Hey Everyone,

Welcome to this week’s edition of Mitch’s Monday Happy Hour!  Here’s what I would share if we were meeting for Happy Hour this week:

Hayden is 4 Months Old!

• It’s hard for us to believe, but lil’ Hayden turned 4 months old this week!  It blows our minds how fast the time has gone by, but it also kind of feels like he’s been around for a lot longer than that too.  The lil’ dude tugs at our heart strings on a daily basis and has brought so much joy and love to our family, that words can’t even begin to describe it.  It’s probably a bit hard to tell from this family selfie we took, but at his last doctor’s appointment, his head size was in the 75th percentile, his weight was in the 97th percentile, and his length was off the charts!  This lil’ HUGE guy is getting so big, and our Pediatrician calls him Hercules.  Hopefully he’ll make his parents a lot of money in the NFL someday!

Mosque in a Roundabout

• The other day I was driving in an unfamiliar part of downtown Kuwait City, when I came across something very interesting . . . . a mosque in a roundabout!  It was dark out (sorry for the crappy picture) and I was just following along with the Google Map on my iPhone, and knew that I had to turn at the next roundabout.  However when I looked up, there was a beautiful mosque that looked like it was in the middle of the road!  There are so many elegant mosques here with mesmerizing architecture, but this one really caught my attention since it was in the middle of a roundabout.  During our tour of Kuwait’s Grand Mosque, I remember our guide telling us that once a mosque is built, it can’t ever be torn down.  They can remodel and upgrade it, but it can never be destroyed or removed.  Which made me think . . . . . . was this particular mosque built before the roads, and so the engineers had to divert the traffic around it . . . . . hmmmmmmmm, not sure!

I did a bit more research on it (like 5 seconds on Google) and found out that it is called the Murgab Mosque at Al-Shamlan Roundabout.  Here is better photo of it thanks to http://www.dreamstime.com:

Photo courtesy of http://www.dreamstime.com

Someone Found a Land Mine in Kuwait

• I love reading the local newspaper, the Kuwait Times, because you never know what you’re going to find.  Speaking of finding something, apparently people are still finding land mines from the Iraqi invasion 25 years ago in the desert outside of Kuwait City!

Whoaa Truck

• I was driving the other day and got stuck behind this guy.  It might be hard to tell from the photo, but the truck was leaning BIG time to the left.  At the next intersection, he took a sharp right turn, and I just stopped in traffic, waiting for the entire rig to flip over on it’s side!  Luckily it didn’t, but I swear his tires were off the ground.

Make Yourself Proud

By: Unknown

• I stumbled across this quote online a few months ago, and for some reason it just hit home with me.  So much so that I took a screen shot of it and saved it on my iPhone.  I kind of forgot about it until I was looking at old photos the other day, and it brought a smile to my face again!  I was asking myself the same questions two years ago, when we were debating on if we should move overseas to the Middle East.  (for the record though, I never dieted, cried, or hated myself, I just questioned and wondered if we would regret it)  I finally got to a point though where I just said, “we only have one shot at life, let’s live it up!”  So I leave you today to ponder the question, Are you making yourself proud?  If not, remember . . . . you only have one life, spend it well, go out and live!  Make yourself proud!!

Adios for now everyone!  Come back again on Wednesday though to see what decision we chose from our previous post.  Are we going to stay in Kuwait, go back to the United States, or move to another country?  See ya then!

Hey folks, welcome to another week of Mitch’s Monday Happy Hour!  After 10 days off for the Eid Holiday, today was our first day back to work.  It was a bit difficult to wake up to an alarm clock, but we made it!  It was great to be back to school and hear all of the stories from our friends who traveled around the world, as well as see all of the kiddos!

Here’s what’s up this week:

• Rachel and I love reality TV!  As much as I hate to admit it publicly, one of our favorite shows is Survivor.  Most of you are probably thinking, “What?!? They still make that show?!?”  Yes, yes they do.  Survivor first aired in 2000, and is currently on season #31.  We are “closet fans” meaning that we don’t openly admit it to people we first meet, for fear of embarrassment.  However when we moved here last year, we met another couple that were just as big of fans as us!  We were so excited to receive a piece of tree mail from them last week, inviting us to a Survivor Premiere Party!

  Upon our arrival, we were greeted by other fanatics, and no longer felt like we had to hide our enthusiasm for the show.  One of the party goers even admitted to writing a huge essay in college, regarding the gender roles on the show!  We all demanded a reading next week prior to the new episode.  The party was excellent, we each had our own torches, we wore buffs, and of course there were themed snacks!  At the end of the episode, we held a little “draft” to pick who we think is going to win this season.  It will be fun to meet up weekly with our group to watch each new episode, and to see who’s going to win!

The 2015 Survivor Crew

• Baby J is scheduled to join our family at any moment now.  Lately I’ve been busy trying to read as many parenting/baby books as possible, almost as if I were studying for the most important exam in my life!  Some are helpful, some are gruesome, some crazy, but I finally found one that is absolutely hilarious!  My favorite one so far is called, My Boys Can Swim by Ian Davis!  I would literally “laugh out loud” while reading it.  It’s only about 90 pages long, but the author does an excellent job of presenting important information through humor.  I highly recommend it for any soon-to-be dads out there!

Thanks Amazon.com for the picture

• I was reading the online edition of the local newspaper, The Kuwait Times, and stumbled across an article that made me chuckle a bit.

I haven’t had to dig any holes yet since we’ve lived here, and after reading this story, I don’t think I will be anytime soon!

• Back in the United States, we always here the name: John Doe.  He’s a mysterious guy that nobody has ever met, yet we all feel like we know him!  It’s the name that the police use when they have an unidentified suspect, the name people use when they don’t want to reveal their true identity, and it’s the name that credit card companies use for promotional cards.  Last weekend I found out that the John Doe of Kuwait is named Abdullah Ahmed.

• While I was driving the other day, I noticed a goofy piece of equipment.  I took a closer look and realized that it was a “cab less” loader.  I’ve logged plenty of hours operating a loader that you think I should be able to easily identify one, but I thought this one looked so goofy without a cab or even a roll cage!

• Rachel and Baby J are doing great!  Rachel is officially 38 weeks pregnant, and I feel like he could come any day now.  He’s an active lil’ guy and is still gaining weight each week.  The doctor said he seems happy and content inside Rachel’s tummy, and that he isn’t showing signs of leaving anytime soon.  Rachel is doing a phenomenal job of keeping him cozy, as we patiently await his arrival!!!

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!

One of the coolest things about NFL Game Pass is that I can watch 2 different games at the same time: 1 on my laptop and 1 on my Apple TV!

• 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!

Sports section of today’s Arab Times.

• 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!

Cheers!

Welcome back to our first edition of Mitch’s Monday Happy Hour of the new school year!  It’s a way for me to share news, stories, or just fun tidbits of what we have going on in our lives.  The kinds of things we would discuss if we were meeting with our friends and family back home for a happy hour to enjoy a cold beer or glass wine.  So let’s get started . . . . . . .

• It has definitely been hard getting re-acclimated to the weather these last couple of weeks.  It has been super humid since we’ve been back, which has made the weather almost unbearable somedays.  The highs have been around 112-118 degrees Fahrenheit.  However the other day, with the humidity, the heat index was 133 degrees Fahrenheit!  Needless to say, we spend a lot of time in the A/C when it gets that hot.  Earlier this week I stopped over at our mechanic’s house and had him top off the freon in our car after school.  Now it is pumping out some nice freezing cold air!

The Durango getting topped off with some freon.

• Last weekend, a couple of friends and I went boating in the Persian Gulf.  We went out for a night cruise and had a ton of fun!  It was the first time it’s been out since last May, but it fired up right away.  Unfortunately, the lights stopped working during our voyage, so we had to rely on the moonlight for navigation. Also, the swells were a little bigger then we expected and the bilge pump wasn’t working, so we took on a bit of water.  The good news though, we had 2 life jackets for the five of us guys and we all survived!

Heading to the Persian Gulf to do some boating.

• When it comes to finding “western products” at the grocery stores here, you never know what you’re going to find.  It’s kind of like Costco back in America,  they’ll have a certain product, but when they sell out, they won’t have it again for another 6 months.  I was pleasantly surprised this week when our favorite grocery store had a huge collection of Tabasco, Frank’s Red Hot, and Siracha.  I’m not a big fan of spicy food, but we definitely stocked up!

The hot sauce aisle was full of goodies last week!

• I’m organizing a Fantasy Football League again this year for a bunch of the teachers we work with.  A few nights ago, we hosted the draft at our place.  Of course I feel like I drafted the best team in the league, but we’ll have to wait and see how things turn out as the season progresses.  I had to take a picture of one of my friend’s notes and share it with everyone.  She was so organized and kicked ass at making a game plan.  As always, it should be a fun season of smack talking with friends!

My friend’s notes that she took during our fantasy football draft.

• One of the coolest things about living abroad are the sights you see on a daily basis.  After awhile you get used to them as you slowly become acclimated to the culture.  This year, I want to try my best to capture some of the interesting things we see on a daily basis and share them with you here on our blog.  Here are a few for this week:

1.  I saw this tiny little truck in a parking lot the other day with 3 huge round bales of hay.  I was shocked that such a little truck could handle that amount of weight, but also wondered where the heck they found such lush and green hay in the middle of the desert!  Don’t worry, the bales weren’t tied down either!

That’s a lot of weight in that little truck!

2)  I captured this picture while driving the other day, and it always amazes me that people can carry things on top of their heads!  The bags always look so heavy and I can’t figure out how they can keep them balanced.

It amazes me that people can carry things on their head like this.

3)  I still can’t get used to the idea that most people here don’t use car seats.  While at a red light yesterday, I was starring at 3 kids in the back of their Pajero without carseats or even seat belts!  The driving here is very aggressive, and all I could think of was the tragedy it would be if someone rear ended this car.  Scary!

It is rare to find young children in carseats or even seat belts here.

Well that’s all for this week folks, we’ll see you guys next Monday for another edition of Mitch’s Monday Happy Hour!

Happy Monday Tuesday Everyone!

If we were meeting for Happy Hour this week, here’s what we’d have to share:

• This weekend we enjoyed an extra day off on Sunday for the Muslim holiday Isra and Mi’raj.  Isra and Mi’raj marks the Prophet Mohammed’s journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and his ascent into heaven.  The holiday was on Saturday, May 16th, but about a week ago, the Kuwaiti government announced that it would be observed on Sunday.  As a result, all schools were closed and we enjoyed a nice 3-day weekend.  The majority of our weekend was spent relaxing, hanging out with friends, and reenergizing our minds as we begin the home stretch towards summer break.

• A lot of the teachers who are leaving Kuwait at the end of the school year have started to sell a lot of their household items.  We have purchased a few odds and ends over the last few days, but I’m most excited about my new coffee maker!  Now you might be thinking to yourself, “you’re excited about a used coffee maker?”  Well . . . . they are actually pretty expensive here and rather difficult to find.  It’s been so nice to have the last couple of days and is so much more convenient to use rather than my old french press.  There are a few more “garage sales” around our apartment building this weekend, so we’ll see if I score a few more treasures.

• The last couple of weeks I have been able to get back on the basketball court to ref a few games.  I’ve been doing both the boys and girls 5th grade teams from our school.  It has been a ton of fun to officiate again, but even more enjoyable to cheer on the students from our school as many of them explore a new sport.  Obviously soccer is #1 here, but it is great to see them stepping out of their norm.

• Since our doctor’s appointment was canceled last weekend because the doctor was sick, we were able to reschedule it for this weekend. I get so excited for each of these appointments, and wish we could go everyday!  It is so incredible to see our little Baby J on the ultrasound, and the growth between each appointment.  I find myself starring at the monitor and just watching and observing, in complete amazement.  This weekend we got to see a nice profile view of the face, with the little nose and lips.  We even got to see a big ‘ol yawn . . . . . it was soooo cool!  We also got to see the arms, legs, vertebrae, and genitalia!!!  We still have some family and friends we want to share the news with, but stay tuned to the blog this week to find out if we are having a boy or girl!

One month from today, we arrive back in Minnesota for the summer!

Hope everyone is well and we will see you next week for Happy Hour!