Our First Visitors......Almost

Last week Grandpa Jenkins had a business trip to the Middle East.

So of course they planned to hop on over for a short visit.

But, as per usual even the best laid plans can quickly turn to dust.

We prepared for Visas well in advance so that all that was necessary was for them to make a quick visit the Saudi Embassy.

Yeah right, nothing is simple when it comes to living here. After a full day of getting this paper signed and another paper stamped and come back later maybe I can help. It was determined that they could indeed enter the country in 5 days time. Not so good when that is the day you will be on a plane heading home.

So instead we hopped in the car and drove the 4 hours to Doha, Qatar to visit them.

After a warm reunion. Our first stop of the day was of course Toys R Us so the boys could be spoiled by their Grandparents. They all have birthdays coming up so Grandparents decided instead of the shipping cost and hassle the boys could all pick out one thing.....that turned into two things.

We now have another Lego set, a Thomas game, a contraption that has lots of hinges and make a plethora of sounds, and matching Indiana Jones costumes.

Zach said, "I really want this but maybe we should see the movie first."

Zach loves Indiana Jones not because of the movie but through the Lego Indiana Jones stories. As for Ethan what ever Zach likes he too must like.

After putting on the costumes the boys embraced the spirit of adventure and took a Gondola ride through the Villagio mall while mom shopped for some essentials.


After, Ethan insisted that we all ride the train he made from cafe chairs in the food court. Later he knocked over displays, scaled walls, and threw merchandise all in the spirit of fun.
The adventure did not end soon enough for us as parents.


Why is it that we can take him on a 10 day trip to Europe and have very little trouble but we can't take him on a weekend get away without repeated tantrums and episodes of horrible behavior.

Overall it ended up being one of those trips where as parents you feel like you need a vacation just to recover from your vacation.