Birthday Boy!

Rydge and Rylan in the hallway at our place! I am pretty sure the downstairs neighbors are NOT liking this noise!

Skyping with Granny on his birthday and singing Happy Birthday with his cake.

Rylan wanted a cell phone. So we gave him an older one. He is always wondering where I am and using the Nannys minutes, so he has his own now. He is a good texter!

Rydge gave Rylan a loader for his birthday. They both have them now to play in the sand.

money from papa mac and big grandma. WE need to put on the BIG JD tractor papa Randy and Grandma Laura brought with them in November for his birthday. He loves that as well.

New rollar blades. I cant believe how youngins can work these so quick. I would have broke my hip

Rylan had a birthday this week. He is EIGHT years old now! Time sure does fly! Here are some pictures of him! He got new rollar blades, and LOVES them! This is the FIRST time ever not making a birthday cake for my kids, it was tough buying one. But, thats the life of the working mom! It was not as good that is for sure......We are suppose to go to Ski Dubai this weekend, but Rydge is SICK again. So, that pretty much crosses that out. We told Rylan we would do that for his BIG birthday treat! He told me that was okay if we didnt go because Rydge was sick, we can do it another weekend. Any other time he would have blown up, is he finally growing up and growing out of fits? I hope so! He is at school right now and I am home with Rydge. Rydge is starting to whine, so I better get going. Take care.

♥and hugs!

Abby

Well, it was an exciting start to our week, the family finally is legal and has their residency visas. We are now, residents of the UAE, weird, huh? I NEVER thought last year at this time I would ever be here and even entertain the thought. The move for us has been amazing, we truely like it here. I continue to love my job, with a few struggles this week with some staffing change, and no one likes change. I am fortunate, I dont have the change like others. I had to deal with a big change in the beginning and I am lucky to be able to stay with what I am doing. I am VERY thankful to have support of my Faculty Head. In the first weeks of teaching here, the Principal and Faculty Head had to choose one person to teach TWO KG2 classes. Guess who was chosen, yes, you got it, ME. I, am on the lowest pay of all the other English Teachers, because I dont have a lot of experience and "I" got the lucky job of MORE work! It's okay, they told me I was the one that could handle it. Okay...I guess that is a compliment. So, the months went on and its going well, but a lot of work. The other teachers teach 3 periods and i teach 5-6 each day. Double the work! Well, ADEC(who I work for) says now its January and you all need to be teaching 2/3 KG2 and 1/3 KG1. With many discussions and really no good outcomes, they left me in the two classrooms I am used to and for the children's sake. The other English teachers are angry and of course, some are taking it out on me. The thing is....the work they are having to do, still is NOT what I am doing and yet they still complain. Its frustrating, but again, I am very blessed to have my faculty head on my side and it will be fine. I will do anything this first year to get asked back next year, some will not be back next year! You have to be patient, and be able to roll with the flow here. I have learned to do that and its good for me to learn this. Its very laid back here. Anyway....I guess I used this for a complaint session, but thats okay, that is how I feel.

Rydge is waking up, I am home with him today because he is sick, yet again. This time is different. He has a slight fever, sore throat and throwing up phlem(sp). You all take care. All is well here, for the most part. At the top is a picture of our Resident Visas. They have switched insurance on us as well, so we are waiting on new cards for that.

Abby

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. :)