Indoor time..

With daddy at work & being a 1-car family right now, afternoons are spent INDOOR! 

In one of our many trip to one of the many malls, we found a ToysRUs!! Yippee! 

Snakes & Ladders anyone?? 

Plenty of games to choose from... We picked up some of our favs! 

You sank my battleship!! 

They played late into the night, love the sounds of giggles echoing through the apt. 

Spent the morning in our backyard....

After workout this morning, we decided to head to the beach to check out our new snorkel gear... 

Couldn't get the boy outta the water much! 

Monster preferred no snorkel, just goggles... She kept porpoising like a dolphin! Totally cracking me up!  

Kids had a blast.... 

My view for the morning....  Kids played in the water & on the beach till it heated up! 

We don't have much of sand castle building equipment yet, but the kids were pretty creative with their castles.... 

& then I was suppose to judge... Ha! Which one would u choose? 😉

Electric cars & sushi!

Dinner tonight was a bit differnt! Not only was it the first time the kids tried sushi,

We got to ride in electric cars that drove themselves... No tracks or cables attached! 

That's us! All in one car!!!! 

Once we got to the square, there was this very tall wind tunnel. Hot air is taken in from the top & passed down thru the tunnel & be cooler toward the bottom. With weather being so hot most of year here, this is a solution to longer outdoor living. 

Although none of the girls tried sushi as a meal, they did sample off their daddy's plate... Good thing he ordered

Extra! 

AJ ordered the California rolls & I couldn't pass up the "Samurai".... It was delicious!  !!! & I think my favorite part was that they deliver to our apt! Woohoo! 

AJ seems to be a bottomless lately, so he finished off my samurai dish! 

Oh yeah... Can't pass up a random photobomb on my phone! Love my family! 

Day 1 of Abu Dhabi Adventures....

Today was a tuff day.... All my body wanted to do was sleep... I'm pretty sure I was sleepwalking most of it! Lolz 

Breakfast at cafe Frienze (located in the bottom of our apt building) was delicious.  

(dont mind the silly monster above)

Between fresh fruits & pancakes & hot tea, I was definitely full... Next stop...the beach! 

Billy kept us hopping from place to place showing us different sights & stores to keep us awake... 

Recognize these??? 

We went the Abu Dhabi Marina mall... Walked around & found familiar stores & brands.... 

There is a huge tower in the Marina Mall 

 Milkshakes with a view! 

We drove by the kids school.. Won't b open for another week but we wanted to atleast see the front of the school... 

Ended Day 1 with a dip in the ocean.....

Flying High!

As part of our benefits, our family receives really nice seats when flying to & from the US. 

I recently flew coach to Italy for my girls trip... While my trip was absolutely fantastic, I did feel much like a sardine on the plane rides.

Not only do we get to fly first-class while in the States, we have access to very nice lounge in Chicago. Kids were in awe that snacks & drinks were free... Lolz 

what goes up, must come down.....

The flight to Abu Dhabi was excellent. we had business class seats.....the seating was espcially nice as i was seated AWAY from the kids! ha! i was in a different row than the kids..... thankfully the flight attendants assisted their every needs & this momma got a break. 

Kids quickly checked out their surroundings.... & figured out the movies & how to lay back their chairs, you know....the important stuff!!!

Monster was excited to let me know how EVERYTHING worked in her area....the only time she isnt chatting is when she is asleep. 

DInner was amazing on the flight... it was a 3 course meal... this was my appetizers plate.... all Arabic themed of course. They were all delicious...except the one seaweed, even though i have tried seaweed before (thanks to one of my 3s, Mr T)..... it still wasn't something i would crave! 

Rack of Lamb.... yes, i was able to remove it from the bone with out ANY assistance... (family joke)

Breakfast on the flight was nice too, one of my favs....spinach omelet 

During the flight, we are able track our flight. I think Monster checked it every 20min for the first 3 hours....lol

 As we started our descent, we got a glmipse of the sunset in Abu Dhabi..... it was gorgeous! 

See ya later Texas.....

Well, us Rudders made it to the airport in a timely fashion, parked the f350 in covered parking pretty smoothly (but we were all ducking our heads in the truck as if it would keep us from scrappin the top of the truck on the concrete of the 2nd level)...😬 

Finally found first class checkin after 3 different airline personnel directed me (3 different times) in the opposite direction that we were currently headed... 

Made it thru security with only 1 "random check".... Mac's backpack was the winner of that privledge 

Ha. We got all checked in & headed to TGIF.....

To pass the time waiting for our flight, Monster pulled out her deck of cards... It was "Go Fish" time... 

After a couple hands of Fish....we switched to War... But when one kid ran out cards, the others gave them more, i don't beleive we have quite grasp the point of the game....

Thanks to all my sweet 3's, my rudders enjoyed a round of "blah-blah-chocolate-blah-blah" from Starbucks... & on to boarding.... 

I quickly explained to kids how to hand the boarding passes to the crew, &  little miss monster just giggled when her called her "Miss Shipman"😉 & quickly told me "momma! We are finally on our way to daddy! I can't beleive it!!!" 

 

DADDY... Here we come!!!