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 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 five days time. Not so good when that's the day you will be on a plane heading home.

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

After a warm reunion, our first stop of the day was, of course, Toys-R-Us, so that 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 the Tank Engine game, a contraption that has lots of hinges and makes a plethora of sounds, and matching Indiana Jones costumes.

Zach said, "I really want this but maybe we should see the movie first." He loves Indiana Jones, not because of the movie, but through the Lego Indiana Jones stories. As for Ethan, whatever 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 ten day trip to Europe and have very little trouble, but can't take him on a weekend getaway 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.

Good Night Sleep Tight

8:00 PM. This has become my favorite part of the day. All three boys are re-tucked in, scriptures painfully read, and family prayer endured by 7:30. We don't expect to see them again until 6:45 AM, unless of course... something's creepy outside... I accidentally wet through... I just gotta tell ya one more thing...

And heaven forbid Ethan falls asleep for even 15 minutes during the afternoon because it then becomes our nightmare trying to get him to settle down for the night. On the regular napless days we run him ragged and after the five minutes of "just one more thing," he is often asleep within three to five minutes. This was not one of those nights. After much noise and talking we thought they had finally settled down.

We peeked in and found this...

Well, at least one was out.

The irony of the situations is this. When we stay in town with friends they don't always have beds for the entire family. The boys fuss and cry about how uncomfortable it is to sleep on the floor and they only want to be home in their own beds. Now I have purchased an airbed for those very occasions. So what do they do at home but leave their comfortable beds for the floor.

Road To Nowhere

Even with the weather cooling off Chris isn't getting enough of this. At least when he does ride he gets to leave camp. I just get to do the hills of Udhailiyah over and over and over again.

Look Mom No Wheels

Zach has expressed interest in riding his bike to school, which we fully support. However, we knew he would not want to arrive with training wheels on his bike. We also knew it wouldn't take long once he actually tried. After a scalding hot weather hiatus, Thursday was the day. It was MAGIC for him. Chris helped him ride across the lawn twice so if he fell it wouldn't be too hard. Then they moved onto the road and he was off.

There's no stopping him now!

Starting out still proves to be a bit tricky but he's working on it.

On a totally different note, something has happened to Zach in the last couple of days. We think he has found his groove in school. He is loving learning and js so excited to share all about it with us. But his attitude, willingness to serve the family, and temperament has changed too. We have really been praising him so much over all these good choices. It feels a bit bizarre but oh so good. His response was, "I'm just trying to be righteous."

Get This

Due to increased mayhem during Sacrament Meeting, the boys are allowed to bring only one thing of their choice, within reason. Generally this is some paper and a pencil. After visiting Bahrain we stayed in town for church the following day. Because we left early in the morning so not to be late for a birthday party, I completely forgot to bring one church thing for each of the boys.

During our border crossing Ethan asked if I had remembered to bring his one church thing. When I replied that I had forgotten, he gasped and said: "You are so busted! I'm gonna be CRAZY!"

He was indeed CRAZY but I have a feeling it had nothing to do with not having his church thing.

Also during this car ride he was chewing the gum he'd received in his party gift bag. This spurred a long conversation about the health complications of swallowing gum. Later that night I overheard Ethan emphatically telling Zach not to swallow his gum because it would make him blow stinky bubbles out his butt. I'm surprised with this new found knowledge that it doesn't make him want to chew and swallow his gum more often.

A Man With A Plan

We love babies in our house, and with a face like this, who wouldn't?

We love the smiles and giggles. We love to see them learn new skills. But now we are loving having boys a bit older who can do more advanced things. Chris had been to Bahrain a few time while we were in Alaska for the summer. He scoped out some things and has been excited to take us back, especially the bigger boys.

Our first stop was an "oh that's so Chris thing," a chocolate cafe.

There were SO MANY delightful things to try. We all ordered something different and shared. The workers loved having the boys in there and were sneaking them marshmallows before we had even ordered.

After, the boys needed to work up a good sweat and burn off some calories. This was Chris' secret surprise for the boys. It is not just a jungle gym but a ball jungle gym.

It has cannons and guns you can load with small foam balls.

It has machines that will suck up the balls and fire them into the air.

You can attach your bag to a vacuum and suck up the balls instead of picking them up individually.

There are also these gizmos that blow air and will keep balls suspended in air.

It was the perfect mixture of fun for my three older boys!

Everyone got along and they left happy and sweaty.

While Graham and I watched the older boys, we saw this ride and I knew what I wanted to do next.

Even though it was a kid ride it had some good drops.

It quickly became the ride to do over and over and over.

You can't see it with the phone camera but there are HUGE grins and shrieks of laughter coming from all three. Graham thought it was pretty fun to watch too.

Whole Wheat Goodness

Are we bread snobs, or is it just that good? The best way to describe the bread here is that it turns to dust... just like everything else. You can't even finish your sandwich without it completely falling apart. The taste is not impressive either. I've tried baking my own, and although it is tasty, it is also way too heavy to eat as sandwich bread. The only alternative for us is to leave the country.

We drive two hours to the border and hope, hope, hope that we can get across the causeway in about an hour.

Even when traffic is light on the way to Bahrain it can be deceptive. Once you arrive at the artificial island midway you enter the queues of chaos. It is very cutthroat passing through the three check points.

On the other side is a more liberal Arab land. Yes, they prefer you dress conservatively, but you don't have to wear an abaya. Shops remain open during prayer, grocery stores have a designated, curtained off room for all things PORK, and if you happen to drink alcohol it's served there too. The pork room reminds me of the back room at video stores... it is the forbidden room. But all we want is this...

a freezer full of decent bread and a day in a place that feels more like the real world.