Welcome back! I didn't really intend to take an almost 2 month break from blogging. The summer was busy and I preferred to spend my evenings with family and friends instead of updating you all with our lives. Since I haven't even begun to sort through vacation photos, I'll save that topic for a future post. I'm sure I'll be feeling home sick soon enough and re-living our trip home through a post will help remind me of many great memories!
As I've mentioned before, we decided to move from an apartment to a villa. I did most of the arrangements before we left for the summer but left Rich to oversee the movers while the girls and I were in the US. We arrived back in Dubai this past weekend and drove to our new home! When we pulled up outside Angela looked a little confused. She asked if her toys were inside and then asked if Gloria was inside too. We answered yes and she ran to the door, gave Gloria a great big hug, and spent the next two hours with her toys.
After only a few days here, we are already figuring out the ups and downs of life in a villa. Hopefully you will enjoy the few favorites I've included below!
Leapin' Lizards!
Last night I walked downstairs and noticed something scurry by in front of me. A tiny lizard. While I hate the idea of these being in our house, they do eat bugs and are completely harmless. So for now, they stay. Fortunately we rarely see them so they don't really both me.
H O L Y C R @ P.......I took a brief break after right the above section and as I walked downstairs a lizard froze just in front of me! Its a good thing Rich was home. After snapping a very blurry picture (just for your viewing pleasure), Rich trapped it and humanely disposed of it on the front walkway. I take back what I said above, I guess they do kind of bother me!
Do you know the meter man?
On Saturday evening our door bell rang, just about dinner time. It was the water meter reader who had been sent to investigate high consumption. It seems something had triggered a reading that showed consumption being 30 times more than normal. We haven't even been home most of the past month, d'oh!! The man had a look around and left instructions of 'might be leak, call plumber'. The maintenance team arrived early the next morning and spent three days fixing out tank and pump. We haven't yet received a bill for the 'excessive consumption' but the meter was running at a crazy rate so we are very worried!
Wheeeee!!!!
One of the reasons I really wanted to move was because our apartment really lacked decent outdoor play for kids. The pool required climbing a steep set of stairs and the kiddie pool wasn't special enough to hold Angela's attention very long (especially because she could jump out and run to the big pool in less than 5 seconds). The new house has multiple playgrounds and swimming pools within a five to ten minute walk! The first playground we discovered was a bit of a let down and was just a small slide. However, yesterday I took Angela for a walk and discovered a slightly (very slightly) better playground with swings. Ang was happy with that....wheeee!!! I'll also point out that there is a gym, grocery store, coffee shop, ice cream stand and Hallmark (random) within walking distance. While its still a little too hot outside, none of this is too far for a quick walk in the heat.
The spice rack
Moving is usually a great time to purge all of those little things that have been hanging around a little too long. In my case, this would be the spice rack. I love to cook and have accumulated a random assortment of spices in our cupboard. I rarely sort through my belongings which became so apparent when I was sorting stuff. Not one, not two, but THREE jars of paprika. Seriously? I can't even tell you a recipe that I use paprika in. Its just one of those things that gets added to the shopping list anytime I need 1/4 teaspoon of it because I can't imagine why I would actually have had it in the first place. Anyways, I have a lot of organzing left to do but am really enjoying the purge (and the fact that this house has so much more space than our last house!).
Once we have finished tidying up the furnishings I promise to be back with updated photos and new stories about our life in this new house. I'll leave you with two pictures of the girls since I don't have many to fill this blog. Ang has jumped right back into swimming lessons and took to her new teacher well today. Caitlin's hair has been tamed a bit - Ang decided to help dress her up today!
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