Miss Lea @ 9 months

Lea standing up!

Look what I can do

Miss Lea has surprised us today with her new skill. She has learned how to stand up on her own. She first did it holding herself up on the coffee table and then I took pictures of her in her crib.

Steve is trying out for the NBA

Steve signed up for a basketball league. He is part of a team of 5 and they play against other teams (I think there are 7 or 8 teams in total) every Monday night. He was so excited, but after the first time he came home discouraged and almost gave up on the entire thing. It turns out that most of the guys that play have played on a team before and some are even ex college b-ball players. Steve came home saying he has no skills and that he was so nervous around these guys that he didn't even try to shoot the ball. I told him not to give up and to try it at least one more time.
Well in true Steve style he didn't give up, rather he went on a mission to learn everything and anything that would improve his game. Everyday he goes to the basketball at our gym to practice his skills. He reads basketball blogs and watches videos on line that teach him about foot work, how to shoot and dribble. He has even found some guys at the gym that play just for fun every Tuesday night, so now he plays with them as well. This is all to improve his game so that he can feel confident and comfortable playing on the Monday night league. I say he is trying out for the NBA! His body is slowly falling apart, last night after he came back from playing he had to put Tiger Balm on his knees and other joints because he was sore :-) but he's not giving up. He got his confidence back and feels great when he comes back home from playing on Monday nights.
Here are some pictures of Steve practicing. I have to admit he is getting really good.

Steve's #1 fan.

What is wrong with this outfit?

I told Steve to dress Lea while I got us ready to leave the house. There was a dress with sandals on the chair that I asked him to dress Lea in. There was a pair of pants on the chair as well so Daddy thought it was part of the outfit!

Lea is finally eating chunky food!

Miss Lea has finally decided that eating food with chunks tastes good!

Waking Daddy up

On the weekends Lea has the pleasure of waking up Daddy in the morning. She loves it! She gets so excited just being in our bed she doesn't know what to do with herself.

No Dirty Cars Allowed

As I mentioned before image is everything in this country so there is a new law that came out stating that no dirty cars are allowed to be on the roads. If you leave a dirty car parked outside it will most likely be towed and you will be fined 300 AED which is about $100. The thing is that a car can't stay clean here for more than a day or two therefore it's not uncommon to see people dusting their car off with a regular duster you would use at home. At first I thought these people just wanted to save on the car wash, but now I understand that they are trying to save their car from being towed.

It's Official

We have bought our tickets for our vacation. Lea and I are going to Poland on Aug. 10 - Sept. 11 and Steve will join us on Aug. 28th. From Poland we will be going to Athens to visit our friends until Sept. 19th. We are so excited!!!

Something New

Yesterday I went grocery shopping with Lea and I cam across something new that I don't believe I have mentioned before. I'm trying to keep up with things that most would not know about the UAE so here's that something new. The cashiers at the grocery store are seated and the bags boys are dressed in pants, shirts and ties! Very formal...I know it's nothing exciting, but I think very different from Canada. Also you can ask the bag to bring all your grocery to the car for you at no extra fee, if you want to be nice you can tip them.

Check this out!

That's right! What you see above is a chrome Mercedes...this car was parked in front of our gym and I just had to take a picture because I have never seen one before. Image is everything here and I guess if you're driving a "chrome" Mercedes you really must be something.

I have lost my touch

Hello Our Blog Followers,
I don't know how it happened, but some how over the last couple of weeks I have lost my blogger touch. I can't seem to find anything to write about and especially nothing about the UAE. It's as if whatever we do is no longer new to me therefore I don't find it important to write about. Steve has brought it to my attention several times that our blog has become a Lea blog, which there is nothing wrong with that but I'm sure that you the followers would like a little update on us as well.
I really have no excuses besides the fact that Lea started crawling a couple of weeks ago and I can no longer just plop her on the floor where she will sit playing. We have now entered a stage of Lea's life where we are constantly on guard of where and what she will get to next! It's a lot of fun, but at the same time no break unless she's sleeping.
So what is new with us? Nothing really, summers in Abu Dhabi are pretty uneventful. It's hot, but I think we are starting to get used to it as we can feel the difference between real hot of about 45C and bearable hot of 39C. On the weekends we spend our days at the pool, we go to the gym 4 times a week. Go for walks on the Corniche in the afternoons and that's pretty much it. Life is simple and dangerously lazy.
I still have activities with Lea twice a week which is far less than having something to do everyday. Most Moms leave the country from June to September to avoid the heat. This is giving me the chance to catch up on some scrapbooking and other projects I promised to some people years ago :-)
We are leaving on our vacation in a month. Lea and I are going first and then Steve will join us about 2 weeks after. We are going to Poland to visit my Grandmother and to show Steve where I'm from and then we are going to Greece to visit our close friends in Athens. I am counting down the days already.
I've been trying to upload videos on our blog, but it takes way too long to upload even the shortest of videos that's because we have the worlds slowest Internet. I am trying to figure out how to connect the blog with our Picasa albums and videos. I will let you know once that is working.
I promise to do my best with this blog and to keep you in the loop about our life here.

Happy Belated Canada Day!

I know that we're a little late, but we wanted to wish everyone back home a happy Canada Day! Sorry the message skipped my mind since we really didn't feel like it was Canada Day over here. We hope that everyone had a great day BBQing, relaxing by the pool or going to the beach.
We have been just talking about how we miss summers in Montreal because the city comes alive and everyone comes out of their hiding after a long winter. We still haven't missed the winters...

Sending our love to all!


P.S. The big news on our side is that Miss Lea started crawling a couple of days ago and with each day she is becoming stronger, faster and does more distance around the house! It's a great way of making sure that we never sit now :-)