Kuwait Seaside Chalet

Kuwait is situated on the Arabian gulf. So there is much property on the water. If you go south, there are chalets that many people use to get away on the weekend.

My friend Fatma invited the family to the chalet one Saturday afternoon. The kids had great fun.

Here is the back of the chalet.

The kids had fun playing a game with Fatma.

Quite a cool day, however it was February.

The kids were getting a little bored so I decided to teach them to sand sculpt.

I am not very good, but good enough for the kids.

Dante is concentrating hard on his project.

This is Talyn's collection. I helped a bit with the name.

Talyn was proud of his work.

Talyn is enjoying the sand.

Dante tries his hand at kite flying.

Talyn plays with Fatma.

A peaceful day after all.

At night we played villagers and wolves. It is a party game where you have about 12 people in which 4 people are wolves. Each round the wolves will kill a villager, while the villagers also have a round to kill a wolf. The reason it is tricky is that no one knows who the wolves are. Villagers must keep their eyes closed while the wolves decide who to eat. The villagers kill a wolf by voting the wolf off. There is a very heated round where people are accused of being a wolf, and the accused will try to argue that they are innocent. Sometimes the villagers get it wrong. The game hinges on how well you influence and con others. The game ends when all the wolves are killed or the number of villagers equals the number of wolves left. Nyssa did very well in the game.

Time for the pan

Nyssa landed a starring role in Peter Pan. She was not Peter Pan, but Wendy. The production lasted for 60 minutes, but was enjoyable. After six weeks of rehearsal, they were all done.

Wendy and Peter are enjoying some post play cake.

Wendy encounters the lost boys.

Hook makes Wendy walk the plank.

Peter does not like the idea of Wendy going home.

Curtain Call!

Today the sky turned yellow

Late last night it was windy--very windy. It was one of those nights where the wind howled so much that you woke up and hoped it would end. It used to howl like that in Chicago, but when the wind stopped there was nothing left to be done, but pick up the patio furniture that was scattered on the lawn and finding the trash cans halfway up the street.

In Kuwait, there was more fun to come.

I arrived at work at about 7:30. There was no blue sky. It looked foggy outside, but it was not fog. When the wind picks up the sand from the desert is lifted into the air and you get a dust storm. So as the morning progressed, visibility continued to fall. One by one, the buildings outside my window disappeared. Dust was everywhere.

In the desert people comment on the beautiful sunsets. One reason is that dust in the air scatters the light and you a nice bit of color. When you have a lot of dust, you get a lot of color.

So after visibility dropped to zero, the color outside my window changed. First it became brown and quite dark and then it turned orange. It was if you were outside an industrial building near a neon lamp which had a pale orange glow sort of filled the foggy air. It surrounded and enveloped you. After a few minutes the color turned to yellow. A bright yellow that radiated through my windows dulling the bright red on my walls and creating odd contrasts to the many colors on my monitor.



It was freaky.

December in California

Deanna was insistent on spending a full three weeks in LA to help cope with the moving blues. It seemed like a long time, but she had a long list of items that we needed to buy in the states. There are some things that are far too expensive in Kuwait and there are things that are just too expensive.

So we spent the first week shopping and shopping and shopping. It was the best week to do it as it takes 1 week to recover from the jet lag--Kuwait is 11 hours ahead in the winter time! We shopped so much that by the end we had trouble getting the rest of the items on the list as we were simply tired of spending money.

When were not shopping we were at Grandma Smith's house. That was the better place to be as the kids loved it there. There was simply not much to do at Deanna's dad place for the kids. My brother had an enormous TV and he had Xbox with Rock Band. The kids spent most of the days playing the musical video game, including vocals for the three weeks in California.



Talyn is rockin' out to tunes of the 80's. After the last three weeks they can sing along with Duran Duran and the Go Go's.



Nyssa sat this one out while Uncle Jon took over on the drums.


The first Christmas thing I wanted to do was to see the decorations on the Mission Inn in Riverside. It was not the most amazing thing ever, but it was nice. The Mission does do a nice job, but it was quite a drive from Azusa.



Here the kids take a quick picture with some of Santa's helpers.



Here is a nice "California Christmas" picture..no one needs a jacket.

As the first week wore on my sister Anne decided to invite us to a day at Knott's Berry Farm. Knott's Berry Farm, the red-headed step-child of SoCal theme parks, can be quite a nice day as it is never very crowded.

One of the must-see attractions is the Wild West Stunt Show. This was the first thing we saw and the kids loved it. The skit went through its standard pratfalls and high falls and then it began to weave a lit stick of dynamite into the story line. The actors ran around the stage with the dynamite trying to get rid of it.



Most of the audience laughed at this point, but some of the kids were quite concerned about the noise would ensue the impending explosion....




After the stunt show, we rode the mine car ride. Boy, does that ride need updating. That was almost painful. We spent a good 5 minutes at the station waiting to begin the ride.

Talyn tried to distract himself by listening to the conversation that Nyssa and Magali were having. I don't think it was working.



We ended the day with the requisite Charlie Brown picture. I think it turned out well despite the tree being too healthy.

The next week I decided to take the kids to Disneyland. We went last year and we had a good time. I thought to take the family again and see if we could repeat the experience.




Nothing says Christmas like the Main Street Christmas shot.



Talyn did not appreciate me commenting on his driving.





The morning that we leave Disney we try to hit a Disney Breakfast. The kids like the Lilo and Stitch breakfast. The kids enjoy the company for the chance to meet the characters...



as well as to function as a resting post.




Nyssa, Dante, Talyn and Deanna's knees pose for the Christmas family picture.


Who needs a lot of stuff when you are with family? This is Christmas day. We had a big shindig with the family on the 24th complete with gift exchange. Everyone was happy.

I thought it would be a neat idea to do something neat for the my neice's and nephews. But what to get them? Well, I thought I could do something different. I would buy them snacks that their parents never buy for them. So I bought Kraft macaroni and cheese for Magali and Natalie. I bought Batman snacks and Veggie tale fruit snacks for Markie and Madion. I was having so much fun that I started buying breakfast cereal. I was shopping alone very early on the 23rd. Since I was alone I did not keep track of how much I bought. In the end I think I bought nearly 20 boxes of cereal.

I not only bought things for my neices and nephews, but my siblings and their respective spouses. It was a little surreal to spend the next two hours wrapping cereal and macaroni and cheese. However, the gifts were cheap and I was having fun. Was it a hit? I think many people were surprised. In the end, I will only know next year if people say "remember last year" and "that was fun, let's do it again". With this economy, I may have ahead of the curve for Christmas 2009.

Merry Christmas from the Xystus family.

Atlantis

Back at the end of August, my friend thought it was a good idea to take a break and see the new Atlantis Hotel in Dubai. I agreed and the family took a short flight out to the new hotel.

Everyone who stays at the hotel gets to visit the water park. That was the main attraction, not the hotel itself. The hotel sits at the top of the palm jumeriah. The palm jumeriah is a real estate development where rocks were dumped into the sea to create land. The atlantis hotel sits at the top of the palm on the outer ring. Condominiums have been built on the fronds.




So off we went and spent one night at the hotel along with a day at the water park.


























Here is Deanna in front of the door to the Atlantis.


























Here is looking left before entering the hotel.



















Inside the hotel lobby.

Here are some outside shots....

Nyssa stands alone.

Here is the family.

Views from our room.

Here is the big drop in the waterpark.

Who is that pale daredevil?

Happy Birthday Nyssa!

Nyssa has turned 11. To celebrate, Deanna threw Nyssa a big party. Cookies were made, popcorn popped and chips poured into bowls.

It was a great party and then... the guests arrived. 15 loud young girls descended on the house.

Nyssa ate lots of snacks, got a ton of presents and had a good time.

Here is the birthday girl herself.

What did she get? What did she get? Why are they out of focus?

Loot Galore!

Nyssa is saved from the vicious toy by the quick thinking of friend A.

Rabbit Ears are still popular in 5th grade.



















Balloons, loud girls, marble floors and stone walls--awesome.

She is all grown up now.