UAE Spirit

Today is UAE National Day - the celebration of the 39th anniversary of the UAE. There are flags up everywhere and so many special events going on around town. The Atlantis is all decked out in the UAE flag colors and looks quite impressive from our balcony.




We unfortunately did not get out to enjoy the parades or fireworks. Rich is (once again) in South Africa for a few days and Angela and I have both been fighting a little bug so I didn't want to go out. Angela did get to celebrate at nursery school yesterday - all of the children dressed in the colors of the UAE flag and they did special projects revolving around the country. She messed up her outfit before I could get a photo, so instead I'll post some photos from tonight on our balcony. The night time temperature is perfect for hanging outside lately - we love it!!

Souk Madinet

Yesterday was Colleen's last day in Dubai so we planned a fun afternoon outing to the Souk Madinet. This is an area of shops and restaurants set along a canal in between two very nice hotel properties. The shops vary from traditional clothing and decoration to modern toys and accessories. The restaurants are plentiful and offer a variety of cuisines (Lebanese, Persian, Italian...).

We took a tour of the canal on one of the Abra's, spent some time browsing the shops and then had a wonderful Persian dinner. Definitely a fun afternoon out!

Turkey coma...

Our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday was great! The food was all wonderful (or at least everybody said it was) and we really enjoyed having family and friends here to celebrate with.

Angela quickly picked up on Darren's building skills and had him trapped in the playroom for a while.


The feast (half of it anyways)


Yummy!!



This week I'm off to find a Christmas tree and decorations for the house! Based on my last trip to the mall, this should not be difficult. We were always surprised by how much Christmas decor there was in China and it seems that the UAE is no different!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends & family from Dubai. We are celebrating today (Friday) since Rich had to work all day yesterday. Colleen is here visiting and we have a few IBM friends coming by this afternoon to join us for dinner.

I've never actually cooked a complete Thanksgiving dinner so this should be fun. The turkey is in the oven cooking and all my sides are prepared. Check back for another update soon to see how it all turned out!

Butterball turkey - complete with Arabic label!

 

My audience while baking an apple pie yesterday

 

Smells yummy mom

 

At least if the turkey doesn't come out, we'll all enjoy some apple pie!

 

To the Top

Nana is here visiting this week so we took her out on a special tour this morning. We went 'to the top'...the viewing platform on the 124th floor of the Burj Khalfia (the tallest building in the world). Angela and I did this tour when we were here in April and its definitely something that all visitors to Dubai must see.

Also worth noting is the walkway that runs just behind the Burj tower. There is an amazing view of the tower behind a pool of water with fountains. Unfortunately the fountains were not turned on when we were there today but its still a fun area to check out.

A trip to the mall, but not to shop!

In Dubai, you often hear people say that they spent a weekend morning or afternoon at one of the various malls. Most of the malls here are very nice and offer lots of really great shopping options. However, the malls aren't only for shopping. The entertainment at most of these places is endless.

Yesterday afternoon we had planned on taking a trip to the beach (we still haven't had a beach day since being here) but then decided that it was still a little too hot outside. So instead we ventured out to the Dubai Mall. This is the biggest (and nicest in my opinion) mall in Dubai and is right next door to the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world).

We now always leave the stroller at home and Angela is happy to ride through the mall in a cuddle cart. All of the malls have these little cars - and Angela loves riding around the mall in them. They also offer 'double' cars for two kids and have some that have tv screens built into the steering wheel. My favorite part is the shopping back on the back that is great for storing the diaper bag and all of our purchases.

Our first stop at the mall yesterday was the aquarium tunnel. They've built a large tank that is visible from three levels of the mall shopping area and includes a tunnel that snakes through the tank. As soon as we approached the aquarium Angela started pointing and yelling 'fishy fishy'. She loves seeing fish!



After the aquarium we walked over to the Waterfall which is a massive indoor waterfall with an interesting display of divers. We then made our way to the train ride and Angela and Bonnie took a short ride around one section of the mall. Angela was thrilled to climb into the train car but then grew really antsy when the train didn't start moving fast enough (the conductor was taking a long break). When the train finally started moving she seemed shocked, and then had the biggest smile on her face.







The final stop at the mall was for dinner. We opted for Rainforest Cafe so that Angela would be entertained. The food was nothing special but the look on Angelas face when the gorillas nearby started moving and making noises was priceless. She is working on perfecting her monkey noise and was more than happy to imitate the gorillas that were dancing by our table!





We left the mall having made only one purchase - a stuffed monkey that makes noises and dances. Now Rich is just waiting until Angela is big enough for ski's so that he can take her to the indoor ski slope at the Mall of the Emirates!

Angela's first haircut

It was finally time. Angela has been refusing to keep her hair pulled back out of her face so this morning we ventured out for her first hair cut.

Things started out ok, she was very happy when we arrived at her favorite play center.



The trouble began when we put her in the baby chair and buckled her in. Not even Barney playing on the tv or snacks could calm her down.





Fortunately the hair dresser was fast and efficient and managed to trim everything in about 7 minutes. Its not perfect but is about as good as you can get with a child that is screaming bloody murder.




She looks so old now!