Dubai with Friends

Last fall we had the idea of wanting to go to Dubai with our friends here in Saudi.  So I started throwing around dates and ideas with our friends to see what all would work out.  Of the 5 couples we talked about this with 3 of us ended up going.  We missed the other 2 but of course still had a blast!

On Monday night Brent, Laura, and Savannah Railey; Brooks, Lindsey, Gavin, Miles, and Brooklyn Perry; and me, Micah, and Jacob headed to the airport to catch our flights for Dubai.  Yes, you read that right, 6 adults and 5 kids all under the age of 5.  Traveling together was very entertaining but I have to say, all the kids did great. Trust me, all the girls in the next few pictures are very ready to be out of their abayas!

The Railey's 

The Perry's

For our first two nights in Dubai we decided to stay in the city near The Dubai Mall.  This mall is right by the Burj Khalifa- the tallest building in the world.  When I was looking for hotels I really wanted one within walking distance of the mall so that we wouldn't have to do taxi's.  Our hotel ended up being in a fantastic location! We could see the Burj Khalifa, the Dubai fountains, and the Dubai mall from out our window.  Even the walk to the mall was nice sidewalk and great views.

Lindsey and I even sported some Addi-tude with the Burj Khalifa in honor of Susie and Darrells little girl Addison. 

The only issue with our hotel was that we got there late the first night which meant they were out of baby cribs. So it was time to figure something out. Initially I thought Jake could just sleep with us for one night....HAHAHA.  That didn't last 5 minutes. It was time to get creative.  I put two chairs on their side up against the bed and laid one of the big comforters over the whole thing.  Then I put some of our heavy bags on the outside to keep the chairs from moving and the comforter from easily falling on Jacob.  It worked for the night and the next night we got a baby crib. 

We spent our first full day in Dubai shopping at the Dubai mall. Micah was super sweet and took Jake for most of the day while I shopped.  I was in desperate need for new clothes since it has essentially been 2 years since I shopped for spring/summer clothes (I was pregnant last year).  There were some good times for Micah too.  We ate at Potbelly for lunch and P.F. Chang's for dinner. After dinner we slowly walked back to our hotel and stopped to watch the Dubai fountains. 

The next morning we got up and packed our bags to head out to The Atlantis Palm.  This resort is huge and a wonderfully place to stay and spend time relaxing and playing. Once we were at the Atlantis we didn't leave until we were headed for the airport. 

 Once we were checked-in, we changed clothes, ate lunch, and headed to the water park.  We found a place near the kid splash area and parked our strollers and set off to play.  Jake of course fell asleep on the way so I sat and got some sun while he and Miles took a nap.  While he was napping the boys went off to ride the water slides. When Jacob woke up he had fun playing in the water.

I had scheduled a swim with the dolphins late afternoon and was planning to do it alone.  Lindsey decided it wasn't something I should do alone and that she would make the sacrifice to go with me.  Thanks Lindsey (thanks Brooks!).  We had a blast. We were able to touch, hug, and get kisses from our dolphin.  They also let us do a dorsal fin ride and a boggie board ride.  It really was a fun experience but they wouldn't let us take pictures :(

After our dolphin swim, Lindsey and I had to rush back to get changed for dinner.  We had dinner reservations at the Italian restaurant at the Atlantis.  This dinner we had with all the kids but it was still a fun, enjoyable evening.

The next day our group decided to split the rental of a beach side cabana.  We thought this would basically just be a cabana with a few chairs reserved for our group but it ended up being so much better. We had a great place reserved, plenty of chairs, a table, a hammock, an ice chest full of water, and our own waiter. They even brought us fresh fruit around lunch time.  It ended up being a great idea. We took turns during the day going to the water-park and the cabana gave us a great easy place to meet up. 

We had a blast playing on the beach, taking naps, laying in the sun and going to the water-park. Jacob loved playing in the sand and didn't even mind getting in the water.  I was worried the sea water might bother him once it got in his face but he didn't care.

nap time 

After our fun filled day in the sun we had planned an adults only dinner. Each couple hired a nanny for the night and we headed off to dinner at the Seafire Steakhouse. It was a blast to get to spend time together without any interruptions.  We actually spent the night having adult conversation. What a wonderful idea!

The last day of vacation is always a difficult day (unless your flight is early, then it's really simple).  There are so many aspects of the day to consider and juggle to make sure everything goes well like packing, checking out, getting to the airport, etc. But you still don't want to spend portions of the day just waiting. So we carefully planned our last day and decided to meet in the morning at the pool. We spent about 2 hours swimming and having fun playing in the water.

Then we went back to our rooms, checked out, and met back up for lunch. After lunch we made a quick tour through the Atlantis Aquarium (it's not a very big aquarium).  I was amazed at how much Jake actually looked at the fish and found them entertaining. He would laugh and grin at the fish and even try to grab them.  So cute!

At last, it was time to say goodbye to Dubai.  We had a fabulous time and were sad to go!

You Know you Live in Saudi....

Recently I had an interaction at the grocery store that made me stop and think, "wow, I've lived here too long".  I thought this because there is no way I would have done what I did a year or two ago.  This  made me start thinking "You know you've lived in Saudi too long when...."  I decided to poll my Saudi friends to compile a list to one day look back on and be able to laugh.  The responses were fabulous but I've decided to break them up into two different lists.  The first one is "You know you live in Saudi when..." and the second one "You know you've lived in Saudi TOO LONG when..."  Here's a personal example: You know you live in Saudi when you constantly get cut in line because no one here understands the concept of waiting your turn.  You know you've lived in Saudi too long when you are willing to let the girls trying to push past you while your placing your order that "You can wait till I'm done".  Haha. I NEVER would have done that two years ago. Ooops. 

You know you live in Saudi when:

1. When you go shopping and rush around trying to beat prayer- Sarah Poulter

2. You go to certain stores only to use their restroom.... this turns in to a too long statement when you know EXACTLY what stores you want to use the restroom at- Lindsey Perry

3. You text your friends that the grocery store has cottage cheese, rotel, sour cream, tostitos- Kerri Snyder

4. The opening of a grocery store is all anyone can talk about- Heather Feimster

5. When you walk out of the store looking for your driver and Sequioa instead of walking to your car- Heather Feimster

6. You buy 35 cans of rotel because you don't know when you will find it again- Cherie Ford

7. You pay $13 for a package of hot dogs- Mark Pyle

8. You rush into your safe-room only to find out an hour later it was fireworks- Lindsey Perry

9. You have a "safe-room"- Me

10. You plan an emergency escape route off the compound- Inez Fasold

11.  You save your napkins while eating out so that you have toilet paper- Debbie Blessing

12. When you get told that a store won't carry a product anymore because it sells too fast and they can't keep it on the shelf- Deborah Richter

13. You plan vacation around Ramadan and Eid instead of Christmas and Thanksgiving- Binky Watkins

You know you've lived in Saudi too long when:

1. You think the first day of the week is Saturday not Monday- Laura Railey

 (Saudi weekends are Thursday & Friday making Saturday like Monday)

2. You convert dollars to Riyals - Laura Railey

3. When you are in the US and you tell the person working "Shukran" instead of "Thank you"- Laura Railey

4. When you give the Shwarma delivery guy a 20 riyal tip and your daughter thinks it wasn't much- Zalinda  (First of all, it's funny that we have Shwarma and that they deliver, Secondly, this shows how kids view of money changes here)

5. You are in the USA and you want to wear your Abaya- Jeanne Renee Singleton

6. You start saying "Inshalah" to everyone who wants something done- Elizabeth Kyle (Inshalah means "God willing" but too often here it means "if I feel like it"

7. You stop saying Sunday school and start calling it Friday school- Leti Lancaster

8. When an 8 hour flight is "short"- Me

9. You comfortably nap in the car on the highway instead of noticing the crazies around you- Heather Feimster

10. You can convert money, kilos, and centigrade pretty accurately in your head- Heather Feimster

11. You don't go anywhere after 6 pm because of the crowds- Cherie Ford

12.  Your fear of driving fast changes to a fear of driving too slow- Mark Pyle

13. You no longer notice prayer calls- Brent Railey

14. You are in the USA and your kid asks you "wheres the driver?"- Susanne Jennings

15. A car races by you on the shoulder of the highway and you no longer flinch- Debbie Blessing

16. You hear loud noises outside and you start to run to your safe room but then think about all the junk you would have to throw out in order to get in so you decide to wait to see if it's really necessary- Susanne Jennings

17. You believe that kleenex belong on the dinning table- Steve Fasold

18. You start making left hand turns from the right hand lane- Steve Fasold

19. You own more abayas than dresses- Cynthia Rudder

20. You walk into a gold souk after 12 years and the worker says "Oh Madam, where have you been".- Deborah Richter

And possibly my favorite:

21. You walk into a hotel room in San Antonio and exclaim way too excitedly "ooh, they have US plugs!!" - Kerri Snyder

My Beach Baby!

Here in Saudi, beach weather comes pretty early in the year which I actually love!  I love getting to be by the water, soaking up the sun.  We decided to take Jacob out for the first time in a while to see how he feels about the sand now that he can move and play with in it.  He LOVES it! He loves exploring, crawling, and playing in the sand. I have been taking Jake out a couple times a week.  

Sometimes we go out and play with our friends Gavin, Miles, and Brooklyn!

Finally I decided to test Jake in the water to see what he would think.  The water is still a little chilly and of course it is very salty so I didn't really know how he would respond. Again, he loved it! It was hard to keep him from wanting to go too deep and face planting in the water.  But he sat and splashed and played with the wet sand.  I didn't think I was going to put him in the water so we didn't wear a swimsuit. I guess we will next time.