Almost there...

Hopefully today we will get the keys to our villa.... I am about ready to lose my mind in this hotel. If i eat fast food again, i am going to scream!
Hubby and i had a nice day out together yesterday getting some furniture ordered. Apparently we didn't take into account that all the other people were arriving at this time also, and maybe they want their furniture right now to get out of their hotels also. The nerve, do they not realize i am stuck in a hotel with two kids???
So we don't get all that until next wed. We got the kids full size beds, and i think they are going to love them. Our furniture arrived yesterday, and will be delivered tomorrow. Thus the need for the keys today, i hope the planets allign for that.
Somehow the shipment came in my name. Since he has the visa, he needs to sign a permission slip basically saying he allows the shipment to be signed for by me. Gotta love the middle east, i also need permission slips to be on the bank account. I think he likes that one.. With all the fabulous shopping, i can see why :)
The jewelry here is amazing. We passed a shop yesterday that had beautiful pearl earrings, they were bug stud ones. They were only 75 dirrahms. That's about 16 dollars! I told the hubby we should get midgets here for when she gets married. Just planning ahead. She has already decided she is getting married here at the Emirates Palace, the most amazing place ever. We haven't even been inside, but we can tell it's amazing. She absolutely loves it here. I've talked to some other moms, and so do their daughters. Must be all the bedazzledness of it here. Not sure if that is a word, but it suits this place, diamonds and sand :)

happenings

I had some pictures on the memory card in my camera, and my laptop ate the memory card! It's stuck on something, and after trying to pry it out with a butter knife, i'm going to let mr. computer guru get it out, don't tell about the butter knife though :)
We finally got a rental car, and hubby has his visa, we don't have ours yet, as he had to get his to sponsor us. So the contract on the villa is moving forward, and hopefully soon we can live like normal people in a house, and not eat out every night. That gets old very quickly. Although it is nice to have chili's delivered to your door.
Hubby drives like a pro here, me...not so much. We got the gps and that is a godsend. Although the roads have 3 names for each road, and they turn into different roads. I got completely lost getting the kids. "Take the 5th exit on the roundabout...recalculating...." Why doesn't it just scream at me "turn now stupid...oh you moron you missed it!" You know they want to. :) I went on the same roundabout 3 times and missed it. And it wasn't the charles griswald missed it, where i went in circles, it was the i took the wrong exit and was going down the wrong road. There are no u-turns. So i was going down the wrong road for 5 to 10 minutes before i could re route. Once i missed the exit to the school, and was right on the other side of a field/desert. Had i had my suv, i could have hopped the curb. That was sure annoying. The kids were awfully quiet, and monkey shooshed midget once, as i gripped with white knuckles and stared at the gps :) We made it home though, i only missed the street once:) Really it's just a little different way of driving, and i think once we get used to it, it will be fine. I'm picking them up today, as she has drama club, so i hope it goes a bit better:)
They are signing up for music lessons, they do them during school. She chose the flute, parly because i played it, i hope she likes it. 8 seems young to me to play that, but it's what she wanted. I explained that they do have to practice, so i hope they like it. He chose the guitar, which he's wanted to play for a couple years. I think music is such a great way to express yourself, so i hope they love it as much as i did. Monkey has also fallen in love with drama class, and he even earned house points for his house he did so well. He's such a funny kid, and likes to act silly, so i think this is awesome. He thought it would be boring he said, so that's why he never really was interested. Now he knows it is fun, he's all for it. So he is switching out of the music technology club, and into the drama club. Watch out world, because this could be his thing i fear... :) Midget is also into the drama club, but she is just dramatic, so i am interested to see how she likes it. She's dramatic in a different way than her brother. He is not shy one bit, and will do anything, anywhere to get attention. She is a bit shyer sometimes. So we shall see. It was that or arabic cross-stitching. Which was surprisingly full.
I also ventured out walking near the hotel, and found the most wonderful bookstore. It is called all prints, and has craft supplies and all kinds of magazines and books. I was so happy to be in there. There is something so calming about a bookstore. I got a couple books, since my kindle charger was tossed by the hubby. A whole other story :) I got a wonderful ballet book for midget, and even found monkey's skateboarding magazine. So there was a bit of home. I also found eggo waffles at the lulu market. Waffles, i mean really, they have cocoa pebbles, eggo waffles and a bookstore that is a barnes and noble and michael's craft store in one. We might just make it here after all :)
That is about it going on here. Hubby is running from ministry to ministry getting all our paperwork done. It's pretty stressful, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel now. We are working on paperwork for the school. Grammie is helping with that. The schools here don't recognize grades, just years. So we have forms to fill out. Sheldon is driving grandma bonkers, and she is anxious for him to go i think. We are dying to see our super kitty. Monkey is so desperate he's taken to trying to pet these stray cats, and i can't stand that. Who knows what they have. Midget is looking for new kittens online. Sad isn't it? Our stuff should be arriving on the 25th to the port. It will be there a few days to clear, so hopefully around the same time our villa will be ours. Can the stars allign that well?

Weekends

skate park



Dad and midget, all ready for a day at work

police car at the car fire

car fire at the university by the kids school

splash pad at night

waiting for a cab.....and waiting

field/desert on the way to school

I don't think i will ever get used to Friday beings Saturday, and Saturday being Sunday. For some reason that just confuses me, and throws the days off. So on Friday, which was really Thursday, we went and hung out at the park, and then came back here. Monkey got to skate at the skate park, and midget and I tried out the splash pad. Well, it got dark before we got there, and one little section was on on the splash pad. There was one family, and they were just watching she and I. It had the poles like the one did back home, so i kept telling midget go rub the top of the pole, that is how you got them to go on at home. So she would rub it, and nothing, She tried all of them, but still just the one section was on. All the while this arabic mom, and her friend and about 4 kids were just watching us. Finally midget just splashed in the one little section. I got the feeling we looked a little nuts rubbing these poles, but i could swear that is how you turn the darn things on! So i think this afternoon we will go out there and see how the thing works. All the while trying to keep some dignity :)
Monkey had a much better time, there must have been 50 kids at that skate park! Some on bikes, some on boards, and some on rollerblades. It's apparently big here, go figure. They were from all different places, and were all doing cool tricks and showing each other how. He had a great time, and talked to alot of people. when he finally got back in, his face was so red, but he had the biggest grin ever.
Yesterday we went to our friends and ate chilli. They are great cooks, and they had some other people over. We were talking about the kids first week of school. All the new words they learned, like midget learned the "rubbish bin". For those of us it's just a fancy word for trash can. Biscuit, a cookie. So she knows now she wants a chocolate chip biscuit, she needs to learn these essential things. She also lost her swimming costume, which was in her kitbag. In our language, she lost her swimsuit, that was in her gymbag. She came home with a boys swim suit. Hopefully she finds hers today. I'm not up for another scavenger hunt for a blue swimsuit... :(
It is so funny, both the kids, and our friends son are picking up these hilarioius accents. I guess being around the british all day rubs off on them. Although monkey just likes making fun of it, and talking about hogwarts. But at the dinner we had 2 polish people, 5 americans, an australian and a south african. Now are these kids going to be well rounded or what? All these people seem to pick up the accent. Like our realtor, she was american, but has picked up a british accent, with an arabic one mixed in. So can you imagine our kids? A british/arabic/texan accent. It's really going to sound funny when they say yall :)
"yall want to come to my villa? mummy says we can have some biscuits and go swimming..."

You know you have been in abu dhabi to long when....

You expect the confirmation on your airline ticket to read "insha'allah"
Your ideal vacation is anywhere you can eat pork
Your idea of housework is leaving a list for he maid
You get excited and spread the news when "Oreo" cookies or chocolate chips show up at the grocery store
You fully expect to go to jail when a local national hits the back of your car at a stop sign
You think that the further you inch into the middle of an intersection, the faster the light will turn green
You consider it normal for the same section of the road to be dug up three times by contractors in the space of a few weeks
You understand that the true definition of a nanosecond is the time interval between the light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn
You make left turns from the far right lane without a second thought
You think it is perfectly normal that your neighbour has 2 Ferraris and a Hummer and never works
You think that a box of Kleenex belongs on every dinner table
You think water comes in bottles

argg

Ok, so logging into this is a real pain!! Apparently there is google.ae, so if you don't know apparently arabic writing is backwards, so i just spent 10 minutes trying to log in here! Although i did laugh when i saw the taxi sign on the back of all the taxi's saying this...
My speed is monitored, but it said it in arabic with the exclamation points at the beginning. It's the little things people :) I can now almost ride in the cabs without breaking out into a nervous sweat, i am just going to trust that the little bangladeshi man knows what he is doing when he swerves in the too small space at 120 kilometers, and no i don't want to know how fast that is. i will figure it out when i am driving my own car, likely going 40 kilometers. Thus the reason i am wanting a armored tank, to protect me from the before mentioned bangladeshi taxi driver.
We are still waiting on the visa, hoping it will come sunday, enshalla. oh the enshalla's.... monday at the maximum sir.... I can't wait to get out of this hotel. We went to look for couches, and wow. They are either way to modern, and when i say modern i mean star trek modern, or way to gold and tassely. There is always ikea i guess, but they seem kind of poorly made, good for shelves, not for kids jumping on kind of durable furniture. So, this leaves my poor hubby to consider pottery barn, or crate and barrel, maybe a ramadan or eid sale will still be going on :)
I'mm off to go see despicable me, you may be saying it was out over a month ago, but hey, it's a new release here!

All went well!

The kids loved their new school! I am s relieved by that. They had library, and both loved the library. They made lots of new friends. Monkey gets to hang out in a lounge room called the common room when he finished his work, so that is really neat. They get 3 breaks each day, and midget loves that, as she's a social butterfly. We sign up for extra activities today, so i hope we can get the ones we want!

School days at Hogwarts

Couldn't fit the whole school in with the driver going so darn fast!

outside her room.

Are these some gorgeous kids or what?

He looks like he's off to hogwarts, maybe he's right

She loves this outfit.
The kids started school today. Monkey keeps talking in this goofy british accent, and saying he's going to hogwarts :) It's really funny, although i hope he doesn't do it at school, as they might not see the humor in it. I hope they don't make fun of them with the y'all's they say. Midget was so excited to go, and she loves her outfit, and so does he actually. We haven't gotten his tie yet, as we don't know the house? color. The school is so nice though, and everyone is new, so that will help i hope!
p.s. i've learned a few things also.
1. The exit signs here are not red. They are a funny picture of someone running with an arrow, but they are green... which guess makes sense, green means go.
2. A hallway, is apparently not a hallway here, it's a corridor.
3. no cafteteria's either, it's a dining hall- fancy sounding name for a room with screaming kids :)

Birthday Bonanza Weekend...

Midget and her dad having fun...

How cute are they?

She and her dad liked this game/ride. I did because it blew cold air on them..

Monkey helped light her candles.... please keep lighters away from him..

Her interesting cake. it had chocolate swirls on it, our friend was kind enough to convince her it was the hole alice fell down... :)

riding the rides with our new friends...

Midget with her new friend, she loved this ride :)

The fluff from her pettiskirt was all over the place. But apparently they hadn't seen these skirts here, everyone was watching her and smiling at her skirt. She was loving it :)

Are they adorable or what?

Midget and her new dollhouse:)

Wild Wadi waterpark

This is one of the delivery guys on the freeway, they have these for Burger King, everything.. Midget was joking to have him stop at the next light, she wanted a sandwich please :)




The man carried all her pottery barn kids loot to the car for us.

The Burj, the tallest hotel in the world, we are still debating if it's the tallest building. It is gorgeous at night though, they light it up in different colors on the white. Beautiful.

This pic is not good, but as you can kind of see, he's sporting a university of Texas hat with his dishtasha.

These lights are all up and down the median's, and they look so pretty at night. And for mom, they are almost all blue :)
Some friends of ours have this for their son, and it appears midget has taken this one as her own. We drove to Dubai to wild water waterpark, and picked up her presents from pottery barn kids. It worked to her advantage we didn't know where to get stuff at. That store was so big, and nice! Right next door to crate and barrel no less. The kids even had fun in there playing with some ther kids, as they actually have the toys out to play with.
Some of us had more fun at wild wadi waterpark, as certain family members bailed at the last minute before getting on the tube ride, so dad and the un-named boy spent the next 2 hours trying to find us. She and I went on the ride with our friends, and it was fun. We finally all caught up with each other later, but it was a little stressful for some of us. I must say, there were all types there! Little itty-bitty bikinis, normal suits, burkinis, speedo's. That burkini, hides alot of flaws, might have to look into that :)
Today is my sweet girl's 8 th bday, and i can't believe it! She got her bday pancakes, and the dollhouse she was dying for. They didn't have all the furniture, so we will have to find some somewhere. But her calico critters are in their new house, and all are happy. We had ordered a cake, which made me sad as this is the first bday i haven't made her cake :( They messed up the order after he finally found the bakery, they didn't have it. So he got some funky cake, but it was a cake, and she managed to get some candles blown up. We made due, and he did find some beautiful cupcakes for her. We went to an amusement park, and had some cake with friends. We had ordered an alice in wonderland cake, but they of course lost it, and hubby grabbed what he could. It was good, and we had fun riding the rides and playing games!

Off we go...

We are on our first adventure out of here. Ok, so it's only an hour away.. but still. We are off to Dubai too find Pottery barn kids to get midget's bday present. Yes, I said pottery barn kids, not Mohammed's camel repair shop. It's in the malll with crate and barrel and pottery barn and a million other shops. I think hubby might regret bringing me to the shopping capital of the world. Not to mention these people don't wear the suburban texas mom uniform of capri's, t shirts and flip flops. It's rather annoying. No, I don't want to get all dressed up to go to the mall. But boy, do they treat you like poopy if you don't!
So after we hopefully find this mall, we are meeting our new friends, soon to be neighbors at wild wadi waterpark. Say that ten times fast, you can't? Well neither can my kids who won't stop trying!!! It's going to be a long drive....

No internet.

Hopefully, if it all works out the villa will be in this section...

Yes, he is holding his starbucks in front of the gap.

Yes, it's elmo;) And it's over today, we can eat and drink, and as the guy said at the hotel, he can smoke 5 cigarettes at once if he likes :)

Here you go people, she's on a camel :)

Midget, hubby and i on the bumper cars...

This was the weirdest thing! It was a walking tiger you ride!

Monkey at the skate park at the cornich park.

It's hard, and sad... to believe how much we use the internet! We haven't had it for two days, and i feel likei have no idea what is going on back home! Thank goodness for the world wide web, i certainly appreciate the name of it more now!
We moved hotels because i complained about our one room studio, but now i would like to take it back please! Sorry sweetie, but this place is stuck in the 70's. One hof his co-workers actually called it "seedy". But it does have tons more room. Is there a half-smile icon for that? I'm going to get new sheets and pillows tonight hoping that will help. I managed to put on the ipod i soothe app, so i can listen to rainstorms in my head, rather than the construction that went on all night.
We went to a get together with another family who we love, and sme co-workers. Hubby met with the landlord of their villa, and they are getting the paperwork started. So not only do we get a really nice villa, with a pool, we get nice neighbors we already know! I can't wait to move in!! I miss my stuff, and my kitty Sheldon!
We went to a mall and the kids played at the family fun center in it, they are all over the place here. They had tons of fun, and it was nice to relax for a bit.
School starts Tuesday, and the kids are so excited to go, shocking isn't it? That is how bored they are right now. It doesn't hurt they get to swim in pe. We had to get the swimsuits, in solid navy, not an easy thing to do! I kept telling monkey he may have to get that speedo he was dreading.. but we mangaged to find a non-speed one. Apparently they are big here :)
Before i go, i have to say this... These people are crazy for Ed Hardy! Why....

Wow...

Yes, that is some fancy fountain.. but really, it's 114 degrees. Don't you think a pool would make more sense? Do you really think i can keep the kids out of that?

That is the street of Golf Gardens.. fancy, but kind of stuffy inside.

It's a horrible picture, but it's called the Grand Mosque. The place is huge!

The sidewalk at the hotel going to the beach

The kids in the pool. Lovely view of the construction isn't it? The funny thing is that's the actual hospital hubby will be working at. Kind of ruins the view though..

The most amazing thing happened this morning... I went to read my email and we had our first ever email from my mom!!! Way to go mom!! That is just the most amazing thing ever, the kids were so thrilled to see that!
We have been crazy busy with finding the villa, looking at those and checking things out for the kids school. We've still got to go get their uniforms before school starts. This is hilarious, and I mean no disrespect in this.... but... We aren't certain which day it starts as we don't know the exact day of eid. That's the end of ramadan. Well there is the moon committee, and they have to say the day eid can end. So the day eid ends, will determine the first day of school. Can you imagine if the president or govenor said "well we are waiting to see when the next full moon is, then we will decide the first day of school..." Different world out here :)
We have been swimming at the pool which the kids love, there is a small beach at the end of it. We're trying to think of something special to do for midget's bday this weekend. She loves horses, and we found a hotel in Dubai that has stables, but seems they are all booked for eid. The hotel has a boat rental place we can rent from. She's pretty easy, and so excited i don't think she'd be dissapointed with either. Looking at the villa's was interesting. Not sure how honest our realtor is though. Seems she only wants to show us one's she's connected to somehow. They get a 10 percent commision off the rental price. I can't wait to get out of here, as these quarters are so crowded and we are driving each other crazy.
Here are some pics of some of the neighborhoods we looked at. It seems the more you you pay for the neighborhoods the smaller the yards. The further out you get the bigger house, the more the sand. There are some beautiful ones, and we are actually going to a nice couple hubby works with tonight to see theirs. They have one in their neighborhood with a pool. The kids would love that, so would I :)

Sleeping

I'm guessing this is jet lag, but it's 3 p.m. and the kids are still asleep. I got up and went back to bed, and got up again at 1. I'm not a napper, so i guess the time change has hit me. Hunny had to go to work so he hasn't really had a chance. Plus all the traveling he's done i'm sure helps him. Which brings me to this..
Travelling with a professional traveler is not good when you are not. It is really not good with kids. He has this all down to a science. He has his belt off, watches off, knows to wear easy shoes and so on. I on the other hand, do not. I did take his advice and wore slip on shoes, and did get some for midget. I am always looking for an excues to buy shoes :) But monkey doesn't wear slip ons, so he slowed him down. Plus our traveling companion, is a normal traveler like i, so we would have been fine if it were he and I. No, we had general as our leader. I'm sure in the long run it made our trip easier, but wow was that annoying :) Keeping up with him was a feat. Walking behind him as he weaved his way in and out of the normal people, and getting the dirty looks in his wake was a bit tiresome. But we managed. But i have this to say, people please, PLEASE.... if you must wear sandals to the airport, please, please, please bring socks. I don't want to see or smell your barefeet and corns for 14 hours!!!! To top it off, the nice bag of essentials etihad gave us had socks. Had i known this i would have given mine too this man next to me.
So we've been to the mall our hotel is connected to, it was nice. Midget found some lovely dresses, monkey got a game. Hubby gt some nice dress shoes and a belt. We will tour the kids school this week and get their uniforms. You may hear screams of anguish as Monkey sees what he has to wear, and hears he ccan't wear his skate shoes. :) Apparently since it is ramadan here until the 9th, the school is pen, but not really open. There are kids there, but they aren't going to start learning anything until the 14th. The school is ib school, and british , so it has to be open to keep the accredation, but with ramadan, there are lots of people not here yet, so there aren't many people there. The directors words to hubby were if you want to get them off your hands you can bring them eariier than the 14th. Really??
It's kind of funny i suppose. One has to have a sense of humor about these things, or i think i would go crazy.