Halloween Bromley Style

October is a big month for us. We have birthday and Halloween celebrations in nonstop motion. I think because the expat community is so worried halloween will be overlooked, they overcompensate. The kids don't complain but after all the sugar-rush naughtiness, I do.

The month began with another impromptu party for Heavah and Xavier. The party was held at the pool, because our compound pool is extra special. I didn't post pictures because, well, I forgot. Oh, and we just moved in a week before the party was held. Other than buying pizza and salads, the only thing that made the party extra special was the cool cake my friend made:

Three days before halloween our old compound had a trick-or-treat night. Heavah had to make sure we went so that she could enjoy the holiday with all of her old friends. It was great to see all of our old friends. The party was held in our empty garage. I wanted to walk in the door and watch the fun from the comfort of my own home. Instead, I mooched off all my friends and caught up on all the neighborhood gossip.

Two days before halloween the school held a party. There were spook alleys, a trick or treat lane, games, bouncy castles, and food. It was a party. There were a few people dressed as Qataris and I couldn't tell if they were dressing up or for real. I felt that way about my Superman Asa and Princess Dona. They are awesome by the way.

Heavah in front of the spook scene I helped with. I cannot take credit for the ever-so-creative skeleton/witch to the left. However, I did help make her look a little bustier.

Asa's reaction to the spook alley. I have never had a wimpy kid, but when it comes to ghosts and coffins, Asa's a wimp.

One day before halloween there was a compound party with all the fix'ns. I spaced it. Completely forgot. Too many celebrations for one mom to handle.

Halloween day was celebrated in our new neighborhood. What a party! Our compound had all the difficult-to-find candy. It was awesome. My children's bags were treasure troves of American goodness. Honestly, where can one find a Butterfinger in this city? Apparently you have to dress up and knock at my neighbor's door. My house wasn't as exciting. We just recycled all the crap candy that was collected the few days before.

Our new digs.

The scariest house in the neighborhood. Asa is still talking about this ghost. He wouldn't walk within 20 feet of this house. When the ghost moved, Asa ran 1/2 way down the road. Who knew Superman was such a wuss?

The kids fell over by the end of the night. Xavier was begging to go back home and Asa asked for susu and night-night. We had so much candy that Xavier and Heavah were giving away their own candy to the late-night trick-or-treaters.

The American loot

I do LOVE halloween, but I think I could wait another 12 months before it returns. I think we have enough candy to last us until then.

I am off to Nepal tomorrow with my gal pals. I can't wait to feel some cool air and eat at all my favorite restaurants. There should be some good stories to share....

Leadership Meeting aka Aftoncation

I am the Young Women's President in Doha. No matter where I go, I am put into this call. I absolutely love the girls, but it can be extremely time consuming. I swear I will get it right this time and the next ward I move into I will be Ward Greeter, either that or I take up smoking.

One of the many perks with this calling is that I am required to go to Abu Dhabi every so often for leadership training. It is a blessing as long as Afton keeps her calling as Primary President so we can make a girlcation out of the trip.

1. We ate and talked nonstop. Since I have moved, Afton is no longer my neighbor. It is hard to go without an Afton daily report. There was a lot to catch up on. It has been a whole two weeks. A lot of stories can develop within that amount of time!

Villa to my right, Shangri-La to my left

2. We stayed at the glamorous Shangri-La, which just so happens to be across the street from the Abu Dhabi church villa. What other choice did we have?

3.We pampered ourselves with a divine visit to the Chi Spa.

4. We visited Ikea. Who knew how much happiness one could feel when given the opportunity to buy so much cheap crap? Afton successfully found the heaviest item in the store, but the dutch oven beans she made a couple weeks later was so worth it!

It was a short, but indulgent evening full of laughter and fun.

Aladdin's Kingdom

During my recent Aftoncation/Stake Leadership meeting in Abu Dhabi, I was lucky enough to visit the Abu Dhabi Sheih Zayed Mosque. And oh, so grand it is! It is one of the only buildings in the world that can slightly compare to the Taj Mahal. For me, that is saying a lot. The Taj was one of the only buildings in the world that practically moved me to tears by just the look of it.
All the inlay work was done with precious stones. This is also like the Taj except you can steal the stones in India, not in the UAE.
The first room you enter is supposed to represent a garden. Muslims believe that heaven will be like a beautiful garden. This one just costs a hell of a lot more.

The chandelier is supposed to be the largest in the world. It is also the gaudiest.

The carpet is supposed to be the largest in the world. Imagine the number of child laborers involved in this puppy?

The 80 names of Allah. Do you think our Christian God feels gypped?

Me and my travel companions.

Truly, the mosque is a sight to see. I am not a fan of the typical Arab style of all-things-gilded and ostentatious, but this mosque is classic, traditional, and awe inspiring. It is a definite must-see if you are in this neck of the woods.

The Move

I am quite amazed at how moving is such a normal part of my life. It seems to appear on my to do list often. You know like, 1. Buy milk, 2. Visit school, 3. Make bread, 4. Pick up everything I own, stuff it in a van, and move it across town. We moved exactly a year ago--to the day. My life is never boring.

Oddly enough, this move was rather easy. I think it was because I could see the end result much faster than putting everything on a crate, shipping it across the world and then waiting 3 months for customs to approve. This move was a snap.

The total time was almost a week. This is how it was executed:

1. Grab Gotham and Sarita and tear down everything in sight.

2. Throw everything that isn't nailed down in the back of our van.

3. Ask Gotham to put his life at risk to paint our new 1000 foot ceiling walls.

4. Hire Pakistani laborers (from Waziristan--Taliban territory) to bring all the heavy items and hope they don't do something radical because we didn't fully respect the one Quran we own during the move.
5. Drag children from House A to House B 100 times until they collapse. Once they fall over, they will be less of a distraction. Prime moving time.
We are fairly settled and like this house a lot. Other than the 25 day wait for an internet connection, I could do this again. Ugh, and most likely will sooner than I expect.....

Sedona's Dubai

Sedona finally got her chance to go on a little excursion with just mom and dad. It was a lot for a little 4 year old to handle. To be truthful, I felt like I was a little tapped out from the novelty of Dubai. I wasn't sure there was much more I could do with her that would be exciting for both of us. After going to the mall:

...staring at camels...

....eating at Rainforest Cafe....

...riding the metro...

...shopping at Pottery Barn...

Leave it to Dona to choose the one and only pig toy in all of the Middle East. You should have seen the looks of disgust as she nestled and coddled her baby pig.

...and shaking a gold man's hand....

what more could be done?????

Apparently plenty, if you to go to a really cool place called Kidzainia. I know there are various 'kid cities' placed globally, but this was the first time I had ever seen such coolness. Within 7 hours Sedona did the following:

Became a baker...

Made a pizza...
Became a jeweler...
A firefighter...A pilot...
A dentist....
A milkmaid...
A painter...
A nurse...
and a model...

And at least 2o other occupations.

If you aren't familiar with Kidzania, you must try it out! Once you arrive, the child has to cash a check. After she runs out of money (from going to the salon, or making perfume, etc.) she has to earn money by working (as a cop, or a journalist, etc.). It was incredibly fun to just watch Sedona beam from ear to ear for an entire day straight.

Can I just tell you how much I adore my daughter? She has to be the sweetest and most unique child I know. What she lacks in hair she has in heart. It was so fantastic to take her on a fun little trip and spoil her till she fell over from exhaustion. I can't wait for the next mother/daughter adventure.

Xavier's Hockey

Over the summer I felt strongly that I need to sign Xavier up for Hockey. After all, he does come from the hometown of Wayne Gretzky and my father played consistently for years until his knees finally gave out. Although Xavier barely knew the word hockey, let alone ever seen it played before, he was destined to get on the ice and shoot a puck. He'd be a natural, right?

I never really spoke about signing up for hockey to Xavier. I just knew that it would tire him out, and he needed to expend some of his excess energy. Once Xavier got a whiff that I was going to sign him up, he asked every single day until we finally showed up at the Villagio and bought him all of his wear. The kid couldn't wait to get on the ice.

The day finally came for the hockey camp. I was told that this was for beginner kids who needed extra instruction. Xavier definitely fit that category. He honestly didn't know what 'that black thing on the ice' was for and he had never really been exposed to an ice rink before. I understood that this camp was going to take care of everything.

Xavier arrived at the change room wide eyed. You could see on his face that this was one of the most exciting things he was ever going to participate in all of his short life. He eavesdropped on all the boys and looked like he wanted to fit into this kind of crowd so badly. When I brought him into the change room I realized I didn't even know how to dress him. I had seen my dad put on his hockey gear, but I never paid attention to where everything went and what purpose each item had. I didn't buy the 'Idiot's Guide to Hockey' and regretted it so. Luckily, everyone there was friendly and understanding--like, 'Oh how cute, this young American girl doesn't know about our Canadian sport.' Shhhh...

All the children stood at the door of the rink. Many of the kids were much smaller than Xavier. There were 4 and 5 year old children who were obviously just beginning their hockey careers. The door opened and the kids flew through the gate racing to get on the ice. They skated in every direction eager to get to the pucks. Xavier was one of the last children to enter the rink. He carefully put one foot on the ice and SLAM. He pulled his body back up and tried to get his balance. Two seconds later, WHACK! SMASH! BAM! BOOM! He looked like his body was made of rubber and his legs would not hold his body let alone all the gear that was covering it.

At that moment, one of the coaches yelled, 'Looks like we got a beginner here, someone grab a chair!' I was very confused, weren't all of these kids beginners? How are the 4 and 5 year old kids spinning figure 8s around my almost 7 year old son? The coach grabbed a chair and carefully worked with Xavier. The other boys received instruction while Xavier was learning how not to get any more bruises. My son was the retarded kid in the corner trying to learn how to keep his body straight and not break any bones. I thought this was going to crush Xavier. How could it not? All the other kids, many who were much younger, were competent in skating and could maneuver their bodies in all the right ways. After a long, and tiring 20 minutes, he finally shuffled his body to the side door and came out. He looked exhausted and thirsty.

As I lifted his helmet he looked up at me with his drenched face and said, 'Mom! Did you see me! I went a little far! I only want to take a little drink because I want to go out there again!' He was beaming. It was like he was doing what he was meant to do. He was horrible, but oh so happy. For the following hour and half Xavier fell over 100 times. His little body would try to so hard to get back up and two seconds later it would collapse. He did this over and over again until it took 5 seconds for his body to fall. To him, that was an accomplishment. Every little stride he took, made him push further.

Although the other kids were doing much more than Xavier, I don't think there was a kid on the ice who worked harder than him. He was determined. I have never seen Xavier push harder than I did that day. Every time he came off the ice I was convinced he would say, 'That's it, I am done'. But, it was the opposite. He came off the ice and his heart raced with excitement. Even though he was obviously the special needs child, he was only competing with himself. No mother could have been prouder.

He has been playing hockey for 4 weeks now and his desire and determination remains the same, however, something has changed. He can now skate like a fairly normal kid. He can slightly mix in with group of kids and it is a true miracle. Don't get me wrong, there are times he does the 'bowling effect'. Without knowing how to stop, he will topple 5 kids at once. But every practice and game he improves. He said he tries to go close to kids who fall and smile at them so they don't feel dumb because 'Mom, that is what hockey is all about!'

Axel and I beam each time we go to the rink. Although I know my son isn't the strongest candidate for the Stanley Cup quite yet, he is by far, the most special kid on the team. LOVE my Xavier!

On the Move

Yesterday was the big moving day. It has been 10 days of moving. Fill van, drive to new house, empty, and drive back home--repeat 1000 times. It is truly amazing all the stuff you can fit in a minivan.

We have finally counted the number of times we have moved since we have been married--13 moves in 13 years. Sigh. To be optimistic, I feel it is a wonderful opportunity to reevaluate all I own and purge. You would think I would be better at purging. It is tough to let go of the 100 pounds of my teen journals, so there I am, moving it and storing it yet again.

Since this move has been long and drawn out (not to mention done completely on our own, no professional moving company bubble wrapping my toilet paper this time), it has been difficult to find anything. I went to church on Friday with a potluck of items, and oddly, it was one of my most complimented outfits. Asa had no shoes, Dona wore Crocs with her dress and Axel wore what was in his suitcase from the night before. Underwear was also utilized for the second time.

The biggest problem is what is awaiting for us in the new home. Items were thrown in boxes with no organization whatsoever. It has already become a treasure hunt for the baby bottle, the children's PE uniform, and my make-up. It is so humbling to be stripped of all you own. I have lost count to how many favors I have asked. Thank goodness for great neighbors!

We are at the old home cleaning right now. Asa and Dona have been the best moving mates ever. They can play with Daddy's toolbox for hours! Plus, they are both content to be without clothing when their clothing became all wet from an impromptu shower. Hours of fun.

This move was the right thing to do though. Although we liked our compound, the new one has infinitely more room, the clubhouse feels like a resort, and it is 2 minutes from both the airport and Axel's work. It was the right thing to do. Painful, but right.