The Easter Bunny comes to the Kingdom

Yes! That's right--the Easter bunny comes all the way to Saudi Arabia too. We were so excited to get a card from the Easter bunny.

I ordered these Easter baskets from Pottery Barn Kids. I brought them with us in our luggage. I love the look of the baskets, but overall I wish I had gotten the bigger ones. The felt part at the top keeps getting messed up and you can't see their names very well.

Thrilled to see an Easter bunny at the mall of Dharan. We won't get to sit on the bunny's lap this year. But, with the way that usually goes for us, we are simply saving some tears! This was taken at a candy store very similar to a Dylan's Candy bar at home.

At the Pottery Barn, Elise said "This is like Ethan's new bed!"

Since I've gotten here I've been doing a lot of online shopping and mailing items to my sister. The rules for mailing here are very strict. When I go home for visits I will have to stock up on clothes and other necessities. They have PLENTY of shopping here and very nice stores, but they are extremely overpriced. There are also no dressing rooms. So, if you buy something you take it to the restroom to try it on and you have one day to return it. 

There is a nicer mall in Dharan that has Versace, Burberry, etc.. and in those stores there are women's dressing rooms. 

If you have ever seen The Sex and the City part 2 movie,in Abu Dhabi-it is actually quite an accurate portrayal of the culture and life  here.  

This leads me to the next picture. I had ordered a smocked dress for Elise and sent it to Alecia's house. Poor Gregory needed to try it on so we could see if it fit Elise. Oh the life he lives with girls everywhere!! He will make a woman very happy some day...that is if his sisters/cousins approve of her.

Claire has been busy playing with her all of new toys from her birthday party. I'm also happy we have some new things to play with as we are still waiting on our sea shipment to arrive. We haven't received a new update on it yet.

Living over here, all the women dress in abayas and a lot also wear the hijab. Westerners, out of respect for the Muslim culture, wear abayas. We don't have to cover our faces. To be honest, it hasn't been as horrible as I thought it would be. 

Positives: I can literally go to the store in a bathing suit and just throw the abaya over me. 

I don't have to suck in my belly 

Negatives: It's hot and it's just going to get hotter.

This is a picture of me in a local store here called Royal Kashmir. It's in Khobar. I'm standing by a cabinet made out of doors from India.

They even market abaya laundry detergent over here! It's supposed to keep the black looking black. I had to pick some up! 

We spent the last week going to the beach because it was spring break!