Abu Dhabi Days 3 and 4

Day three in Abu Dhabi was Christmas!!

Spending Christmas with four young kids was just too fun for words, their excitement was contagious!

Abu Dhabi has a genuine postal system (which Kuwait does not...because Kuwait) and we were thrilled to be able to have Amazon deliver things to our friend's house. This was awesome both because it gave us TONS more options and saved us loads (many things in Kuwait are crazy expensive compared to elsewhere, see Lego for just one example).

And you know it wouldn't be Christmas if David wasn't putting things together...

The Boy scored in the Star Wars department...

Sister got hooded unicorn jammies - and despite the expression on her face- she loved them!

...and Brother got Chewbacca ones - again, he really did like them, I swear...

He also got a Darth Vader costume...

...and so did our friend! 

Dueling Darths...

Our sweet friends even had stockings for our kids, filled with fun goodies, like these teeny tiny Connect Four games...

Seriously, how cute is that?!?!

There is a floor under there somewhere...

We played some new games...

Sister's new Dragon...

...and treasure box...

(Don't worry, the cat eventually adjusted to the chaos of four extra people in the house...)

My boys, getting some fresh air...

Our friends cooked an exquisite Christmas Lunch. 

And decorated the dining room for the occasion. 

Complete with photo props.

It was awesome. 

Our little family was introduced to the tradition of Christmas Crackers. Seriously so fun! 

I'd seen these in boxes on sale at grocery stores here in Kuwait, labeled "Christmas Crackers" and thought they were just decorative little packages of crackers (ya know, like the kind you eat?) and thought they were just given as gifts and kinda wondered why anyone would choose to give those instead of chocolate??

I'm learning so much over here =) 

All of us wearing our paper crowns after opening them...

After our feast, we waddled went back into the big room and some more games were played...

This Pop-up Darth Vader game came home with us...

...and we've played it approximately 783 times since we landed.

The afternoon was spent relaxing and playing, it was delightful.

At one point I caught this cutie swishing around in an imaginary battle...

Dessert that evening was so fancy it was actually set on fire prior to eating...=)

Night came and it was time to get the kiddos settled in...this Chewbacca fan was pretty happy getting ready for bed that night...

...and after a final duel of Battleship...

...and a few bedtime stories, lots of giggles and shenanigans, the kids finally fell asleep.

Meanwhile, the Mommas continued our torture project of putting together this devil designed cute little supermarket, which included eleventy million microscopic pretend food cans requiring labels to be perfectly applied upon, and just as many pretend minuscule boxes to be assembled.

We were thrilled when our task was FINALLY complete, and the Type A parts of us rejoiced at this sight:

Then my sweet, kind, generous friend, who had invited us into her home and whom I dearly love, accidentally bumped into the grocery store, causing a devastating earthquake... 

How I felt about the accident will now be played by the part of Bunny...

Me too, Bunny...me too.

We all lived to tell about it, and I silently offered up Thanks my children did NOT receive any such businesses for Christmas =)

The next morning (Boxing Day!) began with some incredibly tasty homemade crumpets...

(A little confession...prior to this visit, where we stayed with British friends, I thought Boxing Day was a Canadian thing)

(And I assumed it revolved around some sort of large boxing match)
(Turns out neither are true)

(I'm not proud to admit that to you all, just trying to keep it real)


That morning we headed out to tour the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

We'd seen it on the ride in from the airport (it's hard to miss, it's the largest mosque in all of the UAE) and it looked so impressive...

Some of my favorite sights of the whole day included all the little hand-holding...

Titled: "Men In Waiting..."

...for the ladies to get a group pic =)

(The figure on the top right made me giggle...because I am very mature. No sunbathing at the mosque. Which was a bummer, because I had planned to lounge next to the water with my shades and People magazine...)

(Brother took this pic of us with my phone =) )

(Littlest One had been quite a trooper and was pretty tired at this point!)

David set the timer for a group shot...

LOVE...

MORE LOVE...

David snapped these next pictures just to capture some of the street views while driving around in Abu Dhabi...

...most of what we saw was beautiful, clean buildings and pristine streets and parks, and even landscaping, and I'll admit sometimes I found myself lusting after living in the UAE over Kuwait. 

It's good to be reminded that no place is flawless...

...also, our friends were quick to point out that the cost of living there is much higher than in Kuwait. 

We went and had lunch...

 (I swear we're all there...one little one is just hidden ;) )


Dave was pretty excited when his chicken showed up...

...another photograph by Brother...

We walked around the mall for a bit...

...and then it was time for glow-in-the-dark mini golf!!

...which I came out dead last among the adults. 

I did beat the kids though, so...

Later it was back to the house for more outside play...

...games...

...and trains...

...and toys...

That night David set to work on this Make Your Own Teddy Bear kit our friends got for Sister. (They know her Love Language is stuffed animals ;) )

I'm forever grateful that he took on this project! I'm so not patient crafty when it comes to assemblies like this. For him, it was a labor of love, and she is thrilled with the finished product!

(She's in a weird "smile!" phase. If it's not on organic, candidly captured photo, it's some version of the above. Good thing she's so cute naturally ;))

Viola. 

Days 3 and 4 in Abu Dhabi complete.

=)