A.D. Arrival

view from the balcony of our temporary housing

Our family has arrived in Abu Dhabi! Well, we've actually been here 2 months now, but I wanted to start this new blog off at the beginning of our adventure. Our initial introduction to the UAE did not leave us overly anxious for more. We arrived during the hottest time of the year, and during Ramadan. Temperatures were regularly around 120 degrees Fahrenheit and 100% humidity. Throw in Ramadan, (a Muslim religious holiday during which Muslims are expected to fast from sunup to sundown) during which most places are closed during the day, including all those fast food places you want to eat at since you've just moved in and have nothing to eat, and the going gets a little tough. BUT Ramadan ended. And it has only gotten to 100 degrees this week (which feels NICE believe it or not). And we moved into our villa and got our stuff from the States and have met nice people, etc. Things are looking up here! We are starting to realize we live in a pretty "cool" place...

the only people crazy enough to be outside during the day - we lasted 5 minutes on this playground

Jet lag was HORRIBLE! The kids would routinely sneak off, hide and fall asleep in some random place. Let's just say it wont be long enough before we have to go through THAT again!

What do you do in your temp housing when you have almost nothing and can go nowhere due to weather and lack of transportation? You get creative!! Lots of dance parties, hide and seek, seeing how long of a lineup we could make of all the action figures we did bring, as well as trying out new hairstyles and riding the elevators up and down, just for the fun of it!

My dear mom made the trip out with us, and saved us! She made sure we had the essentials, like ice cream for lunch:)

Our compound seems pretty awesome. There are about 80 villas. There is a mix of people from all over the world, working all over Abu Dhabi. There also seem to be lots and lots of kids around, which makes my kids happy:) One day I'll remember to get a picture of the front of the house...

My favorite grocery store nearby is located at what the kids have affectionately dubbed the "fish mall." The elevator goes through this fish tank, and could provide hours of entertainment.

The mall is empty because it is pre-sundown during Ramadan.

Unfortunately, it isn't a very big elevator and people tend to want to squish lots of people into this small space, so I don't think we'll be spending hours there :)

I did love seeing all of the little lanterns everywhere that people use to decorate for Ramadan.

The day our air shipment arrived was cause for much excitement, even if it was only a few boxes. We saved the happy dance for our sea freight:)

Tyler started school - 1st grade! I wasn't prepared for how much the humidity would affect my pictures, and even though I stood out there for 5 minutes, the lens never cleared up. I would wipe off the lens, snap one picture, and then repeat the process. Thus, the artistic haze around these pictures!

Waiting for the bus!

Meeting his new bus monitor, Ms. Babylyn

This always cracked me up - in absence of a TV, the kids would watch DVDs on our tiny little portable player. 

Probably the thing we have done the most since arriving - swim at our neighborhood pool! The kids love the lifeguard, and he them (well, he mostly loves Hailey the best, but he enjoys giving the boys "swim lessons" every time we all go)

One of the things that made a huge difference in feeling more settled was buying this beauty. Now we are ready to explore...