Another Day in Paradise!

Alright, yes, I am currently addicted to blogging! However, with this season of Mad Men over, Entourage only on once a week (on the slingbox) and no other HBO or Showtimes series on, I am stuck at the computer. Plus...I just keep thinking of things I want to say or show!! Like today...no different than any other Friday, but it was a great day!

Yesterday, we bought a fake Christmas tree at the Abu Dhabi Co-Op, no doubt. I was fearful it would be difficult to find Christmas decorations here, thinking we may be decorating a palm tree. By the way, we have no fireplace but we do have a roof, so Jake and Jett are convinced Santa will come via that route!! Instead, there has been an amplitude of decorations every where I go! This is so crazy to me that here we are in a Muslim country and there are signs that Christmas is coming every where we go!!

Jake had been asking me over and over again..do they (the locals) know about Christmas here? It can be difficult for a six year old to understand that they know it, but don't celebrate it...and with the abudant decorations everywhere he is totally perplexed!!

Anyway..on to our day. We'll even though Thanksgiving is still a few days away, Jake had to put the tree together first thing this morning. So there we were with coffee and PJ's putting together a very Charlie Brown tree (i.e. cheap)!! We had a great time and the kids loved it..and that is really all that matters!

Later in the day we went to a new hotel shopping and dining area for a late lunch, this was great fun. We decided to let the kids play on the beach for awhile while we sipped our Starbucks. The weather by the way is beautiful! It is 90 something outside, but after living in the summer here, that feels like a nice 75 degrees! Well, Jett...our little sweet, loving but crazy boy couldn't resist his temptation..I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!!


Our Christmas tree..not bad for living in the middle east!!

A Christmas tree displayed at the mall...

The sun starting to come down at the Shangra-La Hotel Beach.


The boat canal ride at the Shangra-La Hotel Souk Canels..a new area here in Abu Dhabi!!

Shangra-La Hotel Beach..looking across the the Grand Mosque...

Jett in action...

The result...a wet but thrilled little boy! No matter where we go or what we do, sometimes these are the moments the kids seem to remember the most!

The boys watching the Arabian sunset...My loves...oh, how they make me so happy!

It's RAIN

I awoke Monday morning to grey clouds, which I thought looked like rain clouds..but then thought..it really doesn't rain here until January, well next thing I know...rain! The boys were thrilled! Jake has complained about living in a no rain country, as many of you know my boys LOVE mud and water!! We were rushing out the door to school and Jake just wanted to play in it but couldn't because he would be soaking wet for school. He still mangaged a few minutes of running under the cool drops, knowing it wouldn't last long.....between leaving the house and getting to school (about five minutes) blue skies and warm weather prevailed!

Al Ain Zoo

Because Al Ain stays cooler in the summer this is where the zoo for the city resides. We were not sure what to expect but overall we were very impressed with this zoo! There were animals at this zoo that I had never seen before, ever!
The boys by the entrance.

How did this lion get a water bottle? We finally figured out why there are signs posted that say do not throw bottles or rocks at the animals...people do, see below a local taunting the lion...we had a flashback of the incident at the San Francisco Zoo that just occured about a year ago! Except this guy would have deserved to be attacked!! After he was done teasing the lion he chucked this water bottle at the lion, the lion grabbed it and off he went. Security was standing right there, but what are they going to do? An indian worker would never tell a local what to do, he might get in trouble!! Hense ....the way this country operates!!! Most locals do not feel rules apply to them...they can buy their way out of anything!

A wild speckled dog...have never seen this one!

What a happy cutie! He has not mentioned Ross Bridge in a good two or three days!!!!

Jebel Hafeet

Again, I have posted my pictures in the wrong order. So we are starting at the top of this mountain and working our way down!! Last weekend we drove to Al Ain to do yet another visa run. We have had to do these once a month -- drive out of the country into Oman just to come back into the UAE and get another 30 days on our visitors visa. This whole process has been, well, a royal pain!! But, we have been assured that Mike's visa will come through in the next week and ours to follow. We can finally buy cars!!!!

On this Visa run we went to Al Ain, an oasis about 1 1/2 away. This mountain called Jebel Hafeet (I think it means hill in arabic) boasts that is has the highest rating driving road in the world--of course the boys loved it!! We drove to the top and had lunch at the hotel. The view and rock formations were awesome!!


This is a palce that is still underconstruction at the top of the mountain.

View from the top...see part of the road in the distance...

Headed up...

The mountain in the distance, as we start the climb...

I personally love these little excursions, it is so cool to me to know that we are getting to see these places that most people will never see, in person or in pictures. What an experience our family is having!

A Day at the Park

The weekend before last, while Mike was back in the states for meetings, the boys and I decided it was finally cool enough for us to try the fabulous parks here!! Abu Dhabi is a city that comes alive at night, as most everybody takes an afternoon nap and then goes out in the evening when it is cool. The parks also come alive at night, so we were the one of the few families there at 11am on a Saturday morning. It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze and perfectly blue skies...





Notice all the building...

A ghost town park..at least the kids didn't have to fight over the swings!!

Sitting in this park and looking at the green grass, big trees, blue sky and tall buildings made me think of our days in San Francisco.

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween in Abu Dhabi was surprizingly as fun as it is back home in the states!! Jett's pre-school had been working on Halloween crafts all month and had a great Halloween party in which all the children dressed up! See Jett below explaining his costume to his friends! For those of you that were with us last year--yes, Jett chose to wear the same astronaunt costume but this time we didn't need to roll-up the pants!!

Outside Jett's classroom...

Outside the school...

Jake's school party is not until November 13 so he did not have to dress up for school. ACS has a Fall Festival for the whole family to attend..why in November??..I guess because it is cooler.

Halloween night we went trick-or-treating at a compound where several American families live. We joined our friends the Garbutt's for pizza and then took the bunch out for the rounds. This compound called "The Fortress" has only 24 units, all situated in a large circle which makes for a great, easy, and quick trick-or-treating path! It is still very warm at night..notice I'm a little shiny from sweating!!

Jett and his buddy Tyler...

Jake and his friend Jack...

Some of the families went all out!!!

Jake posing for me so happily!!!

The crew...I thought this photo was so funny..notice spiderman's physique!!

Jake and Jack Cook outside the Cook family home, number 11. This is where Terry Cook spent so many hours prepping me for Abu Dhabi!! I'll be forever grateful for the friendship we spawned over the internet and her great introduction into life here!!!!

Great Halloween fun!!!