Our first week back we did a lot of things that would be considered 'business'. We had to get my principal certificate renewed, get our taxes signed and sent in, and make sure we stocked up on many of our favorite things to schlep back with us to the UAE. Seems we did fine in the shopping department. With birthday gifts, belated Christmas presents, and A Sam's Club run, we ended up having to buy a new bag for the return trip. Oops! Next year we will be better, hopefully!
We also were able to spend some time with my nieces. They have grown up so much in the last year. I am so proud of them both. They really enjoyed being with Millie and Jack.
The second week of our stay we hit the beach and Legoland in Carlsbad, California. Our friends, the Greens, have a time share there and invited us to join them again this summer. We had a wonderful time. It was great to relax and enjoy the ocean.
Jack loved Legoland and Millie loved the sand, although each beach day she would state, 'I hate sand'. Clearly from the pictures she doesn't hate it that much.
The weather was perfect.
Jack knew this guys name was Emmett. I have no idea who this was and didn't care. Legos are now the staple toy in our home.
We returned to Arizona and had an open house. We saw a number of people and there were a lot of laughs. There was not enough time to sufficiently speak with everyone there, which made me sad. We did our best to see everyone and some people made sacrifices in their normal routine to fit us in, which was always nice.
My entire family came into town over the last two weeks we were in Arizona. The heat kept us from some outdoor activities, but it didn't keep us from the pool. We played like little kids and made memories for Jack and Millie.
The 30 days flew by, but in that time we had multiple breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with friends and family, movies, a trip to Basha Pool, time at the beach, Legoland, Makutu's Island, a visit to the state department, tax return signing, Stuart golfed a couple of times, the kids had play dates and sleepovers, Millie and my birthdays were celebrated, both kids got hair cuts (not by me, might I add), sushi, a cook it yourself anniversary celebration, Jack's kindergarten readiness test, and Bunco. Whew! We filled every moment and were tired for sure.
Our stay ended on Saturday, August 9. We flew back to the UAE. Our flight to LA was uneventful and quick. The second leg of the flight was almost 16 hours straight to Abu Dhabi. It was relatively uneventful, but seemed to be the flight that would never end.
There was a bit of turbulence on a few occasions, which caused the dreaded seatbelt sign to come on. When you have placed your littlest child on the floor in front of your seats, the seat belt sign coming on causes a bit of an issue, unless of course the flight attendant doesn't pay that much attention as she is coming down the aisle. Once she didn't pay attention while Millie was down there and the other time she didn't see Jack on the floor, which was fine with me. They actually got some good rest. I wish I could say the same for Stuart and myself.
The time difference is 11 hours ahead of Arizona. We landed just before 8pm, Sunday evening. We shared a cab with Gina, who had landed just before us and had let us keep our car at her apartment for the month we were away.
By the time we got back to Al Ain it was nearly midnight. The unpacking started and the repacking for Spain also commenced. The kids were asleep by the time we got back to Al Ain and it looked as if they would sleep through the night.
However, at about 1:30 am Jack woke up and shortly after that Millie was awake. I took a shower and got into bed, thinking they would crawl in and go back to sleep. I am really silly I suppose.
Finally, after Jack and Millie had failed miserably at falling asleep, it was 4:20 am, so the kids and I got out of bed. Both kids were starving so Jack ate canned spaghetti (I really know how to treat a kid) and Millie had oatmeal. We had no other food in the house. Since we were only going to be there one day before heading to Spain, and considering there were no stores open when we got back to town, they got what was in the cupboards.
At about 5 am we turned on Dispicable Me 2 and settled in for the day. By 9:40 am both kids were asleep, in bed, and so I retired as well. Stuart woke up around 3 pm, I woke up around 5 pm and the kids were up at 6 pm. Oh my, what will happen in Spain. We headed for the airport around 8:15 pm.
I will write next week. Consider the end of this post as the cliff hanger!
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