Happy 3rd Birthday, Jack!

Jack turned 3!  Here are some photos from his birthday party. We had a Cars cake and cake pops (thanks Grandma Nancy for the cake pops mold!) 

Camo t-shirt from Grandpa Dave, of course

The kids enjoyed a bouncy slide, followed by a water balloon fight.

The party wrapped up by breaking a pinata.  It is amazing how the anticipation of candy and toys can capture children of all ages!

Rob was afraid of Vika's swing :)

Happy birthday to our wonderful boy!

Halloween 2011

It has been too long since I posted here...but don't worry because I have plenty of posts up my sleeve...I've been to KAUST, Abu Dhabi, and now we're in Thailand.  First here are some Halloween pictures.  Unfortunately, I missed trick-or-treating since I was coaching at the varisity volleyball tournament, so Rob and Jack handled it all on their own.  Thanks to Grandma Nancy for the dragon costume :)

Jack also wore his costume to school to trick-or-treat at the offices of the High School, Middle School, British School, and all the administrative offices.  It was adorable, but meant he brought home even more candy for me to hide and then eat myself.

Happy dragon

Scary dragon

Jack the Dragon with Princess Ella who is supposed to be locked in a castle (but she decided at the last minute to be a zombie princess)

All the compound kids

Back to School

Jack was all ready for school (nursery) on Saturday!  He wore his new fast running shoes which make him run so fast that Sydney will not catch him and his backpack with the orange giraffe with a long neck, and inside the backpack were two toy trucks for the car ride and of course, bear, for taking a nap at school.  I suddenly understood why parents take first-day-of-school pictures!

Here are a few more from summer...in no particular order.

Riding the ferris wheel with Daddy at the Price County Fair

Asking Grandma "What would you like to drink?" at the abandoned bar in Bannack Ghost Town, Montana

With wonderful cousins Olivia and Ben

This carousel had about 30 horses, but Jack chose the one camel!  With uncle Jason on our visit to Madison

Feeding goats on a trip to the MN zoo with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Steve

Feeding deer at Jim Pecks in Minoqua, WI with Grandma Karin

Grandpa Dave is always good for a huge bowl of ice cream and fresh picked raspberries!

Diving Practice

Swimming

We have been doing a lot of swimming lately, as every day gets over 100 degrees - the hottest I've seen it was 116 so far.  But we've got four more weeks, and it's only getting hotter!

Jack has become a pool-addict.  The first things he says in the morning is "I wanna go to pool".  He jumps off the diving board, and even has been trying to dive!  He loves to put his face in the water and try to swim underwater.  He opens his eyes easily in the pool, something I have never been able to do. He doesn't need goggles, but he likes to wear them once in a while since Mommy and Daddy do.

We have also discovered Sunset Beach which is a nearby resort that has a beach and waterpark.  On Fridays it is "family day" so women are allowed to wear normal swimsuits.  We went with our friends Rick and Aprelle, and their almost-two-year-old daughter, Sydney.

Enjoying the waterpark

Playing in the sand

Loving the salt water of the Arabian Sea

Playing with daddy

We are enjoying the warm weather here, but we are very excited for Midwestern weather and greenery!  We will be back on June 17th and can't wait to see you all!

Jack's Summer 'Do

Jack went to Daddy's Barbershop today after school to get a new summer look.  Since it was 104 degrees today, we decided it was time to give him a cool new cut.  (I couldn't get him to look at me for any of the pictures - sorry)

The winter style

Buzzing away

Rob wanted to stop here - business in the front, party in the back

And finally...a much cooler style for summer

Jack then looked in the mirror and said, "Uh oh, where did Jack's hair go?"  and laughed hysterically.  He thinks he is so funny.

Thailand Part 4

Our last two days in Thailand were spent at an amazing resort called Birds & Bees.  Not only is it a beautiful and lush resort, it is run by a socially- and eco-conscious organization whose profits are used for fighting poverty through education in Thailand.  They have several restaurants as well, called Cabbages and Condoms.  The man who started this organization is known as the Condom King in Thailand, because he teaches about family planning in an effort to fight poverty and slow the spread of AIDS in Thailand - and he has been very successful.  The name "Cabbages and Condoms" is due to his belief that family planning and health issues should not be taboo -- they should be as easy to talk about as vegetables are.  Therefore the resaturant is decorated with condom art and condoms are passed out as after-dinner treats.  The organization now has a school in rural Thailand that is supported by the resort.  Students pay tuition by doing community service and planting trees.  They also hire people from rural Thailand to work at the resort, providing housing, daycare, and job training to people who otherwise would have very limited options.

An example of "condom art"

Playing at the pool

Loving the water slides!

We took a tour of the resort's mini-farm where they grow many of the fruits and vegetables, and produce eggs, for the restaurant. So inspiring!

Herbs and vegetables

Compost bins

Man-powered watering system for the mushroom house

Jack's favorite new fruit -- Jack fruit!

Pineapples

Also at the resort we learned about spirit houses, which are present near many of the Thai houses we had seen so far. 

The Outsiders

This winter Rob played in a basketball league at Saudi Aramco, which is a huge oil company.  The main part of the company is very close to our school, and it includes a huge employee compound, complete with restaurants, a horse stable, elementary and middle school (the high schoolers come to us) and many activities.  All the other teams were made of Aramco employees, so their team was called "The Outsiders".

Easter

We celebrated Easter this weekend (Thurs/Fri) since we were working on Sunday.  We started by dyeing hard-boiled eggs. 

This morning we had a compound egg hunt and brunch.

Hunting for eggs by the pool

 

Then the Easter bunny came to our house and hid a basket while Jack was napping.  

After minutes of looking, we found it!

The special basket Grandma Karin made

The Easter bunny brought some jungle animals for Jack.  The rest of the day was spent as any good Easter should be spent -- playing with our new toys in the pool!

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....