Summer Vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow!  I can't believe that summer is upon us.  I haven't posted anything in several months, so here goes...

Jonathan and Everett and Coach Joe, aka Daddy, had a great baseball season.  They finished the season as the winning team.  Jonathan then went on to play for a couple more months on the All Star team, also coached by Joe.  We traveled to Kuwait for one tournament, which the team won, then hosted another tournament in Dubai.  Jonji's team came in second to the other Dubai team.  It was great fun.  The kids all had a blast, as did the parents! 

Over Spring Break, we took a family vacation to Thailand.  It was an amazing, fun filled adventure.  We started out in Bangkok, then headed North to Chiang Rai for a few days, where we rode elephants, visited Myanmar and Laos, then headed South to the beach, staying for a few days in Phuket.  The kids enjoyed Chiang Rai the most.  I think our morning visits with the elephants contributed to that!  The people in Thailand were so hospitable and absolutely lovely.  I'd go back in a heartbeat.  While in Phuket, we ran into a family that Joe and the boys had met in Abu Dhabi at a golf tournament...small world!  What really makes it small is that this family doesn't even live in Abu Dhabi, but in Mumbai, India...we just happened to be in Thailand at the same time, at the same hotel!  The kids enjoyed playing with their son, Ian, and Joe and I enjoyed some nice adult conversation with Judy and Dwight.  Who knows, maybe our paths will cross again!

Over Mother's Day weekend, I took and ME trip with a couple of friends and went to Istanbul, Turkey.  Wow, what a city!  It was beautiful and so nice walk through the cobble stone streets and see the history all around us.  We might have seen the inside of a shop or two or three or four...Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque were definite highlights, along with the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market.  We missed out on the Turkish bath and a few other things...will have to save those for trip number two!  I will definitely visit again.  I felt a bit guilty about leaving Joe and the kids over Mother's Day weekend, but thankfully, was able to get past it fairly quickly!!!

The kids are gearing up for the end of school...we have open house, art shows, musicals, parties, and a few other events to get through, then we're off to Nairobi and Masai Mara, Kenya.  We will tour around Nairobi a bit and go on a mini safari to Masai Mara.  We are staying in a tented camp, which the kids are really excited about.  Who am I kidding???  So are Joe and I!  I'll post pics on FB, and let you know how it goes in Africa!

We've had a great year here in AD and feel very blessed to be on this adventure.  We'll head to AMERICA in just under a month and can't wait!!!!  The kids are counting the days until they get to see family, friends, and their favorite furry friend, Daisy.  We have lots of fun planned over the summer and hope we get to see many of you!  Come visit us in Fort Davis.  We'd love it! 

Hugs to all!  Bloom where you're planted!

Survive Year One, CHECK!!!

Wow!  It's been nine months since I last posted anything...we've been busy!  Where to begin...we survived our first year!!!

After an amazing summer in America, including Texas and Florida, we came back to Abu Dhabi ready to explore!  We settled back into the school routine and haven't slowed a bit.  Jonathan is loving fourth grade and has great friends and wonderful teachers.  He often has to be reminded that school work MUST continue with all of the fun!  Everett has settled in wonderfully this year.  You may remember that his (our) first few months here were a bit tearful.  He has wonderful friends and teachers as well.  Both boys have been busy playing Little League Baseball since November and will continue through the end of March.  They are on the same team and are enjoying every minute of it.  The games are all held in Dubai so we're tearing up the road between here and there.  The fields in Dubai are very nice and were built after 9-11.   Apparently the Dubai Govt asked the Consulate's office what they could do to help after 9-11 and baseball fields were requested and built.  Pretty neat.  The backdrop happens to be pretty amazing.  The boys think it's pretty cool  to play baseball with a view of the tallest building in the world.  Jonathan tried out and made the All Star team.  Joe is coaching as well, so they'll be busy for the next few weeks.  We'll travel to Kuwait at the end of the month to watch the tournament.  Another great experience for the kids!  We are truly blessed.  Lila is in KG1 and is loving it.  She has a smile on her face every single day at pick up and chatters about all she did and learned.  She has a wonderful teacher and two loving assistants.  I help in her class on Sunday mornings and am having fun doing so.  I'm also one of the classroom parents for Everett's class.  It seems like each week I spend a little more time at the school and wouldn't have it any other way.

On November 17th we had a very special guest arrive.  Gran came and stayed with us for two months and we had a blast showing her around Abu Dhabi.  We took a trip to Oman for a long weekend as well and had a great time.  It would take days to mention everything we did while she was here!  I think she enjoyed her time here.  We miss her lots!  We also had two lovely ladies from Fort Davis visit in Dec., Betty and Evin Prude.  We laughed every day they were here and stayed quite busy going from one souq(market) to the next.  I think we bought a large percentage of Abu Dhabi's pashmina supply while they were here, not to mention pillow covers, spices, coffee pots, bowls, etc.  We're now on a first name basis with our supplier at one of the local gift shops!  Needless to say, he gets a grin on his face when we walk in!  We especially enjoyed going dune bashing with Mom, Betty and Evin.  The kids are still watching the videos of our trip and laugh every time they watch. Before Christmas, my sister Jennifer and her sister-in-law Diana, arrived for the holidays.  We went on tours of the Grand Mosque, went dune bashing again, spent Christmas in the Liwa Desert at Qasr Al Sarab, tried lots of new and interesting foods (Saudi Kitchen), ate lots of camel milk chocolate (delicious), went on a boat trip to the old Dubai souq, hit every shop in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, explored the Camel Festival (very interesting), and bought one of every kind of trinket and treasure sold in the UAE.  Whew!  I'm tired just reading this and reliving it!  It was a whirlwind couple of months with visitors and what an amazing time we had!  Thank you Mom, Jen, Diana, Betty, and Evin for coming.  I can't begin to tell you how much it meant for us to have you all here!  Oh, and how could I forget, we all rode a camel!

We're now in the process of planning our next adventure.  We've been looking into Tanzania, Africa and Thailand.  After researching and getting quotes, we think we've decided on Thailand.  We will be going for Spring break, the first week in April.  We're hoping to cover a lot of ground and see Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket.  The kids are most excited about seeing the floating market in Bangkok, fishing in Phuket, and riding an elephant in Chiang Mai.  I'm just excited about all of it!  I think Joe's very ready to get out of town for a bit!  We'll continue to research Africa and hope to visit there before the end of the year.  There are so many places on our "Must See" list...I just hope we can fit them all in!

Joe's had an extremely busy and challenging year here, most of which, he has enjoyed!  He is over the Hospitality Division of Development and had two major projects completed (mostly!) in Nov. and Dec.  The Westin,www.westinabudhabigolfresort.com/ at Abu Dhabi Golf Club and St. Regiswww.stregissaadiyatisland.com/ on Saadiyat Island, are now up and running.  There have been lots of hic ups along the way, but he's proud of what they have accomplished.  Both hotels are beautiful and the entire team should be proud!  While he continues with these projects, he's now going full steam ahead on another, The Eastern Mangrove Hotel by Anantara should open sometime in early summer.  I won't say that I wish he could slow down, because we're happy to have a job. 

A couple of weeks ago, several friends and I were able to go to the HSBC Golf Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.  We spent several hours following Tiger Woods and Rock, the winner, for seven holes.  What great fun we had.  I'm no golfer, and don't even watch golf, but was completely caught up in the excitement of it all!  I just may look into golf lessons.  Joe took the boys to the tournament as well, which sparked their interest again in golf.  They are now taking their second round of lessons at Saadiyat Island Golf Club and are enjoying it.  Lila, however, wasn't interested!

Well I think I've rambled on long enough.  I'll try to post again after our trip to Kuwait for baseball and again after our Spring break adventure.  Before we know it, we'll be planning our trip home for the summer.  Yahoo!  Bloom where you're planted!  Also, please excuse the typos in this post.  As I tried to correct them, my words kept disapearing, so I opted to quit, rather than have to rewrite the entire post.  Thanks!  Computer error, I'm sure, NOT the user!  Hee Hee!