PHOTOS ARE HERE!

Brian's already in bed with a headache, so I thought I'd take this moment to add some photos from the last few months. It's nice these actually look like we do something...



This is the "Corniche" which is our beach. The water is warm and green. No waves but you can rent jet-skis and such if you want. There are also restaurants and cafes all along the boardwalk, and you can rent a bike and follow it for a few miles... I mean kilometers (got to say kilometers here). There is a free beach where we go, or you can pay a little bit and go to the family beach. The sand isn't as nice as Oregon's, but I have yet to find anywhere that is.




No need to search the beach for seashells- just look under your feet. Most of the countries over here have ruined their coral reef by creating "re-claimed land" where they literally reclaim the land from the sea- though I'm not sure it was ever not the seas to begin with... by bringing it to the shore and then building skyscrapers on it. Lots of dead coral in the sea, not much snorkeling to do.
Another Free Activity they had on the Corniche was a fair in honor of the Circuit race they had here in Abu Dhabi. They had lots of things to do and see. This was a sand sculpture they had of a race car and then they had tables with sand on them for the kids to try to sculpt their own. We then watched some professional kite flyers from France so synchronized kite flying.



This is the Ibn Batutta Mall in Dubai. It is the worlds largest themed mall. Ibn Batutta was the Marco Pollo of the Middle East. The mall has different sections dedicated to the places he visited. Beautiful design and creativity.

This was the entrance we came into- can't remember the country, I was just stricken with the details of everything- and the boys were fascinated by the huge fountain with the lions on it!

I want to say this was Greece...

China...

This was India.

Abu Dhabi had a Science Festival that was free to go to. They had lots of different "labs" set up for the kids to do experiments in. We wish we'd planned our visit better because we only go to go to two labs, but we had fun! This one the boys made slime.

Brian took a quick trip back to the US to go to his grandmother's funeral in November. When he got back he showed me with gifts from the promised land! This is most but not all of what he brought.

For National Day- which was a huge celebration here for the UAE's 40th anniversary- Ashton's school had some cultural things for the kids to explore. This is the camel and the Arabian Horse the kids got to sit on.

I decided that I would take the boys fishing- a bit impromptu and I had/have no idea where to go or what fish there are and what bait to use. But the boys liked trying! (and getting sandy, too.) The beach we are standing on you can see from the bridge in the picture. Mostly I just think this spot is beautiful and I admire it every time I go by. There is a little fort that sits out in the water that the boys call the castle (you can see it a little in the background).

One day I forgot I was filling up the tub for Ashton's bath... All the boys decided they didn't want to be left out of the biggest tub of bubbles they'd ever seen. And what mom can resist taking pictures of her three sea monsters all covered in it?

Decorating the fake tree- at least we had our ornaments!

Gingerbread Houses!!

I always get the boys to help me decorate the sugar cookies. It's an art project for us. Every year it gets more interesting with the older they get :) They do a great job!

Happy Holidays From ABU DHABI

Its been one year since we moved from the United States and began our adventure in the Middle East. The year has flown by and our perspectives of self, family, and the world have grown. Most of our experiences have been ones to laugh about and added to another chapter in the book of life. My New Year's resolution this year? To be a better blogger. When ever I have a new experience I think "I should write about this in my blog!" but does it happen? Like, I never wrote about the car accident that I was in (not my fault), or wrote to brag about how instead of freezing our tails off, we went swimming outside, in 87 degree weather the Sunday after Thanksgiving! Oh, well. That's why, like I said, it's my New Year's resolution to blog about life in Abu Dhabi.
This was our second Christmas outside the U.S. We left last year to Bahrain two weeks before Christmas and survived it, but this year was much better. I did most of my shopping in Idaho this summer. The toy selection here is pretty pathetic. We do have a Toys R Us here, which is actually attached to an ACE hardware, which is where we got our tree. We chose to buy a fake one instead of paying the $300 for a real one shipped in from Canada. Brian took a trip back to Utah and Idaho in November so he was able to buy some fun decorations- window cling pictures, spray on snow, ice cycle lights, and a wonderful tree-scented candle (which was the number one thing that helped it feel like Christmas). We had our tree up before it was even December. Our tree skirt is a ghutra which is the red and white checked fabric the arab men wear on there heads. Which reminds me of a story that I just can't help tellling...
There is a store we call the "Japanese Dollar Store." They had quite a lot of Christmas stuff there which was really nice to see (most stores have some, but not much). We needed a tree skirt and I thought as I was looking around, they might have one. I saw something that looked like it could be one, but it didn't say on the package. I asked the clerk, a Filipino woman, if it was a tree skirt (remember, most people not only speak English as a second language, but also only know as much about Christmas as they have been exposed to through the media). She said no, it was to wear, and gestured putting it around her shoulders. I guess I didn't look convinced, so she took it out of the package for me. At this time, the manager noticed us and came over to see if he could help. When she took it out and held it up, he said, "For little girls..." and began to demonstrate putting it around his waist. At this point I'm 100% convinced it IS a tree skirt, and you can imagine how hard it was for me not to bust up laughing. I tried not to make my smile too big so as not to seem as though I was laughing at them, and said shook my head and said, "No,no. Let me show you..." and took it and placed it around the tree they had on display. Both their faces just looked like "oooohhh" and laughed and smiled. I just smiled and handed it back and asked how much. It was more than I wanted to pay, but now I think it would have been fun to have it just to remind me of that story!

More later... I've run out of time. Got to feed my family sometime!