Halloween

Tonight Rocco and I went with Sarah's family to their church for a halloween party. Rocco walked (crawled) away with first place for his walrus costume. He looked really cute. I couldn't get him to look at the camera long enough to show his face, but you get the idea : )

Glammin' it up

We finally got Rocco's glamor photos done. I think they turned out great. 

October 22nd, not 23rd.

We've been here in Idaho for about two weeks now, and have been soaking in all the beautiful Idaho weather, food, and PEOPLE!

Day before yesterday Rocco and I tried to take Bosco on a walk, but he gave up about a block into it. So, he road in the stroller, under Rocco's seat all the way to Starbucks. Where we met Shirley and Duncan for coffee.

Today we took some good advice and visited the Kilted Kod fish and chips trailer. I think it moves around a lot, but today it was up on Overland. We sat on the curb and ate, while Rocco tried to crawl into the parking lot.

We also stopped at the dog park for a little bit. Rocco really liked all the dogs. It was cute : )

So, there's the update. Hope everyone is doing well, and has fun plans for the weekend! I don't really have plans I don't think. Tomorrow I'll probably hit up the farmer's market downtown. It's supposed to be really rainy and cold though, so that will be the deciding factor.

Getting stoned at work

"So I was out on the balcony getting stoned.  I'm not kidding the
neighbor at our office threw a rock the size of a baseball and nearly
hit me. I wasn't looking.  Apparently he thought we were trying to see
his women or something, I don't know.  Jasper said he has a few screws
loose.  This is the first time he has thrown but he has yelled before
and picked up a rock once.  I apparently was threatening enough that a
throw was required.  And he was trying to look for another one but as
luck would have it, there wasn't another one close by him.  Although I
would have preferred it get way out of hand.  That is much more fun
and makes for a better story."


This is from an email I received from Rob today. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Idaho

A few pictures from this week....

a little late...

                                           It looks like he was eating it...but he didn't like it at
                                              all. He would spit it out.

Presents were fun...but the dogs are more fun!

First few days...

Rocco, at the doctor

                                                         The birthday boy...

Happy Birthday...

to my sweet little Rocco baby! He is one year old today.

Mafeesh Mushkila

It’s been a long while since I last wrote a blog entry. Perhaps I have been too busy or perhaps I have been too boring. However, now boredom has become my motivator as I am the only Rinard in Libya. As you, whoever you are, probably know, Melissa and Little Roc have gone home for a while and I am on my own. I am 48 hours in and going strong. I certainly miss them already, especially when I walk in from work, go to bed, or wake up in the morning. But each time I do one of those things I am one more walk in, lay down or wake up closer to seeing them. And knowing that Melissa will get to experience some of the Fall back home makes me happy.


Yesterday I was with Fadil, my dad’s former driver, for a couple hours as he took me to a meeting downtown. I feel very bad for him as he seems quite depressed. It seems to be a mix of things causing it; one of them is Dad leaving Libya. He loves Dad and makes a point to tell me constantly about how good of a man he is and how he misses him so much. While I feel awful for Fadil it is great to know that people think so highly of my dad.

Fadil is also very concerned about finding a wife. He says he is getting married, “maybe at Christmas time.” Which was a surprise to me because one, he doesn’t have a girl yet, and two, he was talking about Christmas. Do Muslims find any significance in Christmas? I should know this, but I don’t. Well anyway, he really wants to have a wife but he doesn’t know if he will and he doesn’t think his family is looking very hard. He is 34 years old so he has time but none the less he is not doing well. He told me “You changed my mood. I was feeling bad and you changed that.” I hope that’s true and I hope the best for him. He said I can call him to hang out and he will come pick me up and we will go downtown or somewhere. I invited him over for dinner and to hang out, so hopefully we follow through and do something.

This weekend I have been invited to something to do with a wedding at a mosque. One of the drivers is getting married and apparently the men go to the mosque and wait around, at least that’s how it sounds to me, while the father’s of the bride and groom go to another room and make a contract. I don’t know. I picture this as a negotiation involving livestock, land, money or some other possessions but that seems like something that should have been decided a long time ago, well before the wedding. SO maybe it is just signing a piece of paper. I don’t have a clue. And I can’t figure out what to wear. When I ask what to wear to the driver getting married or to Fadil they just say, “No problem, no problem.” They must assume I am saying I don’t have something to wear and want to assure me that whatever I have is fine. But really I just want to know what is normal so I can wear that. A little funny and frustrating. But no problem, no problem will have to do.

I miss my family, all of them. July seems like a long time away but that is how long I PLAN to be out of the country. I say PLAN because when do those really matter? Still no permanent contract here so anything is possible.

Estimated level of discomfort: High to Severe

Hello everyone! I'm writing to you from the sky. What did we ever do without wifi, and smart phones? An in flight movie is no longer exciting, it's expected. Now getting to check my email, download a song to itunes, and write this blog post while 10,000 feet in the air, that's cool. All on my little phone.
On a side note, I'm currently seaping in cold coffee thanks to Rocco's need to not only see out the window, but do so from my tray table.
Two hours, fourteen min to Salt Lake, then we're Boise bound!

an hour later...

I haven't started packing OR doing laundry...BUT! Back by popular demand...Salsa! Ohhh it's good.

the boys watching footbal...

Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow

Thus far, the weekend has been a good one.
Yesterday I went all over town to find avocados for this salsa. I went to 6 different produce stands, only to end up back at my usual one to buy the only two avocados in the city. (at least the only two I found in our area) They were too ripe, which is why I didn't get them in the first place. But they did the job, and the salsa was delicious! Everyone kept telling me tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. Apparently they were getting a shipment from Morocco. That didn't help me. After I finally bought them, got them home, and had everything cut up, we were 20 min late, and I had a huge cut on my thumb. Let me tell you, lime juice, jalapeño, and salt do not feel great in a cut. The salsa was then brought to a dinner with some friends, which was a lot of fun.
After that, a few of us walked down to Veranda for ice cream. So yum, I ate too much. So I was glad we walked home instead of getting a van.
 Today...
 We caught a van down to Lino's for a late lunch. It consisted of pizza for Rocco and I, and a hamburger for Rob.
It has really cooled off here, which has been so nice for walking. For awhile there it was unbearable with Rocco. It was either pushing him in stroller, which is a workout with the rubble of a side walk they have here, or carrying him. Carrying him is like carrying a cute little furnace when it's hot.
  We stopped at Aruba (I know that isn't how you spell it, but it's spelled something crazy.) on the walk back home for a few things for dinner.
(Rocco is sitting outside Aruba with Rob waiting for me while I walked down to buy some vegetables.) I went back to buy more avocados, and while he said they
The rest of today is set aside for some laundry and packing for me, and football for the boys. I have tomorrow, and the morning/early afternoon Sunday to pack, go down to Al Fata Tower and buy Rocco's ticket, and get Rob squared away with groceries for a bit. I may have procrastinated a bit. I tend to that when it comes to leaving on vacation. It makes the last couple days that would otherwise drag, fly by. I'm not sure my logic is the best...but it seems to work out in the end.
I guess that's all for now.
. Hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll write again when I get to where I'm going