Peace in the Middle East

"Now I've been smiling lately,
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun" - Cat Stevens

So, we live in the Middle East.  The focal point of thousands of years of conflict, hate, and war.

The other night I played some basketball in the park.  We had a guy from Lebanon, England, Ireland, Italy, the US, Egypt, the Philippines, Russia, Palestine, and Iraq.  It was a fun game a basketball... no tempers, everyone called their own fouls, lots of smiles and good times.

Blossom like a Rose

"I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand" - Sting

Well, it looks like our time of good weather is almost over.  We have already had several days this year over 100 degrees.  It is back to AC indoors or sticky sweat outdoors.

It gets so hot here in the summer that it is actually quite incredible that they can keep green things growing at all. On the other hand, in the winter, things can turn green and the desert can be made to blossom.  We have a friend who has at least a dozen different plants flowering in his yard.  It is practically a little garden of Eden... and literally amazing considering we live in one of the biggest deserts/harshest climates/hottest places on earth.

To do our part in helping the to greenify (is that a word?) the desert, we have a few plants outside of our home.  Neither Yvonne or I have a green thumb, and never expected them to blossom... Mostly we just hoped to keep them alive.  But, in the last month or so, we have seen some color.  It is a treat amidst all the browns and grays of the desert.

These were taken the other day in front of our house.  The hibiscus help remind us of Hawaii and the desert rose currently has about 20 blossoms on it. (thanks Elisa for helping us add a little spice to our front porch)

Creepy Bunnies

"Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppin', Easter's on its way" - Gene Autry

HAPPY EASTER!

Twinsanity!

"Double your pleasure,
Double your fun" - Doublemint Gum

This last weekend, we attended the first ever X2 Twins Festival in the Middle East.  Held at Safa Park in Dubai, it was a big gathering of lots of twins, triplets, and other multiples of all ages.  It was fascinating and fun. The kids got to play and Yvonne got to ogle at lots of other twins and share parenting stories with lots of other mothers who have "double the trouble, but double the fun."

The girls are a bit small for their age and Talon is energetic for his, so we got a few comments about how cute our triplets are.  We corrected some, but at times just smiled and said that so many kids so close together are a lot of work ;)

The highlight for the kids was a dangerously steep inflatable slide that had no supervision and resulted in a fair amount of bonked heads and tears shed... but also a lot of big smiles.

Here are some snapshots of the fun:

Girls & Smiles

"And if I'm feelin down and blue,
or troubled by some foolish game,
she always seems to make me change my mind." - James Taylor

A Strange Land

"so we make our plans
set our sites on a new land
one that's kind of strange." - Joshua Radin

Alright, I know there have been some comments about the disregard for safety when taking video or photos while driving.   But, on the drive home from work the other day I just couldn't resist.  I mean, where else would you see this about a mile from your house?

Big Girls

"She's got a smile it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky" - Guns 'N Roses

It is funny how after you have a newborn in the house, all of your other kids seem to have grown up a bunch overnight.  The girls had their 4th birthday a while ago suddenly they are "big girls" and want to make sure everyone knows.

I'm pretty sure they have been counting down the days for their birthday since... well since the day after their third birthday.  I can't count how many times they would ask me when there birthday is.  I would answer that it was a still a long time and then they would say "well, what in next before our birthday?".  My answer: "oh well, there is valentines day first"... The girls: "Then what's next?"  Me: "ummm , then St. Patrick's day"  "What next?"  "then Easter and Mom's birthday"... We would seriously go through the entire year of events just so they could get back to their birthday again.  Yes, sometimes I would skip some events, but usually they would catch me... "but Dad, what about the wear-greeen day (St. Patricks)?"  or "what about the "wicked witch day?"

Anyway, there were SUPER excited.  And super excited that Grandma and Grandpa were here to celebrate.  It was meant to be low-key and simple, but they still had fun and managed to get spoiled.  Of course they wanted a ton of photos (and had to run over the camera to look at each one after we took it) so, here you go.

They favorite part is helping to make the cakes

Saylor wanted a spider cake and Abigail wanted a fish cake.  I think they are already making list of cake possibilities for next year.

They had to get a photo with their new brother

 

Of course, Talon was right in the middle of all the fun

Thanks for the dresses Grandma and Grandpa!