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.