K6 UAE

For my birthday (11!) we went paint balling. We all got our fair share of bruises. (mom didn't want to show hers but it was horrible.) We all also got shot with loads of paint It hurt. We all had fun but I don't think we'll be going back. It really hurt. The ground of the arena was full of paint balls that hadn't exploded on someone. I had a paint grenade that I gave to Henry. He got dad with it, it was funny because dad saw it and literally started hopping away with fright. On my team was Henry and Ben (red). Eliza and the parents were on the other team (black). When I ran out of bullets mom supplied me with more and told me to get dad with them, because he shot her in the heinie. as soon as she finished saying that I whirled around and got dad good. He said that it hurt every where. Paint balling is fun, but make sure you are ready for a bruising.

Jason had some vacation time he needed to use and so as soon as the big kids finished their finals and we finished tennis lessons, we took off for a little family vacay in Oman. It's just a 2 hour drive to the border post outside of Al Ain, but a 90 minute trial trying to get through it. Why does it take over an hour and cost 200 dirham to get an exit stamp from a country we have residency in? The Omai visa was a breeze in comparison. But eventually we broke through the bureaucracy and each had another stamp in our passports. We drove to Al Hamra with Google maps not working, but we ended up finding the guest house ok. It was three rooms built on the back of a villa. There were three beds with very firm mattresses and room on the floor for the little pads that the owner provided with sleeping bags. Our kids are too big to share beds now! Dinner (included with the guest house) was at a restaurant named Al Hud Hud: Turkish, Chinese, Indian, Arabic, American, pizza, and all so go...

     Today, we went to the Emirates Palace Hotel, and watched an orchestra from Germany warm up and practice for their concert. We went with some buddies from the HENA home-school group, of which we are a part.      We had never been inside the Hotel before, and let me tell you, it was glorious. Gold covered everything, not in a way that made it seem gaudy or like they were showing off, but more in a way that suggested a first-class expirience. After all, the ruling family of the UAE used to live there. It took us a while to find the entrance. Just inside the front doors, in the big main hall area is the famous Million Dollar Christmas Tree.      It's like 10-15 meters high, and bedecked and bedazzled with lights, tinsel, bulbs, the whole shebang, even a few elfs. But, after all the normal tree decorating is done, they raid the jewelry store, and trim the tree with real gold, silver, diamonds, and other precious and semi-precious mine...