Fujairah

The United Arab Emirates consists of 7 Emirates:  Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Fujairah, Ajman, Sharjah, Ras
al-khaimah, and Umm al-Quwain.  These are similar to 7 states with towns throughout each state.  My family has visited Abu Dhabi (the capital), Sharjah, and now Fujairah.  We wanted a short vacation into another part of the country so we could see different scenery.  Dubai consists of a busy city, beautiful beaches, loads of construction, and lots of sand.  Abu Dhabi is smaller than Dubai, but is similar with beaches, city, and sand.  Sharjah is a busy city prone to power outages in the middle of summer.

Fujairah is 66 miles Southeast of Dubai and looks different because there are MOUNTAINS!!  The mountains have no vegetation (because of the heat and lack of water), however, so they aren't as pretty as mountains in Colorado.  Even though the mountains lack snow and plants, they are still nice to look at while lounging at the pool.

The mountains naturally create valleys which allow the water to flow and flood during the rainy season which is December-February.  We even found a waterfall that was slightly flowing and even had people swimming in the pool it created.

I mentioned the valleys that the mountains create.  Well being the adventurous family that we are, we decided to get closer to the waterfall by driving in the valley.  There is a "road" in the valley that is quite bumpy but that did not deter us.  Olivia fussed for about 5 minutes when we began our journey along this "road."  In fact she fussed, similarly to her mother, when we did anything that could have been the least bit dangerous.  Anyways...the road.  Full of rocks and gravel. 

We drove this road for 15-20 minutes and never reached the waterfall. We turned around in order to reach our next destination. A fort and the oldest mosque in the UAE.

 

This vacation also included snorkeling for Andy and Boston, rug shopping and buying for me (yippee), a stop that included a picnic at The Grand Canyon, the kids dancing at the Discotheque, Sophie starting to swim without a life jacket, loads of people watching (inappropriate PDA and swimsuits), and finally lounging by the pool.  All in all it was a very relaxing long weekend and got us in the mood for our next vacation in 45 days:  HOME!!!

April 18, 2005

Last week my oldest two children turned 6.  It was a slightly emotional time for me because I cried for about 2 minutes the night before their birthday.  Andy stepped up to the plate and asked, "Why are you crying?"  He managed to comfort me after receiving an, "I don't know," response.  I still don't know what made me cry about Boston and Olivia turning 6. 

Then I had the most amazing idea.  I should post pictures from my pregnancy with them.  Please be forewarned:  I was very large at the end of my pregnancy!  Heck...who am I kidding?  I started getting large from the get-go.   


This picture is when Andy and I found out we were having twins.  We were sitting in the waiting room waiting to see the doctor, and we kept asking each other, "Does this mean there are 2 babies?"



My very first pregnancy picture.  This was the first day of school of 2004, and I don't think I knew I was pregnant.




9 days before the babies were born.  I had to buy an outfit because I had no clothes to fit me to go to a friend's baby shower.  Notice I'm big (and uncomfortable!) from head to toe.  My toes were even fat.  I could feel fat pockets in between my toes once I started to lose the weight.  In case you are wondering...my final weight was 195 lbs. on my 5"4" frame.  The weight gain eventually became a game of Can Christi Weigh As Much As Andy?  Yes, I won that game by getting to Andy's weight.  I hope that never happens again.




Moments before they were born.  My older sister came into the room and noted my dreadful appearance.  She put on a little makeup and tried to fix my hair.  I kindly returned the favor when she had her baby!




This is our first picture together.  Boston and Olivia were 3 days old. 




Their first trip to church.  Don't you love how squinched up they are?




First time to swim.  4 months old.




Pretty little girl.  Around 4 months.




Picture for 1st birthday party.

 I occasionally see a set of boy/girl twins out and about.  I fondly look at those babies and remember when mine were babies.  I feel like telling that new mommy everything I've experienced with my twins.  Instead I smile and remember when.  People used to tell me to enjoy it because it flies by too quickly.  When the twins were less than 6 months old I thought, "Yeah right."  Time sure picked up once they hit 6 months.  Now I would love to go back to that time to hold them and cuddle them and just have them as babies again.

Boston's 6th Birthday Party

Sophie's birthday party was on March 18th.  Olivia's birthday party was a sleepover on April 1st.  Boston's birthday party was on April 2nd.  Can you say one tired momma?   Boston wanted a baseball themed party and to invite all 23 children in his class, plus some friends, and his sisters.  Thankfully his party was at Minimonsters which provided less work for me.  I was beat after all the prep work from Sophie's and Olivia's parties.  I even had Andy and Boston put together all 30 goody bags.  I'm regretting not getting a picture of Andy using the paper cutter and glue dots!

The only way to get the baseball theme in was to have a baseball cake, baseball plates, and baseball goody bags.  Andy's parents were conveniently coming for a visit before all of the parties, so they brought loads of baseball items for me.  The goody bags contained Big League Chew gum, baseball cards, baseball bouncy balls, baseball stickers, and all of these favors were placed in a mini Astros batting helmet.  Because there were so many countries represented at his party and most of the invitees didn't know about baseball, I provided a description of the items in the goody bag.  This way our new friends could learn about a sport that is important to Boston, Andy, and America. 

Goody bags

The folded red paper contains the baseball info.

Boston had this face all day.  He is either happy, tired, or overwhelmed.  Olivia starts dancing when music comes on. 

Hungry kids after playing for an hour and 15 minutes.

Most of the 30 children were crowded around this small table for the "Happy Birthday" song.

Tired kiddos.

The most oft repeated phrase from after Boston's party, especially from our friends that attended all 3 parties, was...You are done for the year!  That is so true.

Olivia's 6th Birthday Party

Olivia celebrated her 6th birthday Friday night.  This was a big year for her because she insisted on having a party separate from Boston.  In fact, she chose a very girly party.  I wonder if she did that so I would have to do different parties?  For the first 5 years, I was able to have one party for both of them.  I even managed last year to have one party for all 3 of them!  Anyways...lots of planning for my children's parties, but I have to say, I really enjoyed Olivia's party.  It's my second time to have a girly party.  The first being Sophie's 1st birthday.  That party was all about sweet, feminine pink.  Olivia's party theme was Pajama Glam.  There was plenty of pink, black, and sophisticated details.  The 6 girls that spent the night had a great time with dress up, painting nails, drinking from champagne glasses, pink popcorn, and of course all sleeping in the same room.   

The red carpet form the front door to the gift table.

Favors were black evening bags containing bath sponges, bath gel, headbands, bracelets, and barettes.

Furry headbands

The table!!  My favorite part.  I also made wreaths with pink and black paper flowers...no picture, though.

Pretty pretty!

Olivia waiting for her friends to arrive.

The birthday girl.

All of the girls including Sophia.  She's in the back.

Sparklers!  Olivia hid under the table because she was scared.

The next morning.  One went home during the night :(



Special thanks to Jon and Hilary for helping me at the last moment.  Hilary was fabulous with the girls and Jon, Boston, and Andy escaped all the girls to play basketball.  Also special thanks to Andy's parents who brought me lots of party supplies for Sophie's, Boston's, and Olivia's parties.  Also thank you to Aunt Emily who brought me craft supplies.

Next post....Boston's party.

My Garden

I come from a family of gardeners.  My mom and her 2 sisters love being in their yards with their plants.  My mom dragged my sisters and me to the plant nursery when we were children.  There was nothing I hated more than going to the plant store.  It was always hot and took way too long to buy dumb plants.  But now, as an adult, I love going to the plant store and being in my yard with my plants. 

Dubai has had the best weather since November.  The days are sunny, temperate, breezy, and all around beautiful.  I don't miss Houston winter at all.  The kids play in the backyard, have friends come over, ride their bikes, or go to the park every afternoon.  While they play, I look at my plants.  I watch for new growth, pull weeds, or admire the flowers.  I'm so thankful for my beautiful garden in Dubai and will miss it when it's time to move to Houston.  I'll just have to convince Mr. Warren to send me to the plant store with my mom and aunts to make another beautiful yard!

Behind the plants is the tank for the sprinkler system.

Tank for sprinkler system.

Beautiful bougainvilleas

Looking across from one corner of the yard.

Desert Rose.  I recently found out that these are poisonous.  I have about 20.  Don't touch, kids!

Sprinkler system for flower beds.  This is how all the many many flower beds across Dubai stay green.

Another pretty plant.  These plants are recovering after receiving too much water.

Covered terrace.  There is a light and sometimes we eat out here.

Frangi Panni.  Recovering from winter or too much water.  These will be beautiful, white blooms in a couple days.

Climbing something or other. 



Front of house.  Wouldn't planter boxes be pretty?



Front of house.  The plants on the left have yellow blooms like the red blooms in a previous picture.

Back door.  I want a big plant for the corner.  There is a bougainvillea that is almost tall enough to start growing on the pergola.