The rest of September and October went by rather quickly. It took quite a while to feel back into a routine and adjust to Davey being gone so much. Charlie and I spent a lot of quiet mornings at home. I kept busy with my calling in the Young Women and helping to plan a Halloween party for the Oxy families.
A few other things that filled our time...
Long before we left, we got a letter stating that our home's one-year warranty work needed to be done and we were to make a list of anything that needed repair. It wasn't until we returned from our trip, several months later, that they began the work. I was quite upset that this work hadn't been scheduled for while we were gone. The people involved in scheduling this were well aware that we were going to be gone and there is no reason it shouldn't have taken place when we were. This is what the house looked like for days...
They chipped out and re-filled cracks in the wall that we had never seen and brought up an unbelievable amount of tiles which apparently sounded hollow (not properly filled underneath) and the work went on day after day, coating everything with dust and preventing naps and just general living. Not to mention filling the house with stench. And, some of the tiles - even ones that they "fixed" - still sound hollow. But I'll never tell a soul. Or at least one who might do something about it.
On a more fun note, while the kids and I were in the States, Dave wandered around Muharraq Island and found the Sheikh Isa House we'd been looking for... The Sheikh Isa House was built around 1800 and was originally the residence of Isa Bin Ali al Khalifa before he turned it into the building from which he later ruled the country.
Inside a main courtyard
One of the wind tunnels - the original form of air conditioning. You could really feel it working even on the calm day we were there. Not that it compares to current A/C.
Looking up the wind tunnel
Beautifully carved doors
And beautifully carved walls
Cute pic of my guys
Pretty stained glass
One of the local malls created an indoor ice skating rink and offered its use for free, along with the skates and helmets for kids. The day we went it was deserted and all the equipment seemed brand new. What a deal!
Davey LOVED it, though he definitely needed support all along the way
View of the rink. Not really large but perfect for us.
We also went through another transition period with our maid since when we got back home I couldn't find my diamond necklace that Dave gave me when Davey was born. I am quite sure the maid (or her "husband" rather) stole it. Needless to say we let her go. I'm trying to forget about the whole ordeal so I'm not going to include all the crazy details of what happened.
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