Trip to Rabat…

Evan on our way to Rabat, loves catching these beetles!

At Forest Park with our friends.

Eating some yummy sundaes at TGIF’s

Last weekend we got to go and hang out with some of our Moroccan friends in Rabat.  It was a very nice get away for us and we were so blessed by their hospitality.  We drove down on Thursday and upon our arrival, they had prepared an amazing meal for us.  It was a traditional meal to break the fast (Ramadan) once the sun sets.  We ate it Moroccan style and it was delicious.  The next day we hung out, went to a place called “Forest Park” to let the kids run and play, and got a little tour of the city.  We took the kids to McDonalds for dinner and to play and then we went to TGIF’s for dinner for ourselves.  It was great!  I was surprised at how giddy I got and how excited I was to eat American food.  The boys got some sundaes, and then our food came and they wanted more.  So, we ended up getting them a burger too!  They loved it.  A bunch of friends from Dom’s company were there too celebrating a couple of birthdays.  We got to hang out with everyone!  It was a blast!  Then on our last day there, we took the kids for a walk to the ocean.  It was spectacular!  It was a bit scary because we had so many kids with us, but the view was incredible.  We walked out to the edge and then there was a huge drop off that fell into the Atlantic Ocean.  We got some pictures of the cliffs, fisherman, and the beauty.  We had a nice time.  Our drive home was actually a lot of fun too.  The boys were hilarious and being boys.  Halfway through the trip, they decided to take off their shoes, then smell their feet which were soo stinky!   They were cracking up as they smelled each other’s feet-Gross, but funny.  Boys will be boys!!!  Dom and I had a good laugh after we got past the stinky smell in the car!  We had a nice time!

A busy last few days….

My camera’s battery is dead.  I think we need a new one!  But we have had a great few days and yes I did take some pic’s and will post them later!  We just recently met a Moroccan couple who live in the southern part of Morocco.  They are so much fun and we have really connected with them and they are believers.  We decided to go out with them Thursday evening for a little double date.  We got a friend to watch the kids and then left for Tangier (about an hour away from where we live).  We had an great evening of fellowship,  yummy food, and a lot of laughing-the guy and Dom are “two peas in a pod.”  We went to a restaurant called “The French” and we enjoyed a very nice French style dinner and glass (or two ) of wine!  It was delicious!  We had so much fun and didn’t get home until about 3:00am.  I don’t think we’ve stayed out THAT late except when we were dating!   It was great and it was our second date in about 7 months!  We really enjoyed getting out and spending some time together without the kiddos.  We love hanging out with our kids, but it is so nice to go out on a date once in awhile!!!  Thank you Lord for providing a babysitter for us!  She will  be leaving back for the states tomorrow  

Then, I had to get up at 8:00am on Friday morning to head to Ceuta, Spain to buy the kid’s school supplies.  It was tough crossing the border.  It was hot and crammed pack with people, but we managed to get through in about an hour and a half.  It could have been worse this time of year!  Our landlord took me and the kids.  Her kids went to the same Spanish school that our boys will be going to and knew the book store that we needed to go to to buy their supplies.  ( It is much different than the states…)  but it was the only day she could go with us.  God is such and awesome provider!!!

Then today we got to go to a wedding.  A guy that works for the same company as Dom, is 52, never been married, and today he married his girl!  She is an amazing woman.  She moved to Morocco about the same time that we did to check everything out and they decided to get married.  It was amazing.  They totally mixed the two cultures and it really touched a lot of the Moroccans that attended.  American weddings are done very differently, and they basically had a traditional type American wedding, but with food, music, and dancing like the Moroccans do it.  It was really neat how they put it all together and a lot of fun!

Anyways, it has been a great weekend for me and it has been so nice to get out and do some different things! 

Thank you God for your goodness and giving me some much needed breaks from the kids, and from a couple of very difficult weeks!  YOU ARE SO GOOD!

Dom’s first bike wound in Morocco!

Dom finally did it!  He got into his first and hopefully last bike wreck in Morocco!  He was riding to a friends, on his way to workout when it happened.  It was so hot and he was trying to keep a bit cooler by not wearing the backpack that he usually wears to put his running shoes in.  So, he draped them over the handle bars.  Everything was going smooth, until he tried picking up his pace to pass a dump truck that was stopping.  His shoes fell down and one got stuck in the spokes of his tire and flipped him over.  He hit hard and it knocked the wind out of him, but he is doing fine.  He is sore, and has a few wounds, but is ok.  Thankfully there weren’t more cars out driving that early in the morning, he landed in the middle of the road!  Wow, Thank you God for protecting Him!

Julian cooling himself down!

The other day I noticed my little 3 year old  being unusually quiet.  I checked on him, he was filling his squirt gun in the bedae  (sp?), and going out to our little patio area and squirting himself.  He must have kept doing it for at least a half and hour or longer!  There was a nice little trail of water from the bathroom to the outside, but he was sure having a good time.

He still didn’t know I was taking his picture!

My sneaky little guy filling up his squirt gun!

Ahhh…refreshing!

I am beginning to understand…

I am slowly beginning to understand late night cultures.  It is often way too hot during the day to go and play outside.  The boys get couped up feeling and by the time dinner is over, usually around 7:00pm or so, we get the kitchen a bit cleaned up then head out to the park to play.   Along with everyone else to try and cool off.  So we end up leaving around 7:30-8:00pm to go and play.  It is crazy, I never thought I would get the kids so off schedule from what we are “used” to and become a late night person myself, but that is what it has come to.   We sleep in more and stay up later.  That is going to have to change come September when school starts.

On another note, for those of you who really want to get a feel for where we live, look at some of the detail behind the kids in the pictures.  Here, it is often very rude to take a picture of someone without asking first, so I snap pic’s of the kids in hopes to get some other things once in awhile.   However, at one of these parks we went to, the camera was a hit with some of the kids and they didn’t want me to stop taking pictures of them.  I would get them as they were jumping off of the structure and they would run to my camera for a look at themselves.  I got a picture with DJ and all of those kids!  

DJ

DJ, Rif mountains behind

DJ, check out the city in the back.

DJ and the kids who kept wanting their pictures taken!

Evan

My 3 guys!

Papa giving Julian a swing!

Evan

Dom giving DJ and underdog, Julian and Evan in the background!

Easy entertainment! The boys were recording themselves on Dom’s cellphone being hilarious, watching it, and then crackin’ up!

The King is in town!

This country is ruled by a king.  Every summer, he comes to this area because it is so beautiful.  He has a palace along the Mediterranean and comes usually for the month of August.  It is amazing what happens to this place when he is here, the streets are quickly cleaned, flowers are planted everywhere, police stand at every round about, and the streets are lined with flags, banners and pictures of the king.  It is amazing what they do to show him respect and honor.  Here are some pictures along a road we travel regularly.

The king is here…

What’s that STINKY smell???

That is Julian’s latest question!!!  Whenever we are driving, and the air is smelly (which is quite often), that is what our little 3 year old asks.  How do you explain the sewer to a 3 year old????  Whenever this question comes out of his mouth we all just laugh.  The way he asks it is so cute, I wish I could record it for you!

Our Little Apartment!!!

Our “salon” with a custom made Moroccan Frosh (couch)

The Boys’ bedroom

Our room

The bathroom, complete with a stand up shower and NO doors or curtains!

The kitchen! Like the checkers???

The little backyard area!

Well, here it is!  Our home sweet home!  It is beginning to feel a lot more homey now that we are more settled in.  We rented the house with most of the furniture-not exactly my style, but it works and it is home for now!  I couldn’t get it into the picture, but there is a cool crown molding at the top of the ceiling.  So, here is where we are living now!

Cats anyone??

3 kids, 3 cats….hmmmm….enough said!

Crash and Couscous!

Crash knocked out on Evan!

Julian was very proud to have Samuel sleep on him!

  They are everywhere!!!

A Day of Fun!

Dom and Evan jumping in together!

Dom getting ready to wake board!

Our tan little Evan!

Our cool 3 year old, Julian!!!

Anyone for a camel ride?

Julian and I

DJ and his friend, Elias

The boys enjoying the ride!

Yesterday was an awesome day for our family.  After a week of chaos and a lot of stress, we were invited out to our friends house and ended up going out on their boat.  We got to go out on the beautiful Mediterranean Sea and enjoyed every moment of it.  It was really windy and the water was choppy, but that didn’t stop Dom from getting up on the wake board for some fun.  He was the only one that was able to do it the whole afternoon.  The boys were very proud, cheering him on and telling everyone how awesome their papa was.  It was cute.  After everyone that wanted to try and wake board got their shot, they parked the boat and we all jumped in the water to cool down.  The boys even jumped off the side to us and swam around!  It was so much fun.  Afterwards, we went back to their house went swimming in their pool and ate pizza!  It was such a refreshing day and we are so thankful for days like that!

Julian and Evan have become quite good at swimming.  Julian can now dive off of the side of the pool, he even gets a little jump in there before going in.  Evan has mastered cannon balls and loves to try and make a big splash.  DJ, he is just a great swimmer all together!  It is so awesome watching them all do so great in the water.  Most people are amazed at how crazy our little 3 year old is in the water.  It is hard to get him out!

Well, we are now trying to stay cool in our new apartment.  It has been really hot and we, I , am contemplating installing an AC unit that one of our friends gave to us.  Our place is really starting to feel homey and more comfortable.  The boys are adjusting little by little.  And, the cats, they love it!  We have a little back yard area that has lots of dirt in it and it is hard to keep them out of it!  I will put some pictures of our new place on here once we are a bit more settled.