Election Watch Event

Hopefully enough time has passed to be able to bring up the topic of the election again. Living in the Middle East I am constantly reminded that many citizens of other countries are not able to debate, express their opinion, or vote.

We have lived overseas for two presidential elections. On both occasions, I have been impressed with how attentive and informed (not always correctly) foreigners are about our presidential candidates and our electoral system. Our democracy ranks up there with our university system, Disneyland, Napoleon Dynamite, and Smores as things we should be proud of. 

Shelley and I woke up on Wednesday morning after the election, put our kids on the school bus, and then went to an election watch event organized by the U.S. Consulate. The advantage of living half way around the world is that we did not have to stay up late to watch the election results come in. 

Shelley and I voted for different candidates (I'll let you guess who voted for which candidate), but we both agree that both candidates are talented leaders, have good family values, and have our country's interest at heart.

Halloween in Dubai

By Halloween the weather here in Dubai had finally cooled down enough to enjoy being outdoors. Andrew dressed up as Harry Potter, Gaby dressed up like Cleopatra, and Colin dressed up like . . . . well, I really don't know what he was suppose to be. He was just happy to be behind a mask and not need to smile for the pictures.  

About a week before Halloween, the American School had a Halloween event where parents and teachers set up and decorated tables around the football field and gave out candy as the kids visited each table. 

 

Gaby and her two friends who are also in 7th grade.

Colin's birthday was November 10th, yet we decided to celebrate his birthday close to Halloween and take advantage of the Halloween theme. Colin is at the age that he refused to invite girls to his party and insisted on only inviting boys from his class.

One of the games Shelley prepared was a mummy wrapping contest using toilet paper. 

Entertaining ten six and seven-year olds for two hours is not an easy task. By the end of the evening, we pulled out the hockey sticks and had a mean game of hockey with some sticks I had made with PVC, some insulation, and tape.

 

Shelley prepared a variety of Halloween-themed snacks. The boys gobbled up the snacks and paid little attention to the work that went into preparing them.