Enjoying the Compound

Sebastian has discovered the joy of emptying drawers of their contents! Misha used to derive great pleasure from the same thing.

Backpack - check. Sunglasses - check. Misha's all set to go to preschool.

Family fun at the pool. Sometimes Sebastian swims too, but lately I've been keeping him out because he has a cold. Even then, I have to constantly chase him around the pool as he crawls up the ledge surrounding the pool and makes a beeline for the water!

Misha practices his paddling.

He has also gotten brave enough to jump in off the edge - no small feat considering that the water is deeper than he can stand up in.

He still loves playing in the sand. Our little park is perfect for that.

Misha was very proud of the crown he made at school.

Sebastian's new high chair has made mealtime much more enjoyable. Here he is chowing down on macaroni and zucchini chunks! If you look really closely (click the pic to enlarge), I think you can see one of his two new teeth that arrived last week.

Seb sitting contentedly, deeply engrossed in his task of grasping and eating .... The wonders of a high chair.

Enjoying the outdoors. The late afternoons and evenings are quite comfortable, and being in the compound means we have the luxury of sitting on hard-to-come-by grass.

This is our building in the compound. So green!

The kids in front of our apartment.

The kids inside.

Celebrating our great baklava discovery. Hyper Panda's baklava has proved to be the best we've found so far, very moist and full of honey. Mmmm.... (Hyper Panda, though it sounds like an overactive bear, is actually like a Super Walmart. Regular Pandas exist too. In total, there are some 65 Panda stores in Riyadh alone.)

We have been slowly meeting other people that live in our compound - we have recently met a really nice Russian/Egyptian family (the wife is Russian, the husband is Egyptian), and some people from Egypt and Lebanon. As we get into the rhythm of life here, we hope to spend more time outside mingling - and learning Arabic.

I've gotten a bit behind on my posting, but I do have more pictures to share. Stay tuned!