Green Grass.

As promised, this blog will have Kaden pictures!

As I had mentioned, Stu, Kaden and I had a great time “off” this past week. We did the normal things like cruise the mall and get a Starbucks (during the day!) and we also decided to drive around the Grand Mosque, and just sort of “explore” drive. We happened upon a huge park scattered with playground equipment and green grass. We were so excited! The first day we went was around 2 in the afternoon so it was pretty hot still. Kaden and I got a little sunburned. Then we went back the next day, bearing barbeque equipment and a picnic blanket, we made burgers for dinner. We all had a great time, especially Kaden as he explored the grass and ran off without us.

Getting together to barbeque in the park is a big activity among the locals as was apparent the evening we were there. Families come out with pots and pots of food and just hang out on the grass, smoking shisha after they eat. It was a pretty cool experience. One which I am sure we will be doing much more often. We’ve already scoped out some beach chairs for the next time we go out there. Plus it is within view of the monstrosity that is the Grand Mosque. We have been putting off going on the tour and now I think we might as well wait for Mimi and Papa to get here (mostly just because I want to see Mimi in a burqa! Lol).

Oh yeah! Huge, fabulous news: I got their itinerary from Mimi and Papa so in mid-December we will have them here with us! I am so excited to show them around the UAE and give them a taste of life here. I know they will enjoy it here and luckily for them, they will get to leave before they hate it! Haha. I would love that. All of the positives and none of the negatives. Sounds good!
That’s about it for me. Here are some pics from our time off.

Me at the park!

Little man at the park.

No fear. And no concern where Mom and Dad might be.

Definitely a happy baby!

My boys!

Kaden exploring and finding a stick.

Mommy!

Kaden's first time on a swing!

The next evening, here is a balloon man!

Kaden helping Daddy start the grill.

Such a good looking guy!

These were our neighbor grillers.

Me... and Kaden inside of his diaper bag!

Running off again.

Now That's Karma.

Like many of my peers, the O.J. Simpson murder trial is a vague set of memories for me. When I read about it, images from my then twelve-year-old mind are jogged. I remember exactly where I was when the verdict was read because, frankly, I hated life so much then that I couldn’t have forgotten. In the time my parents took to move from our home in South Carolina to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, myself, one of my sisters, and my brother all went to live with our grandparents in Redmond, Washington for six weeks. The memories of homemade breakfast every school morning, instead of cereal, while watching Gumby are good ones, but the school was literally traumatizing. To begin with, I’d come from a school that was on a military base, made up of all military children. We were used to “new kids” coming and going and actually welcomed them and their stories from life in Cuba or Alaska. Redmond doesn’t get a lot of new kids.

My first day I wore a frilly dress that Mimi had gotten for me. School had started several weeks earlier and I had missed the formulation of the “groups”. I remember being stared at with hateful eyes as Mr. West, my first male teacher, introduced me to the class. I was openly made fun of about my attire and teased without any remarks from dear old Mr. West. I sat down and wondered why these kids hated me so much for no reason other than I was wearing an outfit they saw as too fancy for school.

At lunchtime no one would allow me to sit with them as I walked from table to table asking if I could. Finally, one of the girls from a table of Japanese girls offered me a spot beside her, and then they proceeded to speak no English for the entire meal.

I ended up going home in tears more often than not for the short time I was at that school. One girl in particular, a white girl with frizzy curly hair and cleft lip, made my life especially hell. I was told I could no longer wear dresses or skirts (after wearing a dark green plaid skirt and black long-sleeved t-shirt the second day of school, thinking it was far more casual) and that hair was to be worn in a ponytail if I was to be considered “cool”. After three weeks of this Hell, I was outcast again when Mr. West took a poll of the class when Simpson’s verdict was released on the internet. He asked us to raise our hands and show one finger for a conviction of first degree murder, two fingers for 2nd degree, and 3 for an acquittal. I sat proud with my number one in the air while more than half the class sported their number threes. We all know what happened there.

So, for those of you not bullied by fifth graders for your views about the verdict, you don’t understand the personal pleasure I feel for this new conviction. I feel vindicated. Heh. But on a more serious note, when is someone going to make a movie about this nonsense? Why would an innocent man fail to show up to jail in favor of leading cops on a 50 mile police chase, with a gun and threatening suicide (Which of course brought no charges since prosecutors had an open-and-shut case, complete with DNA evidence)? I’m not a former Heisman winner, NOR friends with Kim Kardashian’s dad, but I’m pretty sure no one I know would literally get away with murder that is so blatantly obvious.

The media keeps pointing out the “lucky” 13 issue. He was convicted exactly 13 years after being acquitted of his ex-wife and her friend’s murders, for a crime he committed on September 13th, after jurors deliberated for 13 hours following the 13-day trial. Fun stuff!

So next time you’re considering killing your ex-wife and expect to get away with it: Remember that karma’s a bitch.

Coming Back Tomorrow.

Sorry for being such a lame blogger these past few days! Stu has been off work and we've been appreciating the time together by having a great time. I will be sure to blog tomorrow when I wake up about the things we've done, but for now I should really get some sleep.

Poor Stu has to head back to work on his 25th birthday tomorrow! But I think he's about ready to go back now.

I also found a picture on Charmaine's site (one of the knitters I told you about) of us at the mall and I wanted to show you the lovely ladies I hung out with that day (minus Charmaine who was taking the picture). So here we are:

I promise to have some (really cute) Kaden pictures up soon, grandmas! :)

Vacay

The celebrate Eid yesterday we went to Papa John's during the DAY for lunch! It was great. We got to have cheese sticks and the Arabian pizza (who would have thought to put potatoes on pizza??). It was yummy!

Stu and I also played some Boggle while Kaden napped. We REALLY haven't done much this break so far and I am not sure if we will. If anyone has any fabulous ideas of things to do while we have a few days off, let me know! :)

In lieu of doing fun things I opted to clean the bathroom. Yuck. But now it is fresh and shiny! Heh. Stu cleaned the kitchen and I mopped the house. We could definitely find something better to do with our time I'm sure!

Right now my boys are both napping and I am watching The Morning Show With Mike and Juliet. We're so lame.

They have seen the new crescent moon...

... which means that Ramadan is officially over! Yay! We can eat and drink during the day once again!

Measles, Mumps, Rubella.

Yesterday we took Kaden to the doctor to get his MMR shot. He was such a big boy and handled it pretty well. The “doctor” (who knows how qualified she actually was) though was another story. He was terrified of her because she was wearing a mask to avoid giving us her “cold” she was apparently ill with... hacking and blowing her nose the whole time. Kaden thought she was the devil and was clinging to Stu and I like there was no tomorrow.

I was impressed with the outward appearance of the Pediatrics ward (or “Paediatrics” as was written on the door... for you European folk) of Gulf Diagnostics Center. It was painted in bright, happy colors and adorned with childish paintings of rocket ships, boats and puppies. Also, the front of the building had valet parking! Just like everywhere else here though… how many malls in the U.S. have valet parking?

The downside was that while we were being seen, another patient, a 4-month-old with Bronchitis, was also in the room being examined (since they were there first, apparently). Greaaaaat. Let’s give Kaden Bronchitis in addition to Autism... I know, I know, there is supposedly no link between the shot and the disorder, but until they actually prove it, I’m with Jenny McCarthy in feeling less than thrilled about it (though I didn’t go as far as to deny him a required immunization, soooo…).

Stu had to go to the pharmacy and buy Kaden’s shot while we were waiting in the room for him. Strange. On a positive note, we got more Tylenol for him (well, something that is APPARENTLY the same thing) and it was only 6 dirham… or would have been, but our insurance covered it… clearly we can’t afford a $1 prescription). It sort of weirds me out to give him something that I am not familiar with, but the doc (“Dr. May”… her first name is May… odd) is Lebanese and French and said it is the same. Trust her?

Also different is that the examining rooms are in the office of the doctor. Her desk is off to one side, stacked with (probably really unclean) charts. Then there is a sink and examining table on the other side of the office. So you come in, have a consultation, and then she looks at him. Weird too was that when we came in she asked us what was wrong with Kaden today. We said that nothing was wrong, he just needed his 12-month check-up and shots. Apparently “check up” means that she asks if he has been sick lately. That’s it. In America we get the whole shebang: eyes, ears, reflexes, social development, cognitive development, discuss his eating habits, discuss discipline, etc. Not in the UAE. He’s still alive. We’ve done our job.

Anyway, today he seems to be doing well. The only thing that even indicated that he had a shot yesterday was that he slept well over 12 hours last night. He was a great sport today while we hit the fruit and vegetable market and Toys R Us (to stare at Wii’s that are STILL too expensive to actually purchase). Today is the last day of Ramadan (or so I’m told… it might actually be the first day of Eid… a guy said “Eid Mubrak” to me today on my way out of a store, but I haven’t actually seen anyone smoking or eating outside today). We are very much looking forward to going outside during the day, although today was still very hot. At the open air market I had beads of sweat on my forehead as usual and didn’t catch the alluring breeze that is supposed to head our way in the coming months. I will let you know when it arrives.

Other than that, we came home and had wraps for lunch and Kaden is just now waking up from his nap. Stu headed off to the gym in an effort to burn some energy so he can stop being so hyper. Not sure if we’ll be doing anything worth reporting tonight though. Bye for now!

This is what happens when you're away from home:

Ok, so it has taken me over 4 months to catch this little tidbit: J.R. Simplot died. Well when was someone going to tell me? It just goes to show that what happens when you leave a place: arguably one of the most important people in Boise died and I never heard about it.

Stu and I actually had dinner at Applebee's and sat adjacent to Simplot and his wife a few weeks before we left Boise.

For those who don't know (but really, how could you not?), Simplot took potatoes to a new level. His company patented the frozen french fry (think McDonald's) and it made him billions. At 99 he was the oldest billionaire on the Forbes 400 before he died. He was also listed at being the 89th richest person, coming in at somewhere near $3.6 billion.

A few years ago he donated his house (the one hill with green grass in the Boise foothills, with a flag that is so big you can see from an airplane... I know, I've looked for it) to the State to be used as a governor's mansion (though it's still empty). Nice gift though, huh?

Little bit of trivia too: Governor Butch Otter was married to Simplot's daughter Gay for 29 years. Ironically, Butchy met his current wife when she was Miss Idaho in 1991... she is 25 years his junior. He divorced Gay a year later. Coincidence? I think not.

Anywho, just a bit of info the late Simplot... might as well thank the man responsible for the yummiest way to consume potatoes! Thanks Jack!