Oops. I Guess I'm not Committed After All

When I stepped out from under the umbrella of government monitored schooling, I thought I would still keep up this blog. "I don't make this blog for them! I make it for my family!"

And then the longest break from writing during the school year happens immediately. 

Ooops.

BUT I do plan on continuing with this blog and to do it more often. 

I must rationalize away my absence. That will be the bulk of this post.

First, Dustin and I spent three weeks (almost) in Texas learning how to sail. This was truly an educational experience, and we plan to pass that education on to our kids once the time is right.

Our hardest course was the navigation class that might not even be useful in the end because of GPS. I actually loved learning it though.

Our instructor (Craig) was the BEST! Literally, he is the best. He was ranked #1 out of all ASA instructors!

While there, we went to the NASA Space Center, and THAT made me miss my kids! What a cool educational experience!

While we were gone, my boys were doing little bits of school, and being loved by their cousins in Arizona.

The above photo is of the littles even going to a homeschool co-op for Valentine's Day! Very spoiled to have so many people love and care for my kids.

And then.....wait for it....we flew to Dubai! 

WHAT?! Yes, Dustin needed to go for work and WE ARE STILL HERE! It's been a month and a half. We have had crazy adventures. The first week we were here, time seemed to slow down mentally because we were All. Day. Every. Day. having sensory overload of novel experiences. 

My favourite being going to the World Expo. You know Prince Albert's Crystal Palace, Tesla's Alternating Current, Alexander Graham Bell, The Eiffel tower, you know, just some of the most important moments in modern history? You remember how they all happened at WORLD FAIRS? Well, they are still going on, and WE WENT TO ONE!!!!

The amount of awe struck and innovation and over-the-top stuff we saw was immeasurable and we didn't even see half of it. We DID see our friend from Vanuatu at the Vanuatu pavillion though!!!

At the United States pavilion, it was very NASA themed, complete with a REAL moon rock that they let you touch! and some space station exhibits, so I almost felt vindicated for not taking my kids to the Houston Space Station. 

 We went to our first day (yes we went multiple days and still only saw a portion of it) at the Expo with our new homeschooling friends, the Lanzes! This world is small for LDS homeschoolers!

Some of the more interesting things about our UAE stay: We went on a day out to explore the other Emirates, and followed advice of another Worldschooler, and ended up at this *new* ancient cliffside village.

We went to a Holi Colour Festival where we were the ONLY people of European descent at the entire event (half the people in Dubai are from India) 

And we've been to the largest water park in the world that....wait for it....has waterslides that go through an aquarium!!!

And here is a Dubai (and Abu Dhabi) photo dump, but scroll down, because I actually did do school since the last time I posted (Who am I talking to anymore? John! Heather! Mike! Are you still interested in my life even though we don't go to the alternate school anymore? Uhhh Anyone? Future me. Hi Lindy! Do your kids ever flip through these books? Grandkids maybe?)

And a couple other educational experiences here was going to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The locals claim it's just as good as the Paris Louvre. Umm I'm a snob. It was incredible, but but but. If you want to see iconic art that you study in art history, Europe (including the original Louvre) is the place to go. Yes there was art by the most famous artist in history, but not their most famous work. 

Still, I was geeking out and being my children's tour guide. I don't often get to use my art history degree!

And we paid a local art studio for art lessons:

And of course, we have been doing math and english. I SAY of course, but because of Texas and the first couple of weeks in Dubai, we are WAY behind. But we homeschool! SO maybe we can just count that as our summer break and soldier on!

Maxwell GOT AN A- IN UNIVERSITY ENGLISH!!! Did you hear that Lindy ten years ago?!? Your dyslexic son just got an A- in English. So much relief and validation going on with that. 

It was funny, we met someone from the Abu Dhabi ward that knows Maxwell's professor and they were talking about Maxwell! Small world.

He also got an A in university math, but, well, duh. Proud but not surprised. It was easy for him. 

Hyrum is doing great. He finished his grammar book, and is done with his writing book, so he doesn't have much left to work on here in Dubai! I'll have to get him on some online courses. 

Daniels doing great. No photos or milestones to share at the moment.

William finished his All About Read level two (see how behind I am?  Also, I always put spelling on the back burner. I'm tying to change that.) 

He also got through reviewing his times tables. 

We often-probably half the time at least-do math by/in the pool. For the first few weeks we were at a hotel, and now we are in a suburb housing development that has a communal pool. 

Abraham is doing great. He is thriving with All About Reading level two:

And has really gotten into making animations. They are super cute.

Also, Dustin is trying to have all the kids write journals about their experience. It's sporadic and short, but I'm glad Dustin is having them do it. Here's Abraham's "drawing journal" about going to the waterpark, the Burj Khalifa, and the Museum of the Future. 

So yeah, we have been enjoying our experience. The people here have all been super, super nice. The church has been so inclusive as well. They just had a father-son campout this weekend, and my boys loved it, but this is the only photo they took:

Silly boys. Take pictures/videos!

Yes, I will write more on this blog, but I've been so BUSY! 

I finished my BYUI class but tomorrow I start my new class (history of psychology. umph)

AND I have a part time job! What? My dyslexia counseling with Ensign academy? No, I didn't mean that. No one signs up for my services, so it takes no time. No, no, I meant my YouTube channel. 

Oh my goodness it takes so long to make these movies, and I don't have time left over to market them, so I'm not sure WHAT OR WHY I'm doing any of this, but it IS a record of my family, and it IS a way for all our friends we left behind to keep in touch with us, BUT it's a part time job.

But anyway, if some random person actually reads this, here's some you tubes videos of our life lately:

or this:

or this: