Ocean fun ...

 After we were done at the wildlife park we were all so hot we headed to the beach to let the kids play around.  They had so much fun!  I didn't join them in the water because I would have been the only woman in there with a swimsuit on, everyone else just wears their clothes, if they get in at all.  So I hung out on the beach and watched and then played with Owen when he was too tired.  They ended up turning over rocks and found starfish!  We brought them home and flattened them out, they are so neat.  I love starfish!  The kids couldn't wait to go back to the beach again with the warm water, fun unique finds and just hanging out together!

Al Areen wildlife park ...

 Another fun outing here in Bahrain!  We headed down to the Wildlife Park.  It wasn't grand or amazing but it was fun to see animals we haven't seen before and see a few we have seen before too.  There was a but we got to ride to go around and see a bunch of African animals, flamingos,giraffes, monkeys, turtles, and lots of other fun animals.  After the bus ride we got to walk around and see camels, birds, ostriches and even had a horse ride.  The kids had a great time even though it was crazy hot!

A few pictures ...

 A few pictures have been taken over the last few months so many so that Owen will go around and put his little fingers up and snap a photo.  Jake and I have never taken so many pictures in our life (or blogged so regularly) and we love it.  It is already fun to go back and look through our adventure and be amazed at all we've seen!

Yummy food! ..

 One of the many things we will miss when we go home is the food here.  It is so yummy and you can find just about any kind of food you'd like ... Lebanese, Turkey, Afghanistan, you name it, you can find it.  To me there isn't a lot of difference in a lot of those places food, but I do love it.  Our favorite food for sure has been the rice, charcoal chicken, the shawarma, the hummus, flat bread and the yummy fruit juices here!

Below is a picture of one of the places we like to go called Iskanderun.  It has the most amazing chicken shawarma (pictured below cooking).  It also has amazing juices.  Our favorites have been the pomegranate, orange/pineapple and the lemon/mint.  So good!  Jake things that french fries were invented to be in a schawarma sandwich and I'd have to agree ... the combination is pretty amazing!

And then there is this bean 'soup' that they serve at breakfast.  Apparently it is a delicacy enjoyed throughout the Arabian Peninsula, but I think it's name describes it perfectly ... foul!

Happy Birthday Lydia ...

 I was kind of nervous to have Lydia's birthday here in Bahrain because I have limited resources to find things here, but boy did this girl have a good day and she was spoiled!  It started out by the breakfast staff making her this adorable fruit face and coming out and singing Happy Birthday to her.  She was so thrilled and slightly embarrassed too.  What a fun way to start out the day!  We got to go swimming too and Jake even got to join in for a little while too, so fun!  After we had lunch we went to the movie theater to watch Rio 2 and ended up having the whole theater to ourselves, she thought she was so special! It was a cute movie that we could relate a lot too since the birds go on an adventure.  Lydia even came up to us at one point and said that the GPS on the movie was like what we had in our Italy car ... "You have reached your destination!"

 We even found balloons to hang on her door, which is one of the only things she asked for, phew!  Thankfully Jake found some at the store.  After the movie she picked to go to McDonald's for dinner.  Jake and I grabbed shawarma's from a local shop instead, but the kids had fun running around the play place.

 We came home from another cake that the cleaning crew had left!  AND Jake's co-worker Mike had made Lydia a special cake too.  Three cakes in one day! She was so lucky!  After we sang to her she got to open her presents which were her own candy, a beautiful dress and some pink sandals!  Happy Birthday Lydia!

Things I LOVE about Lydia ...

~She is so sweat.  She will randomly come give me hugs during the day and tell me she loves me!

~She loves her yellow hair, so do I.

~She loves to look pretty.  She is always asking if her clothes are pretty, if her hair can be pretty or if she is pretty!  Of course!

~She is a wonderful sharer.  She will share her things if someone is sad, even if it means she doesn't get anything.

~She loves to say the prayer, especially in Italian now.

~She is so excited to be 5!

~She loves to color, play play-doh and do puzzles.

~She is so excited to go to Kindergarten next year, even though I tell her she cannot leave me for that long in the day, I'll miss her smiley face.

~I love you Lydia!!  I am so lucky to be your Mom!

Swimming ...

 We are so lucky to have a pool at the hotel!  Well, almost every building has a pool in Bahrain, but we sure have enjoyed our personal pool :).  We have it almost to ourselves every day.  We spent at least an hour at the pool almost every day.  It has been fun to watch the kids really take off in their swimming and security in the water.  Lydia didn't even want to swim the first few times we got in.  We got these floaties for her and now she will swim all over the pool!  Owen hated getting wet the first few times and then Jake came in and did a whole bunch of underwater bobs with him and played games with the bigger kids and now Owen loves it too.  He spends a lot of time in the little pool too, putting his toys at the bottom of the pool and getting them out.  It sure has been fun to have a pool, maybe we should think about putting one in when we build a home!

It is always more fun when Dad comes to the pool too!  The kids get dolphin rides and it is a nice workout for Jake!  I love the memories we are  making as a family!

Shell searching ...

 We headed down to the beach yesterday in hopes to let the kids swim in the ocean ... we were quite surprised to see that the tide had gone WAY out...but that made for some good shell hunting!  We found some really beautiful shells and brought home lots of the same ones over and over too.  Anthony and I even found a exoskeleton of a crab, still intact.  Pretty cool.  When we got home and the kids washed their shells in the sink they discovered a few creatures were still inside of some of the shells :) ... quite a surprise to see your shell moving around the sink!  We will have to go back when the tide is a little higher so the kids can actually swim in the ocean here!