PICTURES! horses, snow and house pics

 DIRTY FEET! (They say that's a sign of a happy kid!)


Horseback riding .. Paige has shown some interest in wanting to ride horses, so we found her a nice stable where we can get her some experience.  You can't start proper lessons 'til you're 7 or 8 here, so they're letting her do little rides for now.  If she continues to show interest and desire to keep learning, they may consider allowing her to take lessons before she's 7. Here are the pictures: 

visiting the stables for Paige's horse riding

 Brooke got to ride too! 

 a special treat for Max

 behind the stables, there is a petting zoo with CAMELS!  :) 

PICS FROM SKI DUBAI .. A field trip with Brooke's class:  

 this is the area where you rent gear .. 

 helmets

 Brooke was "line leader" the day of the field trip!  

 Brooke and Isabelle all ready to go play! 

 I was in charge of these 4 kiddos while in the ski area (it was crazy!!) 

 Brooke and me.  :) 

 The whole class ready to play

 first thing Brooke did, SNOW ANGEL! 

 climb up this hill to get to the bobsled area

 Brooke in line to sled

 ready . set ... 

 GOOOOOO!!!  WHOOOOSH!!  

 My 4 at the top of the climbing hill .. plus some random kid :) 

It was a GREAT field trip.  I can't wait to go back and do more .. We only had about an hour to play and my 4 kiddos stuck to the sledding hill.  There's much more to do .. hopefully I'll be able to take more pics next time we go! 

here's a link if you want to see more of what it's about: http://www.skidxb.com/

 Our marriage license is finally attested. . it's blurry, but that's Hilary Clinton's signature.  

(no more trips to Oman .. see a few blogs back if you're confused!)

Finally, house pics .. I have been wanting to wait 'til things were more "done" but whatever .. I think it's good to show the work in progress.  Nothing is on the walls yet, and I still need RUGS!  Slowly, but surely, it's feeling more "homey"  

 our kitchen table .. balloons were for Mark's birthday. 

 kitchen table from the other angle 

 family room

 family room, different angle. 

 storage area where the kids play in that refrigerator box under the stairs. 

 mark's office

(this will also be the guest room .. the futon-like couch is coming in a few days.. don't worry, it's comfortable!)

 built in closets in office/guest room

 kitchen

 kitchen - another angle 

 this is the room we haven't done anything with yet .. I'm basically standing in the front door, looking in. 

 standing on the stairs, looking down at entry way

 upstairs landing that we've made into a game room/play room

 Brooke's room .. will eventually have another twin bed

 Brooke's room, different angle. 

 The girls bathroom sink .. toilet/shower area is through a door across from the sink. 

 Paige's room 

 Paige's room, different angle

 Girls' bathroom .. I'm standing in the doorway, taking a picture into the mirror so you can see the room. 

 Master bedroom 

 master bedroom,  different angle. 

 master - another angle again

 master bathroom .. it's pretty cramped .. and Mark and I are getting used to one sink again.  :) There's a stand up shower across from the sink that we rarely use.

 master bathroom tub/shower .. I haven't decided what I want to do in the bathroom for decor, so I just got basic stuff for now .. hence WHITE everywhere.  :)

 I sneaked in and took a pic of Max's room while he was sleeping .. see him in his crib?  notice the "big boy bed" unused .. yeah, it'll stay that way for now.  no rush! 

built in closets in master

Whew!!  So there ya go!!  I hope you enjoyed the pics!  

..till next time!

Catchin' up ..

So I'm WAAAY overdue with updates .. here's some pics since the last post:

 Brooke and her "bff" Isabelle at a classmate's birthday party

 Paige went too .. b-day parties are not "invitation only" .. you bring the whole fam, which is so courteous and kind .. such a blessing for us. 

 typical b-day party food/cake .. worthy of a picture

 Mark brought these "gucci" bags back from China for me.  :) 

 front yard is coming along .. i love my flowers! 

 kitchen workspace/shelving  THANK YOU IKEA

 Another bday party .. this time it was Paige's classmate, Vladimir.  They live on the Palm Jumeria, this is their backyard. 

 cute girls in Vladimir's pool.  

 Vladimir's house .. view from their beach.  The jumpy house on the left was a huge slide into the pool.. super fun for the girls.  (Max stayed home w/ Dad).

Below are pics from the International Food Festival at DAA

 

IRAN

S. Korea (in case you're confused.  ha ha)

                  

Egypt 

India

Gotta love the good ol' USA .. 

The USA food tent had hotdogs and chicken nuggets .... I know. 

There were 36 countries represented at the Food Festival .. we tried as many foods as we could. The kids had a BALL with their school friends on jumpy houses and other various carnival-type rides. Mark and I are making some great connections with parents from school, too.   It was a really fun night.  Here are a few more pictures from the night .. 

To raise awareness for recycling (which needs to be more popular here than it is) the kids build a Burj Khalifa out of soda cans.

Max had one to contribute .. and yes, he drank some of that .. and spilled lots on his shirt .. He was like a cat on too much catnip.  

 I have really enjoyed the school events .. experiencing all of the many cultures that are represented at the kids' school is just priceless.  What an experience this is! 

Okay, more random pics:

One of the many, many loads of IKEA "stuff" that is now in my house .. that wasn't all of it that day .. and I don't even want to count how many times I've been there. 

 

The scenery on the route to/from school each day.  It's really cool .. this pic doesn't do it justice.

Brooke and I made cupcakes for her teacher's birthday .. it was SOO nice to do something "normal" .. I'm ready for normal.  

This has been a highlight of moving here .. 2 weekends in a row, we've gone down to The Dubai Mall and have watched the fountains do their thing.  It's similar to watching fireworks for me .. I just love it.  The first one we saw was to a song that sounded like the theme to Silverado or something .. the kids were in AWE and when it was over everyone cheered and Max screamed, "AGAIN! AGAIN!" .. It'll be something to show visitors for sure (hint, hint).  :) 

The Burj Khalifa is at our back while we watch the fountains .. the building twinkles .. it's truly spectacular (yes, I just used that word).  It's another favorite thing for sure.

So that's it for pictures .. I was thinking about doing this blog yesterday and trying to introspectively understand why I've slowed down on the blogging so much.  I think I'm just over the "fun" part of moving here .. the reality of LIVING HERE is setting in, and as much as I love the perks of living here (aka .. we're hiring a live-in MAID!!) I really miss "home" as I mentioned a few blogs back.  People tell me that the first 6 months are the hardest. I've probably cried more, off and on, in the past few weeks than I have in a long time.  I don't hate it here .. nor am I ready to come home, I just MISS home .. I miss everything familiar .. I think it's more grief of something that's no longer than anything else.  I do know that I'll get through this part and things will get easier .. it's just hard though .. ya know?

Some fun things that I haven't mentioned ..

-Paige has started horseback riding .. she's only 6, so it's more like a pony ride for now.  She (of course) loves it and it's a great thing to get her in to. 
-Brooke has started gymnastics, but we're still trying to narrow down the right gym for her.  We're trying Dubai Olympic Gymnastics tomorrow.  We'll see how that goes.
-Max is likely going to start going to "Nursery" 2 days a week starting in April, and then he will go 3 days a week starting in September.  He'll go from 8:00-1.  He's going to love it.  He is still in Little Gym for now and lovin' it.
-I've started working out via Pure Fitness.  They offer classes for moms with kiddos.  Max can join the class with me and so we all get a big ol' workout in.  I've done 2 so far and OW I'm sore.  It's nice to be getting back in shape!
-We've started the process of hiring a LIVE-IN maid.  Right now, we really like Vilma .. she is Filipino, speaks  good English and really loves kiddos. Her references have been really great .. she was working for a family from Romania that had 2 small kiddos before now and an Arabic family with 8 kids before them.  She will be doing some babysitting for us, too, so this experience is KEY! She really wants to work for us, too.  I am learning that American families are coveted by maids because Americans tend to treat their help really well.  I mean, it's TOTALLY BIZARRE and a HUGE TREAT to be able to hire a maid .. so we are SOOO appreciative.  I mean, when I walk into the kitchen and the dishes are washed, I just want to CRY out of gratefulness!!  To have someone help me is such a blessing .. anyways .. maids aren't used to being appreciated I guess.  Now THAT is foreign!!
-I went to IKEA to buy furniture for her room.  Again, this is all so very surreal .. I can't believe we are going to have a live in maid.  It feels like a luxury .. a HUGE blessing and did I mention surreal??  I feel spoiled. 
-Mark is headed out on a few more international trips soon. I miss him a lot when he's gone .. he said that April will have a lot less travel.  It'll be nice to have him HOME for an extended period of time.
-His leg is doing really well.   We haven't had to make a physical therapy appointment for him out here yet, but we have a facility all picked out if/when we need to do that. 
-Spring Break is coming up and Mark planned a REALLY fun "first vacation in the UAE" trip for us!  We are going to road trip around here .. do some camping, some resorting, snorkeling, dolphin-watching, boating, etc. .. I CAN'T WAIT!!!  I'll be excited to blog about that! 

Well, it's 10 a.m. ... I better get out of my PJs and head out to get this day started!! 

'til next time ..

it's just different...

There's random things that are just DIFFERENT here:

-no voicemail on cell phones .. seriously.  Most people either text when they need to leave a message, or you just call back the random number that called you to see what whoever that was wanted.  (<--I think I love that sentence).
-phone numbers have no dashes.  My phone number is 0508729535 .. sometimes I go all "American" on the people here and write it like this:  (050) 872-9535 .. but no one does that.
-most restaurants don't serve alcohol. 
-most movies that are shown, even on TV, have Arabic subtitles.
-dryers suck .. I'm serious.  At least mine does .. I mean, it dries my clothes, but you have to empty the water tank (it doesn't have a proper exhaust thing, so it gathers the water in a special tank that you have to empty after every drying session .. yes I'm whining!!)  AND you HAVE to iron .. b/c the dryer is not a good "pretend iron" here like mine was back in the USA.  Good thing I'm in the twilight zone and can hire a maid to handle such tasks.
-candy tastes different... snickers .. twix, kit-kat, etc.  just doesn't taste right ..
-toilets flush weird .. no idea how to explain.
-Salesmen change their prices depending on your nationality.  People come to the door to sell ANYTHING .. one person, in particular, wanted to sell me rugs, which I need .. and he wanted to bring them to my house and sell them to me-- how great is that??  I'm serious!!  to have someone bring the shopping to me instead of me having to pack up 3 kids, head to a market, shop forever with my 3 adorable, yet constantly-needing-something children to find what I need??  I made an appointment with him until he said, "where are you from?" .. because the translation to that is, "how much can I mark up my prices?" .. when he asked me that I said, "Oooh, bummer .. nevermind, I don't need your carpets" .. good for me, right?  yeah, we still need rugs.  whatever.

more to come .. til next time ..