Three is the Magic Number

I am stealing this post title from a friend's recent post as I have had this song in my head the last several days since she posted. Have you listened to Elizabeth Mitchell? If you have kiddos under 5 and haven't you must must go to the library, get it from Amazon--whatever, it's just too good. I think I would listen to her even if I didn't have a kiddo. Anyway, this song has been in my head and has been a thought of mine lately as I continue to enjoy this year abroad with lots of family time with Michael, girlie and I.

Today we spent part of the late afternoon at Al Ain Oasis. I've blogged about this beautiful place many times but I can't help it. I love to go there. Today was magic for many reasons.

1. The oasis is a cooler place to go during the hotter summer months here. You feel the cool underneath the canopy of date palms and that alone is a reason to visit.

2. The dates have been growing this last month or so and you can see them high up in the trees in all their glory. When we came in September it was the end of the season, so it's neat to see them up there growing away. I never had a date before this year and I have to say I will miss eating fresh dates terribly. They are so good!

Eleanor was fascinated looking up at the dates. She is always asking to eat them.

3. Eleanor digs this place. She must feel like she's in a jungle with trees to climb, brush to bust through, funny curved sticks that become trumpets....

The slanted based palms are the easiest to climb but note to self - flip flops are not the best things to wear when doing so! Watch out! Eleanor thought this was quite funny while I was happy I regained balance and didn't slap our faces down the trunk! yikes!

4. The oasis has an ancient falaj irrigation system. During our very first trip to the oasis in September when we arrived we had a great time splashing and cooling off in the water that was flowing through it. I captured this treasured photo below from that first visit....

...but then ever since this first visit many many months ago, we've barely seen a lick of water, just empty irrigation or occassional water under areas we can't access. Today I heard the water rushing and was so excited to come upon water gushing through an area of the oasis! It was so cooling and wonderful I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was.

5. After almost a year of having my fancy DSLR camera I am STILL learning to use it. It can be downright frustrating some days when I can't get the settings right. Plus toddlers have to be the most challenging subjects to shoot! I could use automatic more but it's not the same quality and I hate flash!

Anyway, today was one of those days when the natural lighting was premo and my camera settings worked out pretty much and there was magic I captured.

So induldge me in this post with many many photos. I can see several of these framed up in our house when we get home (we fly 8 weeks exactly from today!). I love that Eleanor has these photos of this time here in the UAE to look back on when she was a wee one.