Evelyn Rose Andrews

On March 1st, we went to Camille's scheduled appointment with her doctor to see how everything was going. The due date was March 10 but Camille had been working on her doctor to go a week early, although she didn't seem too interested in inducing Camille up to this point. After her examination, the doctor told us to come back the following evening and that they would start the induction. I wasn't expecting that so it all came fairly quickly. Camille had packed her bags weeks before so really there wasn't much to do to get ready.

Evelyn arrived on March 3, at 6:25 PM. 9.1 lbs and 22 inches.

Epidural is in, all signs are good... it's just a waiting game at this point.

You have to turn your volume up and listen closely but you can hear a soft voice saying, "I'm ready to go"

Only a few minutes old and opening her eyes for the first time.
'Bright light, bright light'

Mommy and baby getting acquainted.

22 inches.... it's official.

Comfy and ready for bed.

Getting some shut-eye after a long day of work.

Mom and baby recovering

The family is finally all together.

Discovering one of her new favorite places.

Finally home and in her new bed.

So as a new father, I am trying to adjust to all of the new changes in life. This photo is a good example. A week before Evelyn arrived, this was called 'watching TV' and I was wasting time and being lazy. With the addition of Evelyn, this is now called 'baby sitting' and I am helping out and being a good father and husband. Let's just hope that she likes basketball, soccer, and motocross when she grows up so that I can continue to be so productive. :)

Baby on the Way

I wanted to put up a quick post to cover the time when we counted down the days until our little one arrives. We didn't get out much during that period, for obvious reasons, but there were a few events worth noting.

We had a nice Christmas party for my work at a hotel on Raha Beach in Abu Dhabi. I think this was the first company party I have ever been to that was actually a 'Christmas' party. They even had Santa Claus and his elves walk around and pass out gifts.

Camille's friend, Sandy, threw her a baby shower and they all seemed to have a good time. I was able to enjoy some of the left-over dessert so it was good for my part.

Plenty of pink clothes.

I snuck off to the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi to watch the V8 Supercars, which is the NASCAR equivalent in Australia. A friend of mine was racing in one of the local races earlier in the day so we got to see a lot of racing. This was a cool sand sculpture outside the track.

A Formula 1 car with two seats.... I just may be able to fulfill one of my dreams.

This was taken off our balcony one morning when the fog rolled in, a city in the clouds.

OK, so I promise that the next posts will be full of baby pics.

Thanksgiving and Christmas

We had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas for our second time in Dubai. We were able to spend time with friends at a couple of dinner parties and enjoyed the authentic American food that goes with the times.

Camille and her good friend Tiffany showing off their pregnant bellies.
I still don't understand the urge.

The chefs in the kitchen for our Thanksgiving feast

Preparing our bodies for the food overdose.

Just wrapping up dinner.

Card games.

Trying to decide if anyone will notice me making my tenth trip to the dessert table at our Christmas party.

Christmas morning with Kitty wondering what we are up to this time.
I tried to give the illusion of a white Christmas outside, kind of hard when it was 75 degrees.

Sweet, a PSP game.

The lack of little projects around the house out here gave me the urge to build a cheap kitty litter box.

Receiving the seal of approval.

28 weeks.

Found this guy running around the park.

30 weeks.

Safa Park with Burj Dubai/Khalifa in the background.

Summer & Fall 2009

So it has been forever since this place has changed and it's definitely due for an update. Here is some of what went down over the past few months.

We went to the aquarium at the Dubai Mall.

This is the tunnel that takes you through the big tank that faces the mall (see Flat Makenna photos).

One of our trips to the Dubai Kartdrome. On this occasion, we took the youth from the ward and I took photos. Camille is modeling the complete race attire...... she takes it that serious.

#20 is ready to go racing.

Wait, what is this?!?!?

The 'Bump' in September.

We took a trip with some families in the ward to Musandam, which is the northern most part of Oman and maybe a little too close to Iran. We drove up in the morning and went on a Dhow boat cruise around the coast, had lunch, and did some snorkeling. We had a great time although spending 2 hours at the border crossing each way was something I'd like to forget.

This was our Dhow boat. I can't believe we didn't lose any kids over the side.

We ran into the local family of dolphins on our trip.

Camille finally has her sewing machines and has all sorts of little projects going.

This is a shot I took from the balcony at our new apartment in the marina looking toward Dubai.

I made a quick video of our new place.

ASIA REPORT!!!!!

This trip was extraordinary... from elephant rides, white water rafting, a near death experience and the monkey show! What more could we ask for? We started our quest in Bangkok, Thailand... This is a picture of the city at night!

This is a typical traffic jam in Bangkok! Look at this madness! Is there even a system here? Seriously....It's every man for him self out there... Good Luck crazy people.


This picture of me and my near death experience... while we were waiting for our ferry to take us to the Golden Palace, Michael my loving husband wanted to get a picture of me and the river. Instead of telling me just that, he said, I quote.... "Go all the way to the edge and then take a step back!" I may look like I am smiling in this picture, but truthfully it a look of shear horror. The only thing that was crossing my mind was, is there an insurance policy I don't know about:)



Here is proof I survived, this little snap spot is of us on the water ferry.


Here is a picture of one of the Buddhist temples we passed on our ferry ride. It was probably the coolest thing we saw in Bangkok!


We finally made it to the Golden Palace.... Thee only reason to visit Bangkok.... and.... well they closed early and we did not get in to see it! But what we did get, was the opportunity of a life time. We got to take a ride in tuk-tuk which is run by thief's and scam artist. Oh Lucky us:) This is how a tuk-tuk works, first you tell them the places you'd like to go and a agree on a price. Usually a very cheap price. They take you to the selected locations and while you are looking at Buddha's, temples, etc... they send someone in to act like they are just being friendly and want to help you out they try send you to another location that is having a major blow out sale on gem stones that ends today! Well we already read about these people and new immediately what they were up too. They take you a store that is filled with jewelry, and it's all fake despite what they say. If you buy jewelry the tuk-tuk guy gets a cut and so does the guy that told you about the store. This is how they make their money. Luckily we already new about these people and decided to play along. Here is a picture of us in the tuk-tuk.


Here is a picture of me in front of a golden Buddha, and while Michael took the picture he had some guy telling him about the golden opportunity to buy gems. Well too bad for those guys, we didn't buy any gems this time.... We got this once in a life opportunity for only 30 Baht... which means our tuk-tuk guy spent around two hours driving us all over Bangkok for a grand total of 87 cents and no tip;)


Our second location... Bali, Indonesia. Here is a picture of the front our hotel in... it rocked! Thanks Suzanne for letting us us the time share. This place was amazing!

Our hotel Lobby....


A picture of me on our balcony in our room.

For our first day in Bali, we wanted to kick our vacation off right so I booked us a 4 hour spa treatment for couples. We loved it! Here is a picture of Michael in our spa room.
Day two..here is a picture of Michael and I at the Elephant Safari Park. We went white water rafting earlier in the morning and ended up here to ride an elephant.


Here is us on our elephant safari. Our elephant was kind enough to pose for this picture.

We did get really lucky, two of the elephants just had a baby about 2 months ago. Here is Michael with one of the mothers and Baby.

Day three, we hired a cab for the day to explore Northern Bali. We stopped at one of the local hotels to get a few pictures of the rice fields. Any where you go in Bali your bound to find a view like this one.


While we were in Northern Bali, we hiked to the GitGit waterfalls.

Here's a picture of us at the falls.


On our hike back from the falls we ran into a few kids selling jewelry. Here is a picture of a little girl selling a bracelet and asking 2,000 rupiahs for it.

I decided to barter with the little girl offering her 1,000 rupiah which is equivalent to 10 cents.

But this little girl was holding strong for 2,000 rupiahs. I couldn't figure out why she was so adamant about receiving 2,000 did she made it her self, or maybe she was particular found of this bracelet, did she think i was bartering for her soul and not the bracelet. What ever the reason, she wanted more then 1,000 rupiahs, so I upped the anti a little to 1,500 rupiah.


Every little girl has her price!!!!
After a sweet victory of bartering we headed to the Air Terjun Singsing hot springs to relax. These hot springs are considered to be very sacred and believed to cure any illness when you bathe in them. We shall see about that!



After the hot springs we wanted to visit one of the sacred temples of Bali. Here is a picture of Michael on the steps going up. If you wonder why he's in a skirt, it's because everyone must wear a sarong to enter into the temples.


Here's a picture of the temple. Sooo Amazing!


Close Up!!!!

Day 4- we head to Flores Indonesia for two days of diving. Here is a picture of me in full dive attire for our first dive in Indonesia.

After our second day of Flores, we headed to Komodo National Park for two dives then headed to Rinca Island to visit the natural habitat of the Komodo Dragons. Michael, oh course, wanted to get up close and personal with dragons. Did I mention they can eat you and if they bit you, there saliva is poisonous .


We got really close to this one:)


These are all the animal remains of what the Komodo Dragons eat. Mike wanted me to get in this picture, then busted up laughing and started calling me dragon bate. He really wanted to show everyone that everything in this picture is consider food, including myself. I guess I'm a delicacy.


We finally got back to Bali and spent the day in Ubud, and visited the Monkey Forest. We loved this place. Monkey's were every where. This is one of my favorite.

Michael made a new friend at monkey forest, we named him little buddy!
Hey guys smile for the camera! Little buddy really got into this.


I was so proud of little buddy for smiling for the picture, then I realized he wasn't smiling. This rare footage rarely caught on tape, this is the face a monkey makes before it viciously attacks it's owner. Sorry Michael... at least I will know what to tell the doctors when you start foaming at the mouth.

All I can say for this photo is, WOW..."that will make you rethink becoming a mother"


Cute little cheeky monkey's! So please next time you run into a monkey with this face, although it looks innocent, remember this is the face a vicious man biter.


As for our last day in Bali, michael and I rented a scooter to explore the rest of the island. I told Michael I would only go on one condition. I got a pink helmet to match my pink attire:) We loved Bali and hope to make it back sometime in the near future.



As for our time in Phuket, we didn't do much, except lay on the beach, relax indoors, and we did go to the zoo. Here are a few of our pictures. I don't know why the guys at the zoo felt obligated to poke him with a stick so he would snarl for the camera. I geuss they didn't care, if he was going to lash out, it would be on me not them.



This baby cub was only 2 1/2 months old and was very angry I was holding him. He bit and scratched the zoo handler. He sure looks cute though.


I loved this monkey, he held my hand for about 10 minutes while sucking his thumb. He was like a big fury baby. I loved him...
Here we are again,I think Michael tried to surround himself next to furry animals because he missed kitty so much. It's time he admitted he loves her! Thanks for recapping this vacation with us. This vacation was amazing. Michael you are the best, I love you!