Last Weekend Off

I can't explain enough how living here has caused us to go through many adjustments.  Some good.  Some not so good.  One of the areas that we've had to deal with and I have struggled with A LOT and don't always seem to come to terms with it is how much Brooks has to work.  For the project he's on and what they are doing, he along with all the other men here work ALL THE TIME.  For months, Brooks never had a weekend off.  Other months, he was given 2 days off.  Sometimes he couldn't come home until very late in the evening and most of the time he leaves the house around 4:30am.  I'll be honest and say that I hate it and sometimes I feel like I'm a single parent.  However, I know that Brooks' hates being away from us just as much and it's not his choosing to not see the kids or me days in a row.  He does make the best of it and when he is home with us.... he's here and ours and does THE BEST JOB being a dad and husband.  

Saying all of that.. when the opportuntiy comes up for Brooks to have two days off in a row, we want to maximize that time with him as much as we can.  So, two weeks ago, he was given his last 2 days off in a row as well as his last weekend off for the next few months (other then his 3 weeks of vacation this summer with us in the USA) so we scheduled a trip to Bahrain, again.  

We had a blast.  Our first day we went to an outdoor water park in Bahrain, called Lost Paradise.  The kids loved it.  We loved it.  There was a huge kiddie play area with big slides and little slides-- slides both Gavin and Miles could play on and enjoy!  We spent time on the lazy river riding floats and rafts and even used the time to help Gavin with his swimming while the water pushed him forward.  It was great!  Brooks and Gavin got to ride a really big slide and I was so shocked that Gavin wasn't scared and just went with it.  We spent most of the day at the water park.. the boys didn't get naps, but were busy playing and having fun it never bothered them at all.   

After the water park, we decided to go eat dinner before heading to our hotel, so we found a local mexican restaurant we heard had delicious food and enjoyed a crazy, fun dinner.  We ordered various dishes that were actually extremely close to tasting like mexican food we'd get in Texas! We LOVED it.  The kids were bouncing off the walls from the long day and not getting naps so we ate and ran!

We got settled into our room at The Gulf Hotel,  bathed the kids, and everyone was out by 9:00pm.

We woke up the next morning and decided to go eat at one of our favorite breakfast places, Ric's.  Can't say enough about the bacon!

We rented a car to help us get around and sadly, not all of our car seats would fit.  Gavin got to ride around like a big boy.

After breakfast, we got back in our bathing suits and spent the morning at our hotels swimming pool, that was complete with a kids play area, slides, and major waterfalls.  Once again, the kids had a ball and amazed us with their endless amounts of energy and never getting tired of swimming or sliding!

The hotel was GORGEOUS!!  Almost breathtaking outside.

After swimming and eating lunch at another favorite restaurant, a small French Cafe called Lilou's.  Outside the cafe, there was a parade of camels put on display each representing something different.  They were massive and decorated, painted with amazing images.  Gavin wanted to walk underneath one to see if he'd poop.  Random.  Haha.  

We spent the rest of our afternoon walking around, shopping at one of the malls.  We tried going to another movie, but couldn't find one that we wanted to the kids to see.  We did realize our double stroller could turn into a triple stroller in dire situations and it was AWESOME!!

Our weekend trip was wonderful and we loved getting to spend uninterrupted time together as a family and enjoying one another and getting to have some fun!!