Six in the States PART2

Here are some photos from our first days back home.  We stayed at the Berkenmeiers, our family and beloved next door neighbors!  I tried not to pay much attention to our beautiful house next door.  It is being well cared for by a nice family and that is what is important.  What I did pay attention to were all the sweet neighbor kids and cousins playing together!  Our kids were in heaven!  We started our Christmas celebrating with the annual Bryant ornament exchange party which my kids love!  The hot ornament this year was a hedgehog that I almost had but was robbed by my nephew!!

 "Pssssst....have you noticed my Dad keeps changing his clothes and holding you alot?"

The girls brought abayas for all their buddies

Sister-n-Laws and sweet Winnie Kate!

Lilly LOVED the dogs!

This is what jet-lag looks like

Aunt Debbie getting all the ornaments ready for the game!

Mama D and Pappa Terry crashed the Bryant Ornament Party and we were so glad!!

The hedgehog ornament was so cute!!

Luke got this pink flamingo and was glad to have it stolen from him!

I stole this "B" ornament only to be robbed by thieving Uncle Wayne!

THIEF

Robbed again!!!

Olivia was thrilled with her little ballerina ornament.

Yummmm!  Peppermint ice cream!

All a little jet-lagged but so glad to be home!

New Campus

So if you follow the blog you know that we have been waiting for the new school to open to the elementary kids.  Well, that day has come!  School started January 5th with an orientation-like day meant for the kids to see their classrooms and tour the new school.  The school is MASSIVE.  In true Dubai-fashion it is an amazing facility like none I have ever seen.  I have to say though that the massiveness can be a little daunting.  It has really made me miss the cozy little halls of Westwood Elementary.  Yes everything is state of the art and very modern.  The classrooms are bright and huge and the cafeteria has little booths in it for the kids to eat!  Each teacher has a new huge red leather cozy chair to sit in!  The school has amazing playgrounds with swings!  Outside Blake's classroom is a fountain!  While all this is great it just feels more like a college campus than an elementary school.  The 3 kids classrooms are very spread out and the first few days I left the school feeling stressed from trying to get them all to their classrooms on time.  Each day is getting easier though. I think that by the end of the month we will have a routine and they will be able to find their way around without me.  As with everything in Dubai we will all have to adjust.

Global Village

Before we left for Christmas Deric and I took the kids on a big adventure to a place called Global Village.  I would describe Global Village as an Arabian flea market.  It is only open for a few months a year and even has carnival rides.  Vendors from different countries set up HUGE pavilions that represent their country and sell their wares.  For example, you could walk into "Egypt" and find any size golden pharaoh head you could imagine.  You could visit "Africa" and come out with a nice carved mask.  This was the most cultural experience I think I have had in Dubai!!!  We were definitely the odd men out.  Global Village is one of the places here that people say you have to see.  We saw it.  Check.

Dad buying our tickets.

These beautiful shoes are handmade in Pakistan.  The girls and I
were on a mission to find some we liked that FIT!

The ferris wheel...Ug.  Get me off!
Too high and kept stopping.

Even in Arabia they love Spongebob.

This pavilion was India.

Daddy getting cash...one of my favorite shots.

Only rode this ride..after Deric made the call no more rides...
Questionable safety...

Look at the little family beside us...The little girls were 
so beautifully dressed..Something I love about being here is 
showing our kids that we are all really alike even though we 
may look different-They are a family like us just out for some fun-

View from the ferris wheel...At first glance you might think you
were at the rodeo in Houston....then look closer at the people!
No cowboy hats here!

Mom's new shoes!

Outside the African pavilion...

After much bargaining by Dad the girls went home
with these!

We're outta here!  It was quite an experience!
Like I said, we can check that box!