BIG FAT CATCH-UP SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER

Here is my attempt to zip through the last month and a half…

Audrey has had her BFF to spend the night a couple of times – This night they played Pet Shop & Vet.  These girls are the future co-owners of a connecting Veterinary Hospital (Audrey’s side) and Pet Store (Evelyn’s Side)… They have already worked out all the details and just need to finish college to make this happen.

They closed up shop for a bit to play on the ipad.  Julia is looking at me thinking, “Would you put down that camera and come fix my hair?! Gah!”  While Linus over there is still enjoying his thumb and blue blanket.

I found Charles and William having a father/son moment.  Charles was teaching William about shoe shining.  Charles uses a wooden box that his dad built as a young fella for his shoe shining stuff… a very sentimental item.

Meanwhile this cutie was playing babies and coloring in her big sister’s room and for some reason Audrey is wearing Williams Halloween costume from last year. never a dull moment.

I am 100% certain that these back to school pictures are out of order here – but I have no idea where they go since I cannot remember the dates of the other pictures.  Audrey and William started school on different days. (but the same school) She started on a Sunday and He was on a Wednesday.. Here’s Audrey’s first day:

And Here’s William’s a couple days later:

Yes, she dressed herself.. check it out:
Rainbow cheetah head band scarf thingy (no, I did not buy it) over a pony tail.  Mood necklace, actually a decent tunic and leggings paired with glitter silver Toms.. what a fashionista! LOL.  Those of you that really know me understand that this is mildly painful for me  – but I have grown to love letting her express her personality/ style  that is OH-SO - different than mine.. really the only prob. that I have with this is the hideous scarf. however, this is no longer an area that I choose to control. We are different and I love it.

My little man was SO EXCITED and very proud to walk through his BIG school.  For the last 2 school years he only knew it as Audrey’s school, and now he is going there too.. he LOVES school and has lots of buddies in his class… His favorite class is PE and his least favorite is “SPANISH” – which is actually arabic, he thinks it is spanish. so funny.

It doesn’t get much cuter than this:

Julia celebrating finally having mama all to herself:

A couple weeks after school started Audrey began Horseback riding lessons: 

These are proper British-style lessons where the kids learn to ride with correct form etc..  So far she is loving it!  They have recently started “trotting” – Notice the saddles are different here than in America – no handle thingy on the saddle.

We’ve spent many afternoons on the ACS playground.  We REALLY enjoy living so close to the school… there are just no words to express the simplicity and ease of just walking to and from school every day. LOVE. IT.  I pulled the kids car seats out the other day because I needed the space in the car I realized after a week I never re-installed them because they had not gotten in the car!! in a week! Awesome.

This was a sweet moment I was blessed to catch..  One morning when Julia woke up we went in to get her out of bed and saw she somehow climbed out of her pajamas half way… when daddy picked her up she just layed on him – for a long time.. long enough for me to go and get my camera and come back – she wouldn’t budge…She found such comfort in daddy’s arms.

This week was Eid al-Adha – a Muslim holiday where the kids got the whole week off of school.  Many people here use the week off as an opportunity to travel, however we decided not to and had a ‘stay-cation’ instead.  I planned a big outing each day to make it feel as if we were on vacation but still had the comforts of home. 

Day 1: Corniche Beach for some fun in the sun

DAY 2: THE ZOO

Just as we posed for  a picture the ‘misters’ started up.. not sure if that is how you’d spell it or not, but it is designed to keep you cool.. sprays a fine mist of water on you.. oh well.  Not that the picture would have come out anyway since William was “over” the picture taking fiasco.. This was my second attempt since the first one didn’t come out either. LOL

When we stopped for snack time - they have a little area off of the giraffe and zebra enclosure with tables and chairs… The giraffe was really interested in our snacks

Audrey didn’t want to miss a minute – she fed the giraffes the entire time we were feeding ourselves… she adores the animals

Our humble Abu Dhabi Zoo had a major facelift over the last year.  Lots of new animals – we headed over to see & feed the elephants

Only the first hour they are open you are able to feed the elephants, after that the weather is too hot for them and they have to go back in a covered area.  I love that the zoo is so interactive and you’re able to feed so many of the animals.

The kids each handed the elephants a few apples and carrots. When I asked them what it felt like, Audrey told me that hers got some snot on her. eww. 

On the way out they suckered me into paying for them to drive these cars around the track…

Will needed a little help

Julia loved the zoo as much as the big kids.. on the way out they had caged monkeys lining the exit hall and as she was ooh-ing and ahh-ing over a monkey it grabbed her pacifier that was clipped to her shirt and pulled to try and take it.. instead it pulled her  right up to the cage – kinda startled us all – but it just took was a little yank back from me and he let it go.  The kids thought it was hilarious. Sister was EXHAUSTED after all that fun with animals.

DAY 3: YAS WATERWORLD

This day we left Julia behind at home with our helper for some big kid fun.  Charles and I took the kids to Yas Waterworld – such an awesome place.  We stayed and played for 4 hours straight.  Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures other than this because I was on the rides! Audrey wanted to ride every.single. scary ride there was.  She LOVES a thrill – as do I - so the girls were hitting the rides/rollercoasters while Charles watched William playing on the water playground.  We convinced them to join us and we did some fun rides with the guys.  One of them was a family raft ride – we assumed it would be pretty easy going since 6 ppl were on a raft together but it was SO SCARY – even worse, William ended up on the side of the raft that was going backwards and he was TERRIFIED/ screaming and crying the entire time. it was pitiful.  I was so worried he would let go and fly off!! We took it easy on the lazy river after that :)

That evening we enjoyed a cool, afternoon walk / scooter ride to a nearby park

DAY 4 HILTONIA:

This day there are not many pictures either since I took the three kids solo to the beach/pool at the Hiltonia.  As you can imagine when bringing 3 kids to the pool by yourself there is no time to whip out the camera.  The kids had an absolute blast since we met up with some of their friends… they hung in there for about 3 hours and I had to drag them out of there since I was exhausted… the most challenging outing we had all week (for me at least)..  Charles had the car at the office, so I grabbed a taxi, loaded up the trunk with the floats and stroller, then piled in the back with all three kids and asked him to stop at McDonalds to grab some “take-away” (that is what they call “To-Go” here).. for dinner.  We always love our time at the Hiltonia and this was no different. 

 

DAY 5: KIDSFEST AT ZAYED SPORTS CITY

On our last day of staycation we went to a local festival.  It was incorrectly advertised as being ‘mostly’ free so we were a little bummed that in the end it cost us over $50 for rides, arts & crafts, and bouncy house entrance fees.. ugh.  However, they had a blast and enjoyed it tremendously (of course). 

My kids love sand art.. I don’t get it.

Julia was a trooper and hung out while the older kids had all the fun

They are so crazy… love their friendship.

Spider-Man and my Handsome-Man

She is so goofy – check out her face painting:

She finished off her night with some animals and then a sleepover at Evelyn's house.

The week of fun is finished and my birthday weekend is here.  This mama is worn slap out and today I’m just sitting at the computer doing this. So far, so good.