On Thurs. Jan. 6, Ryan checked Russell's flight info. "Oh Mom! Russell gets in tonight at 8". "ÖK, I thought it was Friday, but I will call your dad." ...Guess where this is going? Yep. Mike, Ryan and I drove to Dubai after work, only to discover that we arrived a day early to get our boy. Ryan's face was priceless as we stood under the TV screens and I asked him if he happened to notice on the info the words...NEXT DAY. Mike's face..not so priceless. So yes, we were anxious to see Russell. So anxious that we got there a day early. :) But in order to not make the drive a total loss we drove to the hotel by Burj al Arab(sailboat hotel), ordered coffee and enjoyed watching the Burj turn colors. On Friday, the Kenneys picked Russell up at the airport. They were in Dubai for the day. Whew. We were glad. By the way, we hadn't checked the airline either..so not only were we there on the wrong night, but we were in the wrong terminal. Next time Mike will make sure Russell sends the info to him directly. Oops.
On Sat. we went to a coffee place by the beach. We sat outside in the gorgeous weather and Ryan taught us a card game. He doesn't play a lot of cards but his local friends here taught him this game. It's an Arabic game which is a lot like Spades but the trump changes. After I dealt I looked at Ryan on my left waiting for him to bid. He said it was Russell's turn, who was sitting on my right. Apparently he learned to go counterclockwise. It really is an Arabic card game. But the best part is that after two hours of playing the score was 0 to 0. Two hours and we didn't get anywhere....
Robert had fun over the holidays riding bikes with his friend, Evan, and playing his new video games with his buddies. Sallie and her friends sang in the International Carol Sing, had a Christmas party, went to the Youth For Christ Christmas conference-Desert Challenge, and hung out.
Next week we have a friend coming to see us from Jordan. That will be fun. We will show her the sights.
Happy 2011.
