Homesick

It all started yesterday. We stayed home from church because Chris has been doing 12 hour night shift field jobs and was in no condition to drive. Graham was too snot faced to go to nursery and I didn't want to drive two hours just to chase him in the halls for three then drive two hours back home. Since we don't get a Conference Sunday here I made yesterday my Conference Friday. Everything went well, the boys occupied themselves destroying the house while I tried to listen.

It all went south in the afternoon. Traditionally we watch family home videos on the Sabbath instead of regular TV. Ethan chose one that started the Easter he was 1.5 yrs. - his 2nd birthday. I was shocked at how much he and Graham look and act the same as Graham is that exact age. The main difference is that E had brown curly hair and G has blond stick straight hair.

I think the video confused Graham when he saw the baby had a Binky he went and tried to get his. He saw Ethan climb up on my bed and that night he tried to do the same which he has never even attempted previously.

As all this unfolded before me I just started to wither....until I was almost in tears.

I MISS:

My Family & Friends
Mountains
Green
My House
Convenience
The Temple
Church Nearby
Moose's Tooth
Good Mexican Food
My Running Trail
Wild Animals
Rain
Snow Activities
Biking Along Turnagain Arm

Just to name a few!

In fact I was so homesick when I went to sleep that I dreamed I went to Moose's Tooth but Chris woke me up this morning before I had finished my slice of pizza. GRRRRR!

This is the first time since moving that I've had it this bad. Only two more months and we'll be home to enjoy the best Alaska has to offer.

I have way too blessed of a life here so I can't really complain. Living here offers so many things that Alaska didn't, mostly the international travel that I enjoy so much. I am sure that a month and a half visit home will cure me.....if I can just hold on.

Yummm Coke Zero

Forget Diet Coke! In THIS house we drinkCoke Zero. We agree it tastes more like the coke we drank when we were young. I especially like it with two cherries and a hint of cherry juice since we don't have Cherry Coke Zero here.

I pretty much only drink them when I have a headache and occasionally just because I want one. Chris however, drinks them more frequently especially to stay awake on our long drives back and forth to Dharan.

Wednesday nights are weekend movie nights and Ethan rarely has the ability to stay awake for an entire movie. On a recent Wed. afternoon I found an open Coke Zero on the counter. I was very confused and looked at the clock. Had Chris come home early? Surely not. Where did this come from? Of course Mr. Mischief must be questioned and after so he confirmed that yes he had opened the Coke Zero....but why?

"I needed a Coke so I could stay awake for the movie tonight." was his reply.

I told him he didn't need to be drinking them but because they were going to have a baby sitter that night (yes it was amazing Chris and I got to go on a real date) I wasn't too upset that he might be a bit wired.

I don't think Ethan stayed up too late for the sitters but all that Coke must explain why he peed all over the last bunch of his brother's diapers and then tried to blame it on Graham.

.............................................

Then this week we had some new friends over for dinner. Ethan was such a good host by repeatedly going to the fridge and offering drinks, snacks, and boiled eggs. When Zach said he'd like the Coke Zero offered, Ethan quickly replied, "NO! Kids can't have these!"

According to the latest news our pancreas says we shouldn't have them either....so we'll get right on that.....ASAP....or maybe next week.

Update: We never stopped drinking Coke Zero.

The Bike of Doom

When we moved here someone graciously gave us a bike for Zach to use. It was slightly bigger than the one he had coming. By the time it got around to biking season he had outgrown his old bike and gave it to Ethan, who was thrilled. This hand me down bike didn't last long as Zach quickly outgrew it and after so many hand me downs around camp it's not in very good shape anymore. So the last morning of out trip in Dubai was spent at Wolfi's bike shop where we had excellent service and happy boys all the way home.

With all that in mind I would like to introduce:

THE BIKE OF DOOMas Zach calls it. It has Ben 10 colors and it looks "Creepy cool," as he says.
I call it Dr. Doom because so far it has been an instrument of torture.

It is slightly too big so he has trouble stopping and getting his foot planted fast enough so he crashes EVERY TIME HE TRIES TO STOP.

But I am super proud of him because each time he falls he gets right back on.

AND he has not shed one tear in all of the well.....25-30 times he's fallen.

I think E is just about as excited as Z because he thinks one day this will be his. Chances are E will need a new bike of his own before Z outgrows this one.

All About Graham

Graham is officially a year and a half immunized and all.
This little chunk of a guy is adored by the whole family. His older brothers are so good to him.
He loves to pose so mom can take his picture.

Now that Z & E are older I can tell many of the personality traits they had at this age have continued, intensified, and are shaping who they are.

So my guess for this guy is that he will be our comedic athlete. Anything that is 6" or longer becomes a bat or golf club and everything else becomes a ball. He makes this tiss, tiss, or chew chew sound that is just like a light saber as he swings things around or pretends to shoot a dart gun.

He has an interesting way of communicating if he's at a loss for words......an ear piercing scream fills the spot.
Since his vocab is limited to:
Good bye, yep, cool, whoa, NO, NO MAMA, and shoes,
that leaves a lot of squealing to fill in the rest.

He will take you by the hand and show you what he wants but usually I just know....it's a mom thing.
He used to say dada and mama but now he just calls us both mama. Both Zach and Ethan are just Zach. He likes to keep it simple.

He is my PICKIEST eater and he throws everything off his tray but not just down to the floor around him but ACROSS the room. Sometimes during a meal he'll chuck something and it will end up one of our plates or in our lap.

He gives the best kisses on request and sometimes by surprise and will even blow you a kiss across the room.

He HATES, HATES, HATES nursery! The other 3 children are all 3 years old and are good friends and excellent talkers. He is just this little guy that still wants his mommy and doesn't like the toys. Last week it was my turn to do Nursery and as soon as he saw the room he went ballistic. Even when I didn't leave he went and hid in the closet and cried until his face was covered in mucous. When he finally allowed me to hold him he had a death grip on me and would not let go. None of my other kids were this way.....

HE IS A MAMA'S BOY!

And a super cute one.

More Dirt

I love rain...the smell and how it is so refreshing.

Not here. The rain when is comes usually does so during or just after a Shamal or dust storm.

So instead or a nice refreshing sprinkle is rains....

MUD.

If you get caught in it, you actually get dirty. So here you definitely run to get out of the rain.

Also it RARELY rains all day but sometimes we do get a downpour that can be significant. Other wise it is just a quick 5 minute sprinkle just enough to make things really yucky then it moves on.

Another Visit Already

Last night Zach lost another bottom tooth......

but this time he pulled it himself!

He came in from jumping on the trampoline with blood on his chin, so naturally I thought he was hurt. But then he showed me his prize and said something about pretending to be a shark....yada yada, I couldn't quite get the whole story because everyone Z, E, and Carlos were screaming with excitement.

Got Dirt?

This is my kitchen sink.

The tap on the Rt. is for sweet water...that means it's drinkable (we choose not to) and won't leave spots on your dishes. We drank it using a Brita Filter but it didn't change the taste so we've started buying the 5 Gallon Water Bottles.

The tap on the Lt. is for raw water for bathing and cleaning. In our camp you can water your plants and flowers with it but in other camps its way to salty and kills everything.

The raw water pipes in camp are completely corroded and in the process of being replaced. During this process it leads to temporary shut downs around camp. Utilities is polite enough to send out notices both on our doors and by email about shut downs in our area.

We aren't so sure they understand the water system because:

Our water keeps getting turned off when we aren't scheduled to have it so. When I call utilities to inform them they say, "What, your water is off? You're not on the list of houses to have your water off." "Well it's off." I reply. Then they tell me it should be on around 2pm. Thanks I just ran a 5K in 90+ heat it would have been nice to know ahead of time.

Sometimes the sweet water pressure drops to nothing. Why is this if it's not supposed to effect the sweet? This also causes the dishwasher to not have enough umph to do it's job.

Then the best part, after a shut off the water is dirty dirty DIRTY brown in both RAW & SWEET .....sometimes for days.

We were all questioning this but our friends were concerned enough to call and have the water tested. The results came back negative for chemicals and were told it's just DIRT.

We just had to laugh because it's apparently OK to have DIRT in both your drinking and cleaning water.

So are we cleaner after showering? I like to wash all my fruits and veggies when I get home from the store are they cleaner or am I just adding dirt?

Why Dubai?

BECAUSE....

We had a four day weekend.
We had a company holiday and added one vacation day that made a perfect weekend get away.

Wild Wadi = Wild Times.
Like when my friend Karen & I got trapped in a pitch black water slide tube because some genius kids thought it would be funny to jump off their tubes and cause a huge dangerous pile up. I was so grateful that Zach was not with me during this stressful and panicked situation.

We had a free stay on the amazing harbor with Marriott Points.
Our family is too big for one room hotel stays in the Middle East causing us to stay in suites. Suites in Dubai = Big $$$$$. Thanks to the points we had an amazing view, lots of space, and two TV's, full kitchen, and nanny quarters....now we just gotta get that nanny.

It's only an 8 hour drive away.
With a DVD player and plenty of snacks the trip was a breeze going. Coming back it was a bit more difficult because the signage to Saudi is well...there isn't any. With so many roads under construction the GPS is not accurate.

There is stuff for everyone not just the big boys.
I'm convinced Zach dreams about this place he just can't get enough of it. Even Graham had a good time.

It's nice to get back to the real world as much as possible.
Dubai has so much European influence you just don't feel like your in the same Middle East we are used to and they have an amazing Churrascaria called Pachanga.
There are new things to try.
Zach watched the wake boarders the first day and by the second was convinced he had to try it.
You can show how brave you are.
We thought he would chicken out at the last minute but there was no hesitation.
There is unassisted..
wake boarding to be done.
He was amazing! He did a fantastic job.
No Pain No Gain...
he said it didn't hurt at all as he wiped out and the surf took him back.
Fathers and Sons need bonding moments.
Or better yet...
sometimes Dads get schooled by their sons.
Chris said Zach made it look so easy and did way better than he did.
There is snow to sled on in the middle of the desert.
This trip the boys did venture into the ski park while Graham and I shopped. Next time we might even do skiing lessons.

You get to hang out with....
...one of your best friends in exotic places.
Our friends from UDH were there as well and we spent almost the entire time together. J is 3 1/2 months younger than Ethan but about 6" taller. His dad is around 6'5".


It was so much fun to vacation with another family that has kids the same age. They entertained each other and we had adult conversation as well.

Ethan really loved having a playmate.
You get to pose for mommy.
He may not like strangers taking his picture but he loves to pose and smile for me.
You get to see GIANT sea life up close and personal.
Graham loved the aquarium at the Dubai Mall he kept pointing and saying WHOA, WOW, & COOL to all the stuff.
You get to see sharks hand fed.
You can go to the movies.
We have a theater here on camp and even though it's been redone recently it isn't that great. So we made an extra effort to see "How To TrainA Dragon" in 3D and we the parents loved it as much as the kids.

You get lots of family time.
As vacations go sometimes we have too much of the kids as you keep a crazy schedule and we all get cranky after a full day of activities.
You get to see the tallest building in the world.
We ran out of time this trip but next time we'll go up.
And last but not least there is a bike shop there but more about that later.
There are so many things to do besides just relax we can see many more trips to Dubai in our future.

Thank You Sumatriptan

Last month I had a horrendous 5 day episode of migraines. I looked so bad when my houseboy came he offered to take me to the hospital on his bike. At the end of which I had pretty much depleted my stock of medication I had brought from the states which they don't have here. After a bit of research I was able to find an adequate substitute with the same main ingredient.

SUMATRIPTAN

I built up my arsenal of medications (Excedrin Migraine & the above) and took them at first tingling and SUCCESS!

My migraines were manageable this time. The only side effects are sleepiness with one and caffeine overdrive with the other.

Thailand Extras

Our tour group leader sent us pictures he took of our family on the beach day so I thought I'd share about what we did.

We was super excited to go parasailing as it's something we've wanted to do for a while. It was so inexpensive we couldn't pass up the opportunity. Also it was organized in such a fashion that both Chris and I could go and not leave the children unattended.

Our group took a speed boat out to a platform. The boats were constantly circling only pausing to change sailors.

Once you paid you got in line and they harnessed you up. As one person landed they unhooked them shoved them out of the way and had the next person hooked up and running before the sail even had time to drop. It was super organized and efficient.

There were about 5 boats circling at the same time. Once in the air they let you sail and then slowed down to let you take a little dip in the water and then took off again to lift you back up. Coming in for the landing is the trickiest part as you don't know where exactly on the platform you would land.

It was a quick ride but like I said efficient, inexpensive, and we and several of our group did it in a short amount of time.
Next we stopped at a larger boat that was anchored for an underwater excursion. This one allowed young children to participate so Ethan was very eager to join in. Zach was very motion sick by this point so he passed. Chris and Ethan took and underwater tour of a coral reef and fed some fish. The each wore a weighted helmet with O2 pumped into it. I think it is a cross between scuba and snuba but not sure of the exact term.

The rest of us went on to Coral Island were we played on the beach, in the waves, and Zach and I took a banana boat ride. Later when Chris and Ethan arrived they got to take a jet ski ride before heading back into town.

This mornings excursion went by too fast. The entire group wanted to stay the rest of the day at the beach but sadly our plans could not be changed.

Hop To It EB

Doing this....

was always a big deal in our family growing up, along with getting a new dress and bonnet (yes I often wore hats). Having only the XY factor dwelling here we can skip the new clothes and just stain the old ones we already have.

I love passing on traditions like these to my boys.

Even Graham got in on the action this year.

He is just entering the I want to color on everything and anything stage IF he can get his little digits on a marking device.

Zach took this photo while I was helping G.

Just look at these BEAUTS!
E has really developed a taste for boiled eggs since trying them at preschool for snack one day. The other two boys don't care for them so he has been feasting for days.

Is it just me or has Ethan lost all his baby chub?

It is always a challenge figuring out how to do things here. With Thurs. and Fri. being the weekend celebrations that always fall on Sun. get thrown into the mid week hustle and bustle. Even though I emailed Mr. EB about our schedule, according to the boys he totally dropped the basket this year. With one exception the baskets did contain a bubble blower gun they had seen in Thailand but parents didn't get for them.

Zach arose promptly at 5:30 announcing it was "E" day. I told him to just go back to bed because the EB wouldn't come until after school since we are on half days this week.

He did come but with a noon time sun high in the sky all the chocolates.....

were MELTED!

OK not all but most.

However, he did do a couple of things right. He hid baskets of goodies in the house too and the boys had to find those first. He also labeled all the eggs with the boys initials so there was complete fairness in candy distribution. And he hid all the eggs according to boys height. G's were mostly on the ground. E's mid way and Z's much higher.

As a family in the evening we had a special FHE to discuss the true meaning of the season.

So MR. EB you're just gonna have to get yourself out bed a little earlier next year;)