Visa Run Again - October 2, 2009

We made our second visa run this past weekend. It wasn't as stressful as the first time. We went to a different crossing, one where you could see the Oman building from the UAE side. So we didn't have to drive 30-45 minutes in Oman to get our stamp. It was easier this time, but coming up to the crossing and seeing the barb wire fence with the roll of barb wire on the top is a bit daunting. The guards were so helpful, and friendly, one guy saw our kids playing the game boys and had to show us that he was playing a DS.

We went off the highway for a photo-op to get a family picture in front of a dune. The second photo is at a gas station just before the border. I thought it was kinda neat to see this mosque in the middle of no-where with the mountains in the background. The third is the other side of Jebel Hafeet. It was neat to see that some of the rocks were so sharp yet these were rounded and made you think you were on the moon or Mars.

Since the border was less stressful we had a wonderful afternoon at the water slides. They had all of them up and running this time. We were also able to squeeze in some mini-putt before supper. What a hoot! We got closer to some camels this time around. Oh speaking of camels- we didn't get a photo but we saw how they transport those poor beasts. In the back of a pick-up! They get them to kneel down and then they strap them in. We saw two different trucks- one had two in with them facing the back and the other had one in sideways. It was funny to see. The second photo is the view from our room. It was neat to see the ridge off in the distance. We also found a look out point at the hotel with binoculars, and were able to see the sand dunes, and many other neat things. The final picture is of the boys flaking out, waiting for the pool to open on Saturday morning before we had to leave.

Happy Birthday Patrick - September 30, 2009

Today our little boy turned the big "6". He had a fun day at school. They wear this birthday hat throughout the day that is a cake with candles on it. Patrick took in cup cakes and juice for snack time. They sang Happy Birthday to him in Arabic, in the Arabic class. He then came home to cake, presents and play time. Oh to be six again, and that is your day. :)

Here are a few shots of his birthday. The first is of him playing with some cool metallic silly putty tha Samantha found for him, the next is him opening police lego (which by the way he has some of it made already- and he says "I'm not going to mix this in with my other lego"), and finally the cake. Check out the candles I found. :)

Misc. Pictures - September 26,2009

Some fun days at the park: Getting wet, spinning, climbing, watching the fire show (very cool), watching the kids (NOT). The bottom two are: a night out on the town and one of the many neat shaped buildings (Aldar HQ).

I think we have some budding photographers. The final batch of pictures are the kid's. They have been taking pictures like crazy. Some of them are quite good. :)

Dubai Mall Aquarium - September 19, 2009

After we finished at the Mosque we headed to Dubai for the afternoon. On the way to Dubai we saw wild camels (at least we think they were wild). I got Wayne to stop so that we could get some pictures. :)

I know this sounds silly but we headed to the Dubai Mall. At the mall they have this huge aquarium. One of the largest aquariums in the world, housed in the world's largest mall right next to the world's largest building. Hmmmm- do you see a pattern here?

This aquarium was COOL. They had all kinds of fish: big, little, huge, colourful, plain, silver, etc. They had sharks, rays, eels, again in different sizes and shapes. Once you look at the outside and have paid your ticket you get to walk up closer to them and then get to go in a glass tunnel, where you can see them swimming at you, around you and over you. Way, Way cool. It is long enough but not really long in the grand scheme of things but we spent over an hour just walking through the tunnel and watching everything swim by. There were so many different fish that everytime you looked you found a new one.

We finally made it through the tunnel and headed up to the underwater zoo. Yes we are still in the mall. Here they had otters, turtles, pirhanas, jelly fish, sea horses, dragon fish, razor fish, seals, penguins, alot of different rays, small sharks, poison dart frogs, crocs, Nemo, Dory, Puffer from Finding Nemo. The kids had a blast. So did Wayne and I. The kids even got to feed the fish that were in the huge aquarium. It was an amazing day.

The kids and I have seven more days to our holiday. I don't know how we are going to even come close to today in the wow factor.

Grand Mosque - September 19, 2009

We visited the Grand Mosque today, with Stephanne (the teacher I'm TAing for). WOW!! It was breathtaking. All the pillars made of marble with inlay of different stones, was amazing. The floors were also marble with inlay of different stones making lovely floral patterns. There were pools of water with the Mosque reflecting in them. Part of the floor, if you looked closely, were tiny tiles of marble in a pattern all joined together to make larger tiles. There were painted mosaics on different tiles through out. It was all just amazing to walk around and look at the workmanship that went into making it - and this was just the outside.

To go into the actual Mosque you have to take off your shoes and make sure you are dressed properly: Men/boys in long pants, long shirts; Women in long skirts so you can't see your ancles, long sleeve shirts and then we were given our own abaya to wear when we got there. We also had to have our heads covered inside. It was very bright outside with all the white marble and the sun, so we were happy to go inside for a while.

The inside of the Mosque was absolutely beautiful. Again the workmanship of the stone work, the huge crystal chandalairs were staggering. The largest hand-woven Persian carpet in the world. The glass work on the windows, the stone work with lights shining through on the walls and floors, just made it one of those places that you are constantly gauking at everything trying to take it all in and still only seeing part of it. It is definately one of those places that anyone coming over will want to see, and we would be more than happy to go again and again, to try and take it all in.

The kids were awesome in the Mosque because they were also trying to see everything and taking pictures of everything. Take a look at our pictures, but you should also check out this site: http://www.visitabudhabi.ae/en/what.to.do/mosques.and.other.places.of.worship/sh.zayed.mosque.aspx

The first part is of information for times open and stuff, but go the bottom and it gives some stats about the Mosque. It really is impressive to see and read about. We had a wonderful time exploring it.

More on Jebel Hafeet - September 7, 2009

I just wanted to share a few more photos of Jebel Hafeet. It was a really neat drive going up the mountain, and sometimes the pictures just don't do it justice. But you try anyway.

The first one is an outcrop while driving up the mountain. The rock was neat because you could see the bands of sediment and there were even bands of the reddish color of rock. The kids found a few really neat ones with multicolour bands of beige, red and yellow. We even found some fossils, which was cool.

The next picture was taken in Oman. It was neat the way they cut through the rock for the road. The kids thought that it was cool that there were these steps.

And finally, a picture of our hotel at sunset. The entrance way into it was neat because from the road you have to drive down to it. The really cool thing is that in the hotel lobby they have actual living walls. There were only five floors to the hotel but on the top floor they had flower boxes full of vine plants that grew right to the ground floor. On that note.... Good Night!

People will always surprise you - Monday Sept. 7, 2009

The kids and I just got home from school. We had a snack and Patrick and Samantha are doing a bit of homework and I thought I would share this wonderful story with you.

Wayne dropped us off at school this morning as he needed the car for some meetings with Masdar (hopefully things will be finalized this week). So the kids and I had to take the taxi home, which is alright, we've done it before. So after school we headed out and did a bit of walking to the next street down, where I thought it would be easier to catch a taxi. I thought wrong! By the time they got to us they were all taken. We must have been out there for about 15 minutes waiting. (I know that doesn't seem like much, but the kids were soaked and so was I) The kids were really good considering how hot it was. They suggested that we maybe walk a bit farther down and try there. So off we went. We were maybe another 5 minutes and then this car pulls up close and rolls down its window to talk to us. This nice Sri Lankan lady asked me where we are going. After much describing and hand waving of where abouts we were going, we hopped in and they brought us home. What a nice drive. It made my day and I thought I would share this story. See there are still some people out there that will always surprise you with their thoughtfulness.