Pool Anyone??

This is my Cutie Pie...saying "pool, pool, mama!"

We headed to the pool for an afternoon swim.

You can't tell from the photo...but she got a haircut yesterday at a men's salon. Daddy needed a haircut and the "guys" at the salon ate her up with a spoon. One offered to give her a trim. Oh, my god is it cute. She has a little bob and the back is stacked and texturized...no joke!! It only cost 40 dirham which is 14.00 US...and I thought he was going to do it for FREE...silly me!!!

A Few More Birthday Photos...

Happy Birthday Jon, DaDa, and Pookie

A BIG Happy Birthday goes out to who you all know as JON!!! Fayth and I started our day today baking DaDa a cake. Oh, did we have fun! This is what being a "stay at home mom" is all about. We made Dada a big painted banner, a card, and a yummy chocolate cake. It was a great day and our celebration tonight was "small" but nice. Let's just say, we have a TON O' CAKE left over and no one to share it with...and Mama's thighs don't need it...

Man's Best Friend????

Well I know how the saying goes, "Man's best friend" however; Fayth takes this slogan to a new meaning. As you all know, she LOVES dogs and thanks to Gammy & Papa Evenson she constantly says, "doggie, doggie!" She gets so excited when she sees a dog anywhere. Even on the television. It is completely adorable!!

As a surprise airplane gift from Gramie Lynn, she got her NEW best friend Coconut the dog.

Today, I caught Fayth playing make believe with her new furry friend. I just stood back and listened to her playful talk. It was a bittersweet moment for me...my "baby" is growing up!!

After listening for a bit, I ran to get the camera...You know me!!

Here's my "baby" with her new best friend!

Various Views from our Balcony

Pictures are worth 1,000 words...Here are various views from our balcony and what is happening in Dubai around us.

As you will be able to see from the photos there are a lot of cranes, buses dropping off and picking up the millions of workers, and hazy skies. There is so much dirt and dust due to the thousands of buildings, malls, residences, etc. being built.

The first photo is facing Sheik Zayed Road...the main highway in Dubai. You can see what is called "Old Town" and the Burj Dubai Tower that Jon is working on. Downtown Burj Dubai is going to be a unique mix of residential, distinctive retail and iconic, record-breaking attractions. It is said that Downtown Burj Dubai has been designed to become the heart & soul of the Dubai. We will be here to watch the growth and progress of the entire area.

The two photos below are behind us and they are a newer part of Dubai called The Business Bay. This area is totally under construction with a ton of cranes. Fayth and I look at them everyday when we are at the pool. I have taught her how to say crane. It's a hard word...but we're working on it!!

"Mums & Tots"

Yesterday Fayth and I headed to Festival City Mall for a play group for expact women named "Mums & Tots!" It was wonderful. It was a huge, very safe and secure play area (like a Gymboree and McDonald's playland all in one), with moms from all over the world. Most of the moms I talked to were from the UK. Most places I remember off had included London, Ireland, South Africa, and one girl from Canada. There had to be over 25 moms there and then at least one child per mom. I must add, there were nannies everywhere as well. A lot of the moms in Dubai have live in nannies. One lady asked me, "Do you mam, have help?" I said no, you're lookin at her...I cook, I clean, I sing, and even teach the ABC's...she laughed and so did I. I thought she was a mom of a child...she was the nanny. We both chuckled for awhile and then she offered me the nanny number. Then, we met up with our newest friends, Dana and Max. Dana, her husband Alan, and Max (7 month old) moved here from NYC. They have lived here for three months. We got hooked up by Kristen Aslanian's (now Geida I think) sister Denise. At Kristen's bachlorette party, Denise said to me, "Our dear friends Dana, Alan and Max just recently moved to Dubai." Well, the rest is history. Let's just say, THANK GOD, we have them. Dana and I have had some fun conversations on the phone, done some shopping and have gotten together a few times this past week. She and her husband are great and we look forward to many good times with them! Lastly, a funny story about yesterday. As Dana and I looked at our watches it was 3:00 p.m. and we hadn't eaten. Now, for those of you who do not know, it is Ramadan here and adults may not eat or drink, in public, from sun-up to sun-down. This is for the holy month of September. Well, we found a Burger King open in the mall for carry-out ONLY and Dana said, "Let's just take turns watching the kids and just take your burger into the bathroom and eat." So, there I sat, on a stall, chowing down on a chicken sandwich so nobody could see me. Yes, it's what you do when you are embracing another culture in another country!! All I know, it's the fastest damn chicken sandwich I've ever eaten and tasted so GOOD! Chow from Dubai!!

Just Chillin'

We now have family room furniture, a dinner table and have begun to enjoy it. Fayth and I had a lazy day today! It is very hot and humid today so we've stayed inside to keep cool. She was kicking back and enjoying some cartoons this morning.

I promise we will begin to venture out and leave this apartment soon. We are just trying to get set up first and it's almost finished. The next photo is our main room the family room. This will be our "gathering room" and is where we will be spending 90% of our time when we are home!

The final picture is Fayth's bedroom. I tried to make it as much like "home" as possible. Thanks to my friend, and former students' art teacher, Ms. Lund, she has beautiful hand-painted letters for above her bed. Every time I look at them I smile!! Thanks, Chris!! I sure miss Briargate and all the sounds in the hallways and classrooms!

That's all folks...chat with ya soon!!

12 of our 16 Boxes Have Arrived

Jon was able to pick up 12 of our 16 boxes from the UAE Post Office yesterday. It was a wonderful day in the eyes of Fayth. All of her favorite books & toys were with her again. It was like Christmas unpacking all the boxes and seeing the "things" again. We are anxiously awaiting our final few! Today is a low key day. Fayth and I have done some laundry and sat on the balcony and played with some of her favorite things. She likes to watch all the trucks go by and see the thousands of workers. She says, "Men." It's cute. As you can see in this next picture, you normally dry your laundry outside on the drying rack. I, however; don't want our clothes to get bleached by the sun so I dry them in our family room. Hope this finds everyone doing well. Just so you know, some have asked, you can email me from this site and it goes straight into my email account. It is a personal email rather than an open comment if you do it this way. Otherwise, just jot a comment or not!! Have a good day! Hugs all the way from Dubai...

Some Yummy Oatmeal and 2 New Rooms

Today is Friday and our weekend has started. The work week in Dubai is Sunday through Thursday. So, Jon is home and we have been busy. We are going to work like dogs today and play at the pool tonight and walk to the market to get dinner for tonight.

Ikea came today and built a ton of our furniture. Our whole apartment is "pretty much" Ikea!

We are starting to see a "home" as Fayth would say. She is napping right now so I didn't take a picture of her room. Stay turned and I will post it soon.

Here is our bedroom...Hurray, we now have a bed!!!

We also have our black and white "hall of fame" photos on the wall leading to our bedroom as viewed here...

Another very important room our scrapbooking, office and art room for Fayth. Notice how I stated scrapbooking first. I have already had time to do nine spreads!! More than I've scrapbooked in months.

And now for the PICTURES you really want to see...Fayth is buckled up to the bar having her favorite breakfast, YUMMY oatmeal!! She loves it. I must tell you, food all tastes a "little" different here. The oatmeal is good but a bit pasty. The pancakes we has yesterday were good with a ting of spice to them. Obviously you all know "spices" are huge here in Dubai. In the old part of Dubai...is the spice souk. There are huge barrels filled with fresh spices. We haven't visited them yet this trip but plan to venture down there very soon.

AND YOU THOUGHT I COULDN'T CAMP!

We have been here one week and boy o boy has it been a roller coaster ride.

The flights were great. We had a jerk of a limo driver, but from then on, everyone was outstanding and very helpful. Fayth did great on the flight from Chicago to New York, spending time looking out the window and then from New York to Dubai, she slept and played the entire time.

We are up and running and our furniture arrives tomorrow!! Thank goodness!! For those of you who said I could never camp...ha ha...I surely have this week. We spent the first few nights at a hotel with a child who was "all screwed up" and her days and nights were switched! To be expected right?? Dora with a proper english accent, a sippy of milk, and wide awake with mom & dad in bed at 3:00 am. This is how we spent our first few nights. I have to say, it was actually kind of fun!!! Then, we moved into our apartment with a wonderful view. We call it our new home. Fayth says, "Home" when we hit the elevators. She also says, Chloe...Roo..and Miss Amy. She is royally confused but still always smiling and laughing of course. I swear to god she thinks she is Little Miss Dubai and waves like Miss America to everyone. She is the ONE AND ONLY 19 month old with blonde hair and blue eyes in the entire emirate. People just adore her! She is definately the best dressed little lady of Dubai.

Anyway, back to the apartment...and I promise not every blog entry will be this long...

Fayth went straight to her room, which of course was the first one decorated and done! She is in a pack and play and loving life. Her schedule is coming around. We hope to have her back to normal in no time. Jon and I on the other hand spent the first two night on the concrete with one "half ass" aero bed we fried and blew up and a twin blow up from Hyperpanda (Dubai's version of Walmart)!! All I have to say is thank god for the Hyperpanda. We switched off 1/2 way through the night so our backs wouldn't break. Then we got smart and took the mattress off Fayth's toddler bed and I've been on that ever since. So, this is the closest I have been or will ever be to CAMPING!! We have spent endless hours shopping, building furniture from Ikea, and getting use to the time change. It has been wonderful to have Jon home with us on a nightly basis. Fayth and I have spent our days reading books, swimming at the pool, doing playdoe, coloring & scrapbooking, pushing dolly around in her stroller and walking to market to get fresh produce and meat for dinner. I have actually made nice dinners for us the past few nights. It is starting to come together. We will look back on this week and always remeber it...that is for sure!!

The good news is...I am now a proud owner of a laptop thanks to party money, gramie's and gammy's!! SO...watch out PJ and Cindy Meis...I am going to learn how to BLOG!! I promise it will never be this long again. And it won't be daily. But, I will get in the swing of things and learn how to add a ton of photos. We miss you all and send our love from Dubai. Please keep in touch and forward this site onto anyone and everyone I've missed!! Love and Hugs, The Evenson "Little Family of 3"