February 4
Matt went to collect his parents from the airport Wednesday night. He took Jessica with him. Isaac was at swim team, Makenna was doing final preparations at home and I was driving home from Abu Dhabi in our new car. Good-bye X5M, hello yellow Jeep. The kids LOVE it and I am very fond of it myself. There was much discussion over color: yellow, red, and orange being the contenders. When it came down to it, the dealership had yellow, so yellow it was. Grandma and Grandpa arrived safely, got chatted up by the kids, and settled in for some much needed rest after a 16.5 hour flight from San Francisco.
February 5
The kids were still in jeep rapture mode, so we played a little and took off the front of the roof (EASY!) and the front doors, also very easy. We drove to Spinney's for a bit of grocery shopping fun. The girls took turns sitting in the wide open front passenger seat. It's a little nerve racking waiting your turn at a round about completely exposed to the oncoming traffic. Everything went back on when we got home for dust purposes.
Makenna went into the clubhouse with me to make sure they were situated. She had some trash to throw away and popped into the women's locker room to find a bin. Then she grabbed me to come in and see the fancy bathroom. Yeah, I guess it's a step up from the good old YMCA, but I'm still not interested in joining though. So we then we left those three with one car while the rest of us went out and saw the dunes.
February 9
We had a delivery first thing in the morning with a 24 hour car rental. Welcome back R8. Hooray for Groupon! Matt and I took turns driving his parents and kids around a 20 km loop, quickly. Eventually we all piled in two cars and went out to the Palm to drive around the crazy man made island.
We played Say Anything again that night. Playing games in the evening was a recurring theme, especially loved by Jessica. I think Matt was the undisputed champion each night.
February 12
The last day. Because the tours were booked Tuesday, we had to push dune bashing off till Wednesday. That meant Don and Chris did laundry and got ready during the day since it would be a bit of a late night and an early morning to catch a plane. The pictures are from the drive and dinner.
Not long after this was taken, it was time to head home and say goodnight. It was a fun filled week. We are grateful they made the long flight out to see us and our life in the desert. We shall meet again in the mountains of Colorado.
Matt went to collect his parents from the airport Wednesday night. He took Jessica with him. Isaac was at swim team, Makenna was doing final preparations at home and I was driving home from Abu Dhabi in our new car. Good-bye X5M, hello yellow Jeep. The kids LOVE it and I am very fond of it myself. There was much discussion over color: yellow, red, and orange being the contenders. When it came down to it, the dealership had yellow, so yellow it was. Grandma and Grandpa arrived safely, got chatted up by the kids, and settled in for some much needed rest after a 16.5 hour flight from San Francisco.
February 5
The kids were still in jeep rapture mode, so we played a little and took off the front of the roof (EASY!) and the front doors, also very easy. We drove to Spinney's for a bit of grocery shopping fun. The girls took turns sitting in the wide open front passenger seat. It's a little nerve racking waiting your turn at a round about completely exposed to the oncoming traffic. Everything went back on when we got home for dust purposes.
After everyone was up and fed, we piled into the two cars (Matt's and the jeep) and went down to the Marina. We saw the beach, some great big billings, strolled around, and had a late lunch.
February 6
Golf day. Grandpa thought it would be a better idea to take Isaac to the driving range and putting green instead of signing up for a full round. We were going to use Michele Allam's connection and go to the course Ernie Ells designed, but instead we dropped them at our neighborhood course. Jess wanted to go too.
Makenna went into the clubhouse with me to make sure they were situated. She had some trash to throw away and popped into the women's locker room to find a bin. Then she grabbed me to come in and see the fancy bathroom. Yeah, I guess it's a step up from the good old YMCA, but I'm still not interested in joining though. So we then we left those three with one car while the rest of us went out and saw the dunes.
Grandma Chris also brought a bunch of old home videos on DVD. The kids fun watching their dad ad a kid.
Later that evening we had planned to go on a Marina boat ride (and out to sea), but we misjudged the walking distance and didn't make it. We DID have great Italian food at Carluccio's though.
Resting feet
Checking out a new fountain. That's Jess in the shadows.
Enjoying the cooler weather and opportunity to wear his ski fleece.
Flexibility contest
February 7
Grand Mosque day. I gave Makenna the camera for most of the visit, so we have lots of pictures.
Feet for scale
Taken with my phone--photographing the photographer.
Jess taking a picture of Makenna.
Coaching
We made it to the Cafeteria for dinner back in Dubai. Makenna ordered Hilary's favorite drink and savored it.
February 8
The main goal of today was to go down to the Souks, or Souqs. We were first fortified with fresh peas from Makenna's garden. Delicious!
There might be some tiptoes involved in this shot.
I am looking at some gift bags, but I think Makenna was shooting the palm tree shadows.
On the dirham boat ride back across the creek.
February 9
We had a delivery first thing in the morning with a 24 hour car rental. Welcome back R8. Hooray for Groupon! Matt and I took turns driving his parents and kids around a 20 km loop, quickly. Eventually we all piled in two cars and went out to the Palm to drive around the crazy man made island.
They are making fun of all the selfie sticks we see these days.
Then we drove over to the Dubai Mall. Here we are checking out the new slides they have added to the indoor amusement park area.
Makenna by the Waterfall Fountain. We went to the butterfly room, and outside by the fountains and the aquarium, but I don't have pictures of any of that. Sorry. We had tickets to go up the Burj Khalifa at 5:30. The sun set while we were up there. Later at home we watched the part of Mission Impossible when Tom Cruise is hanging off the side. Crazy.
Don and Chris posed for lots of silly green screen pictures, but they were WAY over priced.
Looking down at the fountain.
February 10
In the morning, we chose to drive the car back rather than let them pick it up in order to check out their other cars. On the way there I couldn't help taking pictures of a fancy delivery truck and a "slow" sign. If "stop" makes we thinks of two people in a canoe, "slow" is a paddling threesome.
Jess and I took it for one last lap around global village. And then took pictures of each other.
Matt sitting in their McLaren
Matt is inside there. He started it right after I took this and about blew by eardrums out. It is LOUD.
When we got back, we spent the next few hours at the pool. It was a lovely day for laps or playing or reading.
February 12
The last day. Because the tours were booked Tuesday, we had to push dune bashing off till Wednesday. That meant Don and Chris did laundry and got ready during the day since it would be a bit of a late night and an early morning to catch a plane. The pictures are from the drive and dinner.
Our first stop. The drive was far wilder than ever before and one tire came off the rim. We got out to play in the sand while repairs were made. It looked really hard to fix in the shifting sand. The kids took the opportunity to climb the hills and run around.
Looking down from the hill.
Matt was in a picture taking mood, hooray! We have several and I am putting more in than usual because we are often absent from these pages.
Our driver really was wild and Don asked to be dropped back at the start and be picked up after. I don't know if I was feeling sympathy pangs or just couldn't handle it myself, but I had to ask to stop and breathe..... wow.
Camel Rock
The sand is so fine.
On the way to dinner we passed this adorable group of camels. The babies were high energy and prancing along.
The sunset out the window.
I think they are being more accommodating to foreigners and have moved the seating from cushions to chairs, though the table height is still the same.
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