Camping is not something that immediately comes to mind when youthink about moving to the dessertbut we quicklyl learned that it's a favorite here. There's plenty of space, the winter weather is perfect for outdoors stuff, and it's nice and cheap once you get some equipment. Here was when we went to the dunes to camp last Fall (this post has been hiding in my draft box)
Kids and dirt, this place is pretty much their heaven!
We had Dora, Diego, Boots the Monkey, and Swiper the Fox. But Dora and Diego, who initially loved the idea, decided they were too old for it and refused pictures. My cute kids are growing up!
The nurses at my doctor's office just don't know me very well if they think telling me my liver function blood test came back abnormal, while assuring me that "it's okay, we'll test it again next month" in the same breath will prevent me from WebMD-ing myself to sleep every night. In the back of my mind I will absolutely be planning what my family will do after my funeral.
I am the Olympic gold medalist of long-jumping to the most far-fetched, dramatic conclusion. Every. Single. Time.
The less dramatic, yet still aggravating possible outcome is liver problems that have to be treated with the terrible drug I hate to love, and love to hate...
PREDNISONE!!!!
for the rest of my life. In which case, I should probably just schedule a gastric bypass now since just 4 months on it has added an annoying 10 lbs a month to my figure. blah! I hate you prednisone, but you work wonders, but I hate you. I hate how cranky and angry I feel, ALL the TIME, when I'm taking that drug, which also happens to greatly help my joints to work when they are otherwise disinclined. Grumble Grumble Grumble.
Or it could just be nothing. It's most likely nothing. It's really very highly probable that it's absolutely nothing. And even though I know this, I'm still going to check the whites of my eyes for the jaundice of liver failure every single time I pass a slightly reflective surface because, what can I say, I'm awesome like that.
Eid is the feast of the sacrifice, a celebration of when Abraham didn't have to sacrifice his son, so naturally, ram is on the menu and we saw a LOT of sheep headed for feasts on our trip to RAK!
We also saw a lot more camels than on our trip to Abu Dhabi, but we couldn't get any decent pictures!
We spent the afternoon in Ras Al Khaimah with a few friends and had a blast in our host's lovely pool!
After hours of food, friends, and great conversation, we headed back to Dubai, with a quick stop at a public beach along the way. The kids were in heaven, and so was I! I just love the beach and I have been aching to go since we arrived! It made me so happy to see my kids enjoying the best free water entertainment there is: waves!
We all have the whole week off for the Eid Holiday, so we are trying to make the most of it! Day one was a trip to Abu Dhabi, which is a little less than an hour and 30 minutes. Easy Peasy.
Our first stop was the Emirates Park Zoo. It was little, but fun and inexpensive! Win!
This was a magic show, and drum lesson! Fun!
Athen was a little creeped out in the reptile house.
Feeding the animals was my FAVORITE part, hands down! These giraffes we so cute and sweet! Athen was holding some greenery out for a zebra, when a giraffe came down behind him and ate it, to his great surprise. I wish I had caught it on video!
Diego's favorite part was feeding the little monkeys dates from the trees.
And of course there have to be camels! We we saw some in the desert on the drive up, but this was a better photo option. They seriously always make great faces!
This is the Zayed Grand Mosque, which was closed for tours for the holiday, but still so awesome from the outside! Mosques are an every other block thing here, but this one is HUGE, and amazing! We will definitely be back to see the inside! Abu Dhabi had lots of beautiful parks on the corniche, and we were sad we only had time for this one. I guess next trip will be just the Mosque and parks!
I took this picture one day as I was walking through the mall, because I was distracted by how pretty this bed was and I wanted to remember it for future reference or pinterest or whatever. Meanwhile, when it actually came time to leave the hotel and buy a bed, I happened to be having a doozy of an arthritis flare up, so JR went alone, never knowing of this bed I had daydreamed about.
But just look at the bed he picked out for me:
I LOVE IT! I never imagined having a bed so dreamy! It was one of the lest expensive beds he could find, so win win! Isn't he a mind reader!!
The other day, my friend and I ventured out to find a furniture store called Luckys. We heard it was awesome, and oh my, it was!!
It doesn't have a store front, it's just a couple warehouses. But don't dismiss it to quickly because inside is a treasure trove of gorgeous perfect wood furniture stacked in rows like an amazing game of antique Tetris!
I was immediately in love and I want to go again and again. I ended up getting a creamy dreamy cabinet and a bench, which they painted to match each other (for no extra cost!), and delivered (for no extra cost!) the same day. When you come visit, I will take you here!
Here's the prettiest front door I've ever had! Well, a lot about this house is the prettiest i've ever called my own. We are quite spoiled! It's a 4 bedroom, 5 bathroom villa, and it's better than we expected. This is our toy room with nice big windows! And here's the kitchen, the appliances don't come with it, so we bought those second hand.
This is the living room... empty except the computer desk. And the dining room, with our new Ikea scratch and dent table that I LOVE and got for a steal of a deal!
The pool!
From the street.
Oh and the cool master bedroom with rock walls!
This is just around the corner, and it is awesome! You drive up, honk, and point to the store you want, and they bring you a menu. The bakery on the end is my favorite, and has the most delicious flat bread for super cheap!
Kids and dirt, this place is pretty much their heaven!
Athen was a little creeped out in the reptile house.
Feeding the animals was my FAVORITE part, hands down! These giraffes we so cute and sweet! Athen was holding some greenery out for a zebra, when a giraffe came down behind him and ate it, to his great surprise. I wish I had caught it on video! 
This is the Zayed Grand Mosque, which was closed for tours for the holiday, but still so awesome from the outside! Mosques are an every other block thing here, but this one is HUGE, and amazing! We will definitely be back to see the inside!
Abu Dhabi had lots of beautiful parks on the corniche, and we were sad we only had time for this one. I guess next trip will be just the Mosque and parks!
I took this picture one day as I was walking through the mall, because I was distracted by how pretty this bed was and I wanted to remember it for future reference or pinterest or whatever. Meanwhile, when it actually came time to leave the hotel and buy a bed, I happened to be having a doozy of an arthritis flare up, so JR went alone, never knowing of this bed I had daydreamed about. 
I was immediately in love and I want to go again and again. I ended up getting a creamy dreamy cabinet and a bench, which they painted to match each other (for no extra cost!), and delivered (for no extra cost!) the same day. When you come visit, I will take you here!
Here's the prettiest front door I've ever had! Well, a lot about this house is the prettiest i've ever called my own. We are quite spoiled! It's a 4 bedroom, 5 bathroom villa, and it's better than we expected. 
This is our toy room with nice big windows!
And here's the kitchen, the appliances don't come with it, so we bought those second hand.
And the dining room, with our new Ikea scratch and dent table that I LOVE and got for a steal of a deal!
The pool! 
From the street.
Oh and the cool master bedroom with rock walls!
This is just around the corner, and it is awesome! You drive up, honk, and point to the store you want, and they bring you a menu. The bakery on the end is my favorite, and has the most delicious flat bread for super cheap! 
