Henna... woohoo

The kids and I ventured out to a souk for a nice lunch, and some wandering. Well, monkey ventured out with midget and I as he was promised a video game to go down the slides at Atlantis... Ssshhh, Don't tell :) So he endured our girlie lunch at Shakespeare's cafe, truth be told, he said it was the best burger he has had here. Go figure. I just love the ambiance at the place. They have all mismatched chairs, cute tablemats, fancy silverware and all things cutesy. A bit like a tea room should be back home. Of course this is how un-cultured the kids and I are. The man brings us our bread and butter, the butter in this cute dish, with a silver domed lid. Money takes the lid off, and there is a picture on the butter. So I am thinking, wow... this is nice, they emboss their logo on the butter... So we are staring in our hillbilly amazement, and the waiter comes and peels the piece of paper off the top. DOH! Of course, hubby says he knew about that, and has seen it lots of times. Hmmpf.
Monkey deciding which he wants...

Waiting for the food... how cute are the chairs?

So after our nice lunch, we came across henna. We have been wanting it for so long, and could never find it. So midget and I got our hands done, and monkey got a cobra henna tattoo. Henna is so strange though, it is a dye, so it is darker today than yesterday. They paint it on like cake icing from a bag, then it sits for 20 minutes, and you scrape the crust off. Not for the impatient child!

Midgets henna before we scraped it off, it was drying.

Midgets henna after we scraped it off.

ME getting mine :)

Atlantis

We decided to go to Atlantis today. The kids are on a mid-term break, last one for the year :) That place is just amazing! So we had the sand last weekend, so the sea this weekend :) It was so gorgeous there, and you get to use their private beach. Nice... We finally got Monkey to go down a waterslide. It didn't help that when we were about to go, the man in front of us, got scared and got off. So here we are, both chicken, thinking hmmmmm... But we did it! Of course hubby and midget were long gone down the slide. It's so neat though, you go through the shark tunnel! Very nice park, low-key rides, which are good for us chickens. A lot nicer i think than wild-wadi waterpark. But I am more of a lazy river floater, than a big slide person. I do have a complaint on water parks though. What are those of us who are blind as a bat supposed to do? I hate that, i can't see, can't bring my camera around.. I spend the day squinting and praying to not get separated from my family!
Do have a funny story though. We went to get ice-cream at the cart. There were these 4 or 5 emerati guys. They are so super-cool they think. Nice guys though. But one had on these tight running style pants, and a swim shirt. He was getting his money out of his butt. I"m sorry, there is no other way to put it. Right smack in the middle of his behind, not to the side, but in the middle was a zipper pouch where he had his money. Now to be fair, his friends were razzing him big time. But even hubby and i were chuckling, and his friends saw. So they were smiling at us. But oh dear, when monkey saw. You can't say butt, no bathroom humor or bodyparts to him, he's 11. So the guy pulling money out of his butt, it was too much... He was cracking up giggling, and said "mom, he's pooping money!" So the guys friend heard, and asked monkey what he said, and of course he told him. So they are laughing together at this poor guy! It was funny, i guess body part humor is internationally funny. I somehow recall my dad saying something about did i think he pooped money too. I wonder if he had those pants?
Atlantis as we are about to go into the tunnel to get on the island.

Atlantis the Palm Jumeirah

The water

The boys on the shuttle bus

The ceiling at the waterpark.

Going in, so excited.

Ah, another beautiful sunset.

Allergies...

Ugh! I thought coming out here would help midgets allergies. Well, boy was I wrong. Poor baby girl missed 2 days a couple weeks ago, and 2 this week. None of the medicine the pharmacist gave us helped. So we ventured out to the dr. After several phone calls, internet searches, we decided to give Al Noor Hospital a try. They have a paediatric clinic. Now yes, spell check says it is wrong, I saw it is wrong, but the brass plate on the hospital says that is how you spell it. So we asked for an appt when we called, this is the response i get. "Enshalla, you come wait, we will see you". Thanks lady! So in we go, 2 1/2 hours later we were seen. The dr was very nice, and she even spoke english! Hallelujah! So she has allergies, tell me something i don't know. Her nose was so bad it was bleeding :( So we got a note for school, 4 prescriptions, and a bit of advice to stay inside, she will be like this all summer. Not to inspiring a speech....
p.s. pediatric .... just saying :)

Finally.... made it to the dunes!

Well, it was 120 degrees, and where were we... in the desert of course! Finally we all got to go, and we had a great time! Some of the dunes are so high... and when hubby would go to go down them, it was scary! But they don't do that rush in your stomach like roller coasters, it's a slow way down, so that is good :) He loves driving in them, and i can get it now. It is fun! The dunes are so beautiful! The way the sand ripples like the ocean is really mesmerizing. So here are some pics!

Pretty desert girl

Daddy letting some air out of the tires, so we can get traction on the dunes!

This was the weirdest, scariest thing! This guys truck was literally stuck smack on the top of the dune! It was a crest, so the middle of his truck was on the tip top! So handy manny in his jeep pulled him down. So fun to watch, but glad it wasn't us! It was a steeper drop than they thought!

Hubby's first tow with his tow rope. :)

He's the king of the world!!!

Beautiful!

View from the front seat!

Straight down....

My pajero :)

Family pic on the dunes... what you can't tell is the car is so lopsided we couldn't get out on the other side, as we couldn't open the doors!

Running camel, so cute!

Beautiful sunset

Jumping down the dunes, they swam too... you don't want to know how much sand was in weird places ;)

Setting up for the bar-b-que, and they even played some football!

Breathtaking!

Midget took this of us <3

Hubby was loving the crisp edges on the tops of the crests

Walking across the dunes...

The little diva posing..

It's freezing out!

Ha!! It's so hot out there! It's muggy, and windy, and the sand is blowing in your eyes.... Other than that, it's great out :) So what does my husband want to do? Hey, honey, let's load the kids in the pajero and go drive in the sand dunes?! Fun, don't you think? I can't wait..... So that is what we are doing tomorrow, that and going to church. Maybe we can say a prayer in the church for a freak cold front?

Daddy's home!!!

Finally, after nearly 2 weeks, he's home :) It was such a weird feeling dropping him off at the airport here. Not at all like being alone back home! I've never felt so stranded in my life! I kept thinking what if something happened to him? Or us? We are here by ourselves on the other side of the world! But i was ok, after a minute that freak out passed :) We kept ourselves busy, had cereal for dinner a few times :)
Poor hubby, he had his flight from Vegas to Chicago delayed, so he got stuck in chicago overnight. Then the flights to Abu Dhabi were all booked, so he had to fly through Toronto of all places to get here. Crazy! But he got me flip flops from Target, oh how i miss Target! There is nothing like the clearance section of Target to make a bad day go good.... sigh. He got monkey some shorts, as the shorts here, are not quite his style :) Plus they cost too much, 10 dollar shorts from Target, Hooray! Midget got a lovely purple bikini, and a lifeguard barbie... I still say grammie picked that out! I got cake stuff, woohoo! Thank you grammie, and the best thing that came home, and has eased one of my biggest worries.. I thought he was lost forever.....
Monkey's Soldier Bear!! His only stuffed animal he ever slept with, he's had him since he was 3 <3

So close... but not quite

Hubby was so close to getting back from his trip, but no.... his plane was late so he won't be here until tomorrow :( The kids were dissapointed, but it's only a day.
We've spent the weekend swimming and going to lunch with some friends. We went to play nerfish paintball. You shoot the nerf balls, (as they were too young for the little rubber balls, thank goodness!). It adds a little oomph with a big puff of air. Of course leave it to the monkey to figure out if you take the attachment off you can still shoot the little rubber balls... It was fun though!
The guy seemed a bit surprised i wanted to do it.... Uh yes, i have lots of pent up aggression to get out!
She's ready for some revenge!

Hiding in the bags and behind the walls like in the games...

Does he not look like he's got an evil plan ready to go?

Those are the little rubber balls, and the nerf balls. He was trying to get to use those, but they hurt!

Pools, flowers, and Vegas.

Well, that certainly sounds like an exciting life doesn't it? Not when they are in totally different order, and not in the same country! Hubby made it through his trip to Texas, we got what we needed there, and he had a nice visit. He even stopped by my moms house with his parents and got her hooked up on skype! Her face was priceless when we finally got to see her after 8 months! He got to hang with his parents, which was nice. It was funny skyping with him while he was staying there. Felt a bit like deja-vu from nearly 20 years ago. :) I have to say though, i'm getting a bit disgruntled stranded over here alone! It's definately a different feeling than being alone in Texas. It doesn't help that now he's at a conference in Las Vegas... Yes, that is a tad bit of envy you hear in my tone. :)
Here are some pics from a very fun party monkey went to, and we ended up staying at on Friday. He had the time of his life, and at one point they had 17 boys in that pool!! My over-protective mommy radar was blaring in my head. he played rugby, and midget played with the little sisters. I got to chat with my favorite British lady :) Had the best little snacks! Not low-fat at all , i am afraid. A baguette of bread sliced, with cream cheese on the bread, and a salami slice, and some had little gherkin pickles. It was so yummy!!!
Now this is one happy boy!!

I promise the boy does eat....

These are the lovely flowers midgets teacher gave me for helping her out. Funny thing is i gave her some from the exact same place! Great minds think alike :)

All hail the Queen...

Here she is everyone...
Queen Elizabeth the !st

Their show was so great! They did an amazing job, and everyone looked so great :) I can't believe the teacher got them to remember all those lines, and parts. It was almost 25 minutes long, so for 7 and 8 yr olds, that is big!
How cute are they? Even the man with the Ax :)

Henry and a few of his wives :)

Some of the kids, aren't they fabulous!

The teacher's helper with midget and her classmate. Love her dress and hat!

The Teacher's helper, dancing around the gym with the kids, above and beyond the call :)

My baby girl in the stocks, she even had tissue paper cabbages thrown at her!

Their show was from the series Horrible histories. It is so funny! One song was called divorced, beheaded and died :)

Dubai... again.

We had to get a costume for Midget for her assembly tomorrow. There is one shop here, that has a few costumes, but certainly not enough to be so specific as to say " I want a English Tudor costume in a sz 8, please." So we went to a costume shop in Dubai, a lovely one called Ben's. They luckily had one that will do, not queen Elizabeth, but good enough. We then went to Dubai Mall to get some gifts, and have a look around. We got something special for a certain Grammie, Can't wait for her to see it!! We went to Jumeirah beach to see it, as the kids and I never had. Omg, that place is amazing! Beautiful beach, and shops. Can't wait to go and stop and look around.
Hubby is on the plane now :( Hope his flight goes well. Not crazy about being here without him, but movies and fun will keep us busy. So jealous of all he will have access to back home!!
The beach at Jumeirah Beach

This is where they think they belong all the time!