Marvelous Maldives!

Kate's fish=our dinner

Macey's 1st fish

Jolee and Julia enjoyed the beach-entry kids' pool

Girls having tea at the spa

Timothy in a coconut tree

Swingin' Kate

The only monkeys in Maldives

Best way to enjoy the beach - in the shade with a sweet sleeping baby!

The way I like my toes!

Our beach

Timothy and Chris ready to snorkel
Glamour girl Julia

Macey

Katelin

Jolee - the only time she put the mask on!

We have been wanting to go to the Maldives for years! Now, in Dubai, we are only 4 hours from them. So, our first vacation is to the North Atolls. There are 20+ Atolls - north of Male and south of Male. Within each tolls are several to thousands of islands. All together, there are almost 2,000 islands. Some are resort islands, some are native village islands, and many are deserted. Our island was called Kaafu, and we could walk around it in about 20 minutes. Our 2-bedroom house opened up to a garden area that lead to "our" beach - complete with soft, white sand and clear blue water filled with coral and colorful fish. We snorkeled every morning after a buffet breakfast, swam in the pools every afternoon, and dined on an International buffet every evening. Saturday night we went night fishing, then to a BBQ on a beach where they cooked our fish. Macey caught 3, Katelin 1 - the rest of us caught coral! We were entertained on the beach by local drummers. Another evening we went on a sunset cruise to see the dolphins. The dolphins put on quite a show for us - swimming, jumping, twirling. Very beautiful creatures! One of the staff on the boat carried Jolee around so she could see - even taking her to the top with the Captain. Matthew had about 6 staff members following him, ready to grab him as he jumped all over the front of the boat - I'm surprised he didn't fall overboard. Our last excursion was the most exciting. We went island hopping - 2 other resort islands and a village island. The natives were happy for us to look at their island and buy souviners. There is a big difference between the haves (fishermen) and the havenots, and, unfortunately, neither know about trash cans. At the last resort island, the rains started, and we played in the rec room for a few hours waiting for the winds to die down. Finally, we left and took a long, roller-coaster-like ride across the sea in a boat. Thank goodness, the kids thought it was great! The next day it rained, and the girls and I just had to go to the spa! We left at midnight Wednesday, and arrived home Thursday at 4am. Would we go back? Of course! But there are so many other places in the world to see!

Jinks Visit Dubai

Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain

Afternoon coffee in Al Ain

Jumeriah Beach

Dinner with Friends on the Marina
Dhow boat to the Souks
Forrie wanted "street" food!

Burj Khalifa

Lunch at Atlantis on the Palm Jumeriah

My sis and her hubby visited in March. Between a hubby in Russia, a root canal, and several kids with lice, we managed to have a great time!

A Mom, a Camera, and a Lot of Kids

Katelin Julia

Sweet Cheeks

Timothy

Macey

Matthew

Jolee

Chris bought a nice Nikon camera awhile ago, and every once in awhile it gets taken out of its bag. I'm not sure why it doesn't come out more often, except that is not as user-friendly or as small as my little point-in-shoot. Anyways, the results are much better, but I need to practice. We stopped at the park one day, and we happened to have the camera with us. Too bad the kids were in play clothes!

International Homeschool

Matthew, Macey and friends trying to find the best spot for their mangrove.

Cleaning up tar on the beach

Timothy and friends canoing in the lagoon

Katelin and her friends

Timothy and Charlie planting their mangrove

Groups deciding where to plant their mangroves

Matthew and Macey listening to the guide

Beautiful desert lagoon looking out to the Arabian (Persian) Gulf

Marine preserve near Jebel Ali

We have so many different nationalities in our homeschool group - American, British, South African, German, French, Portugese, various Asian nationalities, Indian, Spanish, Australian, New Zealand, the list goes on. We are all learning together. You notice no Emiraties...it is not possible for the locals to homeschool. My kids are currently in a swimming group and a chess club. Our hs group goes on a field trip or has a beach/park day every Thursday. We wish we could fit in the Arabic club. Here are pictures from a recent field trip to a Marine Preserve - they protect the ocean and the desert and its wildlife. They moved the coral before the man-made islands were constructed. We planted mangroves, and we picked up tar from the beach courtesy of a tanker that dumped its unusable oil.

Itty Bitty Bit Gets Big!

Julia has grown from 4 pounds at birth to 16 pounds at 7 months. She's sitting and crawling, and her big blue eyes get her a lot of attention here in the Middle East. She responds with a toothless grin. Now, if she would just grow some hair!

Feb 8, 2011 Yes, one is missing!

Julia with Madu, our helper from Sri Lanka

Feb 15

March 2

Julia's first swing ride - she loved it!

March 9

"Here it's called Football!"

"Here it's called football, Mom!" I hear this every Monday from Matthew when I take the boys to soccer, I mean football, practice! I think the US must be one of the only places that calls "football" soccer (use your feet) and football "football" (don't use your feet!). Americans messed up on this one!