We Are Here!

We couldn't believe we were finally here!  This was the most drawn out move we have ever done and we were so anxious to just get here.  We first found out about the possibility of moving to Abu Dhabi last May.  It took about 7 months for it to actually happen. 

Jet lag was actually harder on us than it was on the girls.  We did have a little help from our friend, Benedryl for us and for them.  The hardest part of jet lag coming this way is staying asleep through the night.  It is also hard to stay awake in the evening. 

My sweet babies just couldn't go on another minute.  Taking an early evening nap with all of the American Girl Dolls carefully arranged by housekeeping.

The girls were both FASCINATED by the bidet.  I heard some water running and came into the bathroom to find this!  She had even put shampoo in her hair.  All of the public restrooms stalls (and the bathrooms in our villa) have little water hose sprayers for "washing up".  Lots of interesting conversations have come about concerning these.  When I asked Olivia the biggest difference between Houston and Abu Dhabi, her response: "the people here don't use toilet paper, but use the sprayer to wash their bums".  True and too funny!

We decided to live in our empty Houston house for two months in order to move directly into our house once we arrived in Abu Dhabi.  I wanted the girls to come directly to their new home and see all of their things and sleep in their own beds from night one.  A few things changed that well thought-out plan.  First, our sea shipment was delayed a week.  Mike didn't receive our container until two days before he flew home to the US for Christmas.  While the movers unpack the boxes and sort of put things away, it is not at all organized.  It is really helpful having things out of boxes, but oh my is it a mess.  Second, our water was shut off for 3-4 days when we first landed.  Something about a huge bill our landlord needed to pay.  Third, something I didn't think about at all when planning, we had no window treatments!  We have HUGE windows in our and Olivia's bedrooms.  There was no way we could stay there until there was something on the windows.  So, we ended up having to stay in the hotel for about 5 or 6 days.  It was actually nice staying there despite having two rooms that were not connected.  Mike and Olivia took one room, while Eliza and I in the other.  It was quite annoying going back and forth and being split up.

This is the beautiful view that we have from our villa.  We feel so very lucky to have landed here.

 This is what I walked into our first morning in Abu Dhabi.  I literally walked around from room to room and then went a laid down in Olivia's bed for about 45 minutes, completely overwhelmed and no idea where to even begin.

 Our bathroom.  Notice there is not one cabinet or drawer in the entire place.  Where in the world were we going to put all of that.

 I stated buying packs of my favorite sponges when I went to Costco when getting ready for the move.  I just kept tossing them into a back cabinet and didn't realize how many I had accumulated.  I didn't know if I would be able to find these here (I can, actually) and wanted to be sure I didn't have to waste precious suitcase space on sponges during my trips home during the summer.  Looks like I will be okay for a while :)

Sweet Maya made it!!!  She arrived a day earlier than we thought and we were still in the hotel.  She had to be boarded until we got out of the hotel.  She was SO EXCITED to see us when we went to pick her up.  It was so good to see her!  She slept for almost 24 hours straight once she ran around and gave the place a once smell over.  Poor thing must have been so stressed at almost 14 years old.

 Olivia's favorite thing in the world to eat delivers!!!!!!  What could be better?!