The Snells: Crafts, chocolate, and casts....Oh My!!!

The last few weeks have been filled with lots of fun!! Soren's school had a two week spring break this year, and since Ryan has been working the turnaround, we stayed here. A lot of our friends went on trips, so it was pretty quiet around the compound. But, we still had lots of fun! Ryan and the kids adventured down to one of the beaches where there is a school of fish. Some of the workers on the compound go out there to fish and it's quite the site to see! They cast out their poles with no bait and catch one of the smaller fish. Then, they use the smaller fish as bait to catch the big fish. When Ryan and the kids were down there, they caught a queen fish and let the kids look at it! It was huge!!!

The Queen Fish

We also adventured to Dhahran to celebrate birthdays. On our way into Dhahran, we got to drive past the Aramco compound, which looked beautiful. Hopefully someday we will get to see that compound! We went to the mall of Dhahran, ate lunch, went to Toys R Us kids so the kids could spend some of their birthday money on a new toy, and went to the Ikea. It was a very fun day, but we were all exhausted when we got back home that night!

Houses on the Aramco compound

Elsa's new birthday present...a swing for her baby!!

Later during Soren's spring break, some of the women put on an Easter craft day for the kids. They got to decorate pots, color pictures, and eat yummy treats! The kids had a great time!! We also dyed Easter eggs with some friends and made homemade Resee's Peanut Butter Eggs. Needless to say, they passed the kid approval test!!! They were pretty tasty!! This past weekend, we also had an Easter Egg Hunt on our compound. The kids had such a blast! They got to open their Easter baskets and were excited about what the bunny brought!!

Easter craft fun!

Decorating a yummy cupcake!

All the kiddos!

Sibling love!

Easter baskets!!!

Our homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were a hit!!!

Easter egg hunt!

They were in the bushes!

Ellie and Elsa....sweet girls!

Happy Easter from Saudi!

Soren and all his buddies!

This past weekend we went to a shrimp boil on the beach. There were about 80 people there and the kids just ran around and played! The weather was absolutely gorgeous and it was one of the prettiest sunsets I have seen here! We also went to a spring vendor bizzare this weekend. Lots of shops from the area come to our compound and sell their things! There were beautiful carpets, furniture, jewelry, and trinkets! The kids even got their faces painted!!!

Gorgeous sunset!

Beautiful!

Sweet sisters on our way to the shrimp boil!

Rrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

Pretty girl!

Unfortunately, it hasn't been all fun. Earlier this week, Elsa was climbing on a ladder at the playground, missed a step, and ended up falling. We decided to take her in to the clinic to get her arm checked out just in case. It was a good thing we did, because she ended up having a partial fracture in her arm and had to get a cast above her elbow. I was so thankful Ryan hadn't gone into work yet, since he was on night shifts this week, and so he was able to go to the clinic with me for the first time. The clinic was very nice and clean. We saw a pediatrician, got xrays, and then saw an orthopedist as well. All the doctors were very kind and great with Elsa! We were in and out of the clinic in just a few hours. Overall, it was a really good experience and now I have much more confidence if I have to go back there again. We were also super grateful for our friends who told us where we should take Elsa and to our friends who watched Soren for the few hours we were gone. Elsa was such a trooper at the clinic and has done really well since she got the cast. It's a little harder for her to do some things on her own, but she is doing great! The doctor said it should only by 10 days to 2 weeks for her arm to heal.

She was a champ!

All smiles the next morning!

It has been quite the adventurous few weeks. Soren has returned to school and is now studying dinosaurs, which he is loving! Word has it that he has been quite the teacher in his classroom! He has also started playing basketball. He practices once a week and has a little game once a week too. He loves it! Kjerstin is still growing and getting more alert every day! We finally got her crib put together, which she is now sleeping in. She is such a happy baby and always has a smile on her face! We are still awaiting our sea shipment, but are hopeful it will get here this week! Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!