We are off on our tour of the world - December 2, 2011 - January 3, 2012

And we are almost off...

December 2, 2011 - Fly 16.5 hours with a 10.5 month old by myself in a bulkhead/bassinet seat on Emirates expecting to rely on the kindness of strangers.

December 2-6, 2011 - Spend time with my family and friends in San Antonio

December 6-13, 2011 - Work from my Houston office, spend time with friends and family, and help my sister with her wedding plannning.

December 14-19, 2011 - Spend time in Western Missouri - Lexington, Lee's Summit, Warrensburg, etc. and let my son see his family and play on the farm.

December 19, 2011 - Travel to Houston

December 20, 2011 - Travel to Dubai

December 21, 2011 - Arrive in Dubai

December 23, 2011 - Travel to Turkey to see my sister in law for the first time in 7 years and meet my brother in law for the first time. Hang out with family and let Rex soak up some Turkish culture and love from his grandma.

January 3, 2011 - Back in Dubai, get ready for the new year, Rex's first year birthday on the 7th and the new semester of Rex's activities. Plus immigration business gets busy for a few months at the beginning of the year too.

The Hard Truth About How Success Really Works

Here's what's getting in your way when you attempt (and fail) to hit those "reach" goals.

By Jeff Haden |  @jeff_haden   | Nov 22, 2011

This is a good article from my favorite magazine. No one really tells you like this even if some would say this is obvious, it is sort of something good to hear from someone without any invested interest in your life.

Being a tourist in my new city

 I am going back to the US in a couple of weeks and need to buy some souvenirs so was checking out items in the Mall of the Emirates.

Rex on a camel at the Mall of the Emirates...

The UAE is getting ready for the 40th country anniversary on Dec 2, 2011 so they have a lot of patriotic flags, banners, hats, etc. and we found this camel at the mall.

Life here

Life here in Dubai is pretty good. I have my villa, a car, a live-in nanny, and now a yard full of green grass.  We have friends from lots of countries. Rex has a lot of play area and play dates with friends.

I have been bad at updating my blog but mostly because I have been having a good time.

Iftar - August 25, 2011 - Burak's company dinner at Atlantis, Dubai

Dubai Festival City Mall and Toys R Us - August 26, 2011

We went to Toys R Us in Dubai to check it out. We spent an hour there and only bought a small kid pool and plastic balls. We had fun though..

Burak checking out the toys..

The elevator in the Toys R Us. Each wall was a TV screen and when we went up and down it played a scene of Dubai as we were going up or down. It was very neat but very hot in there!

Wow, I didn't even know they had this doll. A minute homage to my home state, Texas.

Ok, I didn't realize that this doesn't show very well but these dolls are like 3 feet tall! They are standing on the floor. I should have had Rex stand up against them.

It was fun to see what books were available. Lots in Arabic too.

I am going to buy one before I leave. I love Barbie-type dolls because they try to represent their population.

Fun play area. Almost every mall has an area like this for kids. We are scoping out the best places for Rex to play and for play dates.

Kid's Saloon!!! :) Really a Salon.. 

I wanted to get on this..

Camels everywhere...we are in the desert!

Random cool wooden boat.

Waterfall where the water fell down the strings/ropes.