Afternoon at the Family Beach

 

After a tough morning, I decided to have a better afternoon and just have some fun.  The kids and I took a taxi to Beach 3 (family beach) since I heard there were playground at this one.  As we got out of the taxi, I saw Cold Stone, so we got ice cream first and then went to play.

  

Ice cream and beach make this boy very happy. he says “BEE” in attempt to say beach.. very cute.

the view from outside cold stone^^

 

standing in the sand looking at the playground^^

 

^ they loved this boat, climbed on and under it – they had a blast

view^ from the playground – those are all restaurants^^ lining the beach

^ a cool nest-type swing

Leopold from Austria and Will were buds.. played ball together!

Audrey made two friends and played so hard!

We had a GREAT afternoon, and it was the first night we all slept all night. yay. I feel like I am able to get around a bit better since I feel comfortable getting taxi’s by myself with the kids so we aren’t confined to the apartment.  I love that the kids love the beach so much.  It cost me a little over $2.00 to get to the beach (8 Dhs.) and it is WELL worth it.  I only saw 2 mothers with kids.  The rest were nannies.  It was nice to watch how the kids interact with them and vice versa.  I even talked to one of them asking if she knew anyone wanting a job. :) LOL.   All the nannies at the park were from the Philippines and seemed to know each other.   I enjoy observing and watching how people do life here.. so different from the USA, but I’m liking it already… I watched a group of moms come up, probably about 5 ladies, all with strollers, big kids and nannies.. they stayed at the park for maybe 10 minutes, got the kids adjusted and then went to dinner in one of the close by restaurants, leaving behind the nannies and kids.. i think they took stroller babies with them.  How nice to have a conversation without interruption…(something we are working on right now with Audrey).  It was a win win for everyone.. the kids all had a ball, the mommies get a break (without guilt). 

This morning, Colette was gracious and thoughtful to offer to pick me and the kids up, drop me off at the grocery store, keep the kids at her house, and then pick me back up when I was done.  SO NICE.  I got lots of stuff.. my head started to hurt doing all that math (not my best subject).  When I checked out, it was 513 Dhs. talk about make  your heart sink!  I did the math (of course on my calculator and it turned out to be $140. not that bad considering how much food I got and a bunch of coat hangers, a cheese grater and a “meat hammer” as kari calls it.   I was tired of improvising with the chopping the cheese into teeny tiny strips for taco’s and I was having to flatten chicken breasts by beating them with wine bottles.. dangerous! Getting my kitchen gear back will be the best day everrrr!  I am so thankful I put my big skillet in my suitcase…I’m pretty sure that was my mom’s idea.

*I noticed on my receipt from LuLu’s how neat it is to know where all the meat and produce come from:

Apples from Italy

Carrots from Australia

Grapes from India

Potatoes from Saudi

Beef from Ireland

…also.. fyi, they call it a meat hammer too (he he he!)