Our last night in Bahrain ...

 What an amazing experience we have had here.  I never would have thought we would fall in love with the Middle East like we have.  The people here are so nice.  The weather is amazing. There are lots of fun things to do!  Who wouldn't love it here?  It has been such an incredible journey to be able to take our little family on.  It is bittersweet to see it coming to an end.  We have learned so many things, seen so many fun things and grown closer together as a family while being away.  Bahrain has showed us how amazing the world is and just how beautiful places can be.  The feeling here is totally different than Italy, but it has been something we really love!  I hope to return some day to beautiful Bahrain, Lydia even said when she is a Mom she is going to live in Bahrain :).  So thankful for the opportunity our Heavenly Father has given us during this chapter of our lives.  I hope we can write another amazing chapter some day!

The Seef Mall ...

 The malls here in Bahrain are HUGE with lots of designer shops in them, but the thing we've liked most is the food court and all the fun little activities the kids can do!  They had this fun ball pit and coloring pages that the kids wanted to play in so bad.  We first saw it when we went to pick up Jake's race packet but we didn't have time to stop so we told them we could go back.  We made it just yesterday and the kids had a great time!  We will miss the fun things Bahrain has to offer!

Oil ...

 While we were out on our dolphin ride we got to see the beautiful ocean and the amazingly blue colors!  It was so pretty.  Once again, these pictures do not do the actual views justice, but they will have to do.  Bahrain is one of the first places that oil was discovered here in the Arabian Peninsula and there are oil lines and rigs everywhere.  It was neat to see these ones and the HUGE oil rigs that shuttle the oil around.  It was a neat little side excursion to our dolphin boat ride!

Sunsets ...

 One of my favorite parts of Bahrain has been the amazing sun!  It seems so huge here and frequently we get to see it as a giant ball in the sky covered with sand so you can see and look at it better.  It is truly beautiful!  We went to the park a few days ago and we were rewarded with this beautiful sunset.  I will miss the huge and warm sun here.  Even the moon seems bigger here!  It is truly a beautiful world and we are glad we got to see it from the Middle East.

Dolphins ...

On they way to Bahrain we met a guy who told us about the dolphins around the island and since then we have all wanted to go see some.  The wind and weather finally cooperated enough that we could!  It was so fun.  The kids had a great time watching out for them and trying to be the one who spotted them first.  We went to the first place and got to watch 6 or 7 of the same ones play around and surface every once in a while.  A pair of them were even mother/baby duos.  Then we got to take a ride up to a different part of the island to try to spot them.  They were harder to find here but our boat driver was good about making enough waves for them to come out and play so we ended up getting to see them there too!  All in all a very fun adventures!

BBQ and swimming with friends ...

 Our lives have been enriched by so many people that we have met here in Bahrain and in Italy.  The chruch members here have instantly become friends and they have really helped us feel accepted and enriched our experience while in a foreign country.  Some of our friends, the Labrum's, invited us over for a BBQ and some swimming time!  We had a great time.  The kids were so excited to play with other children and to get another chance to swim...they've loved that here in Bahrain.  It was nice to chat with other adults and hear everyone's experiences on what brought them to the Middle East and their life stories.  It sure is a different life story out here in the great big world ;) than what we hear in Idaho!

Bahrain Museum ...

 I finally convinced Jake to take us to the Bahrain Museum...we MIGHT have gotten burnt out on museums in Italy.  But we are glad we did.  We'd like to go back and be able to read all about it and learn even more but we will take what we got.  It was interesting to read about some of their culture differences, like the birth of babies, childhood games, teachings and weddings.  They had a huge section about the Dilmun Civilization that was quite interesting too as I do not know much of anything about them.  It was between 2000 and 3000 BC and they have found quite a few things in the burial mounds around Bahrain.  The floor on the museum is a huge map of Bahrain so it was fun to see where the sites are that we went to see throughout our stay here.

Triathlon in Bahrain ...

 Last weekend when we went down to Al Areen and the star fish beach we saw a triathlon going on while we were headed home.  It was cool to watch and of course got Jake questioning if there was another one in the short time we were here.  He checked it out and found that there was in fact an Olympic distance triathlon the next weekend.  He debated back and forth about doing the whole thing but without having the right equipment (namely a bike) it would be hard to complete the whole thing.  He ended up going on the Bahrain Club site on facebook and someone was looking for a person to complete the swim portion, which is ironic since this is the hardest leg for Jake :).  But he went for it and he is so glad he did!  It was a brutal swim, but he completed it and got to experience a race atmosphere Internationally.  His team member was from Saudi Arabia and was super nice.  They ended up winning a team trophy for the mixed division so they got to go up on stage and shake the Bahrain Princes hands to claim their trophy.  All in all, he is super happy to have had the experience.  There is always an amazing atmosphere at these events and it was added upon by all the different nationalities that were there participating.  Good job swimming a mile Jake!

 The Princes completed the whole triathlon in their military attire, even pulling a little boat behind them when swimming.  Pretty cool!

Crabbing ...

 We certainly didn't go to the beach in expectations of finding and catching crabs but we had a great time doing it!  We went to give Jake an opportunity to swim in salt water and the kids to play again at the beach and in the water.  When we got there the tide was super low so we had to walk quite a while out to get to the water.  The tide was quickly coming in and it was soon at our calves and as we were standing around splashing Owen and I spotted the sand moving....oh wait that is a crab!  All of a sudden we were surrounded by about 5 or 6 crabs!  I wasn't sure what to do about that and the kids were certainly not sure but Jake and his co-worker Mike sure did.  They came right over and caught a few, at least until Jake got pinched by one of the bigger ones!  It was fun and we spent over an hour chasing them around.  The kids once again enjoyed the warm water and liked acting like crabs in the ocean.  I love these little pictures of the crabs because in the background you can see Mike and Anthony still searching to try to catch one.  Another fun adventure here in Bahrain!

The salt water did fun things with Lydia's hair ... she was thrilled to have curls and was super sad when we had to wash her hair when we got home.

Camels everywhere ...

 We all love all the painted camels around the island here in Bahrain.  They are all painted differently and the kids get excited when they see one driving around!  It reminds me of the buffalo in West Yellowstone or the Aggie bull in Logan.  So fun!

Bahrain Science Center

 Bahrain may not have as many historical sites as Italy did, but they make up for it in things to do!  Our adventures have been quite different here in the Middle East but they have all been super fun as well.  The kids had a great time here at the Science Center.  There were so many exhibits and the kids loved them all.  There were several fun different rooms that had different activities in them.  One of them was about the environment and weather like a tornado, a tidal wave, smoke rings.  There was another room with skeletons, a huge mat where the kids could step on bugs and draw their own butterfly and then have them fly on the screen.  There was another spot with tons of toys to play with like puzzles, trains and legos.  We could have spent many, many hours here.