Holidays Round II: Beach holiday and Christmas

(Notice: we're not even pretending that we will do anything for New Year's Eve.)

We have two weeks off for Christmas and New Year's. Our first holiday excursion was to Emirates' Palace, one of two "seven-star hotels" in the world (Dubai has the other one). We wanted to see the world's most expensive Christmas tree, and at 11 million dollars, it's a doozie! What makes it so expensive is all the jewelry on it.

On our first week off, we drove five hours to the other coast, Fujairah on the Indian Ocean side of the UAE. We stayed at the Meridien resort hotel, which was very nice. Amenities included a children's pool and play area, which was especially nice for Anastasia. Of course, Anastasia also enjoyed the beach, dividing her time between water and sand. She clearly had a blast. Talula got her feet wet (and got a little sandy). We were there for four days, plenty of time to enjoy the warmth and sun (it was in the 80*s each day), the water, the sand, the service, and the food--especially a tasty breakfast buffet each morning, including pork bacon and pork sausage! A real treat when you live here. On our way back to Abu Dhabi, we swung through a small Omani enclave, mainly to take pictures at the top of a hill and so that Talula could technically make it to a foreign country, finally! It's a small enclave of Oman within the UAE; there is no border patrol or passports needed...but it is officially a part of Oman. They use both Omani and Emirati currency. Anyway, pictures of that are included above.

I won't go into details here, but if you're interested in the holiday poop story, let me know. This is Randy, by the way.

When we returned from Fujairah (I rented a car from the airport--only cost US $25 a day), we spent Christmas Eve recuperating from our trip (yes, we're at that stage where we need a vacation from our vacation), and Christmas Day, we opened presents. Talula received a necklace with her name in Arabic (similar to the one Anastasia has, but since Talula's name is shorter in Arabic, the necklace looks less "busy," probably a fitting metaphor for the two kids anyway), and Anastasia received a train set, among other items. She's been spending quite a bit of time with her "choo choo."

We enjoyed Christmas dinner with our Canadian friend Leanne (I made her American Thanksgiving dinner, so it was payback time for her), complete with Christmas crackers and those silly paper hats.

Boxing Day, we took Talula to get her shots. The doctor said she's doing well, although she IS a big baby. Talula weighs in at 6.4 kg (14 lbs), putting her in the 95th percentile for weight, and she is 60 cm (24 inches) tall, putting her in the 87th percentile for height.

We also sneaked Anastasia onto the scales: she's 12.5 kg (27.5 lbs) and is 92 cm (36 inches--three feet--a full yard!) tall. This puts her in the 37th percentile for weight and the 57th for height. Once again this seems backwards to me- she seems short compared to other kids we run into, but seems quite dense for her size. But what do we know?!

During our second week of our holiday, we aren't going far. Noy is coming in to look after the girls, and Christine is working on quilting whilst I mark papers and do a bit of reading, mostly at the coffee shop. This is our vacation from our vacation.

We sincerely hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas--and we wish ya'll all the best in the New Year!