Skiing in Dubai

Mike was off the ship for 4 days in Dubai this past week.

Some much needed R&R for the crew indeed, after a month+ straight aboard the Eisenhower!

Apparently it was a holiday in the region, so things weren't quite normal in town. 

But Mike and his buddies got to do a few fun things to keep it interesting.

One of the days they went to a local mall that has an indoor snow skiing hill. For $50, you got 2 hours of skiing and they give you all the equipment, snowsuit and jacket! It has 2 ski lifts too! Hard to picture, I know, indoor skiing. Here is a short video one of his friends took of him while they were on the slopes!

Mike said it was the best thing he's done so far! And he says he misses skiing, well, good thing we will be living near beautiful Tahoe for a while! I'm thinking some weekend ski trips with the kids would be fun!

Here are a few photos I found online of the venue, just to give you a different perspective.

 What the mall looks like! With the giant enclosed ski slope off to the side

Indoors looking up the slopes

Laundry Gone Wrong

I had to laugh! Mike sent me this photo today of how his laundry looks when he gets it back from the ships laundry service! All balled up and wrinkled! As Mike put it, he couldn't wrinkle things that bad if he tried! 

On the ship you send your laundry in to be washed in a bag, that it all gets washed and dried in, and comes back like this! 

Guess he will truly appreciate my laundry washing/folding services when he gets home :)

Corn Maze FUN

Today my friend Jenni and I took the kids to a local corn maze!

Afterwards we had delicious homemade sandwiches and ice cream at their cafe too!

The kids had a BLAST exploring the corn maze. Honestly if it weren't for the heat (super nice day, 70 degrees) and our growling stomachs, we could have let them be lost for a while!

Abby, Alyssa & Maddy

 Two friends, just lost in a row of corn

Maddy is my true explorer at heart.She loved sneaking off the beaten path (against the rules) to explore more corn; If I had turned my head for two minutes, we would have been out there hunting her all day!

Abby and Alyssa had many laughs deciding which way to go at the forks

I love this one.....where they both looked opposite directions to decide where to go

Tractor ride to the corn field

Sisters! (5 years and almost 3 years!!)

 Abby & Alyssa have been great friends the last few years....another great friend we have to leave next year!

Pumpkins!!

Surprisingly already.......its that time of year!

PUMPKIN TIME!!!!

Crazy to think Halloween is just around the corner!

We carved pumpkins last night, and the girls loved it!

Granted, its been pretty warm here still, 70's, so our pumpkins might be sludge come Halloween night, but at least we made the most of enjoying them for a while!

 Abby posing with her sculpture! She requested eyebrows and hair on the sides!

 Being silly with the pumpkin lights on their heads.

 Abby's Pumpkin

 Maddy's Pumpkin

 Our front porch Fall decor

(My black homemade burlap wreath and Pinterest thumbtack monogrammed & spray-painted pumpkin, and the girls pumpkins!)

Little Miss Board Game!

Abby received "Monopoly JR" from a friend at her birthday party and is now a HUGE board game lover!

Until now she's really only played Candyland with Mike here and there.....and some Memory....but this is her first true board game where there is interaction at so many levels. Her favorite part.....of course.....when I land on her "Parties" (in this version you buy birthday parties instead of properties; and then everyone that lands on your party has to pay up!) she LOVES when I have to pay her money! 

We've played almost every night so far! Maddy tried to play with us too, but just became too much of a nuisance :) She was throwing dollars, and messing up the board. She's banned!!

This really gets Abby's little brain turning!

Our Life these days......

Biking and Jeeping is our new favorite evening pastime!

 And boy do they love to be goofy while they are at it!

This is them giving me their "CHEESY" faces

 And Maddy trying to escape from my photo op!

 Abby on her big girl bike!

And Maddy on her trike! She rides this better than Abby ever did at this age! I think she is just stronger!!

Abby's 5th Birthday Party- Magic Show & Balloon Artist

 This is one SPECIAL girl!

On her birthday on Thursday, she received TWO special balloon bouquet deliveries to the house!

The first from her Daddy!

The second from Aunt Amy!

These made her day that much more special, and she LOVES them (plus they doubled as great party decor today!!)

And I got some gorgeous flowers from Mike too!

I had to laugh......when Abby got out of quiet time and saw that I got a delivery of flowers, she says "Who are they from?", I replied "Daddy", she says, "Awww how sweet, that means he must love you too! He really loves me because he sent me balloons!" KIDS!!! Good thing I'm loved! Guess I play second fiddle to him in her mind!

 

 PARTY DECORATIONS!  Luckily for me it was a gorgeous 68 degree sunny day, so we were able to eat pizza and cake outside, and let the kids run off some steam too! My house is NOT sized for 19 kids running around aimlessly, so the weather was just PERFECT!

Let the magic show begin........

The kids (ALL 19 OF THEM!!) were sitting quietly on the couch as the magician began her show.

Abby was called up after the magic show since she was the birthday girl, and had her special birthday girl balloon hat created in front of everyone!

Her heart hat! Colorful and fun. Kind of reminded me of Hello Kitty

 Abby's friend Jack in his big-top twisty hat!

 Maddy in her Pink Kitty hat

 Casey's heart hat (NOTE: No two hats were alike!)

 Fiona's duck balloon animal (each kid had a different animal/object too! Some of the boys opted for swords of course!)

 And each kid got to choose a large tattoo! Nice ones too!

 CAKE TIME! 

This birthday will be memorable for sure! Its our last one here in Virginia with all her wonderful friends she's become so close with over the last 3+ years. Prime years of great bonding with wonderful friends her age that all play so well together. She doesn't know it now, but she will miss them dearly once we move! The reality of military life will hit her in t-minus 7 months!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS ABIGAIL!! You are my sunshine EVERYDAY!

(Now mommy is very tired and needs to go to bed early.....THE END)

This is what 5 looks like!!!

Happy 5th Birthday to the first of two kids who changed our lives forever!

Where did 5 years go....oh wait, I have gray hairs to show for that time period :)

But she is the sweetest, smartest, and most fun kid to be around!

She makes us VERY proud to be her parents.

FIVE is apparently the perfect age for enjoying your birthday to the fullest. She is soaking up every minute!

This morning I took the kids to IHOP for a special breakfast and she told me:

 "Mom, this is the best birthday ever"!

(More photos to come after her party this Saturday!)

Another great shot!

Had to share this shot I found today! A great view of how they plunged into the sea from the hangar elevator platform!

SLEEPOVER!!!

A few weeks ago Abby had her first true sleepover at her friend Alyssa's house!

(Alyssa's daddy is deployed too, so its nice for them to have fun weekend things to look forward to)

So this time it was our turn to host, and Alyssa came here for the night!

 They each made their own pizza for dinner

 And got in plenty of playtime.......

 I put the two big girls to bed at 8:30, and they stayed up til 10:30 chatting and giggling in Abby's room!

That's when I heard silence finally, went in to check on them, and this is how they fell asleep!!

(They slept together on the queen air bed in Abby's room!)

Lucky for me they slept ALL night with no trouble!!