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The Golf Course Hotel

This last weekend we took a trip over to the Gulf Hotel in Bahrain.   They have a nice kid’s pool there were we take Kai and Nora for a teppanyaki dinner at the Japanese restaurant now and again as a special treat.  They are both convinced that it is the fanciest restaurant on the entire planet.  Nora doesn’t need an excuse to get dressed up but Kai is a different story.  Teppanyaki is the only thing I know of that he will willingly put on a collared shirt for.

In the week leading up to the trip Nora started referring to the hotel as the Golf Course Hotel.  She probably heard “Gulf” hotel and thought “Golf Course”.  Anyway, the name has now stuck.

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Nora at Shaybah

Seats on the plane to Shaybah were limited so the rule was scouts and leaders only with others being strictly space available.  However, in the case where both parents were  leaders on the trip scouts’  siblings were allowed to attend as well so Nora didn’t even have to go on the wait list.  She had a blast despite being a little bit apart from the scouting activities.  She had no problem generating her own entertainment and we had lots of fun scrambling across the dunes.

Here are a few pictures of Nora on the trip.  Enjoy!

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Shaybah – Sand and Sandboarding

Last weekend was the Cub Scout trip to Shaybah located in the very empty Rub Al Khali desert.  It would have been an unworkable trip by car but was only an hour flight in a comfortable Saudi Aramco aircraft.  I’ve seen pictures of the dunes at Shaybah before and always thought that camera angles were used to make them seem extra impressive.  If anything, the lack of reference points and monocolor of the sand  make it very difficult to capture the size of the dunes.  They are as or more impressive than the pictures make them seem.


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The Lorax in Bahrain

This past 3-day weekend we decided it was high-time we took the kids out for a movie so it was over the causeway on Friday morning to Bahrain to see the Lorax at the City Center Mall.  We attended a few more errands such as stocking up on Dachshund Chow at Pet Arabia and trolling the aisles at Jawad where Nora found dinosaur oatmeal she’s been craving for a year now.  The highlight though was the Lorax.  A great movie that we all really enjoyed.

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Soap Box Derby

Last Thursday was the annual Cub Scout Soap Box derby.  After a mild (even cold) winter it was probably our first taste of what summer will have in store.  A hot, dry, dusty, windy day.  Still, it wasn’t unbearable and the event went well.  Kai won two of his three races which he was pretty excited about.

You can also check out the event and photo gallery on the Pack 3253 webpage http://pack3253.org.

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Family Photo

The kids are getting big!  Not too long ago the family portrait we had done at the end of last year came through.  Each year a professional photographer comes through to take school photos for the students and he does family photos after hours and on weeks for those interested.

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Soccer and Roller Blades

Now that she has turned 5 Nora has joined the local youth soccer league. For the last two years she’s patiently attended Kai’s soccer sessions and watched from the sidelines so it was a big deal for her to finally be able to get out on the field herself.

We also took a trip over to Bahrain to pick up roller blades for the kids.  They’ve both been asking for a while and many of their friends have them so we figured why not.  We have a round of visa and passport expirations coming up so we figured we’d go now since we’ll be unable to travel for a bit while we process the renewals.