Things I See (Vol 13) -US Version

Welcome to "Things I See."  If you want to see the previous installments, you can click on:

 Volume 1 , Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, Volume 6, Volume 7, Volume 8, 

Volume 9, Volume 10, Volume 11, Volume 12

While making short trips to the US the past couple of summers, I've seen some interesting and amazing things.

Unbelievable! 

 The old movie theater in my hometown was refurbished by the Steinmann's, and they did an amazing job!  This where I saw "Empire Strikes Back" in 1980!

When I ordered a large sandwich at Schlotzsky's, I had NO IDEA!

 

Two summers ago, in San Antonio, we were at the River Walk.  On the boat cruise, we told Keira to take a tip to the man driving the boat.  She said, "Oh! Is this special San Antonio money?"

I had forgotten that she didn't remember what American money looked like.

Wouldn't it be crazy if every town had their own money?

At the Alamo, Keira (4.5 years old) tried a water fountain for the first time.

I think it entertained me as much as it entertained her!

Who knew it took so much talent to drink out of a water fountain?

Dinner AND a Show

The last time we tried dinner and a movie on the roof was New Year's Eve.  It was FREEZING!

We decided to try it again on a nice Spring evening, and it was wonderful weather.  Doug had some material sewn together in the market, and we propped it up with our Christmas tree pole.

Doug had a nice fire going, and it made a perfect romantic atmosphere for the Chick Flick....

 "The Lego Batman Movie."  😄

After a long week, all of us fell asleep during the movie except Doug.  He helped carry Keira downstairs, and Caleb and Karis got up and walked down.  I slept with Kylie on the roof until 3am, and then my hip was feeling the cement more than I would like, so I headed down.

The morning after, I went up to check on Kylie.

The fire was out

and so was Kylie.

The sun comes up around 4:30am, so I was impressed that she was still sleeping.

Dinner and a show #2:  Successful

New Year's Eve

I figure since January is half over, I'd probably better post about New Year's Eve before it gets much later.

As you can tell, I'm no good at selfies but here we are...most of us.

Karis is on the other side of me.

We are up on the roof, sitting on doshaks, covered in several blankets, wearing several layers of clothes, eating snacks, and watching a movie while a nice fire burns at our feet.

This off-centered picture shows you our white shower curtain screen hanging on our third-floor wall.

We made great memories, had a fantastic time, and we love "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe," but after the movie was over, we high-tailed it downstairs to get warm in front of a heater.

We ate snacks, skyped some friends, and waited for midnight.

With five minutes to spare (and no Dick Clark to count us down), we took an iphone to the roof for proof of midnight, and we watched some pretty pitiful fireworks going off in the 360 degrees around our roof.

We face-timed both sets of grandparents from the roof and wished them a happy new year while it was still 3pm in Texas.

The fireworks weren't spectacular, but my kids had so much fun on this night that we've decided to keep the movie-watching on the roof as a yearly tradition.  Thanks, Doug, for making this night so much fun.

So I'm a Little Crazy...

Well, I was right.  I couldn't keep up that pace for long.

I needed food for our family and never thought about shopping in the middle of the night, so Keira and I took a taxi to a mall the following day (Thursday 6/16) and re-stocked.  Malls are open during the day.  They just close from 7:30-8:30pm so the employees can break fast in the food court, or something like that.

I only know that because this week Doug was locked out of the house and he walked to a mall to wait for us to get home with the keys.  I had asked him to pick up a few things while he was there, but of course, he got to the mall about 7:30, and he told me what had happened.

Anyway, we got food, and we were ready to decline invitations to the bazaar for a few days.

Day one...great.

Day two...I got a little crazy.

After some like-minded fellowship one Friday, our girls and two other American girls started a marathon of some of their favorite movies.  There are 8 movies in all, and they had plans to stay up all night.

They started at 3:30pm-ish on Friday, and they went until 9pm.  They stopped because one of the girls had Taekwondo practice till 11pm.

Are you starting to see how the whole country operates differently during this time?  However, I will say that I know a girl who consistently has her orthodontic appointments at 10 or 11pm throughout the YEAR, not just during Ramazan.

At 8pm, Doug and I started a skype call, and we were still on it at 9:30pm when I had a scheduled appointment with Jennifer*.

She and I must have been just crazy sleep-deprived because we decided to go to the bazaar on our own, Friday night from 9:30 to midnight.  She needed clothes for her son who was leaving for camp the next week, and we both wanted a chance to look for things without feeling like we were holding others up.

It actually was very nice, albeit crazy.

The girls didn't make it through the night watching movies, but they started again the next day.

They slept in and took several breaks through the day, so they didn't finish the marathon until ELEVEN PM that night!

Caleb had been invited to a water park that day with another family, so he was gone most of the day, too.

We had asked him to observe what people wore at the park so we would know what our girls could wear if they ever went.

Girls wear long sleeves and tights to swim in.

Yep.  Long sleeves and tights.

Thus ends another crazy day during Ramazan.

*Names changed

Dispicable Me

Warning: This is one of those posts that only grandparents will care about.

Kelli and Alissa left a box of chalk here for my kids when they left, and my kids decided to use them to the fullest.

Here are some of the fruits of their labor after four hours!

Caleb with Missing Link, Ginormica, and B.O.B. from "Monsters vs. Aliens."

Karis's re-creation of "Dispicable Me."

And Kylie's...

Karis' armless Snow White.

Kylie's armless Snow White

Caleb's "Sleeping Beauty."

There was so much more, but you get the point.

Then...

It rained.

They didn't even care. They went out the next day for four or more hours, and went at it again.

Caleb's "Monsters vs. Aliens"

Kylie's "Monsters vs. Aliens

Kylie's "Dispicable Me"

Karis' "Monsters vs. Aliens"

Patrick, our watchmen, even got involved.

When our other watchman, Jeremiah, arrived, he drew some pictures, too.

These guys are great - especially with our kids.

When Jeremiah came in the gate yesterday on his bike, Kylie asked him to ride with her for a minute, and he took a couple of spins around the driveway with her.

Well, this was after the efforts of three days.

Yesterday, I went to the "office supply" store and bought another whole box for $1.00. You can't beat that for entertainment.