UAE travels and sightseeing with my family

Our first visitors.  We felt we needed to show them a good time since they came so very far to see us.  Plus even though this isn't *our* country, we certainly, willingly chose to move here so we don't want them to think we were off our rockers or anything.  I hope we succeeded and that they left here pleased with their first Middle East holiday.

We did stay BUSY.  Here is a quick run-down of our itinerary:

Dec. 24th - family arrived late-ish at night but still got the see the girls before they fell asleep

Dec. 25th - stayed home all day, celebrate Christmas and let kids play with new toys.  John was super sick with the flu or something so he slept much of the day).  Poor guy.

Dec. 26th.

The Sheikh Zayad Grand Mosque (of Abu Dhabi)
the only mosque in Abu Dhabi where non-muslims
are allowed

McKuin ladies in abayas

Anna: "WHAT is my mom wearing??"

Girls enjoying the largest carpet in the world

     --Left at 9 a.m.  Have 10 a.m. tour at Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi (I got to wear my first abaya!  Regan burst into tears over it though and did NOT like me wearing it - she was afraid that I would start wearing it all the time)
     --Headed immediately to Dubai afterwards (after a quick detour back home because Meredith left the house without shoes!!!), lunch, one group checks into hotel and one group sight sees (we planned to go to the top of the Burj Kalifa (tallest building in the world) but sadly I didn't book tickets enough in advance).  Mom and Dad hung with the girls that evening while John, Jake and I had a reservation for sunset drinks at the Burj al Arab (famous sailboat hotel).  Well, there was a slight mix-up on time so we jetted over to Ski Dubai to take a look at the indoor ski slope and then went back to the Burj al Arab for twinkling city lights drinks and munchies (you can't go to this hotel even to look around if you don't have reservations for drinks, a meal or something expensive!).  John still wasn't feeling great but he rallied.

Arabic breakfast spread

Our fabulous host for breakfast

The breakfast was truly delicious.  I especially liked
the noodles (sweetened a bit with dates) and my dad has
become a date fan as well.

Anna was okay with the falcon as long as *I*
wasn't holding i

Dec. 27th
   --Arabic breakfast at the Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding.  Hosted by an Emirati who feels really called to share about their culture to help build bridges.  Highly recommended!  Great experience. They do lunches on alternating days so I want to check that out sometime, too.
     --Walking tour in historic district afterwards (guided) and along the Dubai Creek.  Unlike Abu Dhabi, Dubai actually has an historic district (not many people know about it!)
      --Lunch at relaxing outdoor cafe under a shade tree (well, would have been more relaxing if it hadn't taken forever!)

Dec. 28th.  (John is finally fully recovered!)
     --Back in Abu Dhabi but up early for a guided kayak excursion through the mangrove forests of Abu Dhabi (pictures are on my parent's camera!).  John spied a trapped jelly fish that our guide rescued with his bare hands!  It was fun maneuvering the kayak through the tight turns of the mangroves

     --Off to the beach club.  Although it was a little chilly for swimming, fun was had in the sand (check out the Formula 1 sand car!).


Dec. 29th  ---Off early to Qasr Al Sarab in the Liwa Desert region.  Wow, what an amazing couple of days here! The dunes are unlike anything you have seen before and the resort was very, very special.  Dune climbing, swimming and relaxing were on the agenda.  Jake and I did a little night hike and saw some of the brightest stars we've seen in a while.

Even little Anna loved the sand dunes.

Dec. 30th.  Back to Abu Dhabi late in the day but in enough time for part of the group to make it to the Abu Dhabi World Tennis Championship where the group was able to see some top-ranked tennis stars.  John is a big tennis guy so this was right up his alley.  John and I also squeezed in a late night trip to Emirates Palace Hotel since we realized his time was growing short to see it.

Dec. 31st.
    --Morning was spent at church (Friday is the Sunday here).
   --Afternoon was a desert excursion.  Camel riding, dune bashing, traditional Arabic bbq, etc.  Camels are noisy (grunts and snorts) and at least these acted like they were not at all pleased about giving us rides.  We all *loved* the dune bashing where we (unsafely????) go tearing through the (steep!) desert dunes in a 4-wheeled drive - sometimes sliding down a bit sideways when I was convinced we were about to roll the vehicle.  The Emirati owner of the camp was our driver and I felt like we were in really good hands with him (plus I decided that the sand was pretty soft so if we did flip, we'd probably all be okay!).  I was holding on too tightly with my eyes shut for some of it to take many pictures but I did snap a photo of Jane and Meredith grinning in the back seat.  Lots of smiles and squeals from the girls!

My parents were the first to jump on the camels
for a ride!

Jake and Regan were game, too (I am on the
camel in the shadow)

BIG fun was had by the girls in the dune-bashing
part of our excursion.  Laughs, grins and squeals!

John left the morning of January 1st and our pace slowed down dramatically after that (we needed a day just to recover from being on the go non-stop!).  We still managed to visit the Heritage Village Museum, the Emirates Palace Hotel and one of the UAE's malls that they are famous for after John left but while my parents were still here.  We also had a lovely walk/ bike ride down the Corniche (along the water) and lunched overlooking the beach  There were still a few things we didn't get to do that we'll save for another visit but hopefully the Middle Eastern vacation gets a thumbs-up from my family.

And after the kids went back to school, Jane was happy to write about the dune bashing adventure.  Translation:  I went dune bashing with my Grandpa but not my Gammy.  My mom was scared.  Me and my sisters was laughing.  The End