It was a week of lasts: last time at church, last swim at the British Club, last time on base, last breakfast in the hotel. . . everywhere we turned we were faced with another ending.
Except the heat — the heat is never ending.
Last visit to the British Club to swim and have dinner. Yes, there’s a British Club in AD, but we can’t afford to be members. It’s crazy expensive. (The cost for one person is more than 3xs what we pay for our family membership here.)
One last time hanging out with Josie. They’ve been missing each other all week and sending messages to each other.
Carter, giving me duckface with his post surgery puffy lip.
Yes, she’s sad about leaving Bahrain
Friends stopped by our hotel for one last goodbye. They’ve been here a year longer than we have and Caleb and Kobe have been friends since we arrived and they were in the same class at school. This past year Camille and Talia have been kindergarten besties too. We will miss them.
And then it was time for our final dinner. Josh and I have a favorite Japanese restaurant that we started going to about 6 months ago. On Saturday nights they have all you can eat sushi, sashimi, and other amazing Japanese dishes. The kids have been begging to go with us, but it’s not cheap. We decided that we would take them for Caleb’s birthday and to celebrate the end of a great 4 years.
They all love sushi. Sashimi is my favorite (and Josh’s), but the kids preferred their raw fish with rice and seaweed. Other favorites were the ginger beef, tempura prawns, kimchi beef, fried chicken with ginger sauce . . . I could list the entire menu. No bad choices.
She ordered a coke on the sly and was so pleased when the waiter brought it to her.
She also had to use the restroom at one point and I asked if she had to go right then because I didn’t want to try to get out from where I was sitting at the table. The hostess overheard and offered to take her for me. That is typical of staff here — they carry kids around the restaurant, give them special attention, and spoil them any chance they get.
We laughed all night.
They asked us if we were coming for a special occasion when we made our reservation (since we were bringing the kids this time) and when they found out it was Caleb’s birthday, they offered to bring him a cake — amazing chocolate mousse on top of dark chocolate cake. Everything else they make is top notch, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by how good it was.
Caleb said his terrible birth day earlier in the week was fully redeemed by our dinner out.
We are ready to start our next adventure together!
Bye, bye Bahrain . . .