April Birthday Girl

April brings us Honor’s birthday. We really mixed her up this year as we had plans on her actual birthday – which was ok with her, we asked – so we had multiple days of celebrating. On one day, after piano lessons, we went out to Coal Fire pizza. Good choice!

Brother and sister goofing off at the music school.

Brian practicing before his lesson.

Perfectly good pizza, but she has to try the lemon!

Ah! That’s better!

For her birthday dinner, Honor chose The Melting Pot. A local fondue restaurant that she’s been wanting to go to since we moved her and she saw it! It was really good, and the service was beyond excellent! We’ll definitely go back.


And finally, we had a day for cake and presents! I remembered to get the cake stuff, but totally forgot candles!

She got some videos that Brian thought she’d like, and her dad picked out the little turtle for her.

We also got her a bunch of paint and supplies to fix up her clubhouse.

Other than celebrating Honor’s birthday, we’ve  been doing normal stuff, like going to school…this is Brian at the bus stop.

Practicing piano

And teaching the cat to drink out of a cup.

Fourteen!

So, for the first time in 11 years Brian got to celebrate his birthday in the US. Of course, he had to celebrate it a little bit early as his actual birthday is on a school day, but close enough! I can’t believe that my handsome young man is 14 years old already. He’s an awesome kiddo though, and I know that we are lucky that he is ours!

He chose “The Cheesecake Factory” for his dinner out. We went a bit early as it gets so crowded around here on weekends. We still had to wait awhile, but it gave us a little goofing off time before we were seated.

Brian chose a vanilla-chocolate swirl cake with coconut pecan frosting for his cake. Honor frosted it and decorated it for him too. Yum!

I think he had a fun time. We got him the main things that he’d been asking for, nice headphones for his PC and his own cell phone, and a few things that he didn’t ask for, like a York peppermint patty (hey, those things are good!) and some new jeans – which is quite an accomplishment. Trying to find pants that are tall and slim enough for him is tough. (and I found TWO pair!)

And here are a couple of pics of others who enjoyed Brian’s birthday festivities too! Happy Birthday Brian! We love you!

Summer 2013

So… I haven’t had much to say on my blog lately. It happens! I am not going to try and catch up on everything I’ve missed posting about, but as my blog is for photos as well as random thoughts and recipes, I am going to post some older photos.

I love this photo of Ninja helping Honor with her homework – she’s always so involved in whatever the kids are doing.

…and this is a rare one of all three cats hanging out together doing the same thing. They generally have their own favorite activities, but ‘yelling’ at birds and outside cats on their patio is something that they can all get behind.

Ninja seemed to know that when the last day of school was this year. Honor and Brian’s class schedules had been on the fridge for the whole school year, but the first week of summer vacation starts and Ninja chose to celebrate by eating Honor’s schedule!

One of the reasons that, I believe, I have been so remiss in posting lately is that Kuwait feels very much like ‘home’. Why should I post things that are seem so similar to home? I know… to share, and I should do more. And, yes. It is different here and the culture is different, and the people are different, etc. but we feel at home and there really is so much that is NOT different!
Driving down the roads, unless you look closely at the signs, feels like driving in the US (except perhaps, with more folks here who go faster than they ought to) but still, very similar to desert-y and/or coastal, depending on where we are at, city areas of the US.


There are a number of very lovely malls that are nice to visit. They are designed to be nice to visit and roam about, not just for shopping. We took Honor out for her birthday to the Avenues Mall. There’s a pretty fountain at one entry point.

Above the fountain, the color of the lights in the ceiling gently cycle through various shades. I had to take several shots to try and catch the ‘best’ ones. We like the peacock effect and colors.

We wandered about and after a fun visit to Build-a-Bear (haven’t gone there since Honor was 3 years old!) we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.


Avenues is more than a name, it describes the theme of the mall. It is set up like indoor ‘avenues’. Quite lovely.








We had some lazy summer days… which the cats did not mind.

And a lot of computer playing… which Ninja found boring…

We had some really gross sandy days…

And some very hot days… but Honor and I planted a bunch of plants and made a nice fairy garden.










Eventually, as the temps went up past 110F and pretty much stayed there day and night(!), the garden dried up (melted?!) despite our best efforts to keep it going. We will plant again soon. Perhaps in October.

Here is a random photo of a cat in a drawer. Just proving the concept that if something is opened, a cat MUST get into it.

The kids are still taking karate lessons and enjoying them. Their instructors are very good! 


There was the traditional 4th of July camel ride.

Brian had been a good ‘big brother’ to a friend’s little boy and rode with him as he was too small to go alone. Brian was relieved that we took his buddy down before the camel sat so he could dismount though. Riding a camel is easy… but that bit where the camel rocks way forward and way back in order to stand up? That’s a little crazy!

And what next? Well, R&R of course! By July, we were on a plane and heading to the US for vacation, but those pics will come later.