KAUST Greenhouse

For a few weeks most of the playgrounds were closed due to some concerns with safety.  These closures made us get more creative than usual in our quests for finding things to do and it was during this time that we took a trip to the KAUST Greenhouse and were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was.  The gardeners have arranged several little paths throughout the greenhouse on which the children loved to run.  Many set ups were hidden such as a model of the Great Wall of China.  We let the girls each select a plant for their room and purchased some herbs for our backyard.  We saw several little fairy type houses made from twigs and branches that I am hoping Casey will be able to replicate for our yard.    This was a refreshing way for us to spend a weekend morning after another long work week.

January's 5K

Casey sent me some of his I-Phone pictures so this post is a tad overdue, but I feel it must be included in the year's happenings.  Although I have participated in several 5 and 10Ks, this is the first time I have entered one with Casey and our first as a family.  This was such a rewarding day for everyone and we were so proud of our little troopers.  The girls made it the entire way in jst under one hour.  We will definitely be entering next year and Casey and I actually plan to compete......

Theresa got to walk with a friend from class and this helped tremendously.  Marcella would have done much better had she had a friend as well so next year we will plan on walking with classmates.   

I see this race as the begininng of a new family tradition for us.  My father was a long distance runner and as a little girl I remember going with my family to his races.  We also partcipated in several community walking events growing up and then in college I ran in several benefit runs.   It is my hope that our children will remember such events with fondness and carry on the tradition as well.

The World Around Us

The weather has been so pleasant lately that I decided to share a few random outdoor pictures.  We have only had two or three real hot days.  Mostly it has been low nineties high eighties and always a breeze.  This allows us to enjoy eating outdoors and enjoying the sites around us such as the harbor area where the beacon is.  In one of the pictures below you will even see the beacon lit, which is rare. 

Below you will also see our one vegetable product: a sugar snap pea!  We really did not put much effort into gardening this year, but may do more next year.

I have also included an adorable story time picture.  The kids are so cute when they sit in the little red chairs.  Many are just now getting old enough to sit through an entire story time on their own.  It has been so rewarding to see how all the children have grown this past year. The little boy on Eleanor's left arrived here when we did.  I'll never forget meeting them and all of us being a little overwhelmed with blood tests, id badges, and the like.  I still do story times here twice a week.  On Sundays we have 0-18 month olds and call this "Mother Goose Time."  Tuesdays are for 2 and 3 year olds and it is simply "Toddler Time." 

The last picture just cracks us up.  We did not inspect the barrel too closely to confirm its label....

Happy Easter!

We had a lovely yet unusual Easter this year.  Having the kids attend school is what made the day unusual, but we still had a great time.  The Easter Bunny hid eggs inside since our backyard is in sun during the morning hours.  After the egg hunt the girls opened their tutes and other gifts.  In the evening we headed to our International Flag Park for a cozy Easter Picnic and Egg Hunt.  Of course we had egg salad sandwiches for dinner!   I was very proud of our girls because they put together some sweet little Easer bags for workers around KAUST with their excess candies.  This was suggested by the organizer of the Easter Picnic since there really was an abundance of candies. 

Integrated Nanotechnology Fab

The research group Casey belongs to recently took their lab photo.  Click here to learn more about the group and its members.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This story has a sad ending, but it was a nice experience for us nonetheless.  For about a week we had a little caterpillar friend stay with us.  Casey found him in a bell pepper.  The little guy must have entered the pepper while it was still in another continent- maybe North America!  Anyways, we found the tiny whole it had made to get inside.  Luckily he was not damaged during the food prep stage so we placed him in a clear plastic container and enjoyed him for about a week.  He ate lettuce and bell pepper quite heartily during this time but then one morning he was dead.  Our assumption is that one of the vegetables we placed inside the container was contaminated, although we had rinsed them first.  We were all a little sad to have to bury him, but it was fun watching him while we could.

IKEA Bus Trip

Well, we finally made it to IKEA in Jeddah.  We decided to take the bus over the girls' Spring Break.  The store here is just like IKEAs elsewhere except on the particular day we went they were out of meatballs and only had chicken nuggets for the kids.  This was a little bummer because I has been looking forward to the Swedish meatballs.  The coffee was fantastic and we got free refills!  The girls loved looking at all the setups.  We let each child select one item- Marcella chose a mat for the base of her bunkbed ladder, Theresa chose some artificial zinnias, and Eben and Eleanor got a little red fox music box.  We had a nice time but most likely will not need to return- it's much more pleasant visiting the IKEA in Austin if we feel the IKEA urge again.  Jeddah is like Juarez, MX with an Aston Martin dealership.