UAE sunset, Dubai.

Veggie/Fruit Stand along road.

Yes, a field of sweet corn!

Veggie stand on the way home from Fujairah. We had some really amazing fruits we brought home.

Indian Ocean

Snoopy Island, do you see him?

Mountains of Fujairah.

Christmas trip, 2010. Fujairah, UAE

This is Rylan and Daddy snorkeling....this is suppose to be at the bottom in order....but it didnt work that way! They had fun and saw many different sizes, colors and shapes of fish. It was a nice "first" trip for the boys!

Christmas in Fujairah, UAE-2010............ We had a really great time and got through Christmas much better than we had thought we would. It helped to get away and get our minds off of things. The resort was wonderful and kept us busy! The picture above is of Abby and the boys riding out to Snoopy Island. The boys snorkeled there, mommy is too chicken!

Kids enjoying the pool.

Rydge and Rylan in the Indian Ocean.....

View from my pool chair. The mountains are gorgeous and then we had the Indian Ocean also.

Andy and Rylan, Christmas 2010....we had a wonderful meal that consisted of the following and many things i cant remember. It was pricey, but worth every penny! We had lobster, shrimp-ginormous ones, prime rib, steak, mash taters, baked potatoes, grilled vegies, grilled seafood kabobs, mussels, salads galore, fresh breads, tons of desserts, soups, sushi, turkey, dim sum, lamb, grape vine rolls(stuffed with rice and lamb), not my favorite, seafood ragout(basically cheese sauce with seafood), lasagna,etc........it was amazing! :)

The boys and I.... I love this picture!

Snorkeling with daddy! This is Rydge....they didnt have gear small enough. He saw some fish and had a good time.

Back at home....Christmas night. I wish they were always this good. Santa brought Rylan a scooter and Rydge a big dump truck! They were spoiled by their grandparents who either sent gifts early, shipped them on time or sent money for us to buy them gifts and or the kids bought some on their own and they had fun doing it!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful ending to 2010, it has been an exciting one for us. We hope the new year brings as much joy and happiness as 2010. We made a HUGE step and we are glad we did, we have done so many new things in just a few short months. I cant wait to see what 2011 brings us. The boys and I will be home in July for about 6-8 weeks and then Andy for just 2 weeks. He has demanding work here in the UAE. He may get to visit home this Spring, he may be home for some training in Muscatine. Lucky dog if he does! The kids and I wont be happy, for one he will get to see family and for two....we will be WITHOUT him. I am lucky we have a great nanny to help me out!

I had better sign off. The boys need to go outside, they are getting wound up!

Love and miss you all!

♥Abby and boys!(Andy is always included in the "boys")

Bush trimming guys.

Our little cleaning guy from Bangledesh(sp) holding onto the garbage can. He is a sweet man....plan on giving him a Holiday bonus from us! Mom gave him some noodles at Thanksgiving, I think he liked them!

Resort we are going to for Christmas. It looks amazing. Click to make it larger! The kids are gonna be in paradise on the beach all day long. I hope the snorkeling is good...they say it is!!I want the kids to see some sea life. So, I think we need to buy some snorkel gear...wish we had ours from home!

~Good morning or evening for most of you! I am sitting here this morning enjoying the peace and quiet, the kids are sleeping in! The new cough medicine we got for Rydge, worked! Andy is off to work and I am sipping coffee until the monsters wake up! This morning its very cloudy in Abu Dhabi, foggy and gloomy, I think this is the third day like this since we have been here. I dont like mornings like this, as my husband drives on a very busy highway where the fog is generally worse. I pray for him a lot on mornings like this. They drive like idiots here! Ask my parents....they saw it when they visited! I have the windows open and I can hear the buzzing of the clippers from the bush trimming guys. I dont even trim bushes! I am, we are, quite spoiled here. I dont know what I am going to do when I get home! Its gonna be another culture shock! Anyway, all is good. The kids seem a lot better this morning. Tomorrow....they will go to school and I will get us packed for our trip to Fujairah. This will be a different kind of Christmas for sure, but we hope to make some good memories, at the beach!

♥Love you all!

Merry Christmas!

~Abby

To see the pictures that I post LARGER.....just double click on them. The flowers are at my Emirate Principals house. They were so pretty!

Our Address:
It has to be in my name, as I am the resident. The family is still in the process!

Abby McAlister
Hili Residential Complex
B37 F31
Al Ain, Abu Dhabi
UAE
mobile number:056 723 0875
my mobile number has to be on all packages, letters or boxes. Otherwise the boxes wont get to us and the letters will sit there until I go check to see if I have anything. :)

Our Nanny, Michelle.

It Saturday here in Al Ain. Andy is working and the kids are watching Curious George and playing. Rydge has been sick for the past three days, again. He had a high fever on Wed, Thurs and Friday. They think he had a ear infection and is on antibiotics, zithromax. The germs here are a new ball game for us. Luckily, I have been well, only a small cold a few weeks back. Ry has been sick twice and complaining of ear pain this morning and leg cramps. I think he is growing, AGAIN! I put hot packs on his legs and he is better now. Andy has been fighting a cold for about 2 weeks. Thankfully a shipment from home had some Robitussin DM in it, thanks to mom, Ali or Amy for buying it! I will add our address below. We love cards from home! We have received three boxes of things and 2 cards so far...so it does get here!

I am off school for two weeks now, so lots of shopping organizing and some relaxing going to happen. I am going to get a pedicure with some girlfriends on Monday while kids are at school. My friend has a birthday. Pedicures are really cheap here, about 15 bucks or so.

Christmas....we are heading to Fujairah, its another Emirate in the UAE, we are staying at the Rotana Hotel on the beach. We hope to do some snorkeling, sand castle building and just plain relaxing! The kids are awfully excited. We have gone to the beach for a few hours before, but we will be there for three days. We had to do something for the Holidays, it will be awfully tough not being at home :(

Well...I had better get dressed, its 9am....and get this day started. Its hard when there is nothing to do. No snow to shovel, no house to clean, no laundry to do....our nanny is awesome. When Rydge napped on Thursday..she did our laundry. I don't ask her too, but it sure was nice. She does a really nice job. She is so good with the kids. We are lucky to have her. She is from the Phillipines. I will post a picture of her! She's a sweetie!

Take care and love from Al Ain!

Abby, Andy, Ry and Rydge.

♥ to you all

Bakery trip for my kids at school. It was so interesting.

That was fun! We are getting into the holiday spirit for sure! Last week was Tree lighting at the Intercon Hotel and tonight they had gingerbread house making. It was so much fun! Here are some pictures.

A few more pics of National Day, mom and dads visit, etc....Please when viewing our post, comment or be a follower. I do not update as much because I dont see many comments or many followers. If you enjoy this....tell us about it and let us know you are following! I have posted at least three different blogs today, so be sure to scroll and see them all. My last one was in October so from there on, they are new today! thanks and blessings to you all.
Love,
Abby and family.

Above:English LT's-Shasta, Naylee and me, some

of my beautiful children and a example of the lights that line the streets, Ms. Lori and I. Its like christmas here. I wish they would leave it up as their colors are RED, GREEN and WHITE!! Its so cool, really gets you in the Christmas spirit!

I am updating again....extra time today. My mother told me to get it done! She is still bossy over 7,000 miles away! HEHE!!! Please scroll down as I updated on our Thanksgiving day also...we had house guests!

Well. I have extra time because its National Day in Abu Dhabi. Its very similar to our July 4th...times TEN! They go all out, with lights decorating the streets, cars decorated with stickers, honking all hours of the day & NIGHT, parties, parties, parties. I have pictures to post of our NAtional Day celebration from school. It was amazing, complete with a carnival, food, dancing and so much fun. The school dressed us up in Arabic clothing and the kids were decked out also! We have Thursday and Sunday off, so its gonna be a nice 4 day weekend. I think we will head to Dubai for the evening and maybe try to find a cheap hotel and stay the night. Its nice to get out of here and do some things in the city. We will update later to what we did. It will include the beach of course! Take care and hope all is well.

Love from Abu Dhabi,

Abby

Mom, dad and Rylan making homemade noodles. The camel is pictured above also. We had a feast. Camel, Chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, arabic salads, coleslaw, rolls, salad, pumpkin pie. It was great for just the 6 of us!

I am a little behind...but I am gonna write what I wrote last week on Thanksgiving day. I had time as I was sitting for 1 1/2 hrs. while Rylan took a exam at school....

Today is Thanksgiving Day and we are thankful for our health and well being as we continue this journey in our lives of living over seas. Today is not a typical Thanksgiving day. We started the day not preparing a turkey, but practicing spelling words, yes Rylan, Rydge and I had school. It ended up Rylan had exams, I took the day off to be with mom and dad and the boys. Well....as luck should have it, Ry had to go to school to take tests, Rydge was sick and the day did not go as planned. Instead of Turkey, we ate camel....a new tradition. Mom cooked it in the crock pot with some plums, wine, onion and salt and pepper...it tastes just like beef-seriously. It WAS good. Turkeys are very expensive here. We also made homemade noodles, mom brought my grandma McGinnis' noodle maker all the way to the UAE! They were fabulous! So, on Thanksgiving day Abby took Ry to school for exams that was 1 1/2 hours, then grocery shoppping for the feast, came home, took Rydge to Dr. for 1 1/2 hours, had lunch, went to pool for two hours. We came home, mom, dad and Ry made noodles and then we sat down to a wonderful feast. It was so nice to have family here with us. We are dreading tomorrow as it time for mom and dad to go after 15 days. :(

Love from Abu Dhabi....

Abby