Sunday Dinner

Danny had to work this weekend so nothing exciting happened over here. I did, however, manage to put together a pretty awesome little dinner tonight.

Salmon, asparagus with hollandaise, and cilantro lime cauliflower rice.



And for dessert, oreo shakes with whipped cream





I had two pretty satisfied customers!

Moroccan Birthday Party

Saturday night we went to our first Moroccan birthday party. Our housekeepers oldest daughter was turning 14 and they planned a big party for her and invited us. Normally, this would be something I would try hard to get out of. I don't' like going places where I don't know anyone else or what to expect or understand what anyone else in the room is saying. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of any excuse to get us out of the party and it is apparently really rude to turn down an invitation to someone's home in this culture so we went.

It was fun but a little bizarre.

Everyone was so nice but we were probably the first Americans to ever step foot in this house. Everyone wanted to take pictures of us and with us, especially Lily. You would have thought that it was a party for her! She was probably in 95% of the pictures taken at the party that night.



We got the VIP treatment and ate a delicious dinner in a separate room with a just a few other people. The rest of the guests ate after we were done. This is another reason events like this are a little awkward for us. People go overboard when they know we are coming and do things that are beyond their means. We feel horrible when we know someone has spent extra money to do something special because of us. Another cultural thing we have to get used to.

After dinner we had a little dance party which Lily of course loved. That girl could probably dance until midnight if we let her!



Danny literally may kill me for posting this, but he got in on the dancing too! Anyone who has been to a wedding with us knows that Danny really loves to dance and has some pretty good moves. Not sure he felt 100% comfortable dancing with Hayat's husband though, haha!

We ended the night with birthday cake and juice before heading home at 10 pm. We were the first to leave. Apparently, Moroccans like to party!

Beach BBQ

Last Saturday we spent the day at a quiet beach about 20 minutes away from our house. We took all the supplies we would need to have a BBQ chicken lunch and had a great time!









Our BBQ pit







Lily had a little avocado appetizer





After our late lunch it was time for Lily to nap, so I walked the beach until she fell asleep.



Some beach tennis while Lil napped.







Since it was pretty windy we camped out behind a huge rock which turned out to be made of sand and shells.




Some rock climbing

Bed Head

Post afternoon nap Lily has an extreme case of bed head and is so sweet.



 Rocking her baby…



Then throwing her on the floor.

Paradise Valley

The weather here is too perfect to stay indoors, so we made the 40 minute trip on Saturday to a place called Paradise Valley.

Paradise Valley is up in the mountains and once you get to the entrance you have about a 30 minute walk/hike to get to the small waterfalls and diving pools. Apparently, back in the day, a sick German couple went up there and stayed for 6 months and went back to Germany completely cured so they told everyone that this place had mystical healing powers and it was paradise so that is how it got its name!




Don't be fooled, that dog is not Ender. She was just a local dog who followed us around for part of the day.





Lily looooves water. All she wanted to do was get in this water and play, but it was freezing cold. We had to restrain her most of the day.




On our walk back to the car we stopped to have a some moroccan tea and a snack.




We were way past nap time at this point so Lily took a quick snooze in her carrier while I huffed and puffed back up the mountain.

Sunday we walked from our house to the beach and then walked up the boardwalk for about 2 miles before we let Lily out to play in the sand. Then we hit up the Mcdonald's for lunch and the ice creme stand for a little treat.

Lily has been the sweetest little angel the past few weeks. She has always been really happy and good natured, but she is really putting on the charm and melting us these days!

We are all still enjoying life here in Morocco. Technology has made this so much easier on us. We FaceTime with my dad every night before bed and with Danny's parents pretty frequently as well. We have even face timed with our grandmas which is awesome. I still get to text with my girlfriends throughout the day also, so it makes it seem like we aren't that far away! It also helps that we will be back in Texas for a visit in less than 2 months! You better believe I am already making a list of places we need to eat and things we need to do. I have also gone a little crazy with the online shopping and my inlaws said I have a pile of packages at their house about 2 feet wide by 3 feet tall so it is going to be like Christmas when we get home!