About Me

A family of five that has amazing opportunities to travel the world. Having lived in Beijing, China, Hong Kong,Budapest, Hungary, and Doha, Qatar, the journeys continue to unfold before us.

Monday, November 26, 2012

A Weekend Getaway

We had the fortunate opportunity to spend a few days in Dubai.  We had gone there for a conference, but also had some time in the evenings to explore.  The children spent time at a mall and then spent a day at Wild Wadi waterpark.  It was a great way to spend Thanksgiving as a family.

Although I have never been to Vegas, I sort of imagine Dubai as the Vegas of the Middle East.  It's big, flashy, modern and over-the-top.  For our first evening there, we headed out to find a place to have dinner.  It was suggested that go to Dubai Mall, and eat at the Outback Steakhouse.  We arrived at the mall, found the restaurant and headed to the outdoor seating.  

What a magnificent place to have a meal.  Every 30 minutes, we were privy to a huge fountain display synchronized to music.  The water shot up higher than the two story mall itself, and when it came crashing down, it sounded like fireworks.

We enjoyed our evening so much, we decided to go back again for a second night.




The Emirates Mall is known for having a ski slope inside of the mall.  There was a rental shop where you could rent the ski equipment as well as warm clothes.  Quite something!




On another evening we went to eat at the Jumeirah Beach... a canal with a pedestrian walkway and alleys tucked away with shops.

On Saturday afternoon we explored the 'creek.' This is a busy water canal full of dhows like the picture below that taxied people across.







Monday, November 19, 2012

Volleyball

Our school hosted a volleyball tournament against other international schools in our region.  Connor was a starting player.  It was such an exciting time to go and watch the games and cheer on these boys. They ended up coming in second place, but the entertainment was priceless.





Friday, November 2, 2012

A Week Off

We have just enjoyed a week off for Eid.  For us, this was a 'staycation.'  Most of our days were spent going to the pool for a swim, doing a bit of gardening, a few meals out and late mornings.  We did get out to the beach however.
We went to Fuwairit Beach and the kids did some kite flying.  It was really windy, so this was a perfect thing to do.
The water was warm and we went swimming out to the sandbar a couple of times.

 (video) Rob grilled some hotdogs for lunch.

Stuart took his RC car for a spin.


On another day, we went to a government run nursery.  This place apparently supplies all of the plants for the city.  Rob and I enjoyed doing some shopping here because the prices were so much better than in town.  We also loaded up on peat moss and potting soil.
Greenhouse after greenhouse of plants, flowers and vegetable starters