Summer plans

It's time to head to the lake. This time next week, we'll be parking our lawn chairs on the dock, sipping iced tea and munching on chilled watermelon as we watch the clouds drift across a Northern California sky.

Rhyan says he wants to go bowling a lot this summer. He also looks forward to taking Dusty on long walks along the lake, and to the park to get snow cones.

Quinn is fixated on buying a new notebook computer so he can play his games on it. But that's not happening until late July, so he's thinking a trip to Six Flags in Santa Clara might distract him for a day or two.

Dusty will be in the U.S. for the first time in his life. We think he'll be enjoying the new smells, but won't know what to do without so much sand. We're pretty sure the neighbors' cats will have to figure out a new nightly routine, because the new Guard Dog is on duty!

Then we've got the visit to Dr. Gums, our dentist - a good teeth cleaning is long overdue. And of course, we're looking forward to a few trips to Yiayia and Papou's house, Eve and George's house, and some quality time with the cousins at Aunt Goldie and Uncle Skip's house, and Uncle Shannon and Aunt Caroline's house.

See ya'll soon!

Transition time

Over the last week-and-a-half, we were visited by some gorgeous migratory birds. We saw a few Eurasian Golden Orioles in our tree in the back yard. Their bright yellow markings of the male birds were a nice visual contrast.

The boys have been in a state of flux this week. Quinn turned 15, and has received final confirmation that he's been accepted to Squaw Valley Academy. Rhyan is relishing the idea of being king-of-the-castle when we move to Kazakhstan. And Dusty is making peace with his new palatial dog kennel (he's self-medicating with Bacon Strips).

It has been very dusty in Kuwait for the last week, a very odd sort of dust, reminiscent of the air quality in Washingston and Oregon after Mt. St. Helens errupted. A fine, silt-like fog enveloped all of coastal Kuwait for nearly a week, leaving a murky layer of fine sand on everything. But this morning, we awoke to clear blue skies and the sparkling waters of the Persian Gulf.

Next week, the movers invade to pack our goods for transfer to Kazakhstan and California. Quinn won't be bringing much along with him. He's getting a whole new wardrobe for school...new uniforms as well as winter gear (for the first time in his life). Rhyan is thrilled to leave school uniforms behind, but is disappointed to not be able to wear his biker T-shirts to school. He can, however, dress rebel-like on the weekends.

The summer in California will be full. Far too much shopping will occur. Hopefully some fun can be scheduled. A day at Marine World in Vallejo, a ride on the Skunk Train out to Ft. Bragg, and an Independance Day picnic at Clearlake. Rhyan's advance birthday party is scheduled in August just before he leaves for Kazakhstan. He gets another one in Kazakhstan, to cement ties with his new classmates.

Don't forget Dusty!

Dusty joined the team just over three years ago. He's not your typical breed of dog, he's a mix between Kuwait desert dog and golden Labrador retriever. This was discovered this through some research Rhyan did for a class project in 2nd grade. He learned that the Kuwait desert dog is one of the oldest indigenous canines, and typically found accompanying Bedouin tribes in the Middle East region.

Dusty's unique lineage gives him some interesting characteristics. He's very pack-loyal, so if you're a part of his pack, he loves you. But if you're not a part of the pack, watch out! He's apt to show his fangs first and ask questions later.

Dusty's list of talents include. but are not limited to: barking at imaginary objects; security; linguistics - he understands English (only when it suits him), Malayalam (a dialect from Kerala, India) and dog-speak (which sounds more like incessant barking or howling - especially when he wants a treat).

Dusty is mentally preparing for his first flight on a plane. He's trying to get used to the confinement of a pet carrier, but so far, there's no luck with that. He's going to have an ID chip subcutaneously implanted soon. There aren't enough Milk Bonz on the planet to get over that!

All about Rhyan

Rhyan began his world travels at 9-months-old when his family moved to Indonesia. Since then he's been a reluctant traveler, prefering to stay home and play with friends. But Rhyan has had some fun along the way.

His most memorable trip was to Langkawi, Malaysia, where he played with monitor lizards and manta rays. Rhyan also loved to see the London/Oxford/Edinburgh highlights atop red double-decker tour buses.

A trip to see the grandparents in Arkansas was made more special with a fresh layer of snow. Rhyan looks forward to moving to Kazakhstan because of the promise of more snow. He's planning for the mother of all snowball fights. He's also looking forward to ice skating, and learning to play hockey and tennis. And making new friends.

What Rhyan's loved best about living in Kuwait is all the friends he's made, playing baseball on a team, football on the beach. He's loved entertaining American troops Thanksgiving Day. And he's enjoyed the opportunity to drive a Jetski in the Persian Gulf and his motorcycle all around the community.

All about Quinn

Quinn is a most seasoned traveler. His first big trip was at age 3 - a roadtrip taking in all the national parks west of the Rockies, including those in western Canada. What a trooper! He loved camping, eating chili cooked over a fire, and getting dangerously close to bisen at Yellowstone.

Since then, Quinn's passport has been stamped in parts of Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. He hopes to travel to China and New Zealand before he graduates from high school, and he'll very likely have an opportunity to visit Istanbul, Turkey and Samos, Greece, the place of origin of his mother's side of the family, in the next year.

Quinn's next stop is boarding school back in the U.S., attending Squaw Valley Academy in Northern California, where he looks forward to spending the winter learning to snowboard, as well as a Christmas trip to see his family soon to be moving to Kazakhstan.

Quinn doesn't necessarily see himself solely as an American any longer, although he's still proud to be one. He considers himself first to be a citizen of the planet.