Dibb's Down Under: February

Giving myself a pat on the back for actually posting about a month while it's still currently the same month...get ready for a deluge of photos.

SAIK (Saudi Arabia Inter-Kingdom) cross country meet- Kaiya placed 5th in her age group. She's a rock star!

Field trip with Mei's K4 class to Tandoori House, a restaurant on camp. They serve Indian, Italian, and Chinese food- quite the crazy variety, right?! They have 3 separate kitchens- one for each kind of cuisine. Everyone had to don stylish hairnets to be able to walk through the kitchens.

Oh, it's been 7 months since we've moved here- and my kids FINALLY got in to see a pediatric dentist. The wait is long here. But hey, how cute is Mei sitting in that dentist chair waiting to get x-rays?!

Playgroup outing to the fire station on camp. Super cool hats were a must- thanks Saudi Aramco Fire Dept!

Super cool activity days activity- campfire in the jebels and sharing stories about our ancestors. What did Emiko share? A story about her great, great (there might be an extra "great") grandpa's dog getting spooked and attacking him...so he killed the dog. I know...out of all the stories to pick...

Hate mail/Love letters by Mina- need I say more???

Risking death for love. Made Brian peanut butter balls for Valentine's Day.

International Day at school. My American chose to be Aussie. Seriously, I laid out America-themed clothing...and she comes downstairs dressed like this. Proving once again that I will never be the boss of her.

It rained like 5 days straight- rare but totally awesome. It caused lots of flooding b/c the drainage here is non-existent. More importantly, it showed Brian that I really do need a pair of Hunter wellies.

Spring swim- 1st meet of the season...the girls got a new PB for every event they swam.

100th day of school at K4. This cute crown went into the garbage on the 101st day of school...

There's no denying it now- she's totally passed me up. Ok, not hard to do considering that I'm ridiculously short. But man, it's like I blinked and she grew up on me- wahhh!

Mina's 2nd grade music concert...have you ever seen so many xylophones in one room???

Another K4 field trip- this time to the commissary- where we buy groceries.

Floating tin foil boats down a mini-river of water by the duck pond on camp. It actually worked way better than paper boats.

Emi and her friend, Naomi. They have become such close friends, as they have a mutual love of climbing trees. They also take a sewing class together and made coordinating skirts.

I ran my first race this past weekend- a half marathon. This is JP, he works in the law dept with Brian...and he's become a good friend of the family (the kids pretty much think he's their uncle). Anyways, one of us ran the half in 1:20. (It wasn't me.)

The kids ran out to cheer me on and give high 5's. Brian called twice to offer encouragement (and tell me I was gonna get lapped by JP if I didn't hurry). No one lapped me- true story. I finished at 2:01.

So cross-country and track season is really short here. There are only 2 CC meets and 2 track meets. This past weekend was the last track meet. Kaiya won 1st (by a landslide...but who's counting?!) in high jump. She also won both her heats in the 100 and 200 meter. She really likes high jump- I wish there was a way for her to continue it despite the season being over!

Lastly, today Brian had back surgery. I really could write a whole novel about the experience- but nobody would want to read it- and it's late and going to bed sounds way more enjoyable. But I will say this- it seems to have gone well as he's in good spirits. He was also able to walk around for bit (leg was pain-free). So we're hopeful that everything is on track for a quick recovery.