Vacation back in the U.S.

We just returned home from the US after being away for 2 1/2 weeks.  It was a great trip! Always good to see family in New Jersey and also be back in Arizona - although it's sort of from one desert to another.  But I have to say, it was nice not to have to deal with roundabouts, speed bumps, or the every other crazy speedy driver we get around here in Abu Dhabi!
Thankfully the boys love to travel and we've had quite a few comments on their "ride" while roaming around the airport terminals.

Thank goodness for upgrades!

And why is it they always fall asleep when the plane is about to land??!

And once at Grandma and Pop-pop's it's sleep:

Still sleeping...

And more sleeping!

The boys were up at 4:30am on all three days we were in NJ.  And if they weren't sleeping, they would be busy raiding the fridge.  Well, at least Charlie always was!

Did I mention how cold it was? Just a little over 20F one morning.  That's below freezing. Brr...!!!

We made our way to Phoenix, AZ so we were able to thaw out there :-)  Didn't take long for the boys to tuck into their mac-n-cheese.

And be all comfy on the couch.  So glad the boys felt right at home, as it is their home away from home!

And it was as if they didn't miss a beat when it came to playing in their playroom:

Or the backyard!

And the boys love going to the nearby golf course to work on their game:

If you're wondering what Graham is doing, he says he is lining up his putt! :-)

It's good the boys are liking this now.  Better start training them to clean up too :-)

My sister came by for a quick visit too! 

Did I mention how much we love the sunsets here:

My sister has 2 boys too and guess she didn't quite get a break from her boys as she had my boys to deal with:

By the way, made a slight change to the bedroom configurations. The guestroom is now a real guestroom minus Charlie's crib.  The boys now share a room together in Phoenix and I'm so glad Charlie has been doing so well in his new converted crib/bed (to the left):

Being in Phoenix during this time of the year, we make our usual trip to the Phoenix Zoo Lights:

This year, Grandma and Pop-pop made their way over from NJ so it was fun to have them come along too!

The lights are always so impressive, as well as the light show with the music.  Not as impressive as my Christmas tree this year though. He he!

This was attempt #2 by the way and normally by morning, it doesn't quite look the same as scotch tape just doesn't quite do the trick!
So in short, always a fun trip here with gravel...

Airplanes...

and lights!!!

Christmas is getting close!

Soccer - last module for the season

The boys had their final soccer session this past Friday.  We had not been taking Charlie for the past two weeks as he is always so clingy and does not really want to participate with his class.  But since this was the last one, we thought he might change his mind as it was a short session and it was also outdoors.

Charlie really enjoyed himself!  He was mostly away from his class but he did have a couple of moments where he did join in with the rest of his friends:

What a workout!

And we are so proud of Graham. He has improved so much since he started earlier this summer. He's the 4th one from the left here in the pic - perhaps the smallest in size!

Graham was so happy for his certificate:

Charlie, on the other hand...

... was interested in playing some more:

Graham will obviously continue with soccer next year but I'm still not sure about Charlie.  The classes are for 3-year old onwards and at only 2 years old, he obviously tricked us into signing him up after his try-out.  Maybe we'll just stick to kicking the ball in the apartment. He loves doing that!

National day

It's the 43rd National Day celebrations here in the UAE.  We got a glimpse of a few things like... flags along the roads:

A lot of flags hung on buildings/villas.  This particular row of homes were particularly colorful!

More flags and decals on cars (one of many!):

I've also come to recognize the 7 Emirates in the UAE.  Graham has been singing his songs too that he has learned in school in time for the National Day celebrations:

And finally, some face painting fun at home :-)

We missed out on the fireworks this year. Hopefully we'll be able to see some next year!

Update on the Pridgen boys

The boys have been rather busy as usual.  Charlie is learning how to write as I have been making Graham write more at home:

C for Charlie!

And we've been doing some drawing and painting as well.  Graham said he drew an elephant.  I guess you can actually kind of see it!

And here is some of Charlie's finger painting that I was helping him with.  The red octopus looks more like an alien!

Charlie is able to open up the fridge door by himself now. He can never quite figure out what he wants so the door almost always remains open until the reminder/alarm goes off!

And the boys still love riding their tricycle in the apartment.

Of course, as boys always are, they would argue and fight as to who gets to sit in front. But here's another rare moment when both Graham and Charlie actually sit together and I'm able to take a photo of them:

My two little rascals!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our first Thanksgiving in Abu Dhabi!  We had the option of actually ordering a turkey meal from the local golf club nearby, but we opted to go with meatloaf and mac-n-cheese again. I think this is our 4th year in a row doing that now.

Unfortunately it looks better than it taste!  And it didn't help to have Graham all grumpy at the table:

Thankfully we have silly Daddy to cheer things up!

And as usual, it was that time of the year to make pumpkin cheesecake pie.  Except this year, I could not find pumpkin puree. And I also did not have a roller.  The can of cherry filing worked just fine when it came to crushing the ginger snaps for the crust! And the boys enjoyed helping:

And I forgot to buy heavy cream so I substituted it with a couple little cups of cherry yogurt.  I also used pancake syrup instead of maple syrup. Wow...talk about super sweet!

The cheesecake pie didn't turn out as well either as what I would have liked. I may have to stock up on a couple cans of pumpkin puree on my next trip back to the US and be sure I use real maple syryp!

Unfortunately, Bobby had to get back to work on Thanksgiving night.  Perhaps next year, we'll have a more traditional Thanksgiving and leave the cooking to someone else!

New plants

We purchased some new plants recently, just to add some green into our life.  Seems like everything around us is so brown!

Here's one by the corner of the living room, next to the chaise lounge.  Look, a new bud!

It's a good little reading/sitting area although I'm not sure if the plant gets enough light.  One part of the plant started turning yellow and brown.  Overwatering perhaps??? Who knows but figured I would actually plant it into the big pot.  Hmm... soil with guano?  Isn't that bat poop??? Well, whatever it was, I'm just glad it didn't smell bad!

And here's one other plant for outside, on our balcony.  We had a similar plant in our bathroom, except Bobby said he didn't like the way "it" was looking at him and that "it" wanted to take a nibble at his knee.  Ha ha! Well, hopefully this one won't turn "jurasssic" like the other one in Tulsa :-)

And back to my bonsai "Ali"... he's doing really well!  At the beginning, he kept losing his leaves and now that I've moved him into the kitchen by the window, he is much happier.  I guess probably because I've been watering him a little bit more too.  And look, he is sprouting some new leaves too!

I think that's about it for now.  I'll have to hold back on buying any more plants.  I did see some aloe planted along the side of the walkway close to our building though.  Hmm.... tempting!