Sunday, August 28, 2011

Last night I went to the airport to get my delayed luggage, and found that some money had been stolen out of it.  Since mail is frequently stolen, I had been given future birthday cards for the family to hand out on each person's birthday.  I left the birthday cards in the front pocket of my checked bag, and someone took the time to open the pocket, find the 5 birthday cards, open each envelope, take the cash out of the cards, and put the opened cards back in the pocket!  I couldn't believe it!

It's somewhat boring for the girls right now because all the kids are still on vacation until school starts in September, but Brooke came up with a great idea to combat it... she started cutting up all of our boxes and made a house.

Then she turned it into a house for their American Girl dolls.

Today may be Sunday for you, but it is Desert Tuesday here... just another work day.  It wasn't too hot today, only 108 degrees!  We woke to the sound of heavy machinery out front at 7am - they were repaving our street.

No, it's not snowing in Saudi Arabia...

Notice how all the men wear something to cover their head and face?  They're so used to working in this heat, that they always cover their heads and faces.

Now that we have a new, smooth street out front, Brooke wanted to be the first person to try it out!

But it was so hot that they couldn't stay out for long.  When they came back inside, their faces were so red!

It looked to me like it was time for a mango lemonade slushie! (notice the arabic on the Mango juice)

So we sat out back and drank slushies until...

the sprinklers came on!

And then the gardener (or as everyone calls them here, the yard boy) came to mow the lawn.

He just shows up whenever he's ready to do the yard, so hopefully, you're not sunbathing in the backyard when he comes!  This morning Reese laid on the hammock in her PJs, and as soon as she got comfortable, he walked through the gate... she zipped back into the house so fast!

Bruce was able to come home for lunch today --

yum, a turkey sandwich (no ham here--it's against the law in Saudi Arabia!)

We're called ex-pats here for ex-patriot (someone who lives outside their own country).  The ex-pats frequently travel to their country, and have to depend on each other for a variety of things.  We offered to watch a friend's dog for the next month while he's home in the U.S., so we walked to another house to pick up the dog -- Zoie -- she's a rescued desert pup.  I hear that they have to kill the wild dogs to keep them under control (plus I've read that Muslims don't like to touch dogs because they will have to purify themselves by washing 7 times with pure water and sand,) but after the mother was killed, Zoie and her 8 siblings were rescued from a den by an ex-pat before they could be exterminated.

Now we really miss our dog, Shadow!  The airline has an embargo on pets until mid-September because of the heat, so I'll go back to the U.S. and get him after that.  Later, when they looked out the window, Brooke and Reese saw that the sprinklers were on at the park, so off we went to play in them!

Bruce is very excited to have home-cooked meals!  He's been learning to cook for himself on and off for over two years now, and doesn't like it much.

Jordan was pretty jet-lagged today -- she's awake at night and sleeps during the day.  The rest of us are tired, but haven't had trouble sleeping at night.  Sometimes it takes a week to get used to the time change.  We figured this would happen, and so we wanted to give Jordan plenty of time before school starts in a week.

Thanks for checking in - maybe we'll try out the pool tomorrow!
-- Pattie --