International Thanksgiving Feast

Today was the International Thanksgiving Feast at Tyler's school. It was just for the 2nd and 3rd graders, but there was a huge turnout of parents. We thought we were going to run out of food and supplies, but we had just enough. Us moms set up the table and food with the teachers and then some members of the military came over to help serve the food and read to the children. The event was a huge success. The children finally got to wear their turkey shirts they made at the Fall Fest and they looked adorable!! All the different foods from all over the world was delicious. We did very well representing Canada with the butter tarts I made and found out that a fellow mom in Tyler's class that I've spoken to on several occasions is also Canadian. We had no idea until today. LOL After the feast, the students each presented their social studies projects to the class. Here are some photos from today.

Canada's Desserts

This morning I made homemade butter tarts for tomorrow's International Thanksgiving Feast at Tyler's school. If you are not Canadian, you may be wondering what butter tarts are. They are basically yummy pastry filled with eggs, butter, sugar and raisins. Growing up in Canada, my mom used to put them in my lunch almost everyday. They were definitely a favourite of mine. I've never made them before, so this was quite the little adventure. They turned out pretty good for the first time making them. Right now, they are cooling off, but I will have a little taste later on.

Last night, while searching for ingredients at our grocery store to make the butter tarts, I came across another Canadian treat, the McCain's Deep n' delicious frozen cake. This was an unbelievable discovery because for years I've been searching for this cake in the States. It just blows my mind that I found it here on this little island and so far away. It is made and imported from the McCain's plant in New Brunswick, Canada. They packaged it in English and Arabic writing. The funny thing is I was JUST saying to Steve about 2 weeks ago that I was craving a McCain's Deep n' Delicious cake and here it is!!! I could have easily used this as my backup if the butter tarts didn't turn out, but no way. The cake is already halfway eaten up. I don't expect it to last until tomorrow.

Winnie hasn't had a bath since we left Virginia! So, when Tyler was having his shower he gave Winnie a good cleaning. It'll take a few days before Winnie is dry. Right now, he is very heavy, but he smells and looks great!

10-Foot-Tall-Tree

The highlight of our weekend was going to the mall and purchasing our Christmas tree. For a Muslim country, they sure do have a lot of Christmas stuff in the stores here. And since we had two hours to wait while we had the MINI hand washed by one of the detailers in the mall parking garage, we had plenty of time to shop and compare prices. We ended up getting a 10-foot-tall-tree. LOL It was actually much cheaper than the smaller trees on base and only a few more dollars expensive than the smaller trees in the stores in the mall. We definitely have lots of room and enough ceiling space for it, so we thought why now. LOL We'll sell it before we leave here. Anyway, here's photos of us buying a 10-foot-Christmastree in Bahrain. LOL

Research Project

Since Tyler had the day off today, it gave him a chance to finish his research project for health class. The teacher asked the students to pick an occupation that has a negative health impact on the lungs. It is a continuation of their study into the respiratory system. Tyler chose painters because he remembered his father saying that he had to spray paint his robot costume outside because of the fumes of the paint and that it wasn't  healthy to breathe in. The students had to do research and provide some data to backup their findings. Here is Tyler's finished project. They also have to give a 5 minute presentation to the class.

Excellent Student :)

Tyler had no school today and has no school tomorrow due to the school holding parent teacher meetings all day. This morning we had ours. This was the first time that Dad could come along with us to one. The teacher said that Tyler is doing excellent in all of his subjects. His best courses are reading and math. The teacher has had the class doing math already at the 3rd grade level and by the end of the year they should be at the end of the third grade. The only area of improvement he has to work on is his handwriting as he tends to write a bit too fast. His class already gets more homework each night than the students in 5th grade, though the teacher is promising the parents that she will ease down a little on the amount of homework as it is especially difficult for the kids to do after school activities. Anyway, kudos to you, Tyler, for making Mom and Dad very proud!!!
On another note, here are some photos of our drive to school this morning. As you can see we got a bit more rain. There are some streets closed. On base they had to close one lane at the gate because it was completely flooded and they also had to assemble a walking bridge. There is nowhere for the water to go. They don't have any drainage here in the desert. I've seen some photos online that look much worse then this in other areas of the island. Hopefully today is our last rain day for a couple of weeks.

Friends and Pizza

Last week, Tyler and I were asked if we wanted to spend the day with his one of his classmates from school and her mom and sister. Sofia and her family moved to Bahrain around the same time as we did. Gina, her mom, and I became friends through our kid's school. Anyway, they came and picked us up and we went to a cool restaurant where you dress up as a chef and make your own pizzas. Despite some of the expressions on the kid's faces in the photos, we all had a wonderful time. LOL Afterward, we took in the nearby sights and then back to their place to let the kids play while we chatted. These photos were taken by Gina as I was without a camera due to my batteries having to be recharged.

Letter to Santa

We asked Tyler to write his letter to Santa a little earlier this year because it would take longer to get to him by mail. At first Tyler didn't have a clue what he wanted to ask for, but once he started writing he got a little carried away with it all. LOL

Rain in Bahrain

We woke up to more rain this morning. Tyler was happy to put on his raincoat and use his umbrella while waiting for the bus. There was a weather advisory issued that said the next few days will be more rain, possible thunderstorms and flooding due to the lack of drainage here. Although the weather may not sound nice to most, we are welcoming the change of weather.

RAIN!!!!!!!!

For the first time since we moved to Bahrain in July, we saw the rain this afternoon. I was just going out to check to see if I left something in the car and I couldn't believe when I felt the rain drops fall on me. The sky is dark and grey for the very first time too. They told us that November is rain season here in the desert and they were right. You would have thought a little rain would be this exciting. LOL

Beach BBQ

This morning we loaded up the car with our cooler and beach stuff for a BBQ caching event at the beach. We were excited as this was also our first trip to the beach since we moved here. The cachers that were hosting the event are actual real Bahrainis, which you don't meet very often because there are mostly international people here. They provided all kinds of food and cooked all day during the event. We had BBQ chicken, lamb, corn with cheese, lemon, and salt, and also hamburgers. We were the first cachers besides the hosts to show up and we just ate the whole day because they kept cooking food and giving it to us. LOL

There was a huge group of cachers coming from Qatar to visit and they contacted us asking if we would have an event this weekend. It was the perfect day for this event because it was absolutely beautiful outside. Actually today was the first day since the day we moved here in July that we spent most of our day outside. It has always been way too hot. And even though today there was a light breeze, Steve and I got our very first sunburns here. LOL

Once the cachers from Qatar arrived, Tyler had a little friend to play with. It wasn't very long before the two hit it off. It was hilarious watching them because whatever Tyler would do, she would immediately do the same right after. They had a blast playing in the sand together. The group are all originally from South Africa but has been living in Qatar for 10 years. They were a wonderful group of people and one lady Steve and I talked to told us all about their travels since living in Qatar.

After everyone ate, we got in our vehicles and went throughout the desert to find some caches. We only had a little time because the Qatar cachers had to go and check in to their hotel before it got too late. The caches we found  brought us to some interesting places. One took us to a beautiful view of the desert which you don't get to see too often because it's so flat here and another cache, we got to see some cool remains of when the British military was here in the 40's. They built these storage units on the side of the mountain to store dynamite. The Bahraini cachers also took us all to the Museum of Oil site and the Tree of Life. In conclusion, it was a pretty awesome event! They said they have a lot of events on the island here to make up for the very few caches hidden. We are already looking forward to the next one.

Christmas Camels

Being a classroom mom has been keeping myself along with the other classroom mom pretty busy. Along with organizing upcoming events, the teacher has asked us to come up with two Christmas crafts a week to do with the kids. One of the crafts I chose was to make Christmas camel ornaments for the tree. I wanted something that they could remember living in Bahrain, so I thought a camel would be perfect. I bought some felt, designed my own pattern, cut the shapes of the camel and blanket out. Now I am stitching by hand each of the camels, stuffing them and gluing the blankets on. The kids will decorate them with glitter and beads. We have 18 kids in Tyler's class, but I am making at least 20 in case more children transfer in the class between now and then. They take a lot of time and patience to make, but I'm also having fun knowing how much the kids will enjoy them.

One of the school projects Tyler has been working on is an Archeologist Discovery Box. The students were asked to pick a country they want to "discover" and fill and decorate a box with things, information, or handmade pictures that you could find in that country. Tyler picked Greece and filled it with all sorts of goodies including photos, pottery, lots of information, facts, and he drew several photos including a chariot, olive wreath, and map. What a fun and informative project for the kids!

Happy Veterans Day/Remembrance Day

In remembrance to those who fought for our freedom, lest we forget. And to those who served and who continue serving, Happy Veterans Day, especially to the one who is closest to my heart, my husband. Tyler and I thank you from the bottom of our heart for all the hard work, dedication, the long duty days, and the difficult deployments. There are no words that could truly express my gratitude for all that you have done. We are thankful not just today, but everyday. We love you so very much and you will always be our hero!!!

4 Day Weekend~

Steve has a 4 day weekend for Veteran's Day, however Tyler still has school. After Tyler got on the bus this morning, we went to breakfast at one of the super yummy cafes here. We had breakfast, coffee and then finished off our meal with dessert. LOL It was a wonderful way to start our day together. :)

First Taste of Christmas

While Tyler went to a birthday party today, Steve and I had lunch together and then afterwards we went for coffee where they had their Christmas specialty drinks out already. We enjoyed yummy holiday Black Forrest coffees.

Waiting for the bus this morning...it's PJ Day!!

Villa Photos: Main Living Room

Here's the room we spend most of our time in, the main living room! It filled with all of our own furniture. We just bought the carpet last month. It features a very common star that you see a lot in Arabic countries.