Sorry it has been so long since I wrote. After Melinda and Dennis left, Lance left the next day. So it has been just the girls and I all week, may I say no more. When there is only one set of hands around the house, I have to run a tight ship. That means that I am exhausted by the end of the day and instead of staying up to write on the blog, I am sleeping in my bed.

This week has been a typical week altogether. Thanks to Melinda and Dennis helping out around the house, I feel settled now. I have been just catching up on emails, bills, and expense reports this week. Mostly paperwork, but it feels so good to have it done. I have also continued to prepare for the Fall Festival next week. I am working on some signs for the booth.

Mom told me that my nephew fell the other day at the pumpkin patch and busted his bottom lip. Well his cousin, Camille, fell yesterday at the grocery store and busted her upper lip. They have matching swollen lips I am sure. She was walking and holding her purse when her shoes made her stumble. She would have been able to catch herself but she had her purse in her hand. Needless to say she landed on her face. Oh yes blood was dripping down her chin, it was a scene. Thank goodness to my bad of tricks, I had everything we needed to quickly treat the patient at the scene. She was fine within minutes and back to herself with a swollen lip.

I have been very pleased as far as how easy it is to meet people here. Almost easier than it was in Katy. Today I had coffee and croissants with my friend Violet. She is originally from Canada and her husband is from Egypt. They both moved here from upstate New York. They have three children and the middle child is in Evelyn's class. She is an interesting person, she is an art consultant. Next week's social calendar is already filling up. Sunday-coffee with friends, Monday-furniture delivered, Tuesday-so far free, but I have some plans brewing with my friend Kim, Wednesday-built life sized scarecrow with Evelyn's class, Thursday-Fall Festival at school.

I am very thankful for my housekeeper, Anna. She is a hard worker and honest. After she cleaned today, Evelyn invited her to eat with us on the back patio. She excepted and educated me on her way of life in the Philippines. She has a daughter that is still there as well as her husband that she is supporting from work here. Her daughter lives with her mother, and her daughter has a left sided weakness. Last week she received word that her daughter got the Flu and was in the hospital. She was tearing up telling me about it. I feel so sorry for her. She is so helpful to us. After dinner she left and the girls and I went for a walk. On our walk we found some cut down palm branches in front of a villa that I thought I could use for by booth at the Fall Festival next week. I am going to tie them to the pole to make them look like corn fields. Our booth is going to be like a pumpkin patch and we are making a live scare crow. Anyways, after I spoke with the owner of the house if we could have them, Anna was walking near by, she helped us bring all of them back to our house. I never asked her to do that and it was her time off. That was very nice of her. Oh back to her way of life in the Philippines....she built a house next to her parents when she got married, the walls were made out of bamboo and the roof out of leaves. Can you imagine? And here she is in Abu Dhabi, working so hard to support not only her daughter, but her siblings and parents as well.

The weather is getting pleasent outside. The humidity is still high, but there is a nice breeze. It is still warm enough to swim and I think we are going to check out the beach this weekend.

We had a really nice day yesterday. We spent the morning at home while Lance worked on a presentation for work. We left and ate lunch (Pop eyes) on the way into the city. Yes, we do have Pop eyes. Then we went to a birthday party for Evelyn's classmate. They live in an apartment and they had a pool party on their rooftop terrace of the building. It was soo beautiful. It had a great view of the water and city. It was so neat to be at a kids birthday party with all kinds of kids from so many different countries. Evelyn had a great time. We left from there to catch a sunset cruise along the corniche. We rode in a traditional dhow boat (wooden boat) it was so lovely. We took some amazing pictures of the city and sunset. We had the boat all to ourselves. We rode for about 1 1/2 hours. After that we headed to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in Abu Dhabi for supper. The girls were completely overly exhausted by this time. We went back to the villa and beaded down for the night. Oh by the way, it was our 6 year anniversary.

Today, Sunday, was a teacher inservice day so Evelyn did not have school. It was a nice realizing day at home. Lance went to work as usual and Dennis spent the morning helping us with hanging things in the house. We are so thankful that Dennis helped us with getting things done around the house. It takes so long to get things together and to feel organized. I really feel like since Melinda and Dennis came we have got alot of the last things done to the house and we are now settled. Camille took a long nap today.....trying to catch up from the weekend, so after she woke up we went into the city to meet Lance for supper. Lance ended up working late and wasn't able to meet us, but we had a nice dinner at Fudruckers. They have the best burgers. Definately can not eat that everyday, way too fattening.

I think Melinda and Dennis had a great visit. They are sad to go home, but 2 weeks is a long time to be away from home. We have really enjoyed having them here, it made our new home seem more like home to us. We hope that they can see that we are happy here, and are adjusting well. We are very lucky that they came to visit, because many people that we meet here say that their families would not come to visit them. Goodbye is always the hardest word to say, but this isn't forever and we will see them and all of you before we know it. In about 8 weeks to be exact. Time flies here in Abu Dhabi.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT IN ABU DHABI: Melinda and Dennis Delcambre came to Abu Dhabi...Ha HA!! And they survived....

Wednesday was a good day. We did the usually daily things during the day. I brought Evelyn to school and Melinda and Dennis watched Camille. I stayed for a couple of hours at Evelyn's school to observe and help out with the class. It was a good experience. Basically I learned that the teacher does have an agenda, but I do believe that she lacks some structure. It is her teaching style and I am going to make sure that I stay involved with the class. Wednesday evening Lance, Melinda and Dennis went to Emirates Palace. They said it was beautiful. They had a tour of the suite that would cost 50,000 aed a night which is about 13,000 us dollars per night.

Thursday was an early release day for Evelyn. We all brought Evelyn to school, Lance had meetings in Dubai. After dropping Evelyn off, we had breakfast at our usually stop, McDonalds. Then we went to the mall and shopped Ikea. I got several things that we needed for the house...desk, shelves, table for girls and two bookcases, baskets, and more...all for the price of 225 US dollars. Way cheep. That is the only way to go when you move and don't want investment furniture. We picked up Evelyn at 12:30 and went home to rest. At 4:00 PM a Land Cruiser picked us up at our front door and brought us to the dessert for a dessert safari. It was definitely the most exciting and entertaining thing we have done so far. We had no idea how much fun it would be. We first went to a camel farm for some photos with camels. The girls loved it. The camels were very gentle. Then we all loaded back into the 4 wheel drive Land Cruiser and went "dune bashing". I never would have imagined how exhilarating it would have been. The vehicle literally turned at an 90 degree angle going down the dunes. We were screaming our heads off. It felt like the car was going to toll over. I was in the 3rd row with the girls, Evelyn in a seat belt and Camille belted with me. It lasted about 25 minutes then we stopped for sunset photos in the sand. Then we road for about another 25 minutes and then ended at a traditional arabic camp. We rode a camel, had tattoos done on our hands (will wash off eventually), ate traditional arabic BBQ, belly dancing, and smoke shisha pipe. It was really really neat. Everyone had a blast. The girls just loved playing in the sand. Pictures just can not do it justice of how beautiful it is in the dessert. Everyone that comes to visit, we will definitely bring you on a dessert safari.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT IN ABU DHABI: Yesterday as we were driving home from school we saw a little Toyota truck with a camel strapped down in the bed of the truck...only in the Middle East....

Yesterday was a good day. We did some things around the house...cook, laundry, etc. and did a little shopping. Lance tried to get the lawn people to cut the grass (which is included in our rent) but they didn't show. They did however end up coming this morning.

After the guys cut the grass, we (Melinda, Dennis, Camille, and I) left for the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque. It is a beautiful sight. Melinda and I had to wear a black robe over our clothes and wear a scarf over our head. We all including Camille had to take our shoes off before entering the mosque. Inside was unbelievable. It housed the world's largest persain rug, weighing 35 tons. We had a great guide who explained everything and educated us on the muslim customs and why they do the things they do. Melinda and Dennis really enjoyed it. I hope Lance can get the opportunity to see it one day, since we drive by it everyday into the city.

After the mosque we ate lunch, did a little shopping, and picked up Evelyn. We then went to another store and ordered some furniture for myself that I saw the day before. Melinda went to the gold souk (market) below the furniture store and bought herself a nice bracelet. We picked up Pizza Hut for dinner (yes we have that here) and headed home. It was a good day.

Tomorrow, I am going to bring Evelyn to school because Lance has meetings in Dubai. Melinda and Dennis are going to stay home and watch Camille because I am going to stay a couple of hours at Evelyn's school to observe. Tomorrow evening we are going to Emirates Palace, a self proclaimed 7 star hotel. I have made arrangements for Melinda, Dennis, and Lance to take a guided tour that will show them the suite and other things. They do not allow children on this tour so I will keep the girls. We are all looking forward for the weekend as well because we have reservations for an half day dessert safari. It is going to be great...camel ride, dune driving, belly dancing, etc.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT IN ABU DHABI: The men here wear a white dress like thing and they wear that color because it is the purest of colors. And they keep it very starched and bright white. Women wear black because you can not see through the fabric, so you would not be able to see what they are wearing beneath. Some women evne wear black veils over their face and you wonder how can they see. We learned today that they can see through the veils, you just can not see them.

I had a very interesting brunch this morning at my Emirate neighbor's house. There were 8 women there total, two of us were American, one Pakistani, and the rest emirate women. I felt like I was in the scene of Sex in the City 2 when the girls go into this room were a lot of Emirate women are dressed in their black robes and head cover. All of the sudden they take their head gear off and kick back. It is so interesting to be among them and to see that they are just normal people like you and me behind their black cover-up. Ms. Salma had a lovely spread of Arabic food and coffee. She gave a tour of her home (it is the same house as mine) but looks totally different because our taste of course is different. She has wallpaper everywhere. Not the terrible 90's wallpaper but current nice wallpaper. The arabic taste is a little on the gody side compared to what we like. They use a lot of rugs of course. I wished I could tell you the name of the foods that I ate, but it was all pretty good. We ate on good china and drank out of crystal glasses of course. Most of the conversations were about normal women talk...kids, school, house, etc. It was like I was in America almost just everyone looked different. I had a hard time following the conversations some times because they would speak in Arabic mostly. The other American woman there could speak Arabic because she is married to an Emirate man. One of the Emirate women reminded me of Jamie (my cousin) she looks just like her and she has 4 boys just like her. Too funny...even in the middle east you find people just alike. One of the Emirate women came with her 20 month old son. She also brought her nanny along with her, who took care of the toddler while we visited. I am thankful that Melinda and Dennis were here to watch Camille for me. She would have been a bull in a china cabinet over there. It would not have been a very pleasant experience. I am so glad to have had that opportunity. It is so interesting to meet and socialize with people I normally would not have.

The rest of the day was a normal Sunday. Groceries and pick up Evelyn from school. We had spaghetti for supper with salad and garlic bread. Nothing too complicated, but it was a hit.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT IN ABU DHABI I realized today that there are more mixed marriages than I would have imagined. Of course I met an American women who looked and dressed just like us that is married to an Emirate man (for 24 years). Also, some of the other women who were dressed in the traditional Emirate gear were not all originally from the UAE. One women was from Yemen and married a man from here. It surprises me to find this mix of marriages, I thought it would have been more strict in that regard. It seems as if they are just like we are in America.

Oh I forgot to mention. Here they do not wear shoes in the house, so I took mine off at the door. When I left, some of the women were still there, I saw their shoes. Nothing but tall hills and name brands...Fendi, gucci, you name it. Also, I was supprised to see when they took of the head gear their hair really wasn't fixed. It was blowdried, but they really didn't style their hair. Why would they it is covered all day except in their homes.

Fun Fun day today. On the way to Dubai we saw even more wild Camels on the side of the road. We stopped this time to take pictures. Dad, I was thinking about you. You wouldn't believe how big they are, and they are not all that camel color, some are darker brownish. Something about the sight of camels just cracks me up.

We had a wonderful time at the water park named Wild Wadi. It is part of the Jumeriah Beach Hotel. Some of you may recognize it, it is the hotel that looks like a sail. The water park was very nice. The girls really enjoyed the wave pool and kiddy part. Evelyn had a great time going down all of the kid slides. I put Camille in a bathing suit that has a life jacket built in. She just bobbed everywhere. She did not stop all day and needless to say they both were exhausted by the end of the day. We all rode the lazy river and we took turns watching kids or riding tube hides. There was also a very high, fast, and steep slide that Lance and Dennis went to ride, but only Lance rode it after they both climbed up the millions of steps. According to Dennis, they wouldn't let him ride the slide with a shirt on so he just didn't ride it. HA HA I think he chickened out. Well at least I can tease him about it. Melinda was worried about what was appropriate to wear at the pool, but I told her don't worry, you will see people dressed from one extreme to another. Of course the Europeans were in the skimpiest things you could imagine. Some should not have worn the small piece of fabric they called a bathing suit. As we would say, they had no business wearing that. Even some men were sporting speedos. OH yes...Then you have the local emirate women in fully covered suits. Imagine swimsuit material...long sleeve shirt that hangs to your knees, pants, and head cover that you only see their faces. It is very weird to see that, but I know that I am settling in when I don't even realize all of the differences. I think today's experience made it hard to believe that we were in the Middle East.

My Emirate neighbor's maid came over this afternoon to invite me for coffee tomorrow morning. As she said it, "My Madame would like to invite you Madame over for coffee tomorrow morning." Since Melinda and Dennis are here, they can watch Camille and I can go over. It is going to be an interesting experience. I'll let you know how it goes.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT IN ABU DHABI: It is pretty standard to have a maid's room in a house. We would consider this space a storage closet because of its size. In some bigger and nicer homes, the maid's room is outside of the house, so they have a separate entrance. Some homes even have another servants room designated for the driver. Yes, people have maids and drivers. It is not uncommon to see women (not just emirate) in the grocery store with their maid pushing the cart behind them. Drivers are not as common, but widely used here compared to other parts of the world. Hired help is considerably affordable here compared to elsewhere. No I do not have a live-in maid nor do I have a driver. I do have someone that comes to clean house for me, which is what I had in Katy as well. You can imagine how hard it is to keep up with cleaning a house with all of the sand.

We had a blast yesterday. On our way into Dubai, we saw some wild camels on the side of the road. Too funny. Then once we arrived into Dubai, we went out to the palm island. This is a man made island that is in the shape of a palm tree. In the center of the island is the Atlantis Hotel. It was sooo beautiful. We were able to only see a small portion of the hotel, because they only allow people that are staying in the hotel to access the main parts, but we did eat lunch there in a french restaurant. Lance and Dennis had hamburgers, Melinda had french fries, I had a croissant sandwich, and the girls had fish and chips. It was pretty good. After we left the Atlantis, we went to the Mall of Emirates. I think Melinda and Dennis were amazed to see how beautiful Dubai is. It is hard to believe you are in the dessert. At the Mall of Emirates is the Middle East's only indoor ski slopes. Well, they wouldn't allow Camille to go in, only 3yr olds and up. So Dennis and Lance went down the ski slope, while Melinda and I brought the girls to a large playground. Imagine a larger version of the McDonald's playground, that you have to pay to use. It was sooo crowded on the playground. You kids of course have to be supervised by an adult, but we were the only parents there. All of the kids playing had their nannies with them while their parents shopped. Melinda could not get over the kids with their nannies. Like I said the playground was crowded and Melinda was having a heart attack because she couldn't see Evelyn all of the time. This playground was 4 levels high. We didn't last an hour there and we had enough, so we got ice cream and I brought Evelyn to the Ski Park to play. You see in Ski Dubai there are two different parts, there is the ski slope and the ski park. In the ski park there are tube rides, sled rides, and room to play in the snow. So Melinda watched Camille and they watched from the windows while Evelyn and I went to the snow park. At first Evelyn did not like it because she was cold, but after she started riding rides, she loved it. We kept looking to see if we could see Lance and Dennis skiing, but never saw them. Our snow park adventure ended when Evelyn had to use the bathroom and didn't make it. All of the sudden she said, "Mommy I have to go to the bathroom" and the next thing I knew I could see something wet trickling out of her ski suit and over her boots. When we came out, the gang was right there by the door waiting. Lance and Dennis just got out about 10 minutes before us. Lance and Dennis said they had a great time skiing and only fell down a few times. This was about 6:30 -7:00 pm. Well the next thing we did was go buy Evelyn some new clothes, walked the mall a little, ate supper in the food court, and headed home. We had a fantastic day. We didn't get home until around 11:00 pm. Needless to day we all slept in this morning. It is now 10 am and Lance and the girls are still sleeping. After we all get up, we are going to get ready and go back to Dubai to the Wild Wadi Water Park at the Jumerah Beach Hotel. It is going to be another fun day.

Yesterday was productive for myself. Dogs got groomed and I got my haircut finally. Melinda and Dennis stayed around the house and watched Camille while I ran errands. Last night we went to the Shang Gri La Hotel and shopped at the souk there. A souk is a market, it was a modern twist on a traditional Arabic souk. We shopped a little and ate dinner at a very nice Italian Restaurant. Lance and Dennis ate fish, I had seafood risotto, and Melinda and Evelyn ate a cheese pizza. The food was pretty good. We ran into some friends from the school after dinner and visited with them for a while. They are from Atlanta and the husband is completely hilarious. He has the set up as far as watching American TV and he is trying to teach us how we can do the same. I am so depressed because I can not watch Dancing With the Stars. Not even download it off of the internet, because it is available for US only. We had a really nice evening.

Today we are headed to Dubai, our usually weekend getaway. We are going to The Mall of Emirates and going to the Only indoor Ski slope in the middle east. Dennis is very excited. We plan to show Melinda and Dennis around Dubai a little and show them some of the hi lights of Dubai-The Burj Kalifa (largest building in the world), the sailboat hotel, the Atlantis, the water fountains in front of the Burj Kalifa, etc. We'll let you know how it goes. It is going to be a great day.

We just had our traditional Friday morning breakfast, Pan-a-cakes. Getting ready now to go to Dubai.

Yesterday was a good day. I went back to my doctor to review all of the tests she ran and basically everything is OK, my stomach problem was just a virus. I told her about my wallet being stollen and she had a friend that the very same thing happened to her at the same place a couple of months ago. Knowing that is happened to someone else gives me comfort that I am not the only one.

Melinda and Dennis are having a great time. Dennis is helping with things around the house and Melinda is spending time with the girls. Today Dennis hung Evelyn's curtains and they turned out so cute. If only I had a picture to show you. One day I will set enough time aside to upload some pics.

Tomorrow is Thursday, which is like Friday because it is the last work day of the week. Friday, we are planning on going to Wild Wadi, a water park in Dubai. It is going to be a lot of fun. Well keep you posted on this weekend and all that we do. It will be a blast.

We had a great day today. Melinda and Dennis really enjoyed their first day in Abu Dhabi. We all went to bring Evelyn to school and I think Melinda and Dennis were very impressed. Then I showed them around Abu Dhabi a little bit until we stopped at McDonalds for a breakfast that was familiar to them. We went and picked up a little groceries at Spinneys. Melinda was impressed with the grocery store and she was surprised to see lots of familiar things. Then we headed home for a lunch break and Camille's nap. We all went to pick Evelyn up from school and then I went to the police station to see about my stolen wallet. Basically we found out that if I filed a report it would be a lot of work for nothing. I am mainly concerned about getting my driver's license. I am going tomorrow to see about that. We ended our day at Lance's office. Melinda and Dennis got to meet all of the people working there and what Lance is doing. As Melinda would say...you couldn't slap the smile off of their faces. They both shed a few tears at one time or the other as well. They are so proud to see Lance's new job. One man told Dennis that he was blessed because Lance was here now. He would never have had the opportunities to do the things he is doing without Lance. We are all so proud of him. All and all Melinda and Dennis had a great first day in Abu Dhabi.

Yesterday was a blast. We headed out for Dubai and went to a place called Dragon Mart. It is basically Harwin Street in a mall. The main reason why we went is to look for draped. There are shops that you can pick out your fabric, tell them your window size, and in an hour or few come back and the drapes are made. For a fraction of the cost of custom made drapes. We found some material that we liked for the 4 windows in our living room, but they did not have enough material. We did however, have Evelyn's drapes made. We will definitely be back.

Today I had a very very busy day. Started the day out at the Gulf Diagnostic Center getting and ultrasound of my abdomen. Good news, no gallbladder problems. It appears my stomach problems was merely a bug. I am thankful to God for that. Next I went to exchange an alarm clock that was not working after purchasing it on Thursday of last week. Then the delivery guy called me and said he was going to be at my house in 10 minutes to deliver our patio furniture. I was at least 30 minutes away from home at this point. I called my neighbor and she signs for my patio furniture and they put it in the garage. Then I went to another mall to get some things for the house....Home Center and Ikea. After I finished in those two stores I had one hour until I needed to go pick up Evelyn. (remember Camille is with me this whole time) I decided to go to the supermarket in the same mall and get a few grocery items. When I went to check out from that store, I realized my wallet was missing. I searched everywhere and spoke with all of the security people. The last time I saw my wallet was when I entered the supermarket, I had to get out a Durham to pay for the buggy. The security of the supermarket reviewed the tapes and did not see anything. I can only believe that someone must have taken my wallet out of my purse while I was in the store. You see, the buggies do not have seat belts, so I push Camille in her stroller while I pull the buggy. My purse was hanging from the handle of the stroller right in front of me. If I stepped away from the stroller for a second, I guess someone could have taken it. I searched for a long time and spoke with several people before I gave up the search. In the mean time, Lance called and cancelled all of my cards and someone had already purchased a cell phone with one. It must had been stolen. Believe it or not this is claimed to be a rare thing here. Most people are very honest, plus if they were ever caught stealing the consequences would be way worse. I don't came much about the money lost in my wallet, it is my driver's license that took me a day to get and all of my cards that have to be replaced. Things do not happen quickly here!!!! I am really going to have to dig deep to find some patience. Luckily one of my friends picked Evelyn up from school for me. Well that was today, and tomorrow is a new day. I can't keep beating myself up over this, I just need to move on.

Melinda and Dennis arrived tonight. Everything went well for their flights. They were not that impressed with some of the food, but most people aren't. They are tired and are getting ready for bed which is a good thing. If they can sleep, that would be great. We are thankful to God that they arrived here safely and we are excited to see them.

WHAT'S DIFFERENT IN ABU DHABI: It is very common to see women with their hair covered. The local women wear all black....a dress that covers their entire arms and almost drags on the ground...they also have a black cover over their hair and some even cover their face...occasionally some with even wear black gloves.

Melinda and Dennis will be here is two days and we just can not believe it. I can not imagine my in laws in the middle east. Lance and I have been working really hard to get everything in order in the house. The guest bedroom has turned out really well.

Evelyn had a really good week at school. She say some glitter stuff for your face last week and really wanted it for her fairy costume for Halloween. Well I told her if she worked on writing her name and could write the entire thing by the end of the week, we would go get it. She is writing her name like a pro. I am so proud of her. Needless to say we have to make a trip to the mall this weekend for the glitter. Not only did Evelyn learn to write her name, but she worked on writing several of her classmates names. She even can now recognize she classmates names and read them. So proud.

I panicked yesterday over the worm/caterpillar invasion in our backyard. They were climbing the walls. After 4 phone calls and Lance going up to the maintenance office the guys finally came and sprayed the yard. We were one of five yards yesterday that they were spraying the gardens.

On top of the worm invasion, the entire compound lost electricity for the entire day yesterday. We were about to make reservations to sleep at the hotel when the lights came back on. The continuous maintenance issues in this villa is very frustrating. A lot of the people in our compound are upset and are considering moving. From what i hear, maintenance issues are very common here in the middle east. Maybe because things are not constructed well or they can not withstand the heat. Probably a combination of the two.

What IS DIFFERENT IN ABU DHABI: The other day a milk truck passed by with a logo for Camel's milk. Could this be true? Yes, this is true. I spotted it in the grocery store the other day. Couldn't say I have tried it nor do I plan on it.