4th of July

Sad to say, last year Tony and I didn't celebrate the 4th of July. So this year we decided to have a BBQ. We had such a great time! A bunch of our friends came over and we had a really relaxed, fun day-oh and the food was awesome. Tony BBQ-ed hotdogs (yes, PORK hotdogs), bratwurst, and the best hamburgers I've ever tasted! All of our friends brought sides over and our table was overflowing with all the food!

Kyle, Kasey, and, my little buddy, Andrew.

Stu, Syd, and they're little cuttie, Kaden.

Kaden showing off how well he can walk now!

Luis, Alicia, and Alberto. Do you notice a trend? Yes, we had three little boys under the age of two! It was so fun to see them all scurrying around the living room! Alicia is from Poland (and probably the sweetest person ever) so it was especially fun to show her how to assemble a hamburger and tell her what's in deviled eggs! (Alicia said that in Poland they make something similar to deviled eggs for Easter, but with different stuffings. She's going to show me how to make one with mushroom stuffing-sounds yummy!)

Kevin and Vanessa who introduced me to a very yummy drink.

Frank who also introduced me to a drink...but I don't think I would call it yummy. His family is from Poland (yep, like Alicia) and he brought back some home made vodka that he made us all take a shot of-I can't say I've ever had anything like it.

My buddy Mikey...almost didn't recognize him witout a beer!

The BBQ master himself! (Recognize the hat?)

Andrew...who is among the few people in this world who can look adorable upside down with a mouth full of food!

We had a great day. That night there we even spotted some fireworks in the distance. While I was missing not having sparklers to play with, we still had so much fun!

A Little Visitor

Last night Tony and I went out on the patio and guess who (or I guess I should say "what") came to visit? A baby gecko! Isn't he cute?
After catching him for his "photoshoot" we had to put him back on the wall because Kieley thought he was a moving treat!

Little Things

I don't have any big news this week but there are a couple tid-bits. Of course we BBQ-ed on Thursday and, of course, it was great. Friday was interesting. I needed to go to Oman to do my passport run. I still don't have a resident's visa mostly because the paperwork is a pain in the butt and it adds up to a lot of money. So instead, every sixty days I have to leave the country and re-enter so we drive to Oman which is only about an hour and a half away.

This week, a friend of ours, Austin, had to go too so he and I went (Tony has a visa so he doesn't need to go). It was actually a really fun trip. It involved ice cream, iced coffee, and a visit to the mall. The mall in Al Ain (which is right across the border from Oman) was great but the best part was the kids fun land! EVERY mall in the UAE has a huge play land for kids. I'm talking roller coasters, jump houses, giant slides-the works! I seemed really bizarre to me at first but if you think about it, it can be too hot to play outside up to five months a year! Well this play land took the cake! It actually had a small river with bumper boats, a virtual reality roller coaster that spins and goes upside down (there was a line so we didn't go on it this time-but it looks like it'd be a blast), arts & crafts, face painting...just about everything! There's even a pool hall upstairs for the parents! I'm so excited about our next Oman trip because Austin's wife and daughter will be here so we're making plans to spend the day at the playland! (I think I'll be more excited than his daughter!)

Since we were leaving the country we told Tony we'd bring him back a souviner. What's better than a talking camel? Well the camel doesn't actually talk, but makes this demented grunting noise. Kieley was fasinated!

The past couple days I've been sick which is a bummer. This means my house looks like crap-and so do I! Luckily right before I got sick I got a box of books I ordered from Amazon to keep me company! I've been rading Barbara Walters' autobiography Audition. It's AMAZING! And she's really a great writer! I think everyone, especially every woman, should read it!

Oh other news-I guess I shouldn't have complained about the washers downstairs leaking because now we have NO washers! The washers were leaking so bad that the couple who lives next door to the laundry room came home to 3 inches of water flooding their apartment! So the washers have been disabled and no one knows when they'll be fixed. Last time they were broke it took two and a half months to get them fixed! Tony and I don't even have one of the little ones that don't work well in our apartment. We are literally washer-less! It's so frustrating! So Tony and I decided that even though it's a big expense, we are buying a full size washer and dryer this weekend! I found one in the classifieds and this Friday I will have a washer and dryer all my own!!! Yay!