with shade and immediately got ready to play!  I had told the big kids that they could go off and do things together, as long as they stayed together and I would stay with Kylie.  I also told them that if any water slides were only head-first that they would not be allowed on them and they would have to walk back down.  They ran off to check out some super fast slides while Kylie played in the little kid area.  Soon enough we saw Megan and Jack running back to us - hopping quickly because 111F outside makes brick walkways SUPER HOT on your feet!  They explained that they got to the top and the lifeguard at top asked them something in Arabic and they asked if he spoke English.  He didn't and proceeded to make fun of them in Arabic.  They were not impressed or amused.  Apparently those slides were only head-first and they came back.  

We had a great time there - the water was clean, the bathrooms were clean, the water was cooled to keep it refreshing (especially the lazy river - which was mostly without tubes, so that was different), there were snack vendors, Burger King and Pizza Hut there if you wanted to purchase food and lots of lifeguards...but the crazy thing about it was that NO ONE SPOKE ANY ENGLISH!  I have to say that I haven't been anywhere in Kuwait where there wasn't any English spoken by anyone - not to stores, not to souks, not to restaurants (maybe Smashed Chicken, but they are always super nice about it)...it was so weird.  There were a million 9-14 year old boys there - mostly without parents.  Some Dads.  One Nanny in the water helping little ones.  Two Moms, fully covered by jeans, long sleeved shirts and head scarfs sitting at tables.  It was a different element then what we are used to in Kuwait...and a very different crowd of kids then what we are used to in Kuwait.  

We had fun, but some mishaps.  Megan hit her head on the bottom of one of the slides when we came down in a raft and flipped.  Some older boys cussed Jack and Kylie out in 2 different languages and Jack just told Kylie to not look at them and keep on walking.  Megan was followed by an 11 year old boy who was Jack's size and just wanted to know her name.  She came to me all freaked out and I told her just to tell him her name, that it wasn't a big deal.  She went back, told him her name and he told Jack he was in love with her :)  I kept teasing her that she was a "Cute American Girl" :)  Some of the tiles are missing throughout the park and we definitely had to be careful not to get our feet cut (Jack took off some serious skin with 3 different cuts).  But all in all, we had a great day!  After being super dusty for weeks on end, it was a beautiful day to be outside...in 111F weather!

The entrance to the park...I think they should update it, because the park is way nicer than the sign!

 Me and Megan
I love the palm trees behind us!

 Bugga posing at the top of a kiddie slide

Halfway down
 And in the water!

 I don't normally take pics of other people - because it's not okay in Kuwait - but I did take his picture of a Nanny I saw there - in the water - with her full coverings on!  Black long sleeved shirt, black pants, black Maid outfit over top and black head scarf!

 The roof of our cabana!  Turquoise, scalloped paint and palm trees!

 Kylie and Jack eating lunch

 Jack

 Kylie

 My Kiddos

 The fun water playground area - with a huge bucket that drops water every 3 minutes!

 The Lazy River

 The Wave Pool - so fun!

 The water slides

 Waiting for the huge bucket to pour out!

 And getting soaked!

 Cute cute kiddos

 Ready to get Ice Cream - KDD soft serve for 250fils!  If they had this anywhere else in Kuwait, we would be there all the time!

 Megan 

 Just for fun - the lines at Burger King.  That read:

 Male Customers

 And Female Customers

 Enjoying their cones!

 Me and Bugga

 Our fun cabana

 The temp on the ride home!

And me and Jack!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Pool Time

 It's officially summer here and this is the first summer in 5 years that we haven't almost immediately flown to the States for 4-9 weeks of traveling from place to place visiting family and friends!  We are here in Kuwait for 6 weeks of summer - of 115F (or hotter) weather.  Ramadan will begin the second week of July and that will complicate matters even more - no drinking or eating in public (including no water being drunk or gum chewed) and every place will have funky hours.  Last year we thought we would spend copious amounts of time at the Aquarium.  Turned out they didn't open until 9pm and closed at midnight.  Weird.  

So, to give us something to do, we've started going to the pool every other day for swim lessons - taught by me!  Our kids can tread water and technically swim just fine, but they don't really know strokes well, so that's what we're going to work on!  Getting them proficient in freestyle and backstroke and hopefully breaststroke!  They've loved it so far (for the most part) and have mastered doing "catch-up" in the water (at least the biggest two have)!  They've also learned how to dive well - like professional swimmers!  They are doing great!

 Megan

 Our buddy Luke and Kylie

 Bugga

 Megan and Jack playing in the water

 Throwing torpedos into the water for Kylie to find

 Cutie Bug

And having fun!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Last Dinner with Friends

 We had our friends over last weekend for our last dinner with them - at least for now!  We have loved getting to know them these last 2 years and will miss them next year.  Lord willing, they will move back to Virginia again and we can hang out some more there!  

 Trying to get pics of all 5 kids is never easy!

 Then we had to get pics of the adults!

 And a silly one of the adults!

And one of Kylie and Jonah bustin' a move on Just Dance :)