Over Christmas we let family know of our tentative moving announcement. At this point in time, the plan is for us to leave Dubai the last week of May. Matt will fly straight to Palmdale, California and start work. The kids and I will fly to Colorado where they will stay for a month-ish. I will go join Matt and find a place for us to live for somewhere between 6-9 or 12 months. Kim, world traveler extraordinaire, started talking of a quick Dubai trip before we leave and before it heats up. Ben thought about it, but work intervened. David decided to join up.
After a hectic airport pick-up (for me due to a late arrival and eventual parking ticket, blah!) David arrived at our house sometime between 2-3am on Friday morning. His one request was a scuba trip. Feb 19: All of the divers needed a refresher course which we took care of mid-day on his day 1. We took a written test, discussed it, signed a bunch of waivers, gathered and assembled our gear, then spent an hour in the pool. Thank you to photographer Jess.
February 20: Early the next morning, Makenna went with me to pick up Kim. While walking through terminal 3, we saw this huge flag made from hundreds (thousands?) of crocheted roses. Makenna for scale and a close up of the detail.
Feb 21: Big break here because we had some rotten luck and no videos from the Go Pro of scuba diving. What you are not seeing here is an early departure in horrible fog, that luckily burned off after a few km. A drive to Fujariah with Jess riding in the back on a bed of towels and Kim playing DJ. We got there in good time and after filling out more paperwork, started gathering our gear. Jess and Kim had no luck with good Indian Ocean shells, but had a nice lazy day on the beach. David, Isaac, Makenna and I went out on the boat with a group of hilarious German snorkelers--their first time. Our first dive was really good and we saw thousands of fish and Makenna and I had more time with a turtle. The snorkelers saw sharks, again. This is the 3rd time diving there where the snorkelers saw sharks, but not the divers. Weird. The 2nd dive was not so great. There was a lot of gun kin the water since red tide season had begun with the air temp rising. Supposedly the summer is really good which surprised me because it is so hot. But I guess the water is very clear and you just completely skip the wetsuits. We were worried about being cold (the beach girls thought the water was too cold to do more than splash feet), but we wore 7mm wetsuits and it was fine. But good grief! those suckers are hard to get on! When we finished diving, no one was very hungry, so we decided to just drive back to Dubai and hit the cafeteria for Kim. She is now a hummus fan.
February 22: We went to Times Square, mainly to try the Hint Hunt room. We had enough time, so David, Kim, Isaac and Makenna did the ropes course at HQ Adventure too. I stayed with Jess and her hurt ankle.
That night we sent David and Kim out to the desert for the dinner part of the desert safari. From their report, it sounds like they got a big taste of the dune bashing also, but luckily no one got motion-sick.
Here are Kim's visuals for their camel riding, hawk holding, buffet food choices, henna painting. They reported being glad to have gone, but also understand why we did want to go again for the 4th time.
February 23: Matt was off, so we took two cars and drove down to The Walk. This is where we spent the day at the beach with Brian and Hilary. That big dirt parking lot is now a well designed area with shops, restaurants, running path, playgrounds, etc. Then we went out on the Palm.
February 25: Kim wasn't totally sure if she wanted to drive to Abu Dhabi and see the Grand Mosque, but in the end we did do it and she was glad, or is a really good liar. I am just going to dump some of our pictures. It was a beautiful warm day.
February 26: What did we do for her last day? Went to the beach. After Fujariah was a shell bust, I don't think she believed that Dubai's beaches had lots. We changed her mind, and it wasn't even low tide so the pickings were slimmer than usual. But bonus: there were waves! We weren't planning on getting wet, but some just couldn't help it.
After a hectic airport pick-up (for me due to a late arrival and eventual parking ticket, blah!) David arrived at our house sometime between 2-3am on Friday morning. His one request was a scuba trip. Feb 19: All of the divers needed a refresher course which we took care of mid-day on his day 1. We took a written test, discussed it, signed a bunch of waivers, gathered and assembled our gear, then spent an hour in the pool. Thank you to photographer Jess.
Assembling gear.
Attaching the octopus
Attaching the BCD
Try flipper size
Put it all on and feel like you are walking on Jupiter.
View from the scuba shop.
Since we were in the area, we took David to the cafeteria for his first taste of local food. I think it was a hit though I seriously question how much he could actually taste after eating so many of the little peppers. I know from personal experience in the form of little nibbles that they are HOT! Notice the pile of stems below. Geez. So he had schwarma and delicious drinks and hummus done right.
After lunch, we walked over to the beach and watched some kite surfers for a bit. It was a beautiful day.
Walk a bit to let our feet dry off
To keep David awake during the dangerous afternoon window, Makenna took him on a walk to the parrot wall. I don't have a good shot of them on the wall, but if you look close, you can see one green bird in the top of the tree. There are dozens of wild green parrots that live in the neighborhood. 4:30-5pm is usually a good time to see several of them gather at one particular house. It's their hangout.
February 20: Early the next morning, Makenna went with me to pick up Kim. While walking through terminal 3, we saw this huge flag made from hundreds (thousands?) of crocheted roses. Makenna for scale and a close up of the detail.
Within minutes of arriving, she found Makenna's ukulele and was serenading us.
To keep Kim awake during her first afternoon, we drove out to the dunes behind our house. Kim, David, Jess, Makenna
Anyone know who this is? Probably Kim....
T-Rex Isaac eating all his elders.
Feb 21: Big break here because we had some rotten luck and no videos from the Go Pro of scuba diving. What you are not seeing here is an early departure in horrible fog, that luckily burned off after a few km. A drive to Fujariah with Jess riding in the back on a bed of towels and Kim playing DJ. We got there in good time and after filling out more paperwork, started gathering our gear. Jess and Kim had no luck with good Indian Ocean shells, but had a nice lazy day on the beach. David, Isaac, Makenna and I went out on the boat with a group of hilarious German snorkelers--their first time. Our first dive was really good and we saw thousands of fish and Makenna and I had more time with a turtle. The snorkelers saw sharks, again. This is the 3rd time diving there where the snorkelers saw sharks, but not the divers. Weird. The 2nd dive was not so great. There was a lot of gun kin the water since red tide season had begun with the air temp rising. Supposedly the summer is really good which surprised me because it is so hot. But I guess the water is very clear and you just completely skip the wetsuits. We were worried about being cold (the beach girls thought the water was too cold to do more than splash feet), but we wore 7mm wetsuits and it was fine. But good grief! those suckers are hard to get on! When we finished diving, no one was very hungry, so we decided to just drive back to Dubai and hit the cafeteria for Kim. She is now a hummus fan.
Taken on the drive to the cafeteria.
More peppers!
Hilary's favorite drink: Avatar.
February 22: We went to Times Square, mainly to try the Hint Hunt room. We had enough time, so David, Kim, Isaac and Makenna did the ropes course at HQ Adventure too. I stayed with Jess and her hurt ankle.
Makenna
Kim
We loved the Hint Hunt. I think it was a big hit with David and it's one of Isaac's favorite things he has ever done in Dubai. Good thing they aren't limited to just here and he can try another elsewhere. No phones were allowed in, but they did take a group shot of us afterwards to put on social media....but it never posted! I'm bummed because I wanted to document that tension packed hour. Yes, we did get out, with 17 seconds to spare, thank you very much. We are in the top 35% who made it. 
February 23: Matt was off, so we took two cars and drove down to The Walk. This is where we spent the day at the beach with Brian and Hilary. That big dirt parking lot is now a well designed area with shops, restaurants, running path, playgrounds, etc. Then we went out on the Palm.
Dubai Mall was next on the list. We saw a fountain show, had lunch, walked around to see the different areas. Kim has some good shots of the kids posing next to models in window displays.
Looking up
Looking down
Looking up
It's a panorama, so the curves are weird.
Duck lips
Inside the amusement park area. That's a giant slide.
Souk on the left, dinosaur skeleton on the right.
She thinks we look alike. But Matt can do this face too.
Faces show feelings.
Later at the Marina, we found another open piano, like in Central Park. Isaac played a couple songs. There was one little girl who was really DANCING to his music.
February 24
Viewing area to watch the Karters. It was least busy ever. They had the track to themselves!
This was hilarious. We popped into Carrefour to pick up a few possible souvenirs and found these shirts for 10 dirhams each. ($2.50) The fabric was actually really soft, and wearable, but the writing was the BEST. Kim's says: Give best elf since the nine of your teen. Makenna's: Lord give me coffee to change the things I can and wine to accept the
Jess's Yellow shirt: Contempaning Times
backspace enter than
remove long time
Transform Align
Print screen long
it the best quality
We dug through them and laughed and laughed and bought a few. We were always so disappointed when finding one that made sense and used correct grammar.
We went to the Wednesday night ride at the Autodrome again. So fun. Once again, I WISH we had tried this years ago. At least two more people know about it now so we can reminisce with them. Matt brought Jess over after gymnastics (she went and took it easy with her ankle) and she rode her bike. I ran again. Kim was the boss on my skinny tires. After we got back, David had to finalize packing and I drove him to the airport.
February 25: Kim wasn't totally sure if she wanted to drive to Abu Dhabi and see the Grand Mosque, but in the end we did do it and she was glad, or is a really good liar. I am just going to dump some of our pictures. It was a beautiful warm day.
Makenna and Jess
Jess's unicorn horn had me laughing. It came loose and was blowing in the wind.
Godzilla Jess doesn't work. She's too cute.
February 26: What did we do for her last day? Went to the beach. After Fujariah was a shell bust, I don't think she believed that Dubai's beaches had lots. We changed her mind, and it wasn't even low tide so the pickings were slimmer than usual. But bonus: there were waves! We weren't planning on getting wet, but some just couldn't help it.
We had to call it quits by lunchtime in order to get home and let Jess eat and shower before her in house competition. Kim came.
She placed 2nd all around for level 4, with her ankle brace.
And with that, our time was up. But I have to add two more because I had a vision of Kim showing grandma Terry her shells.....and she delivered. Thank you, visitors, for making the trip. Hope it was worth it.
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