KuWAIT for it...

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.

It's 2017!

Christmas is over, New Years is over, and our halls have officially been un-decked.

I love the chaos of Christmas.

I love the music, the decorations, the presents, the wrapping paper everywhere, the delicious breakfast foods and warm coffee, the shrieks of joy and declarations of "THIS IS JUST WHAT I WANTED!!"

I love it all.

Right up until I don't.

It happens at different points each year, but it always happens. One minute I'm smiling and soaking up the disorder, noise and clutter...and the next I'm like I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS. NOT FOR ONE MORE MINUTE. And I proclaim it time to take down the tree and all the decorations, find places for all the new toys and clothes and other stuff, and purge purge PURGE the stuff I've suddenly decided we no longer have use for now that we have ALL THIS NEW STUFF. I become a woman on a mission, and I'm not to be deterred, nor convinced you really do still need four of the same Happy Meal toy you've had shoved in a drawer for the last year but haven't played with once.

(Again, I'm super fun to be married to.)

(And raised by.)

Anyways.

That day came Saturday for me, and now we have some order in our home again, I'm hoping to get some posts about our trip up on this ol blog =).

We'd barely been at our friend's house ten minutes before Sister was on this bike (with her buddy in the basket), Brother had commandeered a scooter, and David was joining them for a bike tour around the compound.

Check out the look on Sister's face here...

She was SO proud to be able to ride this bike independently!

Their house is in a compound that looped around, with some common area in the middle. The kids were given a decent amount of freedom to bike, scooter, run and skip off to the common area where they made a "hideout". They let us grownups come check in out later that evening...

Their kids know to head back to their house when the evening Call to Prayer is heard from the nearby mosque...kinda like when we were kids and we knew to head home when the neighborhood street lights came on =).

I absolutely LOVED that our kids got to participate in this kind of childhood rite of passage! Riding around with friends and neighbor kids, exploring trees and getting dirty, and experiencing some freedom and independence within a adequately protected and safe area.

It's one of the things I miss about living in a neighborhood in Portland.

Having an apartment in a downtown area of Kuwait has it's perks, and I'm glad we're getting a sense of this kind of lifestyle...but for six (nearly seven!) year olds, I find myself often wishing for a yard for them... an open space - right out the back door- where they can run and jump and play, and a neighborhood that's safe to ride bikes around.

Honestly, it's one of the main reasons we won't consider extending Dave's contract further than the original two years.

If our kids were younger, or even older, perhaps we would...but these are prime tree-climbing years, and I'm longing to give them those moments.

I digress.

Back at the house, our friends were hosting a delicious BBQ and we were soaking up reconnecting with them, meeting their neighbors, and devouring the food =)

Man, have we missed these fun friends!!!

After the BBQ, when the coals were still going, it was prime marshmallow roasting time!

The next morning, the kids ~~destroyed the playroom~~ played for a bit...

....which probably explains why the cat took shelter as far from the ground as she could...bless her heart!

...and eventually we coaxed the children into their beds...where they proceeded to giggle and keep one another up for the several hours.

(okay, it was really probably more like 30 minutes, but it felt like several hours)

The next morning I awoke to Brother telling me "Momma!!! At 10:00am we get to go to the shop and get SLIME!!!!!!!!!"

Ok then.

Turns out there is a little shop on the compound and our friends were sweet enough to give the kids some coins to go by some slime.

Which we declared an outside thing...because SLIME.

My kids thought this was the coolest thing EVER.

We then got ready and headed out from some Christmas Eve adventuring!

Just look at this handsome devil =)...

You'll note the handsome devil is in shorts, a t-shirt and flipflops. On December 24th.

Our friends had said it was warmer there in December than it is in Kuwait.

I kinda didn't believe them.

It's been averaging about 55 degrees Fahrenheit here currently, with it dropping to mid-low 40's overnight and in the early morning.

Now I realize that's far from freezing, but it is cold!

So since Abu Dhabi was relatively close, I just kinda assumed it would be similar.

I was kinda wrong.

The weather in Abu Dhabi in December is in the high 70's - low 80's, and fairly humid.

The jackets, hoodies, and even long sleeved shirts I had packed were a total waste of space.

Oops.

Our friends are positively adorable, and had picked ALL of us up a Christmas sweater...

So, naturally, we had to have group pictures taken in them!

These four are such buddies...

...and as you can see by the sweetness Brother is receiving in this pic, there is great affection among them as well...

After a bit of exploring, we went to the most fun restaurant for lunch!

Each person orders their food on an individual ipad, and then it comes delivered to you via roller coaster.

Yes, I'm serious!

Check it out...

SO fun to watch! In my opinion, one of the most challenging parts about dining out with young kids is the wait for the food to come, but at this place, that was actually he most fun part!! That, and the food was tasty too =)

A little family pic in front of the Christmas tree...

After that, it was off to some festive ice skating!

The men...

Look ma! No hands!

I don't think I've put on ice skates since I was in elementary school.

I was only okay at it then, and it turns out I'm still only okay at it at 35...but I did it AND I didn't fall EVEN ONCE.

I'm sorry, I just have to make sure you all read that last sentence.

I said, I DIDN'T FALL EVEN ONCE.

I'll hold for a minute while you applaud.

Sister on the other hand did fall a handful of times...but seriously she is WAY better than me! =). She's a natural out there!

She just took off and skated her way around the rink...she's so brave.

There was an "Ice Marshall" who was super sweet and came around giving the kids (okay and maybe me...) encouragement and teaching technique.

Here he is with Brother...

At first we were a little concerned that this rink didn't have the little push/aide thingys for the kids to use, but actually we decided shortly into our time there that it was better this way. It forced them to be brave and really learn without being dependent on any support.