Ballet Day in Dubai

    

Today was a great day for us Andersons. The day started with a sleep in for Emillee while Anna went to school. We tried so hard and were so excited for our first dance classes in Dubai today. Emilee was all ready and we even arrived on time, amazing, but sadly the class was canceled. We tried to make it up to her with a special juice and muffin next door, next week suggie. So sad.


Picking up Anna after school went well with a little lunch. Then a slightly more scenic drive through old Dubai then planned, aka we got a little turned around after missing an exit - good times. We managed a quick trip to Plug-Ins for a NEW PRINTER!! SO EXCITED, let the applique quilting begin. Followed by Anna's 4pm dance class. Again on time arrival was a good thing and so was the smile on Anna's face, ear to ear for all 40 mins, too cute.

 The day was great and we had lots of fun, a trip for groceries and home again, home again.

The weather is getting hotter by our Canadian standards and so we made an important purchase yesterday at the grocery store. A sprinkler :) All apologies now for those reading in Calgary or any where else cold right now, really sorry.

The half tent was a Christmas gift for the beach or the back yard, I guess. I thought they we would like to play in it and its a little shade in this serious sunshine. Its about 26 C but with the 54% humidity it feels like 31 C for reference. Spare beds available for any interested ;)

  I took some video, here it is.

The girls are great and love to do fun things, making it fun for us parents too. We are excited to welcome a baby brother to our family and look forward to all the exciting things Ethan will bring to our family. If nothing else it should be busy. Back to the sprinkler.

Well dinner doesn't make itself and we are going to BBQ tonight, a treat not the norm as at home, so just a few more sprinkler pics.

Love those 4 year olds, nice Anna. They play well but are also sisters. Case in point, Dad and I are in the house, I am writing this post and we hear crying. Anna comes in side and tells us Emilee hit her on the head. Dad asked what she was doing just before her sister hit her. "Roaring really loudly at her" 4 and 2, too funny. Big hugs and lots of love ~the Andersons

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.