"I'm going to Bulldoze...

your camera."

Turkey T sure loves his work vehicles. Such a cute kid. 

Happy Happy

Merry Christmas!

We had a great time celebrating Christmas with the Gindl clan in Kimberley. We rented a cabin that was ski-in-ski-out (kind of) and had a HOT TUB.  The snow wasn't fantastic but we still had a great time on the hill. I am embarrassed to say that after a few runs my legs were tired, I was cold, and my toes were FROZEN. Humph. Who knew that having a baby and living in a hot climate would do that to you? Thank goodness for the hot tub. 

Here are some shots of Christmas day. 

The Laughlins on a lovely Christmas afternoon

We wish all of you the best this holiday season. LOTS OF LOVE TOO!

Home and Frozen

It is so good to be home. We have visited with so many of our friends...wonderful. 

Here is a shot of Christi, Ryan, Julie, Neva and me. I worked at camp with these ladies 14 years ago - holy geez. It was so great to catch up with these two fantastic ladies. 

A cute shot - couldn't resist
Bruce and I have been LOVING the snow and cold weather, but Neva has not been so happy. I understand her protests as her father and I bundle her up as best we can. We both find it hilarious that once bundled, she thinks she can't move - cause she probably can't - but it is still very adorable. 

The Bay

We left Abu Dhabi on the 8th and 3 planes rides later we arrived in the land of the North. Neva was a superstar for most of the flights. Thankfully we had bulkhead seating with a basinett so she was able to lie down and have a good sleep on one of the flights. Phew. It took her about a week to recover from the trip and adjust to a new time zone, all said and done she handled it very well.

We had such a good time with the Laughlin clan. We were looking forward to seeing everyone and spending some quality family time. We certainly got our wish, there was lots of visiting, laughing, drinking, making snowmen, tobogganing, walking in a winter wonderland and enjoying the spectacular lake view. It is always so relaxing to stay there. Love to the family and thanks again for spoiling us. 

Here is a view from the deck

Look at all the snow!!! So exciting
SNOW DAY

Nice outfit Bruce. 

Meet the cousins

Neva wasn't sure how to take the winter clothing. 

I made the family pose for some shots. Everyone was keen except for one...

Camels in Trucks

Some random shots taken in the past month. 

Yes she does

National Day

December 2 was National Day for the U.A.E. It is a HUGE holiday for the emirates. Bruce and I set out to witness the events but managed to be too early for some and too late for others. Boo.  

We went walking along the corniche in the morning but were far too early. We then tried to go and see the fireworks but ended up being stuck in traffic the entire time. Surprisingly that was a great time as we got to see all of the cars all decked out, people dancing in the streets, and kids hanging out the windows of vehicles singing and shouting. 

Abu Dhabi Home

Our move to Abu Dhabi was quite stressful. It included many trips to the bank for Bruce, coordination of movers, cleaners, and appliance delivery, and me wanting to throw the resident "handy man" out of our villa. 

We ended up getting a HUGE place but it is a wee bit out of town. It is a brand new mansion built for 1 family, but subdivided for 7 (in a hurry I might add). We have the lower left side of the villa. Nice  neighbours so far...

Highlights of the house include:

- blue mood lighting

- kitchen cupboards that will collapse at any moment

- windows that leak

-  patio...woo hoo

- nice spacious rooms

- having a light that will randomly turn on and off because it is wired to another switch that is in the main hallway to go to the upstairs homes. 

- I could go on...

Regardless (or irregardless for some of you :) ) we are really happy to have found a place to live as housing is very limited right now. We are also thrilled to have unpacked all of our own stuff. Feels much more like a home. Now we have to get internet capabilities...

Happy moving fella that was quite proud of his truck. 
spacious rooms

Front
Fancy blue lighting
How the appliance guy set up our washer - ignoring the floor drain right in front of the machine. 

kitchen

Moving....

Again.
We are moving to Abu Dhabi tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on when the movers show up. We are still trying to organize internet in our new place so there may not be any posts until we reach the land of the snow. So excited. 2 weeks. Yipppeee

Videos!

Thought I would add a few videos. Apologies to those with super slow connections - B&L, you should be able to download these by the time we get to North Bay :)

First up some cute baby interactions. House guests are gone. Sniff...

Next, videos of what Neva has been up to. These are mainly for the grandparents. Not the most fascinating stuff if you have kids already or you are just not that interested in baby development. Personally, i was pretty darn excited the first time she grabbed one of her toys - and her toes. 

Pictures!

Here are some pictures of our adventures for the past couple of weeks. Melanie the super star has already posted a bunch of stuff at  http://www.thewrigs.blogspot.com/

Pictures taken in a park in Abu Dhabi

Oscar watching his sister

Fun on the slide
Melanie and Lucy

Wrigglesworth Family...awwww

Laughlin Family....awwwww

Dubai has a new mall – GASP - that recently opened. It will be the 5^th biggest in the world. It has a bazillion different stores (including Manolo Blahnik), a gold souk, Olympic size ice rink, and many other wonders. Much of the mall isn’t open yet but the new Aquarium is up and running. So with that as our objective, we loaded everyone in our Honda Pilot (named BB – for Brown Beast or Bruce and the Babes) and went to the mall. 

When we arrived I saw signs stating that this mall was the Everything Mall because you could get EVERYTHING here. Aptly named - it gave me a headache, made my feet sore, and left my child and me completely over stimulated. The mall people did seem to forget the little things like a chair in the nursing room L.  As I was sitting on the floor nursing, an attendant was nice enough to apologize and inform me that they didn’t have a chair.  “Ah, yes I did notice that.” 

Shots of the Aquarium

I love these shots of Lucy

Here I am
Neva loved it. 

 Lucy used Mike and Mel’s camera to take some pictures. I love seeing things from her point of view. These are some great ones of “Bruces.”