Italy here we come...

Well we have had a very eventful month with mom and dad here. We have really enjoyed having them and we will miss them. I have so many pictures and videos that I will post adventually, but right now I just don't have the time. We are only two days away from leaving for our trip to Italy and I just want to pinch myself. I can not believe it is real...we are actually going to ITALY!!! Our suitacases are packed mostly and I am really proud of myself...only two suitcases for all four of us. That must be a record or something. Well, Lance hasn't packed all of his things so there is a chance that his stuff may mess up my "two suitcase parade". Other than getting ready for our trip and reading about Italy and brushing up on a few italian phrases we have been doing all of the normal daily stuff we do here. Evelyn had her recital a few weeks ago and was so precious. At one point during the show the smaller girls were dancing and a few were having a hard time getting the courage to get out there and dance...Evelyn came up to me and I thought OH no, Evelyn is getting nervous about performing. But she said "I got this Mom!" and walked back to her place. I videod and am going to try to post the video. She has started swimming lessons here in the compound as well and LOVES it. Camille wants to get into the pool so bad, I think she asks me atleast once a day "swimming pool?". So cute. The weather is nice and warming up here, but just not warm enough for Camille to get in. PLus this week she came down with a little cold and I didn't want to chance her getting worse. Camille seems to be talking more and more these days. She definately knows what she is saying but the rest of us don't have a clue. Evelyn is doing really good in school and has started to show signs of reading. This month her class is talking about insects especially ants. She captured an ant at school and brought it home as a pet. She named it Lilly. Suprising Lilly lasted almost a week in her jar with a small piece of plum. Evelyn discovered Lilly dead and we had to have a funeral service. So, Evelyn, Camille, Papa, and myself buried Lilly in the backyard. We each said a few words about Lilly and Evelyn even wrote her a letter. Rest in Peace Lilly. Well I just wanted to drop a note to everyone to let you guys know we are doing great and very excitted about our trip. Ciao!

Star Struck

I am so happy to see my husband home and now my parents can see were we have been living for the past 7 months.

We had an excitting day this past Friday. We went the the Skeik Zayed Grand Mosque to show mom and dad and we ran into Jermain Jackson. It was unbelievable. We were on a tour and I kept looking at him thinking...I know that guy. And then it hit me...I think he is Micheal Jackson's brother. I thought he was Jermain and I wondered..was he just a guy that looks like him and does he get that all of the time. So I told Lance and he asked him "Are you part of the Jackson family" He extended his hand to Lance and introduced his self "I'm Jermain" WOW. We spoke with him breifly, but he told us that he was recording in Dubai and thinking about moving here to Abu Dhabi. His wife is from Afganistan and they are in this region all of the time. It was suprising that we were in this mosque full of people and he went unidentified. He then offered to take a picture with us and asked Lance for his contact information. WOW what a day. Who knows Jermain Jackson could be my neighbor.

The mosque was beautifula and mom and dad really enjoyed it. We have also brought them to see the Emirates Palace and Heritage Village. You will see some pictures at the end of the slide show of when we went to Heritage Village.

At the beginning of the pictures you will see pictures of Evelyn at school. Those are from International Day. All of the kids dressed up like thier native country. Since we are from Texas, Evelyn dressed in her "DOn't mess with Texas" tshirt, cowgirl hat, bandana, and boots. Camille wore her outfit as well. It was so amazing to see all of the different countries and costumes. The entire Elementry School had an assembly that morning and Evelyn's class got up and sang "Rainbow World" It could have made me cry. SO Beautiful. The past two weeks in class Evelyn and her classmates have been discovering each other's countries. They made passports and each day they "travel" to a different country. On USA day, I brought a slide show of Texas images for everyone to see. International day and week were a lot of fun. Now Evelyn really amazes me, she knows all of the different countries. Even last weekend she was pretending that her and her daughter (Camille) were from Syria and they were flying to Egypt. I was to ticket lady who they bought their tickets from. Never would she had know about those countries if she did not have this opportunity. Too Cool.