Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Better pay your Taxes
















Some of you may know that we have a high class coffee shop on the ground floor of our building. When I say "high class" I mean a coffee shop where women are welcome and it also serves food. Most of our neighbors are not pleased with this place because it has attracted a bad crowd to our neighborhood.

Well....here's where the story gets good... :). Last Thursday morning I heard banging so loud I thought maybe the building was going to crash. This was followed by lots of yelling. I ran to the balcony to find several police officers and men with sledgehammers destroying the coffee shop. They destroyed walls, seats, lights, the stairs leading to the inside of the coffeeshop. It was pretty much anything their hammers would hit. Then, two pick ups showed up and they loaded them up with chairs and tables, yelled some more, and drove off. By this point the entire neighborhood was out watching....like a football match. The owner call his employees and the next 6 hours they cleaned the place up and actually opened that night! (of course furniture was a little sparse. )

BUT My story is not over. The next two days the workers brought brick, new tile, and concrete to rebuild. It looked as if nothing happened to the place. THEN, the sun set on our friends below again. Yesterday more police showed up with a paddy wagon of sledgehammers and 3 moving trucks. They annihilated the place. I've never seen anything like it. Hammers were flying everywhere. The police hauled 3 truck loads of more tables and chairs. There was a lot of yelling between the police chief and owners. After they left, the owner and his employees cleaned up AGAIN! We don't know what the guy did wrong but I actually admire his "stick it to the man" attitude. They opened for business last night, with 3 plastic chairs, one table and one sheesha. We'll keep you posted to what happens next.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

A Princess Party

This year for Lydia's birthday she got to do her first slumber party. She had a princess party for her birthday. She invited four girls over and they ate cake, made beaded necklaces, watched a princess movie, stayed up late, woke up early, ate pancakes and painted fingernails. They even played "pin the slipper on cinderella" (princess version of pin the tail on the donkey). Whew! I had my first experience to the definition of "giggly girls". They all finally went to sleep around midnight and the first one up was at ten 'till six. Mom and Dad had to have their own napping party afterward.



Lydia is 7!

Making bead necklaces....those beads run all over...

Open your presents, Lydia!!


Watching the princess movie, "Enchanted".

The giant princess bed....poor Alia she wants to be included so bad :(

Pancakes the next morning!!!

The princess station

All our Princess Friends!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Lydia's B-day presents!

Since we were on vacation during Lydia's birthday she had to wait until she got home to get her presents. We told her she'd get two gifts this year. So....She's been asking for another kitten and has even saved quite a bit of her money to get one. So, we decided to get her one for her birthday. I guess we figured if you have one cat how much more work does it take to care for another one. And, Scooter does get lonely sometimes. When we brought the little thing home, Scooter wasn't too happy. Lots of hissing and running in corners. We kept the kitten in a room by herself for 3 days and have slower introduced her to her new home. Scooter keeps a watchful; and mostly evil eye out for her. The second gift was a bike. We were able to take her to the park with it this past weekend and she had a great time on it. She's already asking to take the training wheels off so we'll see how she does.


Lydia's new kitten named "Tinkerbell" or "Bella" for short

New Barbie bike at the park!

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

SCUBA pics

While on vacation, I got to go on three dives! Enjoy the pics I took.

Monday, September 08, 2008

A week away.......

We took a road trip across the Sinai to the Red Sea for a family get-away. It was a much needed time of relaxing, laughing, and enjoying one another. The water was the main attraction, especially since we had been 6 days without electricity before we left. No electricity for us means no fans, no water (we have an electric pump), and no refrigerator. Whew....that paralyzes you in 110 degree desert heat. Or maybe we are just spoiled! Here are some of our favorite moments:


Having dinner every night on Bedouin pillows next to the Sea

Riding Arabian horses

Lydia took swimming lessons this summer.
She was able to snorkel for the first time with Daddy.


We spent many hours in the pool!
Kinzy was fearless...and Mom was fearful for her.


Glass Bottom boat ride to see the fish

Our 7 year old Fish

"I am King of the Beach"

And Queen of my Daddy's heart

First snorkel experience....."I even let go of Daddy's hand!"


Everyday the girls were in search of scruffy looking dogs and cats. I suppose living in a big city and an apartment has reduced their standards of what makes a touchable animal. Alia always wanted the dogs to come back to the hotel and sleep in her bed. That never happened.

Happy B-Day Lydia

We just got back from a week long family vacation. Right before we left Lydia got a package from Grandma with some birthday goodies! She had her birthday while we were on vacation so this weekend we plan to throw her a party.