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?

G-E-N-I-U-S

Jack and Charlie are becoming great readers.  Tonight, sounding out letters and their sounds seemed to just finally click for Jack.  The light bulb went on for Charlie about a week ago.  It was so much fun to see the joy in Jack's eyes as words started making sense.  After I complimented him on his skills he looked at me in all seriousness and said, "I'm a reading genius."

Goodnight my boys!

Bad Mom..Bad, Bad Mom

Today, we rushed to get out the door at 7:28...3 minutes later than usual but still in time to make it to school without any tardies.  We picked up Shari (so we could go spinning right after drop-off).  Then, about 4 minutes and a lot of traffic into the drive, I noticed Brad's car keys sitting in my seat next to me.  YIKES!

We had to turn around..The kids were so angry at me, knowing they were now going to be late for school.  I thought of everything to help them realize that things could be so much worse.  When we got back to the house I told Brad it may be time to find a different mother for the kids..ha ha.

We went on our way again to school.  I sang karaoke songs about being late and it's OK...what ever I could think of to try to make the kids smile, laugh and forgive me.  Charlie was quick...right away he said, "It's OK Mom."

The other 3 were stone cold!  Are these the compassionate, understanding children I am raising?  What if I had REALLY done SOMETHING UNFORGIVABLE? 

We got all the way to the school with nothing from Sam, Cairo and Jack.  They got out of the car and in spite of my well wishes for a great day walked straight ahead into the gate..

So, I got out of the car, as a joke of course, got down on my knees and started BEGGING FORGIVENESS.  Hoping for one last laugh before they went into school 12 minutes late.  I got nothing but strange, concerned smiles from the security guards.  

Then, I realized Charlie was still in the car, crying!  I went to him and asked what was wrong.  He hugged me so tight and begged me to pick him up from school...NOT A NEW MOM!  I felt awful.  He hadn't realized the joke.  After all that.  I walked him into class and assured him again and again that I would always be his Mom and that even if I really made a mistake that was unforgivable I hoped he would always want me to be his Mom.  

All was well by 3:10 when I arrived to pick up the kids.  They were all smiles.  After looking them over really closely, I commented that their teachers hadn't even beaten them or taken a limb as penance..What a day in the life.