3 strikes and NO BACON!

Friday didn't go exactly the way we had planned... Ken doesn't work on Friday, so we thought we could spend some time together as a family.  (Friday is the holy day here, so the work and school week is Sunday through Thursday).

Original plan was to attend church at Grace Fellowship, a non-demoninational church that appears to most closely resemble PCA/Baptist background.  Yes, church is held on Friday mornings instead of Sunday ... how odd to say "Friday School" after 36 years of Sunday School!!  Unfortunately we didn't get the directions in time to make arrangements for a taxi.  Strike one...

Then we planned to go to the beach.  We can't really go to the public beaches here since I would be required to be covered from my shoulders to my knees, so most expats go to the hotels and pay a fee to use their private beaches.  But when Ken called the hotel to confirm the fee, we found out the beaches are only open to hotel guests on Fridays, not the public.  We can go any other day of the week.  Strike two ...

Next plan was to check out one of the mega malls ... see what stores are available and let the kids play in the arcade/play area that each mall seems to have.  About 15 minutes before the taxi was to arrive, I happened to check Facebook and saw a posting that the mall was closed for 2 days.  Huh??  The entire mall??  Okay... Strike three...

So we ended up going to the grocery store.  OH WOW!!!  For my Pearland friends, think HEB plus with a second story and shoulder to shoulder people!!  Apparently we went at the worst possible time ... Friday afternoons are crazy packed.  I will never go at that time again - ABSOLUTE MADDNESS!!  But fun people watching!!!  We were able to find most everything we were looking for - even several of my vegan products!  Yeah!!  I also liked the seperate station in the produce area to weigh and label each item with a sticker to scan.  Yes it adds another line, but no more people at the check out staring at my produce asking me, "what's that??" and scrolling through their list because I must be the only people to buy some of these things in the US.

By the time we made it home we were starving.  Ken ordered takeout from The Noodle House (super yummy noodles!), while I unpacked all the groceries.  I also whipped up turkey sandwiches for the kids who couldn't wait for the food delivery.  Jaden and Nicholas kept talking about their ham sandwiches and I kept correcting them ... it's turkey.  Jaden insistented it was ham and I explained it can't be ham because we can't buy ham here.  Jaden:  "Why mommy?"  Me: "Because their religion believes that anything from a pig is unclean." Pause, pause, wheels turning, then Jaden: "Isn't bacon from a pig?"  Me: (uh oh) "Yes honey"  Jaden:  Eyes bug out of his head and tears start to well up and "You mean, there's no bacon?!"  You see, bacon is one of Jaden's favorite foods and since my kids eat so little and are so tiny, I put no limit on what they want to eat.  So bacon away at home!  Here, not so much... a rough discovery for Jaden.  Not to worry though, he recovered quickly and we have found several new things we love here -- like chocolate hazelnut wafer cookies and fresh pressed strawberry juice!!