Desert Island

Our resort we are staying at has a deserted island about 5 minutes by boat away. We went for a treasure hunt and a "pirate picnic" yesterday. We also saw black tipped reef sharks and eels! The kids played lots of fun games and swam and snorkled in the sea. Everyone else took a speedboat, but we opted for a pedalos. Quite a site, 8 people on a pedalo!

Ryan and I sent the kids to kids club and went back out to the island at sunset. We had an amazing 5 course dinner on the beach with candles in the sand! We had some crabs come and visit too! We stayed out there for 3 hours and it was amazing! We had some banana boat riding this morning, and we are off to make pizza! Our big news of the day was.... RAIN! we woke up this morning not only to huge waves at our back door, but the sound of rain! We had our showers in our outdoor showers, with the rain and all! We walked to breakfast jumping in sandy puddles, What Fun! We haven't seen rain in about 10 months so it was a real treat!

Barefoot....

We have been here now for 6 days! Last night we went on a sunset fishing trip. We took a fishing boat out with 4 captains and went fishing with line and tuna only. We caught 1 big grouper, and 3 red snapper. Then for lunch today the chef prepared them for us, along with grilled veggies and potatoes.

The day before we went on a dolphin watching trip. This was our 4th time in 3 different countries and we still have yet to see dolphins! We did have a nice boat ride though. Yesterday the kids went banana boating and today they took out the pedalos. Right now Ryan and the boys are catamaran sailing!

Ryan and I took a Thai Chi partner stretch class this morning after breakfast. We are staying really busy, but it is extremely laid back here. The entire island is covered with sand, so we never have to wear shoes! Even the pilots on the sea plane were barefoot! We love and miss you all!

Hi from the Maldives!

We made it to the Maldives! The trip was great. We had a 5 hour flight from Doha to Male' and then a 40 minute seaplane ride to the island. We have had a great first few days and the kids have settled in well. We have a 2 bedroom villa right on the beach, so it works well for our large family.

The kids club is really great. The kids have had a hermit crab hunt/race, had a reasure hunt, gone snorkelling gone sailing and made a lot of crafts! Ryan and I decided to spluge and have babysitter every night for dinner. The kids get fed and then they go to kids club for some fun activites! Mom and dad get to enjoy dinner on the beach, no children! I hope everyone is having a nice holiday season! We love you!

Sorry it's been so long...

Hi Everyone!

I am sorry it has been so long since I updated! We have been really busy here. We celebrated Thanksgiving at home this year with just our family. The guys all worked so we celebrated on Friday with friends. We had a few couples and their kiddos come over and we had Enchiladas, homemade salsa and rice, queso, pies and flan!! Lukas had a Thanksgiving feast at school with the Kindergarten. We had a great time! The boys are all still enjying baseball. Gabriel is on the Orioles team. His coach picks an "Oriole of the week", and Gabriel got chosen last week! That was very special for him. He also started Track and Field last week and is really enjoying that!

We had the annual Exxon Mobil Christmas party on Saturday. Santa arrived as usual Arabian Style (on a camel) The kids had fun eating, decorating cookies, playing games and of course getting a present from Santa. Can you believe we have already spent 3 Christmas's here in Doha? Wow!

Tonight Lukas and Gabriel had their Christmas Concert at school. It was really strange to not have Jonathan up there singing this year. (Middle School doesn't have concerts) I went alone with the boys and was able to get a fron row seat to take some pictures of the boys in their blazers and cords. They were definately handsome! Ryan stayed home with the babies and Jonathan did some homework.

We leave tomorrow night for our Christmas vacation. We will be in the Maldives for 2 weeks, but I will update with pictures and hopefully some fun stories! God Bless!