Winter Abu Dhabi pictures

Here are a few more pictures of various adventures we've had.  Anna had her first haircut a few weeks ago.  She didn't particularly like getting her hair cut but a few jelly bean rewards mostly kept her still.  I'm not sure this guy had ever really cut a small child's hair before (despite the fact that this is a child's haircut place).  He was pretty bad.  She was just supposed to get a trim (Jake was feeling *very* sentimental about his youngest daughter getting her hair cut so I promised it would just be a "trim").  Apparently "just a trim" translated to chop it off in a crooked manner.  It kept getting shorter and more crooked with each snip.  I finally told him to stop and I evened it up myself on top.  The end result is totally fine - she looks really cute with shorter hair (and even Jake was okay with the end result).

Jelly beans make even unsavory events like a stranger snipping
at my hair okay.

Jake had a big birthday in February.  I didn't post pictures because two parts of his birthday haven't happened yet.  He is supposed to play golf with some friends on a Saturday (he gets a free "Pass Go" card from me on a weekend).  And the two of us were supposed to go on an overnight trip to the desert without the kids.  But we've had a terrible time pulling these off.  I emailed a few of Jake's friends and no one could play golf the same week!  We booked a hotel trip the weekend after his birthday but had to cancel because Anna was not quite over a cold and I felt bad about leaving her.  We rescheduled for 2 weeks later and then Anna came down with an ear infection.  I rescheduled and then we decided it was a busy weekend with church stuff and other so we pushed it out one more weekend and just had to cancel again (yup, 4th time) as Jake had to go to New York and won't be back until the weekend is 1/2 over.  I'm not sure if we'll ever get this 1/2 weekend away (we really dream of sleeping in ONE morning).  But good intentions on helping him celebrate.

Angle is funny because I took it upside down of a 2nd floor balcony.

In any case, we didn't let the occasion completely slip by unnoticed and had a little family party here.  The girls made him a wonderful sidewalk chalk mural, we had an ice cream cake and one of his favorite meals.  The funniest line of the day was when Jane wondered over to me while he was opening presents (I think he had three to open) with a sad and horrified look.  I asked her what was wrong and she leaned in and quietly asked me, "Are those *all* of Daddy's presents???"  She felt really sorry for him that he only had three.  Jake told her he liked only getting a few so he could really enjoy and appreciate each one.

Pictures of various cute outings and cute kids around our house.

We went to lunch at a new outdoor spot and the server brought out THIS!
Yes, a full kids table with toys, crafts, crayons, markers, paints and smocks.
We certainly weren't expecting this but how fun!

Anna's becoming quite the helper helper in the kitchen.

Doing her grocery shopping at a play place nearby

The girls dressed up for "International Day"
in our old stars and stripes.

Anna and Meredith blowing bubbles at the kitchen door
while I fix dinner

Cute little Anna

Regan is *obsessed* with monkey bars.  She has about
two dozen blisters to prove it.

Okay the below picture takes a little describing.  Anna *loves* Regan's new whiteboard. She doodles on it constantly.  But the funny part is that her three big sisters stand around her and ooh and ahh over every little doodle.  According to them, Anna is a brilliant artist.  Somewhere in there are "perfect e's" and a snail and a face.  And all kinds of other things you might identify if you're the type who can identify constellations.  It's big fun at our household nonetheless.

Our latest adventure was to head inland to a town called Al Ain.  They have a great zoo there.  It was 14 degrees warmer in Al Ain so it was a little warmer than I expected but I'm so glad we got this trip in before the weather really heats up.  Thankfully some friends warned us about the lack of good food there so we packed a picnic lunch and made a fun day out of our trip.  We saw lots of animals but still didn't make it around the whole zoo.  We saw a big gorilla urinate in front of us and Anna has told everyone in Abu Dhabi, "Monkey pee-pee" since we got back.  It clearly made a big impression on her!

I also took a picture of a squat toilet which is very common in public places around here.  Regan is up for trying them in a pinch, but the other girls want nothing to do with them.