Back to the Peasant's Life

We were spoiled for two weeks, and then a week before that. Alison's mom, Janet, came to visit in January (and sandwiched a trip to India in between her two visits to us). It's always good having her here for a couple of weeks - not least because the kids love having her around. More importantly, she

• gets up at 5:45 with Gabe and Eva (which is a nice break for Alison) 
• is willing and ready to hold fussy babies 
• is ready to do more than her fair share of diaper changing (and, when I'm a grandparent someday, that fair share will be none) 
• does more dishes than a whirlpool 
• reads "I can lick 30 tigers today" 30 times during the day 
• takes more pictures than you can shake a stick at 
• watches the kids while Alison works on school work 
• and lots more. 

Now, though, she's gone, which means I change more diapers, do more dishes and read more '30 Tigers'. More devastatingly, it means Alison gets lots less school work done during the day, and has to do more studying and writing in the evening. This cuts into my YouTube surfing time.

Obviously, everyone is happy that Nana is here!

The Many Faces of Gabe

Alison's mom has been here for the last two weeks, and has taken lots of pictures of the kids.  As I looked through them, I was struck by Gabe's facial expressions.  I thought it would make a good slide show.  There is also a disparity of pictures when comparing Gabe and Eva, and I don't want Gabe to have an inferiority complex as a result.  Eva will be able to accomplish that one on her own.

Caption Contest: There are captions on most of the pictures.  However, there are three that I was not creative enough to come up with captions for.  Leave a comment with the picture number and your caption, if you are creative enough.  There's no prize for the best one, so I guess its not really a contest.  But I'm hoping no one actually reads this far. 

The Frigid Winter of Bahrain

Suffering
I know all of you in the states are scoffing.  You think my blood has thinned.  You think that I can no longer handle the long, bitter winters of the midwest.  Well, I submit to you that surviving winter in Bahrain is more difficult than surviving winter in Minnesota.

1.  When the temperature gets below 55 degrees, there is no heat to turn on.  Anywhere.  Not in cars.  Not in the houses.  Not anywhere.  I know all of you turn on the heat when it gets below 65 degrees. 

2.  For 10 months out of the year, I sweat when I go outside.  Maybe its my own fault for not remembering to purchase warm clothing, but ties just don't work well as scarves. 

3.  When I get up in the morning, there is no hot air vent blasting out the blanket of joy I so dearly remember growing up.  No - there is only 50 degree air waiting for me after I get out of the shower. 

4.  Eva flips and flops in her bed while sleeping more than a [insert your loathed political party] during campaign season.  This is, we believe, the reason she wakes up at 5:30 am, cold after having thrown the covers off, to climb into bed with us.  

I challenge any of you "suffering" in your houses with central heating and fire places to come to Bahrain and brave our cold weather.  I challenge you to endure teaching and holding white-board markers all day with no way to warm your hands.  And if you take up our challenge, please bring some triscuits.

Winter Thobe Collection
You may recognize the traditional white robe called a "thobe", that many arab men wear.  During the winter, many men will wear darker colored thobes.  I'm not sure if its simply a fashion deal, or if the material is heavier.  But you know its winter in Bahrain when the dark thobes are sported.  The thobes below are particularly stylish - apparently they are from a designer in Saudi Arabia.

Happy Birthday And Merry Christmas II

Talking about my children without including pictures causes small riots among their grandparents.  So here is what the last post was missing.  A hodge-podge of pictures from December and a couple of pictures from our annual trip to Dairy Queen for birthday ice-cream.

And in case the pictures didn't satisfy your curiosity about how we celebrate birthdays, video of the big night out. 

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas!

Its been a while since I've posted, but we've been quite busy.  Brian and Liz (Alison's brother and his wife) came and visited for two weeks over Christmas.  We had a fantastic time with them, and were even able to to go Dubai with them for a couple of days.  Here are some things I learned. 

• You can apparently book private parties at indoor ski resorts in the desert.  We had intended to go sledding and skiing to experience snow on Christmas day, but the indoor ski resort was closed for a private party.  Really!?!  Is it not crazy enough that you can do indoor skiing in the middle of the desert?  Apparently not.  We still had a good time that day.  We explored the mall, went to the book store (not that we're starving for one in Bahrain - we just like books) and took Eva to the area with the kiddie rides and arcade games.  She was freaked out by the 
• Chasing Eva saying, "Oh no!  Sharks!" is hilarious.  For both of us.  In another mall, there is a "water-zoo" (aka aquarium), and it was everything I had hoped and dreamed.  Eva laughed and giggled and squealed her way through the whole thing looking at otters, bright and colorful fish, and most of all - penguins.  There is also a tunnel that goes under the massive two-story aquarium and there are 15-20 large sharks with jagged teeth.  Lots of fun. 
• Camel Burgers are tasty.  They're a little tougher than beef burgers, and I probably wouldn't order one again.  But its kind of cool to say I've had a camel burger. 
• The Apocalypse does NOT come if we don't put our kids down for naps at 1pm.  Usually the kids are on a pretty rigid schedule, and, although we intended to keep them on the schedule, we grossly underestimated travel times going to and from the hotel.  But it ended up all right.  Its a little freeing to think that, if we choose for a day, we can do something that requires a little more time. 

Of course, this last week was Eva's 2nd birthday!  Happy Birthday Eva!  We didn't do a whole lot, just went out for ice cream at Dairy Queen and let her have a vanilla sundae.  We didn't plan any events this year, and maybe that makes us bad parents.  I'm not sure. 

I remember when I was a kid my dad (or mom, maybe) telling me that it was nice that my birthday was in April.  That way they had time to save up for presents in between Christmas and my birthday.  I remember being a bit confused as to why that mattered.  Well, now I know.  Not that its a problem now.  But someday when she wants a laptop for Christmas and an iPad for her birthday, there's going to be some tears shed.