This afternoon we took the girls to see the grounds of the Fresno Temple. Because it is a small temple, and lower to the ground than some of the others, we could really see the beautiful Angel Moroni on top. It is great to have temples nearby again.
Hope's top front teeth have broken through the gums (click on photo to enlarge). So have the 2 teeth on either side of the fronts. The two teeth beside the bottom fronts are just starting to push through. Yet through it all, she has been so sweet and happy. Today it has been funny to watch her run her tongue over her new teeth on the top. She is obviously intrigued with the novelty of these emerging little chompers.
We love our Disney Rewards credit card. We earned up 181 dollars worth of free stuff since being in Abu Dhabi. A couple days ago I spent it all on Disney movies to watch on our long drive to Michigan: Underdog, A Bug's Life, The Incredibles, The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Muppet Show: Season 3, National Treasure 2, Enchanted, The Kid, and Flubber. As a bonus for spending all that free money, we also got 4 free tickets to see Wall*E! This morning we went and enjoyed the show. Even Hope liked it, once she got over her startle from the loud scary trailers. Emma was extremely relieved when Eve showed Wall*E a little love. Very cute movie.
Jason took Jon and the kids to the lake this morning. Emma repeatedly asked to sit next to her dad the whole trip - in the boat but most especially on the tube. She's a little nervous about the whole boat thing. Hope and I stayed home to enjoy quiet naps and reading time.
We have been putting off haircuts for a long time. Finally we had a few minutes, a salon was empty with 3 stylists just waiting for something to do, and we were ready for a trim. It was nice to get all three heads done at once.
We bought a new van just a few days after we arrived in Fresno. We love this 2007 Sienna. This afternoon we bought a cargo carrier from a posting on Craig's List. Got a sweet deal. Now we can carry a lot more stuff to Michigan.
I love these bright summer photos of the kids with their suits and goggles. The girls discovered the swim noodles fit perfectly into the holes of the pool lounger, and made some interesting configurations.
Here is grandma doing double duty with Hope and Kate.
Stacy and kids left for Washington yesterday.
Our girls paired off right away with their cousins, and are missing their respective partners. We are looking forward to meeting up with them again in a couple weeks.
Some friends from Abu Dhabi stopped by for a visit a couple days ago. They are spending the summer in California, and were in the neighborhood. Madelyn and Annie had a good jump on the trampoline.
The two friends discussed their past travels, future plans, and current e-mail correspondence. It was so much fun to meet up again on the other side of the world.
Transitioning from the Middle East to the US is an interesting experience. We talked about the weather (the mornings and evenings are deliciously cool here), the groceries (some things cost more, others cost less - or is our mental dirhams to dollars conversion messing us up? The value of a buck is hard to grasp), the driving (we instinctively want to turn left illegally and honk rudely), the Church (Abu Dhabi Ward has an amazing energy), the friends (we already miss them) and more. We loved catching up with this wonderful family.
Wow. That was a long trip. The last flight from Dallas to Fresno nearly did us in, as our exhaustion levels were extremely high, but we endured well and are now happily ensconced at Grandma's house. My dad is just a couple days behind us, and will join us tomorrow.
It's great to have Jon back after his week-long work camp (cleaning out our apt). Yesterday to reward him for all his hard work, I had him weigh and reweigh and reweigh our twelve 50-lb boxes for the plane. After much shuffling and adjusting and taping and stacking we have our boxes ready. Our objective for today is to clean my dad's villa, pack our suitcases, organize our carry-ons, and oh-yah, have a little fun.
Holiday celebrations are always a little different living overseas. Expats from different countries look forward to slightly different traditions on a slightly different time table. Because we are on a Friday/Saturday weekend, we will honor our daddies for Father's Day tomorrow. Our Abu Dhabi Ward primary has been practicing for weeks a nice medley of songs, which will be sung by a skeleton crew, since we are in Dubai, and many of the other families have already left for summer vacations. Nonetheless, I am sure they will sound like angels. Jon will be in attendance and will have to tell us all about it. After church meetings my dad is going to drive to Abu Dhabi to retrieve my man.
Anyone else tried Baskin Robbins' Lemon Meringue Pie ice cream? It is as heavenly as this picture suggests. Our other high ranking flavors: Love Potion 31, Polar Bear Dip, Pralines and Cream, and Hokey Pokey.
Grandpa and Hope are getting to know each other. Instead of open mouth bewildered stares, Hope now knows to go for the pens in the shirt pocket and the hair on the arms. They are getting to be buddies. Madelyn and I had a funny conversation about grandpa the other day:
I decided to go for the yellow vintage for the big shot, and a color pop for the other pics, to be able to see the green lining of the chest, and Hope's pretty blue eyes.
I've mentioned Photoshop actions before, which are just a series of photo-editing steps saved as a single-click action. They save time when you like to do certain things every time with your photos. There are lots of free action downloads on the internet, but the ones I used above were bought here from Maggie Holmes, a photographer and scrapbooker. I also used the "edge burn" action from The Pioneer Woman. The actions on her website are free, and also very wonderful.
The girls are enjoying grandpa's pool. We swim first thing in the morning, and late in the afternoon when the pool is the shade. The water temp is just perfect then, and I like to avoid sunscreen application if at all possible. Just cuz I'm lazy that way.
Is it Murphy's Law that says, if something can go wrong, it will? Well, we have had some interesting times wrapping things up here in Abu Dhabi. One of which being some problems with our van that we are selling before we leave. It was having some AC problems (not a happy thing with our year-round heat), and was running a little rough, so we had to take it to the shop. Taking a vehicle to the mechanic is not a fun thing. It is located aways out of the city, and the customer service is a nightmare. No one returns phone calls, and the customer is often left hanging for days, while they figure out the problem. We lucked out, however, because the problem was a pretty simple fix, the parts were in stock in Dubai (it takes weeks when they have to order from the US), and they should be able to fix it in time to hand over the pink slip. In the meantime, we needed wheels to get us to church on Friday, and to Dubai today. The girls and I are staying with my dad (who lives in Dubai and works for the same university as Jon) while Jon clears out our apartment and finishes his week of finals. We asked some friends if we could borrow their car, and they graciously said, "Sure!" So nice of them. Thank you, ADCooks!
A wonderful friend gave us these papyrus paintings made after the facsimiles found in the Pearl of Great Price. She found an artist in Egypt who did an amazing job. This is such a treasure, and I am excited to frame them and put them in a special place in our new home (as soon as we find one.)
The girls' last day of school had them filled with a wide range of emotions. Excited to be done, sad to leave behind friends and teachers, happy for summer to start, worried about leaving, excited to go back to the States, anxious to return. In addition to all this, the girls are feeling a bit out of sorts with all their favorite free-time stuff packed away (or given away). Madelyn was determined to not let a scarcity of supplies diminish her need for creative release, however. Maybe the challenge of limited resources even fueled her creative spark. I was impressed with the "puppets" she made from cotton balls wrapped in masking tape. She then wrapped and reinforced a torn-up applesauce box to make a theatre. After taping a string to her puppets, she bobbed them up and down while giving us a little show.
When we first moved to Abu Dhabi we were not impressed with the food. Everything tasted a little strange; just not what we were used to. Something has happened. Everything that once was so-so has become increasingly more delicious to us. Point in case - Caesars is within walking distance from where we live. They make cakes, rolls, breads stuffed with meat, cheese and other mysterious substances we are not brave enough to try. Our neighbors have often invited us over to enjoy their company and some of Caesars' confections. At our last get together they had the famous Caesar's "cheese buns". After I tried one cheese bun, then another, I realized I had just consumed a new favorite obsession. Today I began dreaming of cheese buns in the morning. Dreaming turned to salivating. By 2 p.m. I was ready to get me some buns! Warm, soft, and buttery; filled with creamy white cheese, sprinkled with sesame seeds on top...
The girls and I leave Abu Dhabi in 3 days. We have everything packed except for 1 suitcase and 5 carry-ons. Jon will stay here a week longer to pay for and cancel out our bills.
We have already witnessed the departure of our dishwasher, clothes dryer, rocking chair, iMac (I miss you!) and treadmill. Everything else goes next week.
My body is crying out for a little exercise, so I decided to brave the 108 degree heat and go for a walk with Hope in the front carrier. I got some groceries, my last shwarma (just for you, Holly), a creme caramel (just for you mom), and a touch of heatstroke (all for me).
But now Hope and I are properly reconstituted, Hope is napping and I should be getting my clothes out of the washer to hang dry. Without my dryer, I must do a load of laundry every day, or I will never ever catch up. In a way, it's liberating, to not have piles of laundry weighing me down every 3 or 4 days. I tend to let it go until we are desperate. Although I gotta say, I'm not loving the scratchy pokey towels.
Hope is looking pretty sturdy sitting up, although she still needs a spotter to catch her when gravity wins the tug of war. It's a great source of entertainment for the whole family.
I just finished reading "Heidi". Such a charming book. I was as excited to get back up the mountain as she was. The goat milk sounded delicious, but after our camel milk venture, I'm not willing to go there.
