2 Wheels!

Saturday was a big day for Calvin....he learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels! He has been asking for a while now, so we took him to the Embassy parking lot to give him plenty of room to ride.

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He was so excited! We talked to him the whole way there about how he is going to fall, but that it's ok and just part of learning to ride. Well he sure did prove us wrong! The very first time Ryan let go he just took off!

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Before we knew it he was riding in circles with no problems.

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He was so proud of himself and was having so much fun.

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The only thing that gave him any trouble was getting started and figuring out where to have the pedals when you start.

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Other than that, he was a pro.

While Calvin was learning to ride, Alayna spent her time picking flowers.

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She is such a girly girl! She is just getting so big, and I am sure it won't be long till she is up on 2 wheels too.

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When it was time to go home Calvin said "I sure hope this wasn't just a dream!"

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We couldn't believe that he hadn't fallen even one time. We are so proud of him!

Pirate Party

On Saturday the 6th we had a birthday party for Calvin here at the house. Calvin requested a Pirate Party, so a Pirate Party he got! Here is the birthday boy before the guests arrived.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

Lewis and Abby were the first to arrive, and they even dressed the part!

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

We had lots of Pirate themed games that we played. We played Hook the Pretzel

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

And Musical Islands

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

Then we played Sink the Ship where they had to throw their "cannon balls" into the other teams ship to "sink" it.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

After the games came one of the highlights of the party...the silly string fight!

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

As you can see even the adults got into the fun!

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

And here is the aftermath..

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

After the silly string mania we did a treasure hunt.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

The kids had a blast and went crazy when they finally found their treasure.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

The grand finale of the party was a pinata.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

Here is Calvin's best friend Cameron with the winning hit.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

And the kids went crazy scooping up the candy.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

It was a great party and I think everyone had a good time.

Happy Birthday Calvin! We are so proud of you and love you very much.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

Calvin's Birthday

I can hardly believe it, but my baby boy turned 6 this past week! Time just goes entirely too fast. His birthday was on Wednesday and he requested my Mint Brownies as his treat to take to school. We did our little family celebration that night. He wanted tacos for dinner that night, and then we sang Happy Birthday

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

and had cake and ice cream for dessert.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

Then it was present time! The coolest part was that he could actually read all of his birthday cards himself this year.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

But his very favorite present didn't arrive until the next day...His tennis racket from Grandma and Grandpa!

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

And even though it was late and already bathtime, he insisted on going outside and trying it out with Daddy.

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

He is really coming along with the tennis and is practicing almost everyday.

It was a really nice day and he loved all of his presents. Thank you to all the family and friends who sent him something. He has no idea how lucky he is to have so many people who love him.

Incident Report #3

Hopefully this will be the last incident I need to file while we are in Kuwait! Last Monday (Feb 1st) I got into a little car accident. We are all ok, but it was a little unnerving. As I am sure I have said here before driving around here is CRAZY and that is especially true around the school at pick-up and drop-off time. Anyways, I was backing out of a parking spot after picking up Calvin from school and there were cars parked in the street and making it impossible to see any oncoming traffic. I guy came speeding around the cars parked in his lane and ran into my back bumper. In all fairness there is no way he could have seen me or me him, but he was probably going a little fast for the conditions. Here are some pics of the damage:

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

From Calvin's 6th Birthday

Hopefully we will get it fixed next week. Inshallah!

Another Fun Weekend

We had another fun and busy weekend here in Kuwait. On Thursday we had a birthday party for my friend Nena's daughter Gwyneth. It was a cool party at a place here called "Color Me Mine". It is a pottery painting place and the kids just loved painting something their very own.

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Calvin painted some sort of alien thing.

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And Alayna painted a cute little heart box.

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Then on Saturday we had a get together for Alayna's class. Alayna and I went to that and Daddy and Calvin got to have fun boy time. The boys went to McDonalds for lunch and then played all sorts of boy things. Alayna had an absolute blast on our outing. It turned out that most of the children that came were the girls....only one little boy was there! It was at one of the family's apartment complex in their "garden" area.

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Alayna loves to swing and loves older girls so she was in heaven swinging with a few of her classmates older sisters.

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Of course there were tears when we finally had to leave, but once she was in the car she calmed down and spent the whole trip home talking about how much fun she had!

The kids have so many fun things to do here in Kuwait and so many good friends. DC has some awfully big shoes to fill!

DC Recon

After Ryan's fun in Wisconsin he headed back to DC and did some recon for our upcoming move. He met with our realtor Irene and checked out the housing situation.

From Ryan's trip to the States

I have 3 words to describe the situation: old, small, and expensive! We will make the best of it though.

He also checked out the church and met with the pastor.

From Ryan's trip to the States

The most important thing he did was to visit the school and meet with the principal there.

From Ryan's trip to the States

It is a very small Lutheran school with grades K - 8. Alayna will be in Kindergarten there.

From Ryan's trip to the States

And Calvin will be in 1st grade. First and second grades are combined into one classroom there.

From Ryan's trip to the States

And still the class size is small as you can see.

We are so excited about the school there. The housing.....not so much!

Ryan's Weekend in Wisconsin

Well I am now catching up on some photos Ryan took when he was back in the States over the Thanksgiving weekend. He was suppose to leave Kuwait Thanksgiving night and go right to Wisconsin to go deer hunting. Due to some snow in DC he left an entire day late and only ended up having one night at the cottage. They made the most of it though.

Here are the men! My Dad, Bob B., Ryan, and his Dad

From Ryan's trip to the States

(photo courtesy of Jake V. age 4)

Ryan got to turn the key of our cottage for the first time as the owner!

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And see our name on the sign.

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They stayed at my parents cottage though, as they have central heat and we don't.

Ryan was able to hunt Sunday morning, and unfortunately didn't get one. But they still had a good time. They played some cards,

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and visited the local bar the Trading Post.

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And check this out.....A toddler behind the bar!!

From Ryan's trip to the States

Only in Wisconsin!

It wasn't all play though, they did a lot of hard work too. They raked the lawn at our cottage.

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And they cleaned out the garage.

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They worked hard and played hard and Ryan really enjoyed getting to see our cottage now that he owns the place!