We had a fun family day in the sun. We went out to Green Mubazzarah, where there are natural springs and they are HOT. The kids had fun hiking up a small hill, rode on tobaggans(sp), messed in the springs, had the freedom to RUN and we had some snacks. It was beautiful out there today. We need to take charcoal next time and cook some lunch.

WOW, this was a motorcycle. Complete with bling, lots of crystals on it....IT was amazing. He was from Dubai. He was very proud of his bike!

Look at my boys....and their longgggggggggg legs! I swear the boys have both grown 2 inches, it must be all the sun!

slushy and popcorn! The hot springs bubbling up.

There is that showpiece again....it was cool.

My precious Rylan-he's so dang cute! He is sporting the Rockridge Rocket hat!!!! Go Rockets!!!!

The boys have become really close.

My sweetie pies again.

there they go!!

heading to the top....it was not too bad, good climb for them!

Green Mubazzarah. Its really pretty.

Its a beautiful morning in the UAE. The kids are watching a movie in our room on the floor and Andy is cooking us bacon and eggs for breakfast. We have found some really good bacon at a local grocery store. I still miss my good Reason's sausage tho and plan to eat a whole lot of it this summer when we are home. We had found some good sausage from Wisconsin, Jones sausage, but they havent restocked in weeks at the "pork" store.

Andy has been under the weather the past few days and hope he is better today so we can go out an enjoy the weather, before it gets to hot. In about one month, it will be too hot to even play outside during the day. We did manage to get in a dinner last night, Andy did go and eat and we enjoyed celebrating our Anniversary of 9 years(Feb 27) last night over a steak dinner for him and a seafood plate for me. It was for the most part a free meal. We signed up for a rewards programs with a hotel chain here in the UAE and when signing up, we got a coupon for dinner.

We are doing well, now. Rydge had ear infection last week and Ry had a sore throat, nothing major for him. I have had a chest cold, didnt fell bad just a bad cough. Andy has had a stomach bug for a few days. We wanna get this all out of the way so we can enjoy our SPRING BREAK trip tp Sri Lanka, leaving next Friday, March 25. We are all very excited!

Take care,

♥Abby

Well, this is post number THREE tonight. I have the time to catch up, the boys went to bed EXTRA early tonight. As many of you already know, Andy is in the states for 2 weeks on business training for MUSCO. Yes, which means I am here with the crazy boys by myself. The plan was for Rylan to go home for 2 weeks with Andy, but in the end, he decided he would miss mommy too much and he thought Rydge would miss him as well. Its just as well he stayed, I miss Andy, I can't imagine not having Rylan here as well. He has had his moments, but like tonight, they were in bed at 7:30 because of the attitudes. Maybe tomorrow night they will learn and we can have a more enjoyable evening. When looking at the other two posts I just added tonight, keep in mind, I am not a computer whiz. I try to write some notes along side the pics, but they dont always post in the same spots, so you will figure it out i am sure of it! Anyway, things are winding down, few more months and we will be home. It has gone very fast and we have enjoyed most of it. There continues to be struggles now and then, but thats life. Like today....you cant just return an item like at walmart, its a HUGE process like most things here. Since it was over 100 dirhams, no money back, I can have a voucher to spend at a later date or it will be 15 days before it will post back into my bank account. That was a reminder, dont buy anything unless you are SURE it will fit! I was so irritated. It took 30 mins to return two flippin shirts, just insane. Never again. As you will see below, we continue to have a great time, so many things to do. We just booked a trip to Sri Lanka for our Spring break, we are VERY excited and cant wait to share those pictures when we return. We will be gone from MArch 25-April 1. It is a 3 hour flight from here, so pretty cool. There has been so much devastation in the middle east, we cant go to some of the closer spots for fear we will be caught in the cross fire. So, Sri Lanka it is! We hope things clear up soon in the other countries, as we want to visit Egypt, but man, not now! Well, I am gonna go to bed early. I have not been sleeping well with Andy away, and I have SEVEN more days, ug....I have a feeling, this is something that will be regular for him, maybe not to the states, but def. here in the UAE and closer countries such as Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. We continue to do well, I have been very homesick lately and even more so with Andy gone. It comes and goes, my kids and job helps me to forget. We are giving up so much, but we are learning to be independant, seeing a different side of the world and culture and WOW....amazing things can and will happen for us. Love and miss everyone and know...we are safe and at any point I feel my babies are not, we are gone....we have money saved! Take care and blessings to you all.
♥Abby

FIRST DESERT BBQ!!! SO, SO FUN!!

One last pic of Ry before the night ended!

The kiddos eating some grub!

Rydge was tired, so he wanted his dad to drag him, and he did!

I wonder what he is thinking?

His and Hers.....Andy's is supplied by work, his is in front and mine is used, but its ours. We love duning....but we need more practice.

The boys trying to climb back up the dune...it was hard work and i am pretty sure they didnt do it again!

Marshmellows!!!YUM!They wasted NO time.....they plopped out of the car and played right there.

Rylan really enjoyed the pure freedom to RUN!

Rydge and Ry taking it all in. They loved it!

Wide open spaces!!

The race is on!

My friend Michelle from Arizona. Her little girl is in Rydges class.

Awe........Nine years together! Time flies!

Our Desert Family Picture....Rydge was NOT cooperating...sand in eyes!

So peaceful. It was so quiet and nice. City livin is for the birds!

Hungry boy!

Rylan was having a nice time.

not for a tall man!

Mini car...just my size Rylan thought!

Dubai creek, so pretty.

Rydge wanted this shot for Papa Randy

Tired boy, we walked for an hour! We took a taxi back to the other side.Souks

Trading Dhow boats

Ferries taking people across to other side.

Dhow cruise

enjoying some arabic yummies

Old Village

It has been quite some time since I last posted. We have been very busy with work and play. There is so much to do here, we are never home and most of it is free or costs very little to explore. One of the last fun things we did was take an afternoon trip to Dubai, which is not uncommon for our weekend. But, we discovered Dubai Creek, it was so awesome and unique. While we were there, we visited a make shift Bedouin Village(how the older generation lived in the UAE before modernization). We had a wonderful one hour long walk along the Dubai creek where they still actively do trading for the fruit and vegie souks. The old Dhow boats were very visable and pretty cool to see, they are so old and beautiful. There was a lot of excitement throughout the evening within our family and many others. We saw local ferries whisk their way back and forth across the creek, lots of souks of anything imaginable to buy, local music and food and even a small car and motorcycle show. We then finished with a wonderful meal at a seafood restaurant along the Dubai creek. It was one of the best meals I have eaten here in the UAE, cant wait to go back and hopefully take a visitor! We love vistors! When mom and dad visted in November, we had not yet found some of the gems we know about now. So, here are some pictures we hope you enjoy them.