Happy Birthday Michael

 We have a nine year old boy in the house! Here is Michael's birthday breakfast- homemade donuts! We had special visitors, Papa and Bibi, who brought Suzy Q, the puppet shown here. Suzy Q travels with Bibi to show the grand kids where all they get to travel.

 Will enjoying his donut from the standing position. This chair, and the boy standing in it, causes us all kinds of trouble at meal times!

 

We went to the lake to swim to celebrate!

 

So thankful to be able to have Bibi and Papa with us!

 

Michael wanted Grammy Gloria's chocolate pie for dessert. Thankfully, it turned out yummy.

 Michael with his birthday present, a very cool spiderman skateboard.

 We love you Michael!

Happy Eid

 After 30 days of fasting, our Muslim neighbors celebrate the ending of the fast with a holiday. The holiday, Eid, is celebrated differently in different places, so this year we learning how it is celebrated here. The day night before Eid begins, neighbors exchange treats. I made some friend bread things and osh, the national dish, to trade. We got lots of treats from our neighbors, some in exchange from the osh I made (which didn't turn out that great, but the way!) and some from their own initiation. Michael and Katie are enjoying fried bread with mashed potatoes inside.

 

Here, Scott is holding halwa. My friend told me that you make it from 1 kilo of flour, 1 kilo of sugar, and 1 kilo of oil. She said it is hard work to make because you have to stir and stir. It is really yummy with bread. We were thankful to our neighbor who brought it over.

 

 The first morning of Eid, the kids got up early and got all dressed up. Then, they went around the neighborhood and got treats from all the neighbors (kinda like Halloween) Our kids were happy to participate in this tradition! Here is Katie, all dressed up and ready to go! The girls popped out of bed at 6:00am and their friend came and got them at about 6:45 am!

 Michael went around with this crew of kids.

 Later in the day, the girls and I went and visited a neighbor friend who asked me to come and visit.  Many people lay out a tablecloth full of treats for the holiday. In our neighborhood, people mostly visit households who have a new bride or have had a death in the family that year. They also visit family and sometimes neighbors and friends as well.

The boys joined us for this picture.  They are more dressed for the summer heat.

Here are 2 of my friend's sons and her lovely tablecloth.

She had made lots of treats for the occasion.

In the evening, the kids and I went and visited another neighbor who had invited us to dinner. They have 4 girls and the oldest speaks English very well.  They are happy to have friends to help practice English with.

Sports and sun

 One of the other ex-pat families organized a junior Olympics. The kids ran, wrestled, threw, jumped, and had lots of fun. Here is Katie landing her long jump.

 Michael finishing his race. They ran around the track three times and woke up this morning with very sore legs!

 Michael got the silver medal over all. There were around 10 kids who participated. 

 After the Olympics, we went with another family to the lake. There are lots of beautiful places to hike, swim, and rest here. We rented this little boat for an hour and the kids had a blast! Here is Michael (the one not looking) with some friends.

 Will also enjoyed the water. He fell asleep in my arms in the lake. We sat on a wooden platform that sat out on the lake.

 After we came home, Will emptied this cabinet and crawled in. He is showing his mischievous smile as he pulls on the fan cord.

Then he played peek-a-boo out of the window. We put screens up so that he couldn't fall out.