In My Room

Ok, this is my room in southwest Asia (most of you know exactly where, but I'm practicing good OPSEC). I'm testing out my new, cell-phone sized HD waterproof video camera. Can't wait to use it in the surf!

Maj Saeed's Racing Camels and House

Please read the following post before this one!

This was the small lunch. Dinner was huge!This is a very nice baby racing camel. All of Maj. Saeed's camels were well trained.

This is Saeed's 16 year old son, Mubarak. A really nice, mature kid.

Camel Races with Major Saeed and son

Maj Heath Schneider (HNCC security liaison) and I hung out with Qatari Major Saeed (Qatari security officer on base) and his son Mubarak for eight straight hours. We saw 3 of 12 camel races, went to a market to buy some food (we ate two meals), hung out at Maj Saeed's camel racing house (he owns another), met his camels, and watched the news. THE RACES The camel races are a very big deal to the Qataris. These were on a Saturday, and one of the last race sets of the season. Racing camels from UAE, Oman, Saudi, and Qatar were there. About six camels ran each race, the winner of each taking $30,000, a new SUV and other prizes. Second and thirds place received to car but $15,000 and $10,000. Maj. Saeed owns 15 racing camels, but none raced on this particular day. One of his camels would take third place on the following day though, so good for him. Nobody actually rode on the camels; they used small robot jockeys with remote controlled whips. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good shot of a robot jockey, but they rode on top of the camel's rump. The camels themselves were a breed of Qatari and Sudaniese camels, a hybrid breed that produces the fastest camels. Although their legs looked to be moving in slow motion with their gigantic strides, these guys could peak around 40 mph, and the races that day were five miles. All audience members and owners watched the races while driving their SUVs, and a different race ensued with cars lumbering around haphazardly four to five rows across and jockeying for position. The winning camel has its head rubbed with pure saffron, an extraordinarily expensive herb, and the residue is left to wash off naturally. It is a sign of a winner (and makes the camel smell good too). Here is a video of the first race--you can hear the radio race announcer narrating in arabic:

SW Asia Jazz Jam

I traveled off base the other day with the deputy director of our section and one of our translators, Sam, who has his master's degree in music at the University of Louisville and plays piano, accordion, oud, and some other instruments. Too bad we were drowned out by other music in the store; in the attached video it may be tough to hear the Oud he's playing unless you have good speakers. Regardless, it was fun to actually play with a real person, even though I'm no jazz player on the bass. I came up with a simple jazz turnaround line and Sam went with it. After that we ate at an Iranian restaurant and drank some tea at a Morrocan restaurant. Stay tuned for my blog about the camel races I went to on April 2nd!

toothless!

Makenna lost another tooth! She was so excited! She even woke up at 5am to see what the tooth fairy had brought her! The tooth fairy gave her 3 dollars for her tooth and yesterday we both went shopping and this is what she chose as her prize:

I’m back….

I apologize for the lack of posts this last 2 months!! It’s been really hard to set time aside while Mike’s been gone to post a blog…I’ve been trying to keep busy!

This past weekend, I took the kids to the Azalea festival in town, kids had a blast and Makenna rode a mechanical bull!

Shane going down the slide with Brandy!

Stuck in a bubble

She stayed on for a long time!

Getting ready for face painting!

She chose to be a Mariposa!

Makenna and her friend Ashley

Future Picasso

Pony Ride!

This is from Autism Fun day a couple weeks ago!

Makenna’s finally riding her bike! (She never wanted to before… a little afraid…now the bikes a little too small! LOL)

Will try to keep updated more frequently!

Princess Buttercup…

Makenna is finally on the mend again… she had it pretty rough last week, fevers, and coughs and runny noses,  and now finally is back to normal!   Sorry its been so long since i’ve posted.    Its been hard for her to get back into a routine, she’s been getting red and yellow circles at school, but trying really hard to get back on greens! 

Here she is helping me make Valentines for Shane’s Class party:

We made little airplanes with smarties, a piece of gum, and lifesavers.  It was so fun!

 

Makenna got a cardboard castle to color!   

Shane and I got to have lunch with Makenna to for Catholic School’s week:

Boil alert!

Yesterday I was in panic mode, because in the morning, I got a phone call saying that there ws some sort of water system failure. Yesterday was also the day I was hosting a surprise baby shower for my friend Jennifer! There was no water pressure, and I was so worried we couldn't flush the toilets, wash dishes, etc. Luckily my neighbor went out and got me a couple cases of drinking water!!! I was so grateful! She went out really early in the morning and stocked up because by 10 am it was sold out everywhere! I was reminded of Hurricane Iniki times! I was upset because I had worked so hard to prepare for the party the night before, and we were going to move the party somewhere else. Thankfully the water pressure came back on, and we were able to flush toilets so I still held my party!!!! Right now we have to boil water for everything except showers, so its a major pain in the arse! I still don't feel comfortable showering and giving the kids baths in the water but I have made sure we use hand sanitizing gel for our hands and bottled water for brushing our teeth. The worst part of it all is trying to wash all my dishes but having to boil the water first.

Thankfully, my party turned out to be a success and I think everyone had a good time. I have fun entertaining and made a bunch of finger foods:
















And here is a group shot of everyone at the party:


So glad it turned out ok!

I forgot to post about this too, but last Thursday night, Girl Scouts was canceled, and I went and did something compulsive.... went to a Moody Spouses club event!! It was called Black and White bingo, and unfortunately I didn't win anything.. It was fun though, and it was fun getting dressed up in black and white (Kevin watched the kids for me).

These two girls are my two closest friends here in Valdosta:


And this is a group shot of some of the girls I go to playgroup with.


Friday night, Makenna had a birthday pool party and we also had a pool party this afternoon (Sunday) It has been a BUSY weekend!!

Mike in Southwest Asia

Well everyone, all settled in here at .... I've got my own room with an actual door (not a tent at a deployed location for my first time!) in a "trailer" building that has about 30 rooms. The room came with a single bed, TV (with about 24 channels), fax machine (for my job--always on call), desk, dresser, and even two small rugs. One window and a window A/C unit. It's been about 68 degrees and nice here, but the scenery is absolutely desolate. I have yet to see a bug, lizard, bird, tree or even roach. There's simply no trees or life in this area. I posted a picture of my surroundings for your enjoyment. Wireless signal is strong, and I've been chatting with Jennah and the kids daily.

Work is good. My Dip Clearance office is in the Host Nation Coordination Cell building in a part of the base that has a chow hall about 1/4 mile away and a decent gym 30 steps from my back office door. I pretty much have my own truck, a little Ford 4x4 that I've been driving all over, and gas is free. Now I just have to take an off-base driving course. The guys here get off base a lot, so I'll post again after my first excursion with them. Apparently there is some good middle-eastern style food to be had here.

not what I planned....

Tuesday started out crazy but it turned out to be an unusually relaxing day! Usually its the busiest day of the week for me, and a lot of driving around everywhere.

Makenna woke up with her left eye swollen, and crying that it hurt. GREAT! Off to the doctor we went, while I had to call Shane's school, speech therapist, ABA therapist and Makenna's ballet buddy to cancel everything planned that day. The wait time was a long and brutal two hours, but the doctor was great and very thorough. She most likely scratched her eye somehow and it had gotten infected. Got some eyedrops and antibiotics for her and the rest of the day we just vegged at home! It was really nice not having to drive anywhere or have "school" time for Shane! We went on a walk around the block, watched tv, and just relaxed. I love days like this!

Made it through...

I made it through the first weekend! I've kept us pretty busy, and hopefully being busy will make this deployment go by fast! I have been able to talk to Mike through Skype a couple of times already, and so far its not so bad!

Took the kids to a crafting playgroup this morning, and Makenna got to paint a treasure box..



Shane got to socialize too!



I love seeing him play with other kids!

Ringing in the New Year in St. Augustine

 

We had an amazing family vacation this past week, in St. Augustine, FL!  The town is so charming, I absolutely loved it… Loved the little shops and great places to eat.  Being right on the beach was so much fun, but the best part was being with Mike's family!  Some of the highlights for me were walking around old town, eating some yummy food, going to bed with the sound of the ocean, running on the beach first thing in the morning, and Makenna being so excited about the vacation house right on the beach!