Fujairah and the Gulf of Oman for a long weekend

Its been a little break in the Anderson blogging world, I love the details I can give here, but the ease of the facebook albums has its appeal too! Back on track and back to blogging.

The UAE celebrates Feb 15 as holiday and Anna's school gave them the rest of the week off and so I pushed and pushed for a family road trip and mini vacation. It took a little convincing and determination but Dad made it fit his schedule and so off we went. The trip took just under 2 hours, perfect for the kids.

 

  We encountered a little traffic along the way, apparently lots of people and more than a few trucks needed to make this turn. It was backed up solid for several km's. This are the yahoos trying to cut in the front of the line, making their own yahoo lane as it were.

We love our new to us car, its a 2009 Explorer xlt, our first ride with leather seats, still squeaky. We love to height, space and unfortunately, the respect it brings on the roads of Duabi.

Objects in mirror may appear closer... or faster, or more beautiful, if you are a sun set. It was nice to leave behind the congestion of Dubai and the flat landscape, never thought I would be so excited for some hills. They were very different from the mountains back home  but to our girls they were mountains :)

The Moffet mobile, it was so nice to have new friends to take this trip with, strength in numbers, I guess.

Enough getting there, lets get there. Here is the view from our room with the Gulf of Oman. It was wonderful and so nice of the girls to sleep in the first morning but love school and the fact that we had ate breakfast, suits on at at the beach by 9:30am, very exciting.

Emilee makes a great tour guide :)

Our beach bums, so glad we brought those toys from Calgary and here to Fujairah, hours of fun. Hats, sun screen and a whole day of memories in front of us. It was wonderful.

Anna gave the most beautiful dinner prayer tonight, thanking her Heavenly  Father for our trip and her family, for spending time together and for all the special things in her life, it was truly touching. We are thankful for all of the many blessings in our life. For the opportunity to spend a short time so very far away from home but to have all these vehicles to shorten that distance. 

 

 

 

 

So we had a little fun at the beach on our last day here at the resort. It was very busy, nearly crowded relative to the day before but very fun. Building a sand castle together was a first but hopefully not our last. The girls responded so well, listening and expressing their ideas and creativity - it was magical. They even left the beach without a fuss and we checked out of the hotel on time - miraculous.

We drove down the coast toward to city of Fujairah, it was interesting and worth a return visit. We counted LuLu Hypermarkets, we are up to three in total and Anna thinks there should be one in Calgary :) We made a great stop at the Friday market after Masafi and came away with a carpet for the living room and our first trinket camel - so fun. Thank goodness for an adventurous route home with some camels and sand dunes.
 

 

 

That ends our mini vacation, it was wonderful. We are looking forward to returning with visitors :) Hugs and lots of love ~the Andersons

Jumeirah International Cultrual Day

So today was a fun day for Anna and for Emilee and myself. Cultural Day has been a big build up and it was nice to see it all come together. The kids were asked to dress in traditional clothing from their country, not sure what that would be for us but we managed a great outfit for the fashion parade.

The USA and Canadian passport holders where grouped together and everyone seemed to go together very well. Anna was a great super model, they kids were asked to walk the stage and wave, some struggled but Anna was star. Mommy got a little emotional watching, it was fun.

The parade comes to and end and then the teachers aids, all from the Philippines, preformed a dance.

We enjoyed the booths from all the different countries, tasted just a little from the Australians and both girls loved the bangles from the Indian table. It was hot and sunny, still a lot to get used to here. Love you big girls.

Its not the best picture, our little two year old is so funny, but that is them today.
Big Hugs and lots of love ~the Andersons.

Christmas Day, Moving, Pre-School and life in Dubai

 I will warn you, its a novel this time, I have been at this one for a few days, not sure why I just don't start a new post with each new topic, anyways, get comfy :)

Well we survived a rough night's sleep or actually lack of, to wake to the evidence of Santa finding us here in Dubai. The girls started out great, asleep by 10pm. The downwards spiral started at 11pm when we came to bed. Anna was struggling to find a comfy spot between her mom and dad and the new KING size bed. Then Emilee was sad that she was by herself in her new toddler bed. We tried all the possible combinations with little luck. We thought the fact that there were no drapes would have us up nice and early but at 9:30am we had to get up, too funny.

It was fun to all wake up together and come downstairs. I really wished our container had arrived before but trying to get over it. We had a blast with all our new toys and reading cards from our families and of course the pictures, love them.

It is always so interesting to see what toys they play with first and get excited about the most. Our two cuties where no exception. Dads present was unwrapped a day early and moms is at the mall on hold, not exactly feeling like a 'normal' Christmas but the girls had a great morning.

The girls picked one special new toy and we headed to our hotel room for a shower and to skype with our families. It was a strange day but great to spend it together and to talk with the girl's grandparents. We spent the next day recovering and trying not to be upset as the concept of boxing day did not apply, that was mostly mom's problem. Then the day after that, MOVING DAY!!!

In true Dubai fashion the day started off a disorganized mess, the 12:30 arrival turned into a phone call at 11am with a "we are at the front door, why aren't you answering the door bell" Grrrr, you have all our earthly possessions in that truck, how would we be .... never mind. Through the girls in the car and race to our new villa. Dad joined a few hours later in a cab and then I took the girls to a friends from church so they could play and we could set the house. It worked out okay in the end.

The men were careful and hard working and the day was really only an afternoon. We were able to leave the girls with Joey and Emil and went back to the hotel, literally crammed, shoved and packed the car full of all the things from our room. The porter from the hotel earned his tip, you can tell he arranges suitcases all day. Andy's driver's license still wasn't ready and so he had to carry a lap full of hanging clothes but we managed to make it to the villa and unpack it enough to get our girls. They took to their room very well, Anna loved to have her blankets and other toys, Emilee was so proud of herself and her new bed. We read books and tucked them in, it was lovely and three months to the day after arriving in Dubai, crazy :)

So our new house has quite the back yard, lots of work and problems to fix but if you are under five its wonderful. The slide we always had in our basement in Canada now lives in the back yard, in the shade but out side none the less. They love having it our there.

Then there is the 'wildlife' roaming through the back of our new villa, not in Kansas anymore.

So just a few days after moving in, we are onto major transition #2, Anna started pre-school on January 3 2011, its a British curriculum so its FS1. She was so excited, never batted an eyelash through the whole process and still runs to her teacher every day, so wonderful. Here she is first day, so cute.

Emilee was so excited too, until we walked away from Anna's class room and then she freaked, sweet thing. She was screaming and as stiff as a board as we walked down the stairs. It made me cry, good thing dad was there. We tried to console her but not luck. Its been a few weeks now and the tears are drying up but she still is not happy to she big sister leave. The tables are turning on Anna now though, she is jealous of Emilee who gets to shop and hang with Mom and all she does is go straight home after school, can't win as a mom. Although the afternoon naps are quite nice for all three of us ;)

Anna's and Mommy's first pre-school, complete at home project. Our Canadian girl for cultural day which is coming up this Thursday. I was stressed but I think she turned out quite well.

Emilee and I spend some wonderful mornings exploring Dubai. We love the Madinat Souk, it is attached to the Jumeriah Beach Hotel and is absolutely gorgeous, the hotel is nice too ;)

So its late and I want to get the blog up to date but I have to show you one last picture. It doesn't do it justice, the skyline was majestic this morning. It rained for a few days after, which I guess explains both the clouds and how different it seemed. Thanks for reading all this way. Big hugs and lots of love ~the Andersons