Abu Dhabi - Day 2

Jetlag over. I feel like a Middle Easterner already! Ok, ok, not really...as was evidenced by my painfully white legs when we went to the beach today...

This morning I woke up at 7:00. I must have fooled my body pretty well because I didn't make it much past 8:45 last night. Laura and I sat down to watch a movie, and even though my chair wasn't that conducive to sleep, sleep I did...when you're that tired, you sleep wherever you can. She didn't have the heart to wake me and thank goodness. When I got up this morning and saw light, I was quite pleased at myself for not having woken up in the middle of the night. I'm gussing it's somewhat akin to having a kid sleep through the night as a parent. How lovely. And as interesting as my sleeping patterns are...

Today I got to play with the boys. They are so adorable. Sometimes they don't listen, but they are cute, and I love them. Jameson keeps asking me about the "gift" I brought for him. Really it's just some toys and coloring books I brought for him and Avery to have for the plane ride we have tomorrow. And Avery and I had a smiling contest at the grocery store today. I tell you, you could be in the worst mood or feeling awful, and that kid smiles at you...it'd make your day. This was right after his nap, so he was chatty and pleasant. Beforehand it was more like screaming and unconsolable...so tough to be two. :)

Laura had a doctor's appointment today (she's five months pregnant), so I stayed with the kids while she went. It took longer than she thought, but that was ok. We went and played outside (so warm!) and watched Babe (well, they watched the movie while I read my book). Then we headed to the beach. It was the perfect day for a beach excursion because it was about 80 degrees and the water was cool and it wasn't too crowded...Oh! And in case you're wondering what we were doing at the beach and the grocery store on Sunday, let me explain: In Arabian nations, the Sabbath is observed on Friday, so Sunday is like a Monday. They work Sunday through Thursday, go to church on Friday, Saturday is like a normal Saturday and then back to work on Sunday. Different, indeed. Anyway...back to the beach. The boys were hilarious. Jameson doesn't like being wet, but he kept running into the ocean. When he was done with that, he came up to Laura and started ripping off his swimming suit, right there. Laura tried talking him into staying covered up, but finally they came to a compromise where he could kind of half take off his suit and there was a backpack shielding his bare bum from the rest of the beach-goers. That kid has a mind of his own. The rest of the beach trip was great, including when Jameson kept trying to use his pail full of water to "find the treasure" (treasure=my toes, in the sand). It was a fun game. I got some sun, but it's been awhile for that (considering the 5 months of snow we've had back in Utah), and it felt great.

Later on this afternoon we went to the Carrefour, a French Wal-Mart type store. We had some essentials to get before we head out to Egypt early tomorrow morning. This place is huge, with multiple levels and everything. It has these escalators that aren't stairs, just ramps, and you can even wheel your cart right on. There must be some sort of pressure locks or something on the cart's wheels because that thing won't budge once you're on the escalator. And with two kids in the cart, that's probably a good idea. :) I found some cute capris for 25 dirham (about $7.50), so I bought them, and they fit great! Also, it was extremely intriguing to see some of the same things you see in the U.S., but also some very strange things like the spices you can buy by the kilo and dates (the fruit...yeah, like I could find actual dates?) galore.

Tomorrow we go to Egypt, and I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post from there, but I'll try to keep a day-to-day log on my computer and get it on here when we return...