Up Up and Away!

It's hard to wrap my brain around the fact that this will be our 7th year in Dubai!  Every year it gets harder and harder to leave home, but with that being said, Dubai also becomes easier to return to.  This year our flight over to Dubai was by far the most exciting!  We flew on the Airbus A-380, which is a double-decker airplane and the world's largest passenger airliner!  It was beyond impressive, with expanded seating room, a lounge with snacks and drinks, movies, games, etc, etc!  The boys watched hours of movies, ate, ran up and down the aisles, played on the iPads but slept very little! We took off at 11:00 am Texas time and arrived 15 hours later (2:00 am Texas and noon Dubai time!)

I say this every year, but for every hour of time change it typically takes us that many days to fully adjust to Dubai time.  There is a 10 hour time difference and it was not until day 10 until everyone was sleeping all the way through the night, not waking up at 3:00 am ready to play, having waffles at midnight and taking 3+ hour naps and unable to wake up from a very deep sleep.

Mason returned back to school this past week and had a very smooth transition!  His teacher from last year moved up to third grade and is his teacher again this year!  He has a lot of friends in his class and is already playing baseball!  He got moved up to the minor leagues for 9-11 year olds, and plays his first game with the Yankees this Saturday!  The twins are adjusting well too, and I hope to have them in a preschool starting in January.

Airbus A380

Mom and Mason before take-off

 Jake is ready to go!!

 Mom and Dad are ready to go ;)

 Rod and Cash before take-off

 Our personal cubby with drinks, charging station, remote for TV

 Our lunch menu in English

 And in Arabic

 Hundreds of movies to choose from

 Jake running off some energy in the lounge

 Say Cheese!

Jake never slept!  As we approach the end of our flight, they serve breakfast to help get us on Dubai time 

 Cash finally caught a few hours of sleep towards the end of the flight

 Baggage claim area at Dubai International Airport

9 suitcases + 2 car seats + 2 carry ons + 1 double stroller!

 We found Cash asleep under the dining room table and listening to Stoney LaRue on the iPad

 Jake couldn't fight off the sleep either!

 Cash asleep on his daddy's lap (they are so sweet when asleep!)

Waking up at 3:00 am allows us to see the sunrise from our window!

Apples and Oranges

It's hard to compare Dubai and Texas - it's like apples and oranges.  There are some really great things about both places that we call home, but our hometown of Fairfield, Texas and Dubai could not be more different.  Fairfield is a suburb of Dallas and is about 90 miles south of Big D!  Our town has approximately 3,000 people and there is one public school that the kids attend.  Dubai on the other hand, has more than 2 million people and there nearly 100 public schools and 150 private schools!  Mason attends a public school in Fairfield and a private one in Dubai.  The size of the two schools is very similar, except the Dubai school has grades PreK - 12 on one campus, while our school back home is divided into 4 campuses.  There are approximately 120 kids in each grade in both places.

Fairfield is a rural town, and we live on a ranch that is approximately 10 minutes from town.  Our home is located about 1/2 mile off the main road, and our nearest neighbor would be Rod's dad, and he is about 500 yards away!  Part of ranch life includes cattle, chickens, horses, a several ponds and a creek.  We also have wild hogs, a lot of deer and lots of other wildlife.  It's a boy's paradise!! We do have a local grocery store in town, but we don't have a Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, etc.  You have to drive anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hrs to reach one of those.

In Dubai, we live in a hotel apartment and use an elevator to get to our room each day.  We have all the amenities of a hotel including a concierge, room service, swimming pool, gym, restaurants, grocery store, cleaners, key card system to access our rooms, etc.  We live across the street from the world's largest mall and are within minutes of the beach, restaurants, movie theaters, and a whole lot more!

Home is where the heart is!  Here is where our heart resides:

 Mason and Rod playing a game of catch in the backyard

 Has anyone seen the twins?  Oh, there they are down by the fence!

 Front part of our house

 View from our back porch

 Sunrise!

 One of the ponds filled with water after much needed rain!

Double rainbow :)

We leave behind our amazing dog, Levi

 Cash gets friendly with a calf

 Tractor rides in the afternoon with GranBobs

 Fishing in our pond after school

Mason and cousin Emmie riding around with their daddies after school

 Mason gets to go dove hunting with the guys

 We have an annual father/son campout

We go for rides in the Kubota

 Mason and his 2nd grade class

We love to have everyone over to swim during the summer

 We especially love having our cousins over for swim parties (yep, that's an elk mounted above our mantle!)

One of our favorites times of year is the County Fair every June!  Mason with his cousins, Calame, Emmie and Charlie!

We have a parade at the start of the County Fair, and here is a caravan of TX tow trucks going through the square in downtown Fairfield!

Levi and I take the boys for a jog in the double stroller, right in our backyard

 In the fall, our lives revolve around football; especially the Texas A&M Aggies and our high school football team, the Fairfield Eagles

Mason shot his first buck this past fall

And occasionally we get snow!

Mr. Mason

It's hard to believe that Mr. Mason turned 8 years old last week!  Time sure is flying by, and this kid has experienced so much in his short 8 years.  From living in California, moving home to Fairfield, Texas, the loss of his Mimi, traveling back and forth from Texas to Dubai, bouncing between two different schools, etc, etc.  He's lived through more than I did in my first 30 years!!

This time in Dubai has been great for Mason.  He had a very smooth transition back into school, has made some really good friends, played baseball in the Dubai Little League and took Brazilian jiu-jitsu and boxing classes.  Here are some of Mason's highlights: 

Mason, the sports fanatic and statistician, was excited to get a collection of NFL football helmets

Mason attended a baseball camp put on by the Cincinnati Reds over the winter break.  First Base Coach Billy Hatcher, instructed the kids, and numerous other players helped out as well!  What an experience!  

Mason had a blast at boxing and never backed down from an opponent, no matter their age or size!

 Mason and his buddy Colin warming up on the bag

Mason learned a lot of new moves at Brazillian jui-jitsu

 He enjoyed many playdates with his buddy Giacomo.  

 Dubai has perfect weather for park playdates

 He had a blast riding four-wheelers on the sand dunes

 Mason has had so much fun playing with his new buddy and classmate, Colin, another sports fanatic!  We had a special lunch at Johnny Rockets! 

They took charge at ASD Sports Day!

Mason's last game with the Cardinals.  They finished in 3rd place!

Way to go Cardinals!  What a fun season!

 Happy 8th Birthday Mason!

Scooter derby at the hotel!

 Laser tag birthday party!