16 years...

16 years ago today i married my very best friend. We've had our share of ups and downs, been thousands of miles apart, lived in our tiny apartment and now in this too big house, and i would say i would do it all over again. What a life we have to share, and 2 wonderful kids. It certainly isn't a dull one!
This is my favorite...

My family..

Hubby's famiily....

The buddies...so young!

aww...

My gosh we were young..

My daddy...

Silly things... but good ideas

So the escalators here. Most don't start until you get near them. Very energy efficient. I get that, it's a very good idea. But when you are not used to them, and you have 2 right next to it, it leads to embarrassing situations. I try not to look any more ridiculous here than i have to. So i've found looking lost, as i usually am is not a good thing. So, coming up to an escalator with the men looking at you like you are an odd one, i just keep going and try to not get noticed. Alas, you look like a big, and i mean BIG goof going on a escalator that is not going to go up, when you need to go up. Standing there wondering why it isn't moving, and then bam. There it goes and an arab man is coming down it looking at you like, what are you doing? It isn't just me though, it happens to others. I've heard of our 6 ft 5 friend and our neighbor going to them thinking they have to climb them, and then falling into each other as it starts to move. That i would have paid to see!
But in case you are ever near here, or come upon non-moving escalators... here is my lesson to you...

The red light, which if you know to look for it is obvious.. means... yes, you guessed it don't go here... it's the wrong one.

Green means go :)

Dragonmart

So we went on a little adventure... not really it's only an hour away, but it makes it sound more exciting doesn't it? Dragonmart is a HUGE place, full of little shops with things made in china. We didn't see 1/4th of it. The stuff there was likely 99% junk. We went looking for a cheap quad bike, aka a 4 wheeler back home. We had heard from some friends that they had them there. We saw kid ones, but not bigger ones. Then we get a hold of them and they are supposedly on the other side of the mall. the mall if over a kilometer long, so we gave up. We had given midget some of her money left over from the garage sale back home, so she "translated" it. How cute is that? So she had 140 dirhams, sounds like a lot, but it's about 35 dollars. She got a hello kitty purse, wallet, a compact pink mouse for her laptop, and headphones, and last but not least, the cutest little chinese style dress. Can you believe it? Funny...
Monkey got a knock off gameboy, not quite sure why? It came loaded with games though,and was 25 dirhams! Nuts... But it was mostly junk. Lot's of knock of purses, but i had just gotten my favorite one, so i didn't want another. Although the burberry looking one, was calling my name. Had it not been in the DuDu store. :)
We also had some wonderful news, our new neighbors, who are old friends of hubbies have arrived. With them, 3 fabulous kids! And there oldest is close to monkey's age, and he is thrilled beyond words! Midget is excited too, they have a 3 almost 4 yr old girl, and she is all set to be a mama to her :) I am excited because they are the nicest couple and are from home!
Here is a link to dragonmart if you are curious!
http://www.dragonmart.ae/OurStores.html

A little tailgating, you can't tell how crazy close he is...

This is how we get from the other side to dad and monkey....

on the golf cart, for 5 dirhams, you can get a ticket and a ride!

We both want one of these awesome trikes!

And last but not least, the thrill of the day for both my boys.. giggles :)
The DUDU Store!!!

Desperate times...

call for desperate measures. As some of you may know, when the hubby was away we partook in some fast food... Chik-fil-a was a staple in our dinner menu. Let me just defend by saying midget's ballet class got out at 645 p.m. So by 7, there was no time to cook, bath and homework. I also saw many a friend at that drive-thru, so no judging please :) I don't know what they put in those sandwiches, but we have all been craving. So to carefour i went and bought my pressure cooker. I was wondering the reason for the varied prices, 100 dirhams, to 725? I think i should have gone halfway, as mine had no thermometer?? But it worked anyway, and we made ourselves a chik-fil-a sandwich! They were pretty good too! Hubby figured out the right way to close the silly pressure cooker, so i think using that right, will make them even better. But the coating was just right!

wow...

Ok, I hesitate to post this video, as i am sure this is a far extreme. The muslims i have met have been extremely kind, and extremely respectful. This guy must be an extremist, or have taken the quran and read into it as he saw fit to him. There are nuts in all religions...
But a etiquette to beating your wife?

woo-hoo!!

So it has only taken 4 months, but the day has come... I finally finished the laundry!!! How sad is that? I think there is a wife/mom police that was going to come and revoke my mom/wife title for having it go so long. No dryer for months puts a damper on things... get it? damper...
So that was our day. Doing the laundry... fun, fun. We also met midget's new teacher. I hope she does allright. I'm a little worried, she looked like she was in tears missing her kids. They won't be here for 2 weeks. She's supposed to be helping midget, and i think the poor woman needs help. She seems very nice though, and midget really liked her. I can't imagine being away from the kids for a couple weeks. So maybe being busy with the class will help. She is from Scotland, but worked over here for 15 years. Went back to Scotland, and is now coming here for a better education for her kids. Seems to be a common theme. So cross your fingers :)
We are waiting on hubby to bring home some Fuddrucker's. He was picking up my bank card for the bank here. In celebration of the completion of the laundry, we get Fuddrucker's. Now can i convince everyone to not dirty anymore clothes?

New Year's Day

Cool little cars that drive through Italy :)

There's some excitment...

They waited, and got to the ride, and his feet couldn't push the pedals... such a bummer. But dad won the race!




Look mom no hands!

Cool little chopper isn't it?

Here is the woman yelling at the man... She must have stood there for 10 minutes!

Racer girl! Call her Trixie :)

Happy New Year everyone! We had a quiet new year's even. Hubby took the boy who know resembles my son again, who formerly looked like a beatle for a hair cut. There were melt down's had, and a few harsh words but he is ok with it now. Mostly... We then went to Ferrari World for New Year's, thinking there would be fireworks... wrong. The park closed at 11. It was fun, i suppose we would have been more excited, had we been Ferrari enthusiast. It felt a bit like a Ferrari infomercial. It was a huge park though, and almost all indoors. The decor, and building were amazing though!
Midget did get her very own Ferrari driver's license, and they did have fun driving the cars. Although the kids cars were so slow! It was interesting watching some of the local's trying to scoot past in the queue, not line, because we now stand in long queue's. This one lady actually walked through the exit, took her kid put her in a car, even though my kids had been waiting 20 minutes. Then she proceeded to yell at the worker for asking her to wait in line. So her kid is crying, she is yelling, and i'm thinking my kid is waiting for this woman who is teaching her child what? Sad.... But amazingly enough, they didn't let her ride until she stood in line, which by the way, they refused to do.
So New Years, by midnight we were all still barely awake, watching the fireworks on Dubai One news, and thanked heaven we decided not to go see them at the Burj Khalifa, there were thousands of people there! But we sat snuggled up on the couch to watch them all together. So one peaceful new year's eve down in Abu Dhabi :)