Hunting the Hummingbird - by David C Hoffman

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Sunday, February 28, 2016

Liberation Day Weekend

This past weekend Kuwait celebrated the 25th anniversary of it's liberation from Iraqi invasion. 

Also being celebrated was "National Day"....big weekend of celebrations.

And our family celebrated alongside the rest of the Country.


Apparently celebrating these holidays includes basically one big water fight. Every single grocery store, bakala (convenience store, like 7-11), and toy store is FILLED with water guns and water balloons.

We'd been warned if we went out at all, to be prepared to get SOAKED.

I'll be honest, I was incredibly slightly apprehensive, for several reasons...
One of those being I'm still recovering from surgery, and I didn't want to need to be in a position where we encountered chaos, were far from home, and I had to carry a weeping five year old all the way home.
Another of those being that more than a handful of times we've been out in public, we've had...challenging situations with the Arabic culture's tendency to not discipline their children often. I've mentioned before that children are revered here...and we've witnessed several occasions where kids were behaving horribly, and nothing was done about it.
My kids have been yanked by the shirts, cut in front of in line, shoved out of the way, and even SPIT ON.
Yeah.
So.
I was nervous how this was gonna go.

David picked up a super soaker for each kiddo, we put on rain jackets, and headed out towards the chaos...


...and I was pleasantly surprised! Everyone was festive and fun, and had great behavior.
I've never been so happy to be wrong ;)

Our kids stood with many others on the side of the road and squirted oncoming cars. The police even assisted them.


We came upon teenager after teenager who didn't even attempt to spray our kids, until our kids squirted them first =). And even then they'd soak our kids a bit, and then playfully retreat....

 ...it was wonderful!!

Very, very fun. And our kids had a BLAST.


Some things about living here are hard. Being able to walk to THIS, however, is not one of them...



We made our way to the beach and the twins played in the "ship wreck" play area...



View of Kuwait City skyline...


Yup, Momma had her rain jacket on as well. 
And her shades, even past sunset, to hide the Pink Eye.



We walked over to the Marina and the kids had so much fun getting in water fights with other kids...



Me and my babes checking out all the boats...

Brother channeling his inner Batman...

My people checking out the sights...


On Friday afternoon we walked back down to the beach to play in the sand and picnic with some friends...



 


Our little family was incredibly happy to be ALL healthy enough to enjoy the great weather!
(And I was able to upgrade from giant Kardashian glasses to my Aviators as the Pink Eye was less noticeable this day...hallelujah)


This sweet boy LOVES playing in the ocean...

Our daughter and her sweet little friend B from TBall...


Cute kiddos...


Sweet little S took a little afternoon snooze on the beach...


We are so grateful for these fun friends! We met them through TBall and have loved getting together with them on several occasions. They're from the UK and arrived in Kuwait the exact same week we did, and their apartment is within walking distance of ours...HUGE blessing!


We enjoyed a delightful picnic dinner on the beach, talking and laughing. 

 It was a fairly idyllic afternoon.

Before we knew it, the sun was setting and the wet kiddos were cold... 
 ...and it was time to head home.

It was fun to be able to celebrate a Kuwait Holiday here, especially as Americans ;). I'll be honest, there are plenty of times I'm not entirely proud of the way our Government handles International relations...especially invasions and rebuilding post - invasion.
 But from everything I've heard about this particular time, America got it right. We assisted Kuwait in being freed from the Iraqi invasion, and then really helped them rebuild the proper way.
 For the most part, Kuwaitis LOVE Americans, and that's a big reason why!

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Lately...

Today marks one month post surgery for me! Yahoo! The surgeon said 4-6 weeks post op I could "resume normal activity", so I'm hoping that means I start really seeing an increase in energy in the coming days =).

The pain/discomfort is getting much better, but I'm still not sleeping great or enough. I swear, I am constantly tired. But, I'm trying to be patient with my body, as it has been through a lot recently.

The last month has been hard, but after being so terrified in the hospital, I'm just so grateful each day to be alive...
...which is good, because the kids and I spent the morning at the doctor's office...AGAIN. After two days of waking up with eyelids glued together, this morning the redness and the itching were undeniable and I was forced to admit I had conjunctivitis, otherwise known as PINK EYE.
So, I loaded up the kids and waited at the International Clinic...

Luckily it was a quick visit and diagnosis, as my eyes are hideous looking. Got myself some fancy drops and strict instructions to wash my hands eleventy billion times a day...

I had to message a friend to cancel a play date for tomorrow, and when I told her the reason - my highly contagious infection - she was all "oh no! How miserable! I'm so sorry!" and I'm all "meh. It's par for the course, really. Fairly certain I'm just allergic to Kuwait as a whole..."
I mean really, at this point is just plain humorous. 

Tomorrow is "Liberation Day" here in Kuwait, and we're hoping to get out and enjoy some of the celebrations. I'll just wear sunglasses to hide the disgusting. 

We've GOT to get out and enjoy this great weather before it gets too hot!

We've been doing A LOT of hanging out around the apartment over the past few weeks. The kids have had liberal amounts of Kindle and TV time, and I just can't feel guilty about it, because I've needed them to be entertained as much as possible. 


David took the kids swimming this week. 
Outdoors.
 In February.
Maybe those of you in Florida and Arizona are used to such behavior, but us Oregonians are not =).
Pretty cool, this Kuwait Winter!!
(ask me how much I'm loving Kuwait Summer this July, though...)


Lots of resting and Kindle time...




(Sometimes the boy likes to wear googles around the house. We don't ask why, we just accept this)


Sister making a Puppet Theater out of a water bottle box...


A Dress Up collection Fashion Show...






Always enjoy checking out the lobster at Sultan Center...


Reading books with Momma...(do like I do and pretend you don't see that laundry that needs to be put away on the back of the couch...)


BabyGirl and her best lovie, Wiley. She's had Wiley since she was a tiny baby, and they are pretty inseparable!
Also inseparable these days are A and her roller skates. She wants to wear them from the moment she wakes up in the morning until it's time to go to bed at night.
They've been SUCH a blessing to us as a way to get some energy out while being homebound.
I sometimes wonder if our downstairs neighbors feel the same way, though...


For L, the latest way to get energy out is to make crazy obstacle courses all around the apartment, mainly using couch cushions. Then he channels his inner ninja as he pounces all over the furniture...
...it totally drives me crazy and I have to shove deep down my inner Momster...because really it's HARD for a five year old boy to stay inside so much!



Lots of coloring...


Our son got creative with some mosaic tiles and created our family...

...and I was laughing SO hard when I noticed he put David's trapizoid "hair piece" on his chin for a beard...


Playing in the playroom...


...and some more relaxing...
(Like Father, like daughter ;) )

So, that's what's new lately with our family. David attended an interesting Talk this week at the college regarding the United States and it's process of liberating Kuwait 25 years ago. I'm trying to talk him into writing a blog post about it, so ya'll may have something other than pictures of us laying around the house soon enough ;)

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Attempting a Family Picture with a busy five year old boy...

These four are all taken in rapid succession. He's quick I tell ya.


"Everybody get in here and smile for a family selfie!"
Both children oblige...


The boy: "We good? Okay peace. I'm out!"
The parents and the daughter stay put.


Parents and daughter still sitting dutifully, and smiling. The boy is launching.


The girl has started to lose focus, the parents are cracking up as the boy is using Momma's head as leverage to assist his launching.

...and SCENE.