Today's Catch..

Brad helped the locals pull in their catch this morning.  As the net got closer, Cairo and Charlie decided it looked like fun.  The guys couldn't believe they wanted to help them "work".  A great start to a PERFECT Day!

Charlie was thrilled with the flipping, flopping fish!  He grabbed the small ones and helped throw them back to be caught another day.

Charlie slept late.  The sound of crashing waves must have been his lullaby.  He slept 3 hours later than the rest of us...But, Cairo got us up at 4:30!  Did someone think we were on vacation?

We have to thank Cairo for helping us get up to see the sunrise and take advantage of a full day.

We're Off to the Seychelles

 Can we really go wrong visiting a country with a flag this CHEERFUL??

Really, it makes me smile just to look at it.

Thanks for voting.  We made the quick decision to take of for the Seychelles.  We leave tomorrow night.  It's a long flight but we are bound to have a wonderful time exploring the islands that can be found east of the African continent and just south of the equator.  It's going to be a different vacation than what we were prepared for with Thailand.  This location demands rest, relaxation, reading, sand castles, turtle watching, bird searching, island hopping, snorkeling, scuba-diving and lots of adventure for the family in a relatively untouched part of the world.

Plan B?

Up until this morning we have remained optimistic about the "situation" in the Bangkok airport being resolved...Now, we are starting talks, debating about where in the world we should go instead.  

Ideas include: Sri Lanka, Singapore, Kuala Lampur, Maldives, Bali, Seychelles, South Africa 

We're open to suggestions.  Cast your vote on the survey to the right.

WE GIVE THANKS

Another Thanksgiving in Abu Dhabi.  I can hardly believe this makes 3.  The day was chaotic, as most days seem to be.  I was cooking and relaxing and listening to music when suddenly...our guests arrived!  Yikes, this has been a lot of fun but I still need to bathe, peel potatoes, cook the yams, make the gravy, carve the turkey, make a chocolate pie.......

Luckily, our guests were the Oswalds, my good friends Jennifer and her two boys.  So I just put her to work doing all the yucky stuff while I had a bath...(Not really that bad, Thanks Jennifer).  She seemed to take it all in stride.  It's more fun to cook with a friend anyway.

  Jennifer and her two kids and husband just moved here in August.  However, Jennifer and I met on the www thanks to my blog.  Jennifer was preparing to move her family around the world and through a trusty Google search ran across the abudhabicooks blog.  After that we were pen-pals or keyboard pals whatever you wish.  They now live here and we did our best to help them enjoy their first Thanksgiving abroad.  We also had a new couple from our church, Jason and Camille. (No kids for them yet.) We also had our friends from the compound and church, Lynne and Christina.  It all worked out.  We all over ate and had great conversation.  Another Thanksgiving come and gone.  Another year of blessings of great family, fabulous friends, and good health to be grateful for.  We are truly blessed and truly thankful EVERYDAY of the YEAR.

Thanksgiving Ski Day

Give Thanks for Snow!

Like any true Utahn, Cairo spent Thanksgiving morning working up and appetite for turkey by skiing!  Her friend Valentina, invited her to go take a ski lesson at Ski Dubai.  Since we moved here, Cairo has wanted to ski in the mall.  I have ethical problems with our children learning to ski in a shopping mall.  We come from the Greatest Snow on Earth!!! It falls naturally from the sky (ok, sometimes assisted by a snow machine) onto beautiful tall mountains and resorts that we reach by driving up canyons.  Not by driving in speeding traffic, risking our lives on the freeways of the UAE!  I've adapted my thinking.  Learning to ski on any slope is more fun and more critical than which slope it is.  Our lives here are made up of compromises and exceptional experiences.  This one was both.

Thanks to Yoca, my friend and Valentina's Mom for taking them to Dubai and for documenting the experience in photos so I could share in it.  I was home cooking turkey.

The Dr. is a Rockstar!

Every year The Dr. gives a speech to the students of Abu Dhabi Women's College.  Every year he gives this speech in their native language, Arabic.  Because National Day falls on an Islamic holiday this year.  The campus celebration and the speech took place early.  This year he went totally native and wore the traditional clothing as well.  The students went crazy.  Press the play button to get a sense of what it was like in that auditorium.