Beach time!

We live on an island.  A hot island.  So we have joined a beach club so that we can take advantage of some of the outdoor activities we can while we're here.  There are some public beaches but the main (close) one is under a lot of construction and it can be difficult to get to so a beach club made a lot more sense for us.  We joined a few weeks ago and seem to be establishing a rough tradition of heading there after naps on Thursday afternoon (the beginning of our weekend).

Dredging equipment is public beach under construction.
Jake's work is to the left of the tallest building.

Heritage Museum in background.

Off to one side, it has a nice view of the Abu Dhabi skyline (including Jake's work).  Straight ahead we can see across the water to a stunning view of..... IKEA!  But it is lovely and if we stay there until dark, the sunset is beautiful.  There is a beach - the water was a bit warm at the heat of the summer (think bathtub-ish warm) but has really cooled off so that it is just refreshing.  I'm not sure how cool it will get in the wintertime.

The pools are chilled - which is great when it's sweltering but now that the temperature is a little cooler, the pools are a little *too* cool.  There are two water slides, too.  At first they were all too scared to get on but after a few visits and a little coaxing, Regan and Jane do them by themselves over and over and over.  Meredith and Anna will go down in our laps.  We're very proud of them for trying something new.