Muharraq Island

Dave and I decided we needed to get out and do something different with our Saturday than swimming or going to the mall to play with the kids, so we decided to venture to Bahrain's second-largest island, Muharraq, and explore a former home of Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Kalifa, former king of Bahrain from 1869 to 1932. It is supposed to be very beautiful with period architecture and wall carvings.

We brought along a guide book and map and were sure we'd seen signs to it before (the airport is also on Muharraq), but we drove all around the island and couldn't find it. No one we asked seemed to know where it was and one guy said he'd never even heard of it!

The island is much smaller than Bahrain island and we figured we had to run into it somewhere around where our map put it, but alas we did not. We did, however, still enjoy ourselves and saw some interesting things along the way.

A very pretty mosque we came across.

Sorry, I'll fix the picture soon.

Another mosque. I should have taken a close-up of the detail work around the doors. Very pretty.

Muharraq hasn't endured all the modernisation that Bahrain has and seems to have a lot more historic, preserved buildings.

A very beautiful, restored residence.

We drove by the shipyard where dhow boats (traditional wooden fishing boats) apparently go to both die and be born...

Some abandoned, decaying dhow boats.

I must be adjusting a bit because I found the scene a bit beautiful.

Some people were working on the dhow being built and it is very impolite here to take pictures of others without asking permission, so we didn't get a picture of one being built. But Davey thought it was pretty cool. He has had an affinity for dhows since he first saw them in Oman.

Central Market

I have heard for a long time about the Central Market here in Bahrain that is a great place to buy fish and produce. Cherries and berries here are extremely expensive and when I heard they could be had at a good price and I was invited to go with a couple from church, I was in! We went this morning at 6am...

Inside the fish market.

It was a slow day there since the weekend has been very windy and many fishermen didn't go out.

With the "shopkeeper" selling the sharks and my friend Imee

I picked up some prawns for Dave, which he thought were very fresh and delicious but a lot of work for the reward.

A view of the outdoor vegetable market.

I bought lots of cherries, mangos, kiwi, some cucumbers, capsicum (green pepper), garlic and bananas. It wasn't as good of prices as I expected, but surely a better deal than the grocery stores. It was a fun cultural experience!

Spelling

Apparently, Davey has really started to notice the times when we spell words when talking in front of him. Today he told me, "Mommy, we really need to fix my T-H-E-D-A-Y -- my construction truck."

High-End Baby

Two weeks ago, Charlie took a spill directly into the corner of the coffee table. We were so very lucky it wasn't just a bit to the left or right or we could have had a major issue with one of his eyes. The result, however, is looking like he might have a Mercedes-Benz-reminicent-shaped scar in the middle of his forehead...

An International Culinary Adventure (i.e. Disaster!)

Amazingly, when I told my sister Harmony we were moving to Bahrain, she knew where it was. Her husband's uncle had been doing a consulting job here on and off over the last year. So once he came to town again after we moved in, we had him over for Friday dinner since he is kind-of family. He is a very nice man and the kids both really took to him. So the next Friday we invited him over again, in addition to another couple from church that we were wanting to get to know.

That week I came across this delicious-sounding recipe for an Orange-Teriyaki Roast and decided to give it a try. It would be perfect to do a roast since Davey had a birthday party I was going to take him to after church - I could get everything prepared before church and Dave made some potatoes while I was gone. When we got home from the party, the house smelled delicious - perfect! Our guests arrived and I took the roast out to let it cool a few minutes before Dave carved it.

It was definitely not the "Angus Top Roast" it had been labeled as in the supermarket. ICK! It had huge tubes in it the size of my pinkie finger! Maybe it was the top of a cow's heart! We thought about trying to cut away the good/normal-looking meat but even adventurous Dave didn't want to try to eat it. So with our guests already here, I had to switch gears and come up with a new main course! It was stressful but luckily everyone had fun chatting while I scurried around the kitchen putting together a spaghetti dinner.

I was so disappointed because I really wanted to try that recipe but now I'm scared to buy any meat here other than chicken breasts and ground beef that I can fully see what they are!

Chit-Chat

Like every mother of their own child, I find Charlie's little voice to be so very darling. He is talking all the time and I love to hear it. His vocabulary is expanding all the time. It's so hard to catch him talking on video, but here is a little attempt we made a couple weeks ago...

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Now that Charlie's watched this as I'm posting it, he's running around saying, "Cookies please!" over and over... good thing I don't keep them on hand because I would have a hard time resisting that sweet little voice. Also, I guess he takes after me in the sweet tooth department as my mom was just reminding me how one of my first sentences at his same age was, "Tookies, Grandma!"

So Sweet

I have been sick this week - a bug causing me to lose my voice along with intermittent fatigue. As I was trying to sing Charlie a lullabye before bed the other night, he started laughing at my futile attempts to produce something that sounded like singing. Keeping his head on my shoulder, he laughed and laughed, making me laugh, and the two of us kept on for a couple minutes making each other laugh. It was so sweet and tender, especially since he kept his head on my shoulder, his little body cuddled up to mine, occasionally getting up to look and smile at me. It was one of those moments I wish I could bottle up and save.

Not Tech Savvy

Davey is not one of those modern, tech-savvy kids. He does not spend any time on the computer and doesn't even turn the TV on for himself, which I love. So I'm a little bit puzzled by his comment when we were playing with a farm set my mom gave him. He was trying to put together a gate correctly and said, "But they show it online that it's supposed to look like this." I guarantee he's never looked at a toy farm gate online. I guess they pick up the lingo of the day without even taking part in it!

Dance Party

Charlie loves to dance and Davey has been getting more into it lately. When Daddy comes home, Charlie runs to the stereo yelling, "Dance! Dance!" It's become a nightly ritual now ;)

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Once Upon a Potty

Charlie recently started telling me when he's gone poo-poo in his diaper. A couple days ago he started telling me this before doing it, so I got out the potty chair and started letting him watch the potty video (Once Upon a Potty). He seems interested in it though I don't know how much he understands at sixteen months. But, hey, if he's ready to try potty training when he's eighteen months, I'm game!