Updates and Cherry Blossoms

Here begins the next adventure, as this branch Mayer clan has relocated to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Adam and I are reunited after an EXTREMELY long 2.5 months where he was getting us established here in the UAE and I was wrapping up my research at NIH. He has done the most beautiful job setting things up here: Buying a car, renting/moving into/completely furnishing a gorgeous new home for us, bank accounts, and all... We are extraordinarily excited to be back together and have been enjoying this week together, showing me around our new locale and relaxing as the waves of jet lag wax and wane. Today leaves me feeling unwell and couch bound, so I am playing catch up with the blog.
While I am sure that you are all eager to see what we have going on here (and I am SO excited to share), I do have some catching up posts to work on, as he accidentally took the card reader for the camera with him and I had no method to upload pictures during our time apart....so it will be a little bit before Facebook posts and the blog coincide with one another.
First and foremost, one of my FAVORITE things to do in DC every year: The Cherry Blossom Festival! Fortunately for me, I was adopted by the Pennocks while Adam was gone, and Jake agreed to wake up early and beat the crowd (we are talking TENS OF THOUSANDS of people) to view them. The first year we were back, Allyson and I ventured out in the rain to see them, last year we were about 2 days to early, but this year was PERFECT!