Trip to Ras al Khaimah

Before Christmas we spent a few days in Ras al Khaimah (aka RAK), which is another emirate in the UAE known for its beautiful beaches.  It only took a little over 2 hours to get there and we spent 3 glorious days in the 80 degree sunshine.

Mark got me a new (and better) camera and surprised me before the trip so prepare yourself for lots of pictures in the near future!

The beautiful Hilton Resort and Spa

With the Hajjar Mountains in the background


Another part of this huge resort



We met new friends at the pool who shared their awesome floats with us!












Enjoying the huge water slide at the hotel.





Fun playing in the sand.  What is it about boys and digging holes?

(I guess the sun was bright...)

The ocean was georgious!


They really love each other!

You just can't beat the beach at Christmas!  How incredibly blessed we are!

Love my babies!

Reading his sister a story on the drive home to Al Ain.

Happenings...

We've been busy the last few weeks!  Here are some of the things we've been up to...

Celebrating National Day (like US Independence Day) at Hili Fun City, which is an amusement park.  They offered free admission and we just had to pay for the kids to ride the rides...

They had an impressive fireworks show!

We also rooted on the American football team Mark is helping coach, the Al Ain Desert Foxes!  This is the first year of the league, and since football here is usually known as soccer, this is a really big deal for us Americans!

It was a really close game, but they lost in the end, unfortunately.

After the game, we went up the mountain, Jabel Hafeet, to an after-party to support the team!

One of the servers entertained us with his fire breathing/juggling talent!

Griffen lost his 2nd tooth so far in the UAE (6th tooth total.)

We went to Applebees in Al Ain Mall for their grand opening on 12-12-12.  Since they are one of the football team's sponsors, they paid for all players, coaches, and their family's meals!  Nice perk!  They had face painting and crafts for kids, so Olivia gladly had an apple and a bee painted (with sparkles!)

Of course the kids had a great time with their friends!

Our Christmas tree is up.  This is the first year we haven't had a real tree but we love it anyway.

Today started our 3 week break from school.  I am so thankful for this time- it is very much needed!  We have a couple of mini trips planned.  One to Dubai to do Christmas things, as well as a few days in another emirate, Ras al Khaimah, where we will be swimming and enjoying the beach.  We can't wait!  

Thanksgiving, UAE Style

It was a different kind of Thanksgiving for us, being so far away from our families, but an enjoyable one nonetheless.  We have so much to be thankful for, this year especially.  This opportunity that we've been given to live with our children in another country is just priceless.  We are so blessed to have made our own 'family' here with new friends and still have our family and friends in the U.S.  We really do have the best of both worlds!

Now for the food: poor Mark had to go all over town to 4 different grocery stores to find the ingredients we needed  for our Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie.  But he found it all and cooked us a delicious Thanksgiving meal that we ate when we got home from school (no Thanksgiving holiday here.)

Good job, Mark!

Ready to dig in!

The next day we had another huge feast with our friends and neighbors in our building.  We put tables and chairs in the hallway and had a great time eating and chatting!  The kids loved it because there were 20 or so kids for them to play with when we finished eating!

Look at all that food!

The kids had a great time!

And so did we!

Now we just have one more week of school and we are off for three weeks!  We can't wait to do some travelling in the area and see the sights.  It will be interesting to see what Christmas holds for us this year...hope Santa can find us all the way in the UAE!

We hope you and your family are enjoying this holiday season as much as we are!