Friday, December 12, 2014

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!