A weekend in Ras al Khaimah

We spent the past weekend at the beach in Ras al Khaimah which is another Emirate in the UAE. It takes about 90 minutes to get there - passing through lots of desert on the way. It was a very quick trip, just one night away. The girls both loved the beach even though it was pretty cold outside. We learned that Caitlin doesn't do so well sharing a room - she kept us all up for a good portion of the night. I've attached some of the photos here - there are plenty more on Facebook!

The girls

Since I always seem to be short on time, I figured I'd just post some recent photos of the girls. Most of these are from a recent day at the park. We had so much fun on the slide and feeding the fish!

A ballerina!

I'm always looking for new activities to keep the girls busy. We have done music class, soccer, mummy & me groups and all sorts of play centers. I recently noticed an ad for toddler ballet classes and decided to give it a try with Angela. She really enjoyed it so we are now signed up for five more weeks! We need to go get her some proper ballet clothes - a lot of the girls were really decked out. I managed to get her shoes but wanted to make sure she would enjoy it before investing in tutu's and what not. She even let me give her 'ballet hair' which is a miracle since he hates having it in a pony tail!

Christmas Crazies

Rich was looking through photos on my phone last night and came across this little video. He was shocked that I hadn't yet shared it with anybody. The girls have loved playing Christmas music and dancing around the house (or in their dinner chairs). I even captured Millie attaching the Christmas tree!

Butterflies

We recently attended two events where face painters were on hand to fill Angela's face and arms with cute little characters. At one birthday party, her face was transformed into a butterfly. Last weekend at brunch, she had a snowman on one cheek and all sorts of little things all over her arms. She came home from school today and was coloring on her white board with markers. Suddenly she turned around and asked me to make her a butterfly. Before I could react, she took the black (thankfully washable) marker and colored her face. Not quite as nice as the two that were done by professionals, but still pretty cute!

catching up

Oops! Its been over a month since I last published anything here. Sorry. I've been filled with good intentions but my execution has been terrible. There are hundreds of photos to sort through, a handful of videos to upload, and tons of really great stories to share.

We are all getting really excited about Santa Clause. Our tree went up a few weeks ago in preparation for a holiday party we hosted. We had almost 50 friends & coworkers join us last weekend for a party in our garden. It was a really fun night. Angela was a little disapointed that it wasn't 'her' party - as we were getting things ready she asked if people were coming to see her, and if they would gift her presents and kisses. Needless to say, she is thrilled about her upcoming birthday and cannot wait to celebrate with a Minnie Mouse party and all of her friends.

The girls seem to be growing up unbeliveably quick. Angela is a little chatterbox and never stops. Her teachers at nursery love her and she has so much fun playing with all the big kids in our new neighborhood. Caitlin is now scooting on her butt all over the house - she loves following both Angela & Millie. She is getting a bit more consistent with her sleep although still wakes up once or twice during the night.

I put together a selection of photos from the past few weeks below. Easier to post as a slideshow than to try and upload each of them here individually. Enjoy, and hopefully I'll be back soon with more posts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op1n_aXkudc

Winter in the UAE

The seasons are changing and the weather has been perfect lately. It's mid-80's and sunny most of the day, a few scattered clouds and we even had some rain! We put a patio area in the backyard and bought a grill. We have two new bikes and a trailer that holds two kids. The girls are really enjoying being able to spend so much time outside!