Brad sent me this photo from work yesterday, and I’ve got to say that I have never been more excited to see a key in my life. While we still don’t have the required documents to purchase a vehicle as we plan to, he was able to pull off renting a car {with some help from a friend} and I’m beyond thrilled. I know that it’s ridiculous, but 34 days of being a stay-at-home mama without a vehicle, transit, bike, or any real mode of transportation while living where we do nearly got the best of me.
More than ready to get out of the apartments and Mahboula, I packed up everything we’d need for today’s adventures late last night so we could hit the road early and make the most of our first day with wheels. I’m not sure who was more excited – me or the munchkin!
Our first stop was the big park in Egaila. It popped up during our last year of our first Kuwait stint, and was a very pleasant surprise. It was clean and housed a large walking oval, exercise equipment, children’s play equipment, and green grass, which was a total score for the part of the country that we live in.
Sadly, things have gone down hill badly in the two years we’ve been gone…
The rubber mats under the equipment have been ripped up in many areas, the structures are in desperate need of maintenance, and the park is just generally filthy. Sad day.
With that, we decided to quickly check out the waterfront just for curiosity’s sake.
It actually wasn’t as dirty as I expected it to be after seeing the state the park was in, but it’s also not really the type of beach you sit and play at, so on we went.
Next up, we headed to our other previous favourite – a much smaller park just off of the 208 exit that doesn’t seem to get a ton of traffic.
We were thrilled to discover that the playground equipment was in decent working condition and the park was generally clean.
Gracen explored like she’d never seen a playground in her life and oohed and ahhhed over all of the choices available.
The neatest part is this oceanfront zip line that was installed sometime during our 2 years in Canada. It’s quite big and Miss G was a little hesitant to test it out today, but she decided that she’d definitely do it the next time we visit with Papa (good call, Grae… I’d rather Papa be present too.
I didn’t realize quite how hot is still is during the mornings, so we stayed until we desperately needed some cold water and a/c and then headed off to the school for a visit. While there, we visited Brad in his new office, did a walking tour of the elementary campus, and visited the library to check out some books.
It was a good day and I can’t wait to continue our exploring tomorrow. On the top of Miss G’s list – the Scientific Centre!
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