Greetings Everyone!

Welcome back to another edition of “Mitch’s Monday Happy Hour!”  If we were together and meeting for happy hour this week, here’s what I’d have to share:

• This week I bit the bullet and purchased NFL Game Pass, so that I could keep up with my favorite team, the Minnesota Vikings.  I splurged and purchased the “Season Plus” package for $199.99 (USD).  It includes all of the 2015 pre-season, regular season, playoff games, and Super Bowl 50!  It also includes archived games dating back to 2009, NFL Redzone Channel, Coaches Film, and the NFL Network channel until August 1, 2016.  Overseas, you have the option to watch games live or replayed in either full version or the condensed version.  It is incredible!!!  I spent a majority of the weekend sucking up as much NFL coverage as my brain could handle.  I can watch the games on any mobile device, but best of all . . .  I can watch it through our Apple TV too.  It is going to be so awesome to keep up with the NFL this year!

• Today we were at the hospital for a doctor’s appointment.  We were sitting in the waiting room when I noticed today’s copy of the local newspaper.  There was an Arabic edition and an English edition.  I chuckled to myself when I turned to the Sports section noticed the heading below.  We’re nearly 10,000 miles away from America, in a country where few people know the game of baseball, yet the St. Louis Cardinals clinching a playoff berth is big news in Kuwait!

• So far, we are having a great Eid Vacation!  We are in day 4 of 10 and it has been everything we’ve hoped for.  We’ve wrapped up a few loose ends for Baby J, so I think we are officially 100% ready!  We’ve spent a lot of time at the Hilton, did some work around our apartment, a little bit of shopping, and just chilling out and relaxing.  It’s been an incredible few days, and I look forward to the next week off too!

• Last week, my parents officially booked their flights from America to Thailand for our Christmas Holiday.  My parents will be meeting up with us for about two weeks.  We are so excited to be spending the holidays with them and for them to meet their first grandchild!  Now that their flights are booked, Rachel and I have been busy trying to finalize our plans and accommodations for the trip.  We are going to be spending lots of time at the beaches in southern Thailand, but it is so hard to pick which one to go to!  We’ve been doing a lot of reading and research and I think we have narrowed down.  One of my favorite parts about vacationing is the planning stages.  You learn so much about countries, and it’s fun to try and line up all of the logistics.

• Baby J is doing great!  We had another doctor’s appointment today to check up on the little fella, and the doctor said he is looking perfect (must take after his parents!).  Rachel is at 37 weeks and they are estimating that he weighs about 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg).  The good news is that the size of his body has caught up to the size of his head, so hopefully we won’t have to worry about having a bobble head baby (inshallah).  Today the doctor also said that he looks like me, and has my lips . . . . WHAT!!!  I don’t know how she can tell these things, but again . . . . . I’m assuming it was a compliment?!?

That’s all for this week folks.  Wherever you are reading this I hope you are well, safe, and happy!