Birthday Party

On Friday we hosted a joint birthday party for Jack and his friend Elodie, who also just turned 2.  We had a carnival theme, and invited all 10 of the 3-and-unders on the compound.  Then we invited some of the older kids to help with facepainting and watching kids on the bouncy castle.  Then other kids asked if they could "help".  Soon we had every kid on the compound over!  Here are some of the highlights....

Grandpa and Grandma Schlesinger Arrived!

On Wednesday night, Grandpa and Grandma Schlesinger arrived safely at the Dammam airport.  Besides being long, their flights were good, and they even liked the airplane food.  They've been entertaining us with stories of all the people they met on their trip, especially the friendly Saudi customs officers.  Seriously.

We introduced them to Saudi fast food -- Shwarmas!  They are sort of like Gyros, but with chicken, pickles, french fries, and who knows what else in them.

We had beautiful weather on Thursday so we all spent the afternoon by the pool.  Grandpa taught Jack how to kick and splash, and Grandma napped in a lawn chair.  She was probably dreaming of blizzards and snowplows...

Jack's Haircut

Grandpa Dave called to say that he was reading this blog and thought Jack needed a haircut!  He was right - and the day before he called we took Jack in for his second haircut in two years :)  We went to the shopping center that is a couple of blocks from our house, where there is a children's barber inside an amusement park.

Before: Playing on the rides while waiting for his turn with the barber

During: Jack say very nicely for his haircut

He was clearly the first blond to get his hair cut that day!

After: "Jack like haircut"

The next day we were surprised with another King-declared holiday!  This time the holiday was not announced until 2am on Saturday, so we got a phone call at 6am telling us school was cancelled!  We celebrated by having pancakes with Grandpa Dave's maple syrup.

No one quite knows why there was a holiday--just the King being nice--but no one was complaining!  It was kind of like having a snow day, but not having to make it up, and instead of being snowed in, having beautiful weather so you can spend the day at the pool....


Now we are just waiting for Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Steve to arrive, and planning our trip to Bangkok where we will all meet up with Alek and Ryan. 

Happy Birthday Jack!

Our little Jack is two today!  He sang "Happy Birthday to Jack" to himself several times today, and he brought cookies and animal headbands to all his friends at nursery, which he was very excited about.  When I told him he had presents to open he said "Ooooh, Santa came?"

Opening a present before going to school

Jack's new big boy backpack

We are waiting to have a party until Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Steve come next week, but we had a little chocolate cake after dinner tonight...apparently Jack liked it!

(Thanks to the Dolls for the Twins cups which were put to immediate use!)

We Bought an RV: Inside the Pleasure Cruiser

Click here to view this video

Since we're homeless this summer, we bought this tricked-out pleasure cruiser.  By tricked out I mean it has a microwave.  Look for us in the parking lot of a Widespread Panic show near you!