You just cannot beat the sunsets in the desert. Except with a darling boy like Charlie in the foreground!

Cook Family Photos on a giant sand dune.


All the kids had a great time running up and jumping down the giant dunes.

Brad setting up camp in the desert

The Cook/Shields campsite. It looked and felt like we were miles away from civilization. Beautiful!

Jack and Charlie's art work from school

Jack and Charlie have done so much great work at school. Much of their artwork is displayed as part of our Christmas decor around the house.
Because today, Tuesday, is the first day of Eid. Muslim holy holiday that is celebrated at the time of the haj, they did Christmas as well as Eid crafts.

The boys had a Christmas program at school. They sang Christmas songs and had choriography to go with each tune. It was so fun to look around the room full of parents and see women in abayas who were there watching their children perform Christmas music. Interestingly, Christmas performances at school are much less controversial here, in an islamic country, than in the US..

Totem ASRP

An ASRP is an after school recreation program. Sam and Cairo are both in one this time that Molly is running. They first talked about native american totem poles and how each individual carving on the pole had a meaning. Molly then gave the kids a hand out with several different animals listed on it along with each animal's characteristics. Each child chose the animal that best represented them. The rest of the education process was that of recycling. The children then had to use old cereal boxes, egg cartons, newspapers etc. to create their totem. I helped Molly with the last two sessions of the ASRP as the kids finished up their work. Now all the totems will be mounted together on a pole and displayed in the school. Each child's name will be displayed next to their animal, along with the characteristics represented.

Sam chose a cougar as his totem..No, not because of BYU's fantastic football season, but because of courage,leadership and foresight.

Cairo chose a dolphin as her totem..because of swimming.

We visit the Women's College

Monday the Abu Dhabi Women's College had a big festival. The parents were invited to come and see the campus and there were a lot of booths with things for sale, henna and other fun stuff.
I planned on going and since Dana, Molly and I trade off afternoons with the kids from Stepping Stones it was my day and I thought I'd take them to the campus too.
It turned out to be such a fun time. I think the students had the most fun seeing these young american children walking through campus with the director (Brad).
We couldn't walk more than a few steps without students stopping us and asking for a photo of the kids and usually they wanted a photo of the kids and Brad.
It was a scream. I honestly think there were over 30 pictures taken of these kids. The boys got a little tired of it but cute little Ali..the darling blonde girl, was the most popular due to her light hair and she really hammed it up for the cameras. She would smile and wave for every shot. Eventually it got to the point where it was just Brad and Ali in the pictures and she would just snuggle up to him and smile. Finally, Brad asked me..."who's Ali". It was so funny because by then he had posed with her for no less than 10 photos.

Charlie, Mark and a glimpse of Ali. I'm surprised with all the photos taken of her, I didn't manage to get one myself..

There was an exhibit that showed robots picking up balls and driving them around. The kids thought it was very cool.

Ali is another classmate of the boys and they talk about her constantly. Her mom, Christy, has said the boys are a constant topic at their house too. Ali's family moved in at the beginning of this school year and Christy is one of the Mom's we hang out with on the playground after ACS every afternoon. Ali will probably become one of the regulars in our afternoon playgroup from now on.

We Finally Can See a Tooth!!

She can still sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" because she has been missing 3 front teeth for over a month now. The one that is finally breaking through and making a grand and much anticipated entrance has been missing for almost a year! Cairo's teeth are a bit like she is...they like to grab the attention of the audience. We were concerned that before long we would have to surgically get this tooth moving but along it came.
She is cute as ever..and getting cuter all the time with a little tooth there in the front.

Blog update...busted!!

I have been trying to find time to update the blog with all the great photos I have taken over the past 3 weeks..Finally, I found time and the memory card in my camera has some sort of problem. I am ready to cry. Let this be a lesson to those of you who may put off blogging..or doing anything with digital photos. I am hoping I will be able to find someone in this city who can recover the data..It is a 2GB card that was nearly full and I cannot access any of it.
Fortunately, I do have this one photo of Brad and Jack by the campfire at our McGuffee farewell campout. I had it on the computer for some reason. Another bonus is that I used Liz' camera to take a bunch of photos so I will go to the other computer and check those out. Stay tuned...T

Santa visits Abu Dhabi too!

Pictured are the 4 amigos that basically run the Fortress Compound..Jack, Charlie, Lliam, and Ryan with Sam and Cairo.
We attended the annual pancake breakfast with Santa at the kids school last Saturday. As I look at this photo I am stunned at how much they have all grown up since the Santa photo last year. They are ignoring my demands to "freeze...stop growing!" I may have put bricks on their heads this year..would that help?
With the Eid holiday (Muslim holiday for the annual Haj) falling so close to Christmas this year, the kids have only two days of school left in 2007. Where did the time go. They will go to school Sunday and Monday next week then be off until January 6th. There is still time to book your flights to AD to visit while we have this break!
Grandma and Grandpa Cook are going to be spending Christmas with us so we are very excited about that. More later..Lots of love and Happy Holidays from the mild climate of 75 degrees here in Abu Dhabi.

You Know You're and Ex-Pat When....

I, for some reason, haven't ever thought of us consciously as "ex-pats". Now I have had to say good-bye to one of my dearest friends. I am an ex-pat. Liz is one of the first people I met in Abu Dhabi. We met while Brad and I were here for the interview, before we even knew we were going to move here. Liz is one of those friends that I just know I will always have. No matter how much time passes, it's a friendship that will pick up where it left off. Liz has been on speed dial of my cell phone since the day we arrived. She always knew where to go to get anything and was totally "plugged-in" to the community here. She quickly became one of my dearest friends. We have connected on so many different levels and shared so many great experiences. Liz has a beautiful family and she is a beautiful person. Her heart is big as can be and she would do anything for anybody. Now it's time for her friends here in Abu Dhabi to share her with the people of Houston again. We have had many farewells. A few different parties in her and her family's honor but tonight was the final farewell.
Molly taught the regular Thursday night spin class on the beach and as we finished up Liz (who usually would have joined us) walked up with tears in her eyes. All the music for tonight's class was in honor of Liz..good-bye songs galore. As the sun finished setting (it was really too perfect) behind the Emirates Palace we said good-bye to Liz out on the beach...again inside and finally, in the entrance of the Hiltonia. She will really leave an empty space for all of her friends here in Abu Dhabi..but I know she has a big community of anxious friends waiting with open arms in Texas. She is on loan to them for now. But we all still have email and phone privileges..We may even have a rider-less bike at spinning for a while in her honor. We all love Liz and will never forget the fun we had with the entire McGuffee clan in AbuDhabi!!

We give thanks on Turkey Day on Abu Dhabi

Our garden looked magical for our Thanksgiving dinner party. It is fun to be able to have the sliding doors open and eat outside under the lights in November. That's something we cannot do at home in Utah. The weather was ideal! After dinner we moved the round table back into the kitchen and danced under the lights to some of our favorite music. It was really a fun evening. Definitely the best time we could have away from family back home. Jacqui and Marilyn. It was such a great evening to have so many different people we love here with us to join in our american tradition of giving thanks. Jack and Charlie were playing peek-a-boo from behind the carpet we have hanging on the kitchen wall.