OH, No the Big 40!!

For Jeremy's 40th birthday he wanted his favorite Italian food. So we had an awesome dinner at Ronda Locatelli. I've never heard of anyone getting two birthday cakes for their birthday. Well I'll take that back he received 3 birthday cakes and an hour long massage (complimentary)! I must say that before he turned 40 he went down the steepest and fastest slide at the Atlantis Waterpark. There is no way that Cody or Jeremy could talk me into that! We didn't get him a new sports car but we did buy him a SCOOTER. Happy Birthday, Love!

The Atlantis is such an enjoyable place to stay, it's very kid friendly. From 11 - 6 kids under twelve can enjoy games, crafts, computer access and video games. Cody went for a few hours the day before we were scheduled to fly back to Bahrain.  He had a such a great time and he meet some new friends from Moscow.  Devin, on the other hand, meet his girlfriend in the hall way. It was so funny they both turned to one another and grabbed each other hand. Normally, Devin would resist but not this time:( He has good taste she was such a cutie!  

Meet Our Lovely Friend Alice

One of our favorite excursions was meeting Alice. She's 15 years old and we fell in love with her. She was so gentle and obedient. She sang, danced, flipped and gave us kisses! She was one of the largest dolphins in the bay. Her Trainer was from Mexico City and was so sweet. Before going to actually meet Alice we had to go through an orientation that lasted 30 min. The instructor giving the orientation showed a power point presentation. It showed actual footage of the dolphins in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina being rescued. Those dolphins survived and now live at the Atlantis in the Bahamas.  

Cody and International "Football"- MVP

Cody is starting to thrive and live a dream for him on the "football" soccer front.  His favorite team, Premier League Team Aresenal started an academy for player develoment here in Bahrain and he has been excelling.  For non-soccer fans, Arsenal has been, and currently arguably one of the best Professional football teams in the world.  He recently finished up a 12 week training session and recieved MVP for his U10 age group.  They had ceremonies last night and we were so proud of him. The coaches recognized him as "having all of the attributes of the game including: skill, position play, passing, and knowledge of the game".  Coaching him  the past few years and watching him  play,  I couldn't agree more. In addition to his invitation to join the upcoming Technical group, he will also be playing in a 3v3 tournament on April 10th with winner getting expense paid trip to London in May for the Aresenal International tournment.  WOW, excited for him.  As you know we are well accustomed to the 3v3 play with our Cannonballs in Houston. We have a pretty good team lined up so it will be exciting to say the least. Great job Codeman, having you running around with a Soccer ball since you were 3 is paying off!  Of course Devin has to get in the action now at least for a photo shot!

Fast Rides at the Lost Atlantis Water Park

View from Water Park

Hanging out at Lost Atlantis

Cody taking Devin down one of his slides

Styling in his beach hat with ball

I need  some bread with my Pasta!

There we go, just what I wanted, lots of butter

View of Waterpark from balcony of Atlantis

Cody got Dad to go down one of the largest and fastest water

slides in the world, 60 mph thru a tunnel surrounded by sharks at the end.

This was my big adventure as part of my 40th

The boys pose after a night out

Lancaster's Spring Break 2010 Atlantis - Dubai

Atlantis "The Palm" named as such since the Resort is at the tip of the

man-made palm resort areas in Dubai made from re-claimed land.

Our view from our balcony to one of the many pools below

  Entrance to the Atlantis

Cody is getting more grown up looking by the day.

Handsome young man.

Devin with big brother in front of aquarium

Decor inside Atlantis

Waterfall out by the pool

Cody will always find a soccer game, even on the beach

Devin tries to get in on the games also

World class steak night

No room for "40" candles on this!

Happy Birthday J

Dubail Atlantis was truely a once in a lifetime experience and great vacation for us.

Our first evening we got settled into our room, went to the pool for a while and then went for a great steak and birthday cake #1 for the soon to be 40 year old.  More posts and narratives to follow describing our adventure!!

Another Reason to Celebrate....Great Neighbors

Lisa, Maria, Liza,Uzma & Me 

 

burrrr the water is too cold for me

Ryan, Devin & Kia making a big splash!

He's trying really hard to keep his halo on!

After living in our villa for a year we finally were able to meet all of our neighbors! Our compound is small. It's made up of eleven villas and we had a great turn out. A few of our neighbors went to the formula one race but were able to join us afterwards. It was so good to finally put a name to the face. We had two grills going! Jeremy and Raul grilled the works steaks, chicken, lamb, hamburgers and veggie kbobs! It was so good.!! Some of our friends are Muslim and thought that the hamburgers had pork in them. Does anyone know where the name comes from (hamburger)? We had so much food and to be honest we had enough to feed the Gardener (2), Security (2) and the pool guy! They were so grateful! I didn't get a chance to bring out the birthday cake:( because there were so many desserts. The kids enjoyed rice krispy treats and added their own decorations (sprinkles, m&m's and more sprinkles)! They enjoyed swimming and playing with each other. There are no girls in our compound. Uzma is pregnant and is having another boy! We're the only ones from the good 'ole USA! Some of the others are from the UK, Colombia, Malaysia and Pakistan! Looking forward to our next get together!!

Cody gets invite for Arsenal Soccer school Technical Program!

Dear Cody Lancaster:

Congratulations! You have been selected to join the Arsenal Soccer Schools technical programme.

Due to your consistent level of performance during our first term, we would like to invite you to be one of the first players to register for our new Technical programme. The programme will be commencing from 7th April to the 23rd June 2010

The groups and programme have been specifically formulated and designed by our coaching staff to test your capabilities at a higher level and in the company of players with similar abilities to your own. As such, you should be prepared for practices that are more technically challenging and complex in nature, and to be aware that the coaching staff will now expect more from you in terms of your application of skills. Sessions will be run in more competitive environment, where speed of thought and problem solving become increasingly important

We hope that you are ready to take up the challenge and will be motivated by the knowledge that membership of these groups is the next step towards representing Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain in regional and international tournaments.