Family Fun!

 Remember my trip up to Dubai with the girls for the quilt show, well after the girls left Mohamed and the kids flew in and we had some family fun. This was the first time that Mohamed and I had taken both kids on a trip when he wasn’t working.

The morning after they arrived I took the kids to SKI DUBAI, after the initial reluctance the kids had of not wanting to put the ski suits on (apparently they were ugly) we had a great time. Abdulla loved the concept of fun in the snow and was raring to go (as always), Noora on the other hand was having anxiety attacks. she was worried that she would freeze in to a Noora Lolly, it didn’t help that her nose started running when we got in there and for some reason thought she was melting! She loosened up after a while but was more than happy to take a backseat and let Abudlla try the more daring stuff. Mohameds cold had hit hard on this day and so he did warmer things.

Mixed Emotions!

 

Hold On Tight!

I don’t think I’ll have any trouble getting this boy to ski

on the other hand this little lady continues to confuse me one minute and surprise me the next, I am very proud of her for trying new things even if the idea of it frightens her.

However, my darling daughter is a huge fan of Après Ski, she keeps reminding me of when we went to the snow park and how she loved the mushroom soup, bread and hot chocolate.

The next day we hoped on the metro and headed to Dubai Mall ( the UAE is the first country in the Gulf to introduce trains and so every Omani that goes to Dubai jumps on the metro for the novelty factor – I saw plenty of Omani’s in Dubai most of them were on the metro!)

Sitting up front!  The kids excitement was contagious, every one in the carriage was smiling and having a little giggle. When we got off, every one was waving and saying good bye. Mohamed and I got quite emotional.

Can a person be more excited?

 

Glee?

Mohamed had them “steering”’the train.

On the bus for a short hop to the Mall, the kids were beside themselves!

At Dubai Mall, we took the kids to the Aquarium(I can’t find my pictures) and then we went on to Bloomingdales to meet some friends and purchase cupcakes. The kids loved choosing their cakes and the lovely man behind the counter added lots more sprinkles for them. We made our way to the “’dancing fountains’’ as the kids called them, sat down and dug in!

It took quite a few attempts to get this picture!

We had a lovely dinner at More cafe with Simone, Cyrus and Nicky. Mohamed managed to wangle us a table outside for nine (no easily done) because he spoke Swahili to the waiter.

The kids loved the fountains, they made Simone and I cry and the men looked on unimpressed!

Thanks Simone for taking this photo, this young chick and her old rooster have hardly any photo’s together. I’m sorry I didn’t get any of you and Cyrus but have a great one of Nick. We had a lovely time with old friends.

These two girls go months without seeing each other and yet behave like best friends when they are together. I am sure they must have been sisters in a past life.

 

On our last day, off we went to Aqua Venture @ Atlantis. OH MY GOD, we had an absolute blast. This was the most fun I have had as a parent ever, I can’t wait until they are older to get them on the bigger rides!

This structure in the kids area is impressive, it suits all different levels. We spent most of our day here, the boy wanted to try the fastest/highest/darkest slides ASAP and Noora was her cautious self, taking her time until she was ready and boy did she impress me! She tried every slide but didn’t necessarily go back and do it again.

We also down the lazy river, which was well lazy and then tried the rapids. I’ll tell you the story of the rapids another day, I am still recovering but the wee man wants more!

As you can imagine, a great day out!

On our way home on the Wednesday, we took a detour and drove through Al-Ain and stopped at the Zoo. It is a hidden treasure and the car park was full of Oman cars (us Omanis' appreciate a good day out).

Does my bum look big?

 

remember those push up ice creams?

The zoo was great, the enclosures were not  tiny horrible concrete cells.  The Zoo is affiliated with the San Francisco Zoo and they are about to embark on building a Safari Park, a education centre for children in the Gulf to travel to and much much more, I was impressed and well worth the detour. 

So then we hoped in the car, stuck a DVD in for the kids and settled down for our five hour trip home, ahhhhhh so nice to get home after a week away.

Hope I haven’t bored you.

Laila  xx