Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends. We've had a great holiday season even with some colds! Time together is so much fun. We've had time for puzzles, cooking, clearing out closets, watching Christmas specials, listening to MOTAB while driving around looking at National Day lights, board games, playing with toys, going on walks, going to see Frozen, taking naps, getting together with friends, eating and talking with family. What more could you ask for? The perfect holiday!

 Us at the mall with Bahrain Frosty!

 And a polar bear!

 Yep- they've really been good....

 

 Santa loves them...

And so do we! Edward has been wearing his jingle bell and rain boots for a few weeks now in the true spirit of things. We are so lucky!

Christmas catch up

So what has been new with us? It has been a while. Evelyn turned 10 and Edward turned 4. Ev invited a friend to the waterpark, Edward picked McDonalds for dinner for his birthday. Part of the reason Edward's birthday was rather uneventful was Evelyn broke her elbow the weekend before. Six weeks later, she got her cast off! We celebrated Halloween as a witch and Buzz (trunk or treat) / a cowboy (trick or treat). We had Thanksgiving with our neighbors and are now enjoying Winter Break, which is extra long this year as it included Bahrain's National Day. We celebrated National Day by viewing the fireworks at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Edward started nursery school, which he loves. He loves  He loves the letter sounds, making art, cutting with scissors, kneeding bread dough, playing Star Wars and superheroes, reading books, playing restaurant in the playhouse on the playground, learning how to ride his scooter, calling people "silly old", being the boss of the nursery, singing, taking pirate bubble baths, camping with his Toy Story dolls, jumping on the trampoline, hiding Easter Eggs, telling jokes, blowing bubbles and wrestling with his dad. Here he is with his "Mim-ion" cupcake after a class party.

Evelyn is doing great. She loves fourth grade. She likes reading Jacqueline Wilson books, fashion design, sewing, drawing, girls craft club, making pomanders, acting in her first play / musical as the Candy Seller in Pinocchio, playing Monster High and Polly Pockets, playing video games on Pop Tropica, baking crepes and blueberry muffins, spending time with friends and asking for an I-Pod, I-Pad or I-Phone (and apparently, she isn't sick of hearing "no way!") She is getting ready to try basketball and track after the Christmas break. This is her at this awesome exhibit of Russian textiles at the Bahrain National Museum.

I finished NaNoWriMo in November. I've written some short stories for the Bahrain Writer's Circle, which has been really fun. I think I am going to go back to school to earn my teaching certificate in February. I love my calling, which is busy. I've been volunteering at the school library and I love it- especially when I get to do story time. I also tutor one day a week and love that as well.

Roger just finished up his robotics after school activity. He also helped coach badminton. He is enjoying his work and is looking forward to the middle school field trip in the spring.

 So that is our catch up! We are having a great adventure and are looking forward to many more. 

 

summer family fun

This is my side of the family! It was so much fun to see my brother, Marisa and their kids and Jenny, Daniel and their kids, to hang out at the beach (shout out to Battery Russell) and the Children's Museum. We did OMSI with my mom, visited the Walkers in P.G. and saw Oma and Opa in Portland. It was a wonderful summer! So glad we got to see our family.

Normandy

We finished up our trip to France in Normandy. It was really beautiful. Our hosts were the best and our cottage was like a dream after all the small studios we'd been staying in! We stayed near Utah beach, where we saw some of the war museums and played in the sand. We saw the famous paratrooper on the church and ate some fantastic crepes. Then went to see the Bayeux Tapestry- which helped William the Conquer tell his version of history- a neat PR trick! We also visited the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Edward was very rambunctious, so we didn't stay very long- just 10 minutes. Just long enough for our rental car to get hit while parked in the parking lot! Thank goodness for the extra insurance. A relaxing end to a great vacation.

Versailles

If I were to pick a highlight of our France trip- just one moment- it would have to be paddling around the Grand Canal in Versailles. The view of the Palace, the happy kids, feeding Goldfish crackers to the giant catfish, seeing Roger's rowing prowess. It was just perfect! Versailles was amazing. We started with the gardens which are the gardens to end all gardens. The sculptures and the fountains were incredible. Marie-Antoinette's estate was crazy. She played doll-house and play-farm with real houses and a real farm. I could just imagine her in a pearl-encrusted shepherdess outfit, playing peasant. So picturesque. And then Versailles itself- the Hall of Mirrors was incredible, as was the rest. It is the Palace of all palaces. It makes all the other castles we've seen look like poor relatives! I can see why it helped precipitate Revolution. So we'd seen these red and yellow robed Buddhist monks on tour at Notre Dame and again at Versailles. We asked one to take a photo- using the hand motions you do when you think there is a language barrier. Turns out he was from Seattle!

Paris

 

Paris was wonderful and I am so thankful we had a chance to go. It isn't really a super-great city for kids- more of a romantic couples vacation spot- but we still enjoyed it. The biggest hurtle was finding family friendly dining with no fast food or casual dining and very little street food. Just fancy bistros everywhere- as one should expect!
The Eiffel Tower was closed the first day we were there due to a strike, but we were able to walk around. We also caught a boat tour on the Seine that was really neat. Some of the bridges are just amazing.
We went to the Louvre, which was incredible! I held Evelyn up so she could see the Mona Lisa in person. There was so much to see there that we just picked a few highlights, but we did make it through several galleries.
The Notre Dame Cathedral was amazing as well. It was free! The Rose Window was gorgeous and the architecture was incredible. We were able to go inside and walk around. I am so proud of my kiddos for being so quiet and respectful as it is a functioning church.
We did make it back to the Eiffel Tower on our last night. It was cold and late, especially for our kids with the time difference. Edward had fallen asleep in the stroller, snug and cozy, but we had to take him out as we boarded the elevator taking us straight up to the top of the tower. He was disoriented, cold and tired and that is when I felt a warm, wet feeling all over my front! Six months of no accidents- poor kid! My romantic visions of kissing Roger at the top didn't come to pass. I saw the view, I held and consoled a wet Edward as we got right in line for the ride back down. That "homeless man" smell so common in alleys, elevators and the subway station was now coming from me! I will never, ever forget it though!
Paris was beautiful. I was amazed that in just a few days we were able to see the highlights. The one thing we missed that was on my maybe list was the catacombs, but I don't know how that would have gone over with the kids.

EuroDisney photos

We had the best time at EuroDisney despite some problems finding our B&B. We had been reassured by our carrier we would have coverage in France, but that was not the case. Our B&B host said to just call him when we got close to Disneyland and he would pick us up. We ran into friends from Bahrain outside of Disneyland and they let us borrow their phone, but the guy didn't pick up. We took the bus to the neighborhood the apartment was in. We were a block away, but didn't know it. We had our luggage, two kids, sitting on a bus bench at 10 p.m. at night wondering what we were going to do. Get a taxi to whatever hotel we can? Bu Roger found a McDonalds that was open and had WiFi. He e-mailed the guy a text, and next thing we know there he is ready to take us to the place! Whew! Such a blessing it worked out. And from now on- we are buying local SIMS at airports.
EuroDisney was really neat. It is two-thirds the size of regular Disneyland. I think. There are some differences, like the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House didn't make the Tarzan switch. The Haunted Mansion is in the Wild West and has this crazy dead cowboys and saloon girls thing right in the middle that made no sense. There is an Alice in Wonderland topiary garden maze with a castle instead of the Caterpillar Ride that we really loved. There is no Toon Town and instead of the Submarine Ride, they had a replica of the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The Pirates of the Caribbean didn't have the Johnny Depp / Captain Jack Sparrow updates. The cave mazes were all pirate inspired vs. Tom Sawyer inspired. No Matterhorn. But they did have....Captain EO!!! Roger was so excited to see it in all its glory.
It was so much fun. Evelyn's favorite ride was Space Mountain. Edward liked the Peter Pan ride and the Buzz Lightyear Blasters ride. We all had fun driving around on Autotopia.
Instead of California Adventure, they have Walt Disney Studios, which is kind of like Universal Studios. We saw a really neat car stunt show, an interactive Lilo and Stitch show and met some characters- Buzz and Jessie were the favorites. They had a Cars themed ride, a Slinky Dog ride and a RC Racer ride that were good. We did the Armageddon stunt show and the backlot tour which Edward hated because they were loud and scary. Evelyn and I did the Tower of Terror and the French cast member said a bad word to us! That was pretty interesting- the cast members were just typical French people- not super-perky, super-pretty, college-aged Californians! Line management seems a lot better in California too- but it wasn't too bad.
We got poured on our first day and my sweater wouldn't get dry so I ended up buying a GAP sweatshirt I wore the remainder of our trip. Luckily I packed more layers for everyone else! After the rainstorm, the park cleared out so that is when we got most of our rides in. How is that for a silver lining? Also, don't catch the last free shuttle out of the park. I can see how people get trampled to death and that was a mild-mannered crowd of kids, parents and grandparents. Luckily a transit authority was able to establish order and we made it back okay! 
We had a really wonderful time. The kids were the perfect ages for it. It was a lot of fun seeing them have so much fun. 

Fashion Camp

Back in Bahrain, Evelyn is attending fashion design camp. Here is the project she worked on this week, an elastic dress with halter, belt and hand-made flower embellishments. She was a natural at the sewing machine- whipping out row after row of straight lines on her first day. She had so much fun, we are signing her up for another week! So glad she is learning some sewing skills from some pros.

Favorite Edward quotes

Here are some favorite Edward quotes from just today:

"Ro-bot, Ro-bot, Ro-bot. I am a Ro-bot."
"It is a rainbow orange. I have to cut this orange before it dies. Mmmm, juicy."
"I wook incwedable!"
"You are a silly old!"
"Oh yeah!"
"Where is my choke chain?"
"Oh yeah- I will go to Evelyn's school. My mom can be the teacher."
"Only girls are cute! Boys are just handsome."
"I smell like a daddy!" (spraying on cologne)
"Shove you in the air conditioning!"
"Do you want to have a camp fire? I have hot dogs but no buns. And marshmallows." (This was while playing Star Wars with Roger- no matter what we play with him the story line always goes back to a camp fire bbq)

Glamour shot

Here is Edward's glamour shot from modeling class- handsome, just like his dad! (But he lets me dress him and Roger doesn't :)

Chillin at Chilis

Here we are, celebrating at Chili's. My fajitas and the strawberry lemonades were good!

Edward's pizza was the worst we had ever tasted- there was seriously something wrong with it. He said, "It tastes like poison!" Here is his "poison face." As a special treat, Evelyn got broccoli as her side. Oh my! I guess I need to serve more broccoli!

Strike a pose

Edward has been taking modeling classes after being in the Gymboree fashion show, and he loves them. He comes us to us and starts arranging our faces, "Make a mad face!" And he has gotten a lot more expressive too. They do some hair and makeup on them and take a lot of pictures to get them used to that sort of thing. We are supposed to get the pictures sometime soon, but in the meantime, here are some we shot after his classes. So no, I don't apply guy-liner to my three year old, or fake mustaches- but they are sure cute!

 

 A mad face!

 A surprised face!

 A silly face.

A shark face. (Yeah- from Edward's descriptions a mouth-open happy-face is shark face I guess?)

ballet

Evelyn just finished her ballet recital. She was a Wilis from the ballet Giselle. The Wilis are the spirits of jilted women who die before their wedding days. They make men dance to their deaths. Evelyn did great! She is growing up so fast! Being in full stage makeup gave me a glimpse of her as a teenager! Not ready to think about that yet.

 

World Robotics Olympiad Bahrain

Evelyn and her friend Faye came in third place in the Elementary Open category of the 3rd World Robotics Olympiad in Bahrain. The theme was protecting UNESCO World Heritage sites so the girls did a model of the Qal'at al-Bahrain, well, actually the Tylos Fort at the site. Their model used Lego bricks, mini-figures and the robotics system, a fewPlaymobile accessories and a lot of creativity.  A motor turned the scene from day, when a drawbridge opened; to night, when the drawbridge came up and a campfire started glowing. Good job girls! They were the youngest competitors there!

making bread

Here is my little helper kneading some dough. "It is like playdough! Mash it!"

We love homemade bread!

Erths Dinosaur Petting Zpo

Evelyn and Roger went to this Spring of Culture event- it was really neat! Lifelike puppets of dinosaurs that terrified the smallest kids there! So glad they said a firm four and up otherwise I might have taken Edward. Our neighbor's little boy, 5, was terrified! Clawing at his dad, desperate to get out. But Evelyn loved it. A great daddy daughter date!

Paperbelle

Our Joy School took a field trip to a free Spring of Culture event called Paperbelle. It was an interactive play put on by a Scottish troop. It had a lot of neat special effects and illusions and was perfect for their age group. It was wonderful! Edward loved it.

Easter

We colored Easter eggs two nights before they got sick using food dye instead of tablets. Despite fevers and chills, they wanted an egg hunt! The Easter bunny brought Evelyn Wonka hard to find eggs, and Edward a golden egg! It was really fun but we missed our families.