Walking on the Beach

 We've been walking over to the beach across the street from us the last couple of weeks.  While locals have been swimming there the last couple of months, we still aren't sure it's safe to swim in - but we have had fun walking on the beach and looking for shells, watching the hermit crabs and schools of minnows!  

 Jack likes throwing shells

 View south down the beach

 Beautiful boat that was docked right off the beach

 Walking

 Drawing pictures in the sand with her toes

 Me sporting Megan's sunglasses

 Throwing more shells

 Our family

(my shadow plus Dan and the kids)

 All these shells were in large lines all along the waters edge...

 When I got closer, I realized they were all moving because they are all hermit crabs!

 The areas where they weren't all together, you could see their holes in the sand and the markings they made in the sand carrying their shells!

 Dan, Megan and Jack walked close to the water over many hermit crabs...Kylie and I weren't brave enough to go there.

 One that looked like a moustache :)

 She had fun digging and drawing in the sand

 Jack

 Megan

 Kylie

 And a cool design from a crab!

Worship

For the last couple of weeks, Dan has been leading worship at church with Brad.  Brad has been playing bass while Dan has been playing acoustic electric and singing.  It's been so fun to have them up there!  They've done a great job :)

Our church drops dramatically in numbers as the end of the school year nears...so we've been meeting in a smaller room with less people.  I've taken over the big kids Sunday School (ages 6-11).  We stay in for worship, then head to do our own worship with the little kids and then split up!  We've been working through the Names of God...because God has 211 specific names in the Bible just for Himself and over 700 used for Him, Jesus and the Holy Spirit!  We've been learning that God has 211 names so that we can know more about who He is - since His various names describe who He is! 

 

Our Pastor, Randy, sharing with the kids that they need to obey their parents :)

Happy Birthday 'Merica!!!

 It's the 4th of July - our first EVER outside of the USA - and we celebrated in high style with a bash at Dan's work!  They did a great job of decorating in red, white and blue - had state flags lining the green, an inflatable slide, a bouncy house, a camel to ride (!) and free food and soft drinks!  It was a great time - and not too hot in 110F :)  Happy Birthday 'Merica!!!

 Our Crew

 The kiddos waiting on their turn to ride the camel

 Me and Kylie

Me and Jack

 

 Me and Megan

 Jack riding the camel :)

 And dismounting - it's scary because the poor camel has to go down on his front and back knees to get down!

 Megan was terrified but did a great job!

 Awesome pic!

 This little one had no interest in going on the camel :)

 Me and Carol

 The fun inflatable slide and soap soccer in the background

 Good friends

 Brad and Carol

 Kat and David

 Me and my Tweeter

 Me, Dan, Brad and Carol

 Kylie and Sofia at the top of the slide

 Jack running from Megan...it looked like he would escape her until...

 She caught up to him :)

 Our Patriotic Family

 Red, white and blue tinsel in Megan's hair

 Dan, Tim, Joel and Elliot

 Dan, Tim and Brad

 Megan and Jack at the top of the slide...they helped a lot of little kids down it that were too scared to go by themselves :)

 Kylie and Kent - who refused to smile for this picture :)

 Eating yummy food out on the grass

 Joel and Myriah sharing cotton candy

 Jack drenching himself with water 

And me and my buddy Elliot posing for a picture!

Independence Day

Tomorrow is the 4th of July - Independence Day - America's Birthday!  It's been 237 years since the United States of America declared it's independence from The Kingdom of Great Britain.  And we are very happy about it!

 So happy, in fact, that Dan and I designed an American-ish flag on the side of our fridge...using blue painters tape.  Today marked the 3rd and final day of our pack-out for moving in a little less than a month!  The kids have done great hanging out in the living room and being confined while we had movers here packing us and crating our stuff to be shipped back to the US.  It's been crazy, but it's good and it's done.  We used blue painters tape to mark things with big blue X's that we didn't want them to move or open - like lamps that belong to work and kitchen cabinets that we kept food in!  We took off the tape today and instead of throwing it away...made this flag to celebrate the 4th of July tomorrow and 'Merica!  

Happy Birthday, 'Merica!  We love you and wish we could be with you to celebrate.  We'll have to handle being in a different country for the first time ever on Independence Day.  We have our outfits set out, our hair ribbons set aside and plans to celebrate in style...but for now, here's a peek at what our fridge currently looks like..

The important things :)

Kylie's Ballet Video

This was from the first week of May - she did a great job and it was fun to see her!

Outings

 The kids and I ventured out to the Fabric Souk one last time here in Kuwait!  I will definitely miss going there - looking for great deals and finding fun things!  Each of the girls picked out a meter of their own choice of knit fabric - Megan got florescent green/yellow and Kylie chose a florescent orange/pink!  I picked out some fun vintagey Christmas fabric and bought a fun velvet pillow I've wanted from the Indian Heritage Souk for 2 years now.  The girls each got 2 sundresses from the Indian Heritage Souk - one that matches each other and then one different one - they are adorable and were only 2KD each ($7USD)!  

 I promised them that if they shopped with me (which they had no choice in), that I would purchase them snacks there!  We got Onion Pakoras...which we are so thankful for!

 Cheese Samosas...

 ..and Jack got french fries because he didn't really like either of the other things!

 They ate them all!

 Then later in the day we went here to pick up Daddy from his last trip (we think) here in Kuwait!

 We took him out to a new restaurant to try some POUTINE!!!  (Montreal french fries with gravy and cheese curds that we love to eat in Malone)!  

 Cute cute restaurant

 The girls loved it - yummy cheeseburgers, fries, fresh lemonade...

 Arnold Palmers...

 ...and their version of a Ruben!  It was homemade roast beef, a crazy saurkraut/slaw, swiss, dressing and this yummy bread!  

Our waiter wanted his picture taken with Kylie - so he took one on his phone and we took one on my camera!