Halloween

Our house was jack-o-lanternless this year for Halloween.  And this is primarily why:

That big pumpkin is a $62 pumpkin.

This little one is $22.  Nah.  We can do without.  Especially since the boys have never cared that much about pumpkin carving.  So maybe next year...maybe not.  Luckily, the boys and I took one last trip to Target those last few days of packing and picked up some cute decorations from the dollar spot. We had fun decorating the house with halloween garlands and the boys loved putting spider webs all over everything.

On the day before Halloween, Tate had a costume party at his school.  Finn and I took the bus in to Dhahran and met Glenn to get my temporary ID and then we had lunch together at El Chico, the Mexican restaurant on camp.  It's actually not too bad and not super expensive so I have a feeling we'll be meeting there fairly often just so Finn and I can get out and visit Daddy during the day.

 The restaurant is located right on the golf course and Finn loves the large rolling lawn out front.  He always wants to run back and forth a few times over the hills.  What a cute little runner he is.

 After lunch we went to Tate's school to get him in his costume.  The little girl with the spider hat in the cute peacock dress is Amani, Tate's beautiful friend.  That second week of school they moved us to a closer bus stop and to our surprise, Amani was on the bus with him.  She was VERY excited to be able to sit by Tate and be on his bus every day.  Turns out the admiration is mutual, which is always nice.  Sweet little kids.

 They shooed us outside to wait for the parade.  It was a very hot day and Finn and I camped out in the shade, which was slightly cooler.  Finn found a friend to talk to and a ball to play with while we were waiting so he was very happy.

 And I marveled at how different the sky looks here.  No mountains, covered by tropical plants and trees.  Not a bad view.

 Once the parade started, we joined the parents by the curb to watch all the poor sweaty kids walk by.  And we sweated along with them.  Finny is such a sweaty little boy.  It doesn't take long for his little head to be drenched in sweat.

 But he still has a big smile on his face.  Man, I love this boy.

 Here is Tate's class, led by his teacher, Ms. Karr.

 And here's Tate, waving to his adoring public.

 And then shooting his parents with his laser.

 The next day we attended out "morale group", yes that is a code word.  Apparently I have to use code words on all internet and other forms of communication here since everything is monitored.  That will take some getting used to.  It was nice to meet so many wonderful people who are going through the exact same things and it was also very strange to be meeting not in a meeting house.  All the toys and books and little kids folding chairs have to be carried in in suitcases since we can't leave them there every week.  And yet, it still felt the same.  Which is what is so wonderful about our morale group.
That night we got the boys dressed up.  Little Peter Pan and Buzz.  They were so excited to go trick-or-treating on our camp.

 Tate lasted just a couple of streets.  It was pretty hot in his big old costume.

 So after walking around a couple of streets, he and I came home to man the door and Glenn drove Finn around and let him hop out of the car at the houses that were participating in trick-or-treating and run to the door.  He had a blast and got a TON of treats.
Both boys came home and took off their hats and they were completely soaked with sweat.  It's different than our Colorado halloweens, having to figure out how to add layers without covering up the costumes.  Here we'll be figuring out how to make them lighter and less covered.
All in all, it was a great Halloween.  The boys had a great time and we were able to celebrate much the same as we would have at home.