Fancy trees...

11 million dollar tree
diamonds... lots and lots of them.

The two kids are priceless..


in front of the palace


Rolling again..


in the fountain, i think we were allowed in there ;)

So today we had to go see this tree we keep hearing about. The funny thing is no one hear really knew anything about it. We all kept hearing about it from people back home :) So after going to see Tangled, very cute movie mind you. We went to the Emirates Palace and saw the tree. They say it is going to be in the worlds record book for the most expensive tree. I had heard they weren't letting everyone in. Of course, you can't believe everything you hear here. But we did get the car washed, and we all had on pants and sleeves. We got in, the car behind us didn't, so go figure :) The tree was beautiful, but I don't know... I was expecting more. It did have beautiful jewels all over it. So i think that is how they got it to be worth 11 million dollars. So we saw it, it was very pretty. The palace it self is so beautiful though, maybe if it were somewhere else it would stand out more? We love that place, so the kids had fun out front rolling down the hill. Frankly, i think they preferred that to the tree :)
On a side note, this blew me away. When we would go to the movies back home, and we would buy the food there at the theater, we would spend 40 to 60 dollars easy. 3 or 4 drinks, a couple bags of candy and some popcorn. Well here we got a large popcorn, a large caramel popcorn, 2 bags of candy, a large icee and 2 drinks (don't judge, making a point here :) 92 dirhams. That's about 25 dollars. Crazy!! I was so shocked! Plus, you can get ice cream!! I mean like marble slab ice cream, not a frozen chocolate bar. So that was our day. We had fun, best part rolling down the hill and playing in the fountain at emirates palace!

Still here...

Getting in the ball



Running man.



just like a little hamster, round and round and round...



The drama boy :)



choir girl



Giving his speech in our sammy

Monkey and his buddies

I can't really tell you how crazy things have been here. I'm not even sure what we have been doing to be busy. But have you ever had the week go by and wonder to yourself, where did it go? It's been like that for months now!
We are getting set for christmas still, i think the kids are going to be thrilled with their presents. As usual i have NO idea what to get the hubby. If he isn't careful he is going to get another dog statue. :)
We had our christmas show marathon with school. I have video's, but when your hubby is a computer nerd, he consistently "updates" the computer, and i have no idea how to get the video on here. He is working late most evenings right now, so he never has time to help me. Soon i hope! Monkey's performance was funny. He loved the attention, and i afraid we have created a drama monster! We are going to go see Santa on Wed. Midget can't wait. I found a fabulous mall with the entire 3rd floor video games and pc stuff, and you can haggle for the prices. So excited! We also let the kids ride in these giant hamster balls. They had so much fun doing it. I wish we had some at home, because when they got out they were so tired!!! Genuis idea people, now sell them to parents!

The Choir Singers

Christmas cheer...

can you feel the love :)


It was so crowded we had to go to the upper level :(


Our little singer, in her xmas hat!

Monkey and gang
Can't quite reach yet!

Gingerbread house, it was real, and there is someone in it!

So we have had a busy week, with another one to come. Midget sang with the school choir at one of the local hotels. Apparently that is what people do here? Strange, but it appears to be the norm. When you ask what people are doing, those who are staying anyway.. the answer seems to be going to one of the local hotels. These aren't like the local hotels back home, these are fancy, resort style hotels. They all seem to be having Santa Claus, or father Christmas for the British, and nice big dinners. I'm not sure i can do that, i mean Christmas is a ham or turkey dinner at home. But, this is the year of new, so who knows.
Midget's school choir did really well, i was very surprised. I know they had been rehearsing alot, and it showed. Now we have one more show during Monday morning for the primary years, where she will be dancing. I was overachieving and volunteered to make tutu's for the girls, not sure what i was thinking. So as we speak hubby is buying tulle. Then wed. evening at the end of term show, the choir will sing again, and monkey will be reciting My sammie with his 2 classmates. Fake liverpool accent and all!
So, we have the tree up, and a few presents bought. I have to wrap some still. So this will be our first xmas away from home, and it's a rather sad thing to endure! My first xmas in my life without my mom, and it's tough, as i knew it would be. But atleast the 4 of us are together, and that was the goal. I keep hearing about how bad the job market is back home. We have several friends who are not having luck finding jobs. They are being given out, but not at the pay they are used to. So the jobs are there, but not paying enough to support them. Rough times... So we are most thankful for our job out here! And the fact daddy is here every single night!

So much FUN!!!

People handing out cans and walking around :)

Uncle B, here is that car :)

That is a flat screen tv scrolling pictures of the Skeik, surrounded with flowers.



can you imagine?

traffic

the palace was all decked out in their colors

fireworks from the restuarant.



We had the absolute funnest time ever!! We went out for National Day, and when they say getting there is half the fun, i get it now! Now there were some flashbacks to evacuating for the hurricane though... that wasn't fun. But hsd we gotten to evacuate with silly string, confetti poppers, inflatable hand clappers and music, it would have been:) The road to the nice restaurant we were meeting friends at to watch the fireworks from, was packed with people. We had no idea! There were cars decked out in stickers with the country colors, hearts, huge stick on's of the sheik zayed. It was so fun to watch. There were feather boa flags even on hoods!! Gotta love these people's sense of style. Makes me wonder if they weren't covered up in solid black dresses and white shirts what would they wear?
They were spraying foam and silly string on each other's cars, hanging out of the sunroofs. They were even spraying inside the roofs! It was nice though, most would ask if they could spray your car :) we caved and i am so glad we did, because we had two of the happiest kids on earth! Disneyworld was great, but i am not sure, i think a case of silly string and some silly string wars might be close for our kids :) Of course as they hung out the sun roof, in true form, they were fighting over who was taking up more room, really??? Why??
But people were so nice, they handed the kids can's of string, and a huge popper to pop. All these people were just giving stuff to our kids, that is nice :) So we had a blast getting to the restaurant. Once we were there, we rode the elevator to the 55th story restaurant, it spins. We had a perfect view of what they called the worlds biggest fireworks show. It was big, and we had the perfect view. But we are from texas, and i think we've had bigger :) The kids then switched, midget went home with our friends for a sleepover, and monkey's friend came home with us. The partiers were still out, and foam was given, and sprayed. Until... dad could take no more and put the window locks on, and closed the sunroof:( partypooper.
So next year, we will be ready for this night!!!

National day at school

Monkey with his flags.

Hanging with his buddies

Midget getting her henna from one of the moms who volunteered

The fabulous dancers!

Some of the teachers dancing, love the kilt!

Tuesday was National Day for the U.A.E. at school. The kids, and some of the moms :), had lots of fun. Some of it was a bit chaotic, as we missed part of what we wanted to see :( Midgets class was to wear black shirts, and the other classes red, white, and green. They were all going to get into the shape of the uae flag. Well, a friend and I mistook the netball court, as the basketball court. Who knew? I thought they were the same! So there we stood, sipping arabic coffee, that was given out and watching these fabulous dancers, wondering where our kids were? Then there they come running, asking where we were, and that we missed the flag! DOH!!!
Their teacher said she would email them to us, but still.... So midget got some henna on her hands. The sad part was she waited, and waited. Finally she talked the girl into doing her, as her class had to go back. Tears helped.. so as she and her little friend were walking her friend grabs her hand, and smeared it! Oh the tears were back... a smeared flower henna tattoo.. Hopefully we will find somewhere this weekend to get some more. I wouldn't mind some either! Monkey got his name on his arm, and talked the lady into writing awesome. :)
The dancers were awesome! Very lord of the dance, but good. They had a buffet of Arabic foods. Again, i still say they are so similar to Mexico! Sopapillas, they called them some sort of pastry, but they were little sopapilla donut holes, that they put honey on. Monkey had fun running with his friends. They asked him to hand out flags, so he handed those out as quickly as possible, to reunite with his amigos :) Priorities:)
He was thrilled this week as we got our first aramex shipment. Call of Duty Black ops. Not sure who was happier he or his dad :) So now we know that address works!! Woohoo!