I got up early for my 4 mile walk and then took a shower to get ready for the day. Most of the morning I just sat around, super anxious for the day ahead. I was so excited. Stuart's plans were to take the kids to the pool in the afternoon and then to a house warming party at one of our new neighbor's house.
I headed to Abu Dhabi just after 11 am to pick up Gavin. On the way I checked the flight status, which I should have done before leaving my house. It showed that he was going to be over three hours late, meaning he would arrive after I had booked our Royal High Tea at Emirates Palace. So I quickly got on the phone and changed our time. Fortunately during Ramadan, high tea is not as popular so changing our booking was no big deal.
I decided I would go to Yas Mall to pass the time. I then got an update that flight was landing about an hour and forty minutes late instead of three hours late. So I decided to head towards the airport. I am pleased to report that I was in the mall long enough to buy myself a new swimsuit, however.
When I arrived at the airport there was no one in the waiting area. This is the same waiting area we have waited in for my parents when it was wall to wall people. I went to the bathroom and when I came out I saw Gavin walking toward me. We headed to the Grand Mosque. We had some time to kill since I had rebooked our high tea for 5 pm.
Although the Grand Mosque was not open for a tour, we did stop and take a couple of selfies. It was a little like the scene in Vacation where Chevy Chase stands in front of the Grand Canyon and bounces up and down, then gets in the car and leaves. It was so stinking hot that we really couldn't stand there for long.
Marina Mall was our next stop just to look at pretty things. Gavin also needed some toothpaste and a specific shampoo. We didn't find the shampoo, to which Gavin said 'the universe must not want me to have it'.
We then headed to the palace to just look around before endulging in a splurge. We took pictures and attempted to see the swimming pools at the palace, but apparently unless you are a guest staying at the palace, you are not allowed to see the pools. One day Stuart and I will book a night at the palace, for sure.
The high tea was glorious. We started by being able to select our tea from a box full of tea leaves. I chose the local date tea and Gavin chose the fruit tea, then switched to the Chai tea.
Our food was prepared and brought to us on a tiered plate stand. My food was gluten free, but wasn't sugar free. However I made an exception on this day and decided to indulge in the sugar treats. It turns out my doctor's warnings about sugar should have been listened to. I haven't had sugar since my surgery and now I know why. I wasn't quite right after the two tiny pieces of dark chocolate I ate. Lesson learned for sure.
Our last stop of the day was the World Trade Center of Abu Dhabi. Here we roamed around the souq for a while. I bought myself a wooden camel, as well as one for DeDe and then bought Gavin a pashmina that he wrapped around himself in the picture below. We had another drink and talked some more. Then Gavin was getting weary, so I took him back to the airport.
I was home just before midnight and was hardly tired at all. It was such an exhilarating and uplifting day. I simply relived every moment on the drive home. When I did arrive home, Stuart was awake. He was getting up to greet the women's rugby team who were coming back from their tour in Budapest.
I didn't sleep a great deal Sunday night, but still got up and walked. I made a deal with myself that if I would not back out of walking on Monday, then I could have a break on Tuesday and Wednesday and not have to walk. I was glad in the end that I didn't stay in bed, but boy was it hot. When it gets humid in Al Ain it is beyond unbearable.
We ended up going to the pool at 10 am with Leanne and Xavier. It was so blasted hot. That even being in the water was a bit miserable. Still yet we managed to stay In the pool for two hours. Once we were out and dressed we went into the club and had lunch.
Once we were home I went to see my friend Suzaan who, 2 weeks ago, had the same surgery I had. I hadn't seen her since so was interested in catching up with her. We talked for a couple of hours and shared stories about our new eating habits.
When I got home we all put on our 4th of July clothes, except for me because I have nothing patriotic, and we went to dinner at the golf club. We had invited 5 other families to join us. So it was an American holiday that came together nicely, except there were no fireworks, which was a shame. We got home around 9 pm and went to bed.
I woke up Tuesday morning and we started the final packing and closing up of the house. I left just before 10 for morning coffee at Risti's new house, a fellow Arizonan. Jack went off to the Hilton for a day of swimming fun with Xavier, and Millie and Stuart stayed at the house and maneuvered around Asela as he cleaned.
When I returned from coffee, Millie and I went for a mani/pedi. She loves to be pampered, but usual ends up picking off the polish in less than a day after the application.
Once our manis and pedis were finished we headed home to the boys. jack wasn't home yet, but arrived shortly after we got home. He was beat by the sun and worn out from all the fun he had with Xavier.
Jack brought home the burger he didn't eat for lunch, Millie had pasta from the previous night, and I had salmon as well. The only one who didn't have food was Stuart. So, since we were trying not to fill the fridge with unnecessary things, we decided to eat our leftovers and Stuart ordered take out. We had a relatively early evening for the kids, which hadn't been the case for almost a week. Since we would be traveling on Wednesday and that was sure to be a late and confusing day, the early night was a must. Although Millie wouldn't go to bed and insisted on laying in my bed until I was finished with my shower. This is what I found when I came out of the shower.
Tuesday was the last day of Ramadan so on Wednesday we had lunch out. We invited Cathy, Kayleigh and Mandy. We met at Chilis, which only made sense. Why not have lunch at an American chain right before you fly to America?
Once we were back at the house we finished 5 loads of laundry and watched some movies. The kids were so excited that they nearly drove us crazy. Our cab finally picked us up at 6:30 pm.
When we arrived at the airport we got through passport control rather quickly considering we had been told today would be the busiest day of the year at the airport. Because it is Eid al Fitr, the holiday following Ramadan, it was thought the airport would be rammed. I will have to say, it wasn't.
We ate some dinner and then headed to our gate.
The kids were troupers. They even actually had a good flight. Millie slept for about 8 hours of the flight, while Jack only slept about 5. Once we were in Toronto it was obvious that they would both need to nap on the flight to Phoenix. Otherwise they would be crank monsters all afternoon on Thursday.
The food on Air Canada was crap, so we had a bite to eat in a cafe once we were close to our gate for our departure to Phoenix. We sat at the gate for a little over an hour. The kids started to get slap happy and irritating. We ended up boarding the plane just before 10 and taking off at half past ten. We were on our last leg.
We got home and were greeted at the airport by Gammie and Pop who had balloons and gifts for the kids. We headed towards our house with Stuart and me in one car and the kids with Grammie and Pop in the other car. We dropped off the bags at our house and then went to see Grammie and Pop's new house, which is 12 houses down from ours.
Then our 'operation acclimation back into Arizona life' was underway. We stopped at Chipotle to have some lunch and then headed to T-Mobile to buy our one month SIM card and data plan. Our next stop was Target where we stocked up on necessities. We then came back to our house to unpack while G and P played with the kids.
Around 6 pm my mom went to get Chick-fil-A for the kids. The kids showered while she was gone, and went to bed after they ate. I sorted out clothes in my closet and waited for the dreadful jet lag to set in. Stuart was sensible and went to bed when the kids did, but I had stuff to do, or so I thought.
Jack was sleep walking around 11 pm and walked into the closet in our room. I was convinced he had to pee and just might do so in the closet if I didn't intervene. After I got him sorted and back in bed I decided it was time for me to go to bed as well. Unfortunately my sleep was interrupted by Jack when he was awake at 3 am and wanted to go downstairs to play. By 3:30, Millie was awake as well so I told them they could play in Jack's room as long as they were quiet. By 4 am we were all awake and hungry. At 5:30 am we finally went downstairs. The kids had breakfast and Liz and I went for a walk.
As if jet lag is not bad enough, let's throw in a well-visit to the doctor where your 4 year old has to have some shots. The kids were wild at the doctor's office. They were excited to be home and knew they were heading to Gavin and Maddax's house to play on the water slide after the shots. We had told Millie about the shots and Jack was all too pleased that he didn't have to have any. We anticipated Millie's tears and pain from the injections, but we never expected the reaction we got from Jack. He instantly started crying when she did. I asked him later why he was crying and he said because it scared him that she was hurting. Again, a moment that tells you something is working in regards to your efforts of teaching human kindness.
After the doctor we headed to Vicki and Ryan's for a bit of a play date with Gavin and Maddax. The kids loved the slide and we enjoyed Bosa donuts and coffee, and of course the conversation.
We went to The Taco Shack for lunch. It's a quaint little house just on the corner of or subdivision. It's something we would walk to in cooler months, for sure.
The kids spent the afternoon at G and P's and had a fashion show of all the new clothes Grammie had bought them. Once the clothes were washed and home, Stuart announced we would need another bag to go back to the UAE. Oops!
Stuart and I went out shopping and purchased a few unneeded items, as you do. When we got back to my mom's just after 4 pm, the little princess was asleep. Apparently she had just fallen asleep and had been fighting it all afternoon. We had plans for the evening, but couldn't wake her up. So we just dragged her from place to place.
We started at the Reynolds' house and were joined by the Daniels and the Tharalsons. We had appetizers and drinks and then moved the party to our house just before 7 pm. I headed off to pick up pizza and returned to a joyful house of laughter and kids playing hide and seek. Millie, all the while, sleeping through the madness.
We had a great time catching up and I actually got to talk to everyone. We decided not to have an open house this year because we never got to properly catch up with everyone and it always ended up that we had mounds of food left. This type of gathering was much more enjoyable.
Everyone left around 10 pm, and as speculated, Millie woke up around 3:30 am. She was wide awake and hungry. I made her stay in bed until 5 am and then gave in, knowing that I was going for a walk anyway and Stuart had been up since before 4 am and had, himself, ventured out for his run. So, jet lag was still in the Telford household.
After my walk I showered and the kids gathered their things for their walk down to Grammie and Pop's house. Jack was so excited. We have two stop signs between our houses, so the plan was for us to walk them down to the first stop sign, teach them how to walk across the street on their own, and then G and P would collect them at the second stop sign and do the same.
Stuart and I went down and had coffee at my parents' house and Jack answered the door. He was all puffed with pride for being able to walk to G and P's house.
After a bit of coffee, Stuart and I were off to shop for the day while Millie and Jack hung out with Grammie and Pop. Stuart went on his own and I went with Liz for the day. We shopped until we dropped.
Once we finished shopping and had purchased some adorable things, we met our friends Sue, Anna and Debi at Rudy's BBQ for lunch. We sat there talking for over 2 hours. It was another wonderful day of catching up with friends.
We returned to mom and dad's for dinner. We bathed the kids at G and P's so that once we were home they could go directly to bed. I'm so glad we did bathe them because Millie fell asleep just after we ate. I had great hope that she would sleep through the night and that the jet lag bug had left our house. Time will tell.
Once we were home it was bed for everyone. Our first few days back in Arizona were a success. We wish we were staying longer, but we have done our best to fill our time with visiting friends. Stay tuned for the next week of fun and excitement!
No comments:
Post a Comment