Halloween

Anastasia used the pumpkin as a bowling ball


Carving the pumpkin


Playing with the pumpkin innards


Anastasia dressed as a flower for Halloween


Anastasia's drawing

Anastasia had a nice Halloween. The festivities started Thursday night when we carved a pumpkin at Leanne's flat. Anastasia enjoyed playing with the insides of the pumpkin. The next day, after a dinner of Lowcountry boil, we went to the Corniche for a free concert, part of their Beats on the Beach series associated with Formula One's latest track--right here on nearby Yas Island in Abu Dhabi! We saw Timbaland, but his "concert" was more of a trick than a treat. He sang--intermittently--to some of the songs that he had helped produce, and periodically the dj would stop the music altogether to let the crowd sing along. The overall effect was like singing along to a radio and going through a series of tunnels. This morning, Anastasia went trick-or-treating. A teacher at school set it up with a few volunteer teachers to provide candy. So, Anastasia along with four other little children went door to door (just to fellow teachers' places since Halloween isn't actually celebrated here in the UAE) and collected her goods. Everyone liked her costume--she went as a flower.

Life in these United Emirates

(Yes, I have been reading Readers' Digest lately.)

There's not much going on here. Randy has long since returned from his sister's wedding in Virginia. School is school; open house and parent conferences are over but the end of the first quarter is looming.

Anastasia is growing. A waitress asked today if she knew how to walk or if she could only run. She's got a very distinct style of dancing. Her speech is still primarily "this", "dad", "mom" with a lot of squeals and growls in between. She loves the movies Randy brought back from the US. Her favorite: Jungle Book, especially the elephant marching song.

We're already looking forward to the holidays. Second Eid/National Day will be spent in Singapore and KL. My Aunt Kathy and cousin Ri will be here for a week mid-December. And then we're back on holiday for Christmas. The current plan is Turkey and Cyprus.

A few pictures from a day in the life of Anastasia...

Dancing to Jungle Book (I'm quite impressed with her style and intensity)


Randy and I finally decided to see what was up at Sparky's, a kids play arcade in our neighborhood mall. Misrak takes her there pretty regularly so several of the attendants referred to her by name. This place has a bowling alley, miniature ice rink, rollercoaster, 3D theatre, you name it- it's probably there!