Yas Water World

If you ask Olivia what her favorite thing about Abu Dhabi is, she will say "Yas Water World!".  The kids have the best time ever...and so do we!  We have been twice and can't wait to go back to this awesome water park.  There are so many awesome rides that "dare-devil" Olivia just loves.  Eliza has a few more inches to go before she can take full advantage of the water park. This is one of three super fun smaller kid areas.  One of us waits here with Eliza (that is her doing the small green slide in front) while the other takes Olivia on a ride.  Thankfully, we have also been with Les and Linda as well as Aunt Murf to help keep Eliza entertained.  We will be back and back and back here with the summer heat in Abu Dhabi!

 These crack me up: air conditioned cabanas for a small several hundred dollar fee!  Only in the Middle East!

Playroom Fun!

Mrs. Linda is so sweet to my little ladies.  Every time she comes over lately, the girls want to play this cute chef game that Eliza got for her birthday.

Oh Olivia....

When we went to Spain, I finally broke down and downloaded games to my phone to keep the girls entertained during long museum trips.  I really try to limit screen time, especially when we are at home with tons of creative and imaginative opportunities available.  This day she had taken all of the stuffed animals out of this storage bucket and was hiding inside playing on my phone!  Little stinker!

Bowling Birthday

We took the girls bowling several months ago and ever since that time, Eliza has said she wanted to have a bowling birthday party.  I kept waiting for that to change, but it never did (actually about a week before she did say she wanted to have her birthday party at the kid's club at the gym she loves it so much!).  When I called to make the reservation for her party, when I told them that she was turning three, they asked if I would like some more age appropriate venues :).  Nope, the little lady wants a bowling birthday, a bowling birthday she will have!  It was so cute and so much fun to see all the littles trying to bowl.

 Us!  Eliza refused to wear the beautiful monogrammed aqua dress that I had chosen for her to wear!

 Bowling pin cookies and bowling toy party favors

 Cake!

 Happy B-Day Eliza!!

 Picking out their balls

 Olivia with our neighbor, Whitney

 Even the little bitties got into it!

Pizza time

 Cake!

 Love that smile!

 Three!

 :-)

Eliza is Three!

Our sweet little silly goose is three!  Mike and I were both a little sad that our little baby is no longer a baby.  She is still just adorably busy, with such a personality.  She brings so much light and love to our house. I just love our little conversations (her language continues to completely amaze me!) and time together.  She is my little buddy exploring all over Abu Dhabi.

 Waking up to presents!

 I loved loved loved this sign from Pottery Barn Kids about sisters.  So sweet!

 We rarely get a good picture of Eliza, so had to include this one of doing a little "cooking" 

 Eliza doing what Eliza does best :)

 She is so excited that she can now say that she is three with her fingers

Love this gleeful smile

 We couldn't really think of anywhere too exciting to take Eliza for a birthday lunch, but decided on Johnny Rockets.  Linda and Les came with us to celebrate.  She loved watching the dancing wait staff!

 Fun with the clown in between art projects

 After Johnny Rockets, we went to one of Olivia's friends' (Amna) birthday party.  Her mom graciously welcomed Eliza.  She had a blast painting and playing with all of the big girls.  She had more fun than anything we could have planned! 

Happy happy birthday to our precious precious Eliza.  We love you to the moon and back. 

Dune Bashing!

Mike's latest hobby (obsession!) is dune bashing.  There is a club that takes people out and teaches them how to drive up and down the dunes, out in the various desert areas.  We went with him the first time and I was super nervous about it.  He is driving OUR car within a group of 10 or so cars. There are several very experienced marshals that are in charge and determine the path for all of the cars in the group.  After the first 30 minutes, I realized how safe it is and began to relax and discovered how much fun it is!  The girls just love it.

 Letting the air out of his tires for sand driving

 The group

 Starting out on a baby dune

 After a few dunes, the group stops and chats about it all, getting pointers from the marshals

 Working up to bigger dunes

 The kiddos playing with the Baker boys during one of the little chat breaks

 The dunes are getting bigger!

 Just some camels grazing along the way

 Beautiful sunset

 My sweetness!

Love this one

 This was a picture from one of his latest trips.  All of the trips he has taken lately are at 6AM (product of the weather getting HOT!) and so the girls and I have opted to sleep in!