Cairo Reaches Another Goal

ACS requires the elementary students to set a non-academic goal to work on throughout the school year.

Cairo set a goal to learn how to sew and to make a tote bag.  Finally, after months of her practicing sewing straight lines, she convinced me to help her make her bag.  We got it done in just a few days and it turned out so great.  Hers is the brown and pink one in the front.  The one behind is one I had made by a tailor here in Abu Dhabi.

Didn't she do a great job.  This will be her new school bag as soon as she presents her "Goal Setting" achievement to her class at school.

It Has Started!

I knew the day would come when the boys started asking for a certain "brand" of running shoes.  The Heely's were a little different because they have an aspect of "fun" associated with them.  

A few weeks ago Jack got it in his head that he needed Sketchers.  Just like his desire for the Heely's he talked about them for a few days and before long he showed up at home with a pair of Sketchers that were 3-4 sizes too big.  Kalvin, a neighbor, had generously given Jack an old pair of his Sketchers. (Just as he had with some old Heely's.)  Jack was fine wearing the "too-big" shoes.  After his first day at school in the shoes I decided we had better get him some that fit or we may wind up in the E.R. with another broken limb due to a trip-and-fall.

Charlie quickly caught on and decided he needed some new shoes too.  They had a day off school last Sunday while Sam and Cairo still had class.  So the 3 of us took off for a fun time at the mall.  We found Sketchers for each of them.  Jack tried on several pair before he decided on the mostly black pair (on the right) and Charlie just picked up the first pair he saw and was happy with them (on the left).  

Both boys can run faster and jump higher than they ever have thanks to Sketchers!  Charlie, however, loses the "cool factor" when he insists on wearing church socks every day.  (Where did that come from?)

After we bought the new, fast, uber-cool shoes we had lunch at Fuddrucker's.  The boys loved coloring in the books/menus provided to pass the time.  It is so much fun to have these boys big enough to enjoy time out with me as a special occasion and still young enough to WANT to have time out with me!

It's March 16th.  I promised myself that when March came I would start gearing up for the move back to Utah.  With the month half over I made the first move today.  I got an estimate for a 20ft. sea crate packed and shipped door-to-door.  The door on this end is obvious....Brad kindly inquired, "Where are we going to have it sent?"  hmmmm.  I think I know the zip code.

 I'm not ready to take on this huge move.  When we came here we were packing 16 suitcases.  Now we have a house full of furniture and enough junk to fill 2 houses.  It becomes more complex and difficult when I allow my emotions to get involved.  I don't want to pack up our Abu Dhabi home and say good-bye to Fortress Compound Villa #11.  It was easier when I could look forward to the suitcases packed for a summer of fun, leaving the home here in tact and waiting for our autumn return.  This is NOT going to be easy.  What's that I hear? My head is calling it wants to go back into the sand.

Etiquette Dinner at the Cooks

We have been trying to help the kids understand basic table manners.  They are slowly catching on but there is still work to be done.  Tonight I cooked a big dinner so at the last minute I decided to host an "Etiquette Dinner Party" for the family.  I quickly typed up a formal invite and delivered one to each of the children.  They were told they needed their invitation to get into the dinner because it was only for my very favorite people.

We had candle light and Cairo acted as the hostess and seated each of the others as they appeared with their invitation.  She then took drink orders and served them.  During dinner we talked about basic manners at the table and knowing how to act appropriately in different situations.  Brad is always a great teacher.  He brought up how we act differently at a birthday party than we would in school, etc.. The kids responded so well to the whole thing.  They really stepped it up and used their best manners.  We followed up dinner with popcorn and a short movie before bed.  It was a really fun night and didn't take much more energy than dinner usually does.  We have set a goal to try to have a special etiquette night at least once a month to really practice our table manners...We'll see how it goes.

Photos from the trip to Hatta with Dan, JoAnna, Brad, Jack and Cairo.  First they rode the ships of the desert then they rode modern day transportation.  What a great day they had.

It's Camel Time..

It's the final days of camel racing in the Emirates.  I've been able to go out to the track quite a bit lately with the visitors we have had.  First Dan and JoAnna came, then Sargon had a group of friends come from the Bay area in California.  I just love showing people the camels and sharing with them one of the age old traditions of this part of the world.

March Brings Visitors

Dan and JoAnna came to visit for a week.  Dan is a friend of Brad's from Payson High School.  Thanks to Facebook they reconnected and being the adventurers they are, Dan and JoAnna accepted our invitation to come and visit our part of the world.

They were such great company.  The kids had a great time talking with them and tagging along on some of their excursions.  Jack had a great time helping Dan edit his photos at the end of every day.  On their last day here Brad took them, Jack and Cairo to Hatta to see the Fort and another part of the geography of the Emirates.

They spent some time at Brad's college visiting with students and having a tour of the campus.

It's a lot of work (nearly impossible for us) to get a photo with 6 people all looking OK...

We tried.  Shari and Sam Stone were a patient photo team taking our photo on a spontaneous whim Saturday night.

Phun Phamily Photo...Shoot..

Thanks to Shari I finally got the family photos I wanted before we say goodbye to this wonderful second home of ours.  These photos are just a teaser.  There will be more to come.  I haven't even looked at all of them yet..(Over 100).  We went out on Saturday night to the new public beach here on the corniche in Abu Dhabi.  It's a beautiful beach and it was a beautiful evening..A little windy, but I was just reading that a wind machine is a must in all "glamour" photo shoots.  We were glamorous, weren't we?