Mom these geranium pics are for you. When we were here in Aug/Sept, it was too hot for anything to grow. They have geraniums everywhere here now, they are beautiful. Not big like Maria's, but nice.

Its hard to believe its January, huh? Its about 85 here today and the sun it H-O-T! Andy is working, but he was able to take the boys down for a hour while i relaxed in the sun all by myself. We hope he gets to eat dinner with us tonight, last night was tough with just me and the boys. My kids are so rowdy. Rylan was good tho, it was Rydge that was the handful last night. Anyway, we are enjoying our free hotel stay in Abu Dhabi. Back to reality on Saturday with lesson plans and a new weeks starting Sunday. The kids are off one more week. There is an air show this next weekend in our city of Al Ain, so that will be fun to go too.

Take care and keep warm!

♥Abby

SKI DUBAI Family shot!

New/used car. It will be nice after renting and throwing money away for 5 months. Its older....but it will be paid off in 2 years. Its low miles(55,000US, and its a 2005)...nice for DUNE BASHING!!!

All is well. Kids are healthy. We are headed to Abu Dhabi tomorrow for some fun! I took the day off to be with the kids, they are on break this week and next. Andy is in charge of lighting a BIG rugby tourney this weekend and they gave him a hotel for 5 nights. The boys and I are gonna stay for two nights and use the pool and maybe go to the beach. Its a bit chilly, so we will have to see if the beach works or not. We will do a little shopping, eating out and see some friends in the city we havent seen since moving from the hotel in Abu Dhabi in September. It will be nice to play "catch up". Anyway....kiddos are in bed and I am headed there, not sleeping well the past few nights and I go to bed WAY too late. Andy just got home, so I better fix him a taco or two. TTYL!

♥

abby

I am sitting out on our TINY balcony watching Rylan roller blade with a friend. Rydge is sleeping inside the door. We were watching Cars together and he said his eyes were tired and that was the end of him! It was 3:50 and too late to nap, but what do ya do? He was up at 5:20 this morning. The boys have the next 2 weeks off, they return to school on February 5. Rydge is going to school with me tomorrow and Rylan will stay with the guy who takes them to and from school everyday, JT. He is AWESOME with the boys. Rylan will get a chance to go to school with me next week. The above picture is of sand, we shovel sand and you shovel snow, this on my way to work on the road!
New couches for our classrooms. We dont lack anything! I am so lucky!

Upper and lower case letter match. This is very difficult for my kids!

Rylan hanging out with his friend Emma, she is in the car pool to school and her parents both teach here as well.

you guessed it, the color orange and the letter L this week!!

Emma with Rylan

Yes, that is a hat and scarf with boots at school, inside. The people here have NO idea what cold really is! These kids are freezing! Its nuts!

This is for my dad! This dude in the Mustang was driving like a maniac, I am imagine just as my dad would! :)

Safety day at school. All new info for the kids. No one puts seat belts on kids here...its crazy! They hang out windows, run around in cars, pop thru the sun roof, etc....We found this to be an important area to try and improve, so we had the police come and talk with them on safety in cars and buses!

Sunrise on my way to work. The mountains are so pretty on my drive to work.

Andy and I were suppose to go look at cars in Dubai tonight, but he got called out on a very important call for lighting, it was for the Sheik of Abu Dhabi.....so it was of priority over the car! We will try again tomorrow night. The kids and I are gonna have a Burger King night! No cooking! All is good, everyone is healthy, crossing my fingers as i say that! Talk again soon.

Abby

Our Nanny/housekeeper is an awesome person. I have not asked her to do this, but she just does stuff like this "just because". What am I gonna do when we move home and I have to do this myself? Oh, I remember...not do it, just shut the door!!!! HeHe. I like things tidy, but this is extreme! She wants to make us happy. She takes good care of the kids and does a fabulous job helping out around the house. I am so glad I decided to let someone help us, its been a good thing for us all. I am so tired when I get home from work. I cook dinner and thats it. Its all about my family here. Its great!

~Abby

Our Hotel Apt in Dubai...it was amazing. Dubai is only about 1 hour from our home, but we figured once we were at the snow park all day, we would all be tired, so we stayed. We then looked for a car the next day. We hope to have a used one purchased by the end of the month. Renting here is outrageous and we hate to spend the money on something that is not ours! Rydge eating a popsicle and being very messy!

Heading home. Rylan had a fever, AGAIN!

can you tell by his little cheekies. Poor boy.....

Rydge has his jammy shorts on his head!

Rylan playing a game, poolside. Couldnt swim cause he had a fever.

Roof top pool
View from our room

Andy on the Balcony

One of three baths. There were FOUR showers. The hotel apt was half the price of reg hotels. It was awesome, so spacious, clean and fun!

Living room

Kitchen.....it was fabulous! Wish this was mine here at Hili.

Master

kids room

SKI Dubai....It Was A B-L-A-S-T!!!! Rydge on the Luge-not sure if spelled right.

Snow ball fight

Rydge

Have some coffee, brrrr....it was COLD!

Enjoying some hot chocolate.

Hamster ball.....down the hill he rolled. It was so funny. Andrew did it as well. Rydge and mommy were too chicken!

Ski Slopes

daddy and Rylan

He was So excited to get to do the Luge, again!

The luge

getting ready