Things to love about Raha International School

Can I just say we "Love, love, love" Raha International School!
Every month each elementary grade hosts an assembly- Last month 2nd Grade presented songs, art and letters about Endangered Species. They sang songs about Mother Earth and going to the zoo. The kids all played xylophones and sang their hearts out! The students also unveiled a mural they had painted in the stairway. It was so cute! Grace painted a grass hopper and all the 2nd graders signed their names. They were so proud of their work!

Grace and her amazing Music teacher!

Outside in the parking lot. It is getting hotter!

Inside waitng for the assembly to start.

Audrey's 4th grade assembly. The topic was "Our Heros". Heros included Superman, Michael Jackson, Muhammed Ali, Anne Frank, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther King, Monet, Christopher Columbus (Audrey playing him), etc.

After the assembly we gathered in the class rooms to meet each of the heros. The children had to reaserch and dress up for a living "Wax Museum". This is Sullivan with Tony Hawk!

Sullivan with none other that "The Crocodile Hunter"- Steve Irwin!

Audrey as Helen Keller! She was so cute!

Easter

We celebrated Easter a few days late this year. Lame - but hey, we did celebrate a Christian holiday in the Middle East. It wasn't as tricky as I thought to find the stuff-able plastic eggs. And much to my surprise there were lots of chocolate bunnies, easter cream eggs and jelly beans in most grocery stores. They were available for a price. I did splurge on some chocolate peanut butter eggs, but then got creative. A few dinosaurs were the same price as the bunnies and Hazel's new doll stroller was about as much as a bag of jelly beans.

Easter started with a traditional egg hunt, but ended up like a mini Christmas with a pet store twist.

The egg hunt was planned during spring break. The kids rolled out of bed and hunted through the garden for eggs before Quin left for work.

A few of their finds!

No, he was not in an egg...

Audrey's pet surprise. This little guy was barely keeping his nose above water when we found him.

Audrey and Quin coming back from their rescue. They dropped the drenched mouse off in the park. He's probably enjoying someone else's pool by now.

Our Abu Dhabi version of Easter Baskets.

Food stuff

This has become one of my main dinner staples. It's called fattoush- and yes, it is worth making and eating night after night! So delicious!

Fattoush-

5 ripe tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1/2 red onion


Dressing-

1 garlic clove, crushed
4 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or cilantro)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint


Chop all salad ingredients together. Toss. Mix dressing- whisk and toss carefully. Add fresh ground sumac- yes, if you can not find this you will find the flavor a bit lacking, but still good. Garnish with croutons or toasted pita bread. So yummy!

I will make a ton of this when I get to Utah. For sure our side at the neighborhood BBQ!
You can not stop eating it!

Enjoy!

My kind of Oasis!

The kids going Wild at Wild wadi water park!

We finally had an "official sleepover". We invited the Franks to use our guest room- they really don't live too far, just downtown Abu Dhabi. We wanted an early start for the day, so they decided just to crash here. We got up early, had a big breakfast of french toast, eggs and toast and headed out to Dubai. This is Julie and I excited to be there!
This picture cracks me up- yes, that is Sullivan's hair!

The Jumeriah- Scareah was awesome- that is of course what I hear! Quin, Jason, Sullivan, Grace and a few others dared this ride! They loved it. Best of all was the height requirements- only 110 cm to ride all the thrill water slides. Sullivan was tall enough by about 7 cm!


Most of the crew!
View from outside the park! Highly recommend Wild Wadi!