Adventures with four girls: Pony club, spring fun and a visitor

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Pony club, spring fun and a visitor

We've had a relatively mild spring here so lots of fun outside enjoying the nice weather. Anna and I still do Pony Club once a week at the Royal Stables. She's still a bit nervous about riding and likes to grip me tightly rather than hold on to the saddle with both hands. The past two weeks they have had a tiny Shetland pony (named Poppy!) and she has been thrilled to ride it (although you can still tell from this photo that she is still a bit wary).

Anna excited to be on a smaller horse (Poppy the Shetland
pony) but still a bit nervous about it all!

Feeling a little better

Fun at the stables playground after pony rides

Sweet Anna showing off her creation at the lego show at her school. Her
masterpiece is the one immediately to her right (with the big blue one on
top). It's a "big car."

No school on parent/ teacher conference day so we headed to a small local splash park. The lazy river was closed for maintenance but we had lots of fun in other areas of the park.

Jane shooting water balloons at her friends Ameera and Brenli. Those
poor workers must fill thousands of water balloons as they
kept bringing my girls bucket after bucket of water balloons!

Fun with the only working spigot at the splash pad

Ameera and Jane on the slide. This water was *cold.* I
wish I had a picture of the shock on Meredith's face
the first time she went down. That is Ameera on the left
and Regan is about to come down on the right

Regan on the trampoline

The first time Jane was brave enough to try the very
high trampoline. Yay, Jane! Even though I spy a smile in this
photo, she is *not* interested in doing it again!

Meredith balancing on the moving surfboard

My dear friend Courtney stopped in the UAE for a roughly 30-hour visit on her way to India for work. We accomplished quite a bit in those 30 hours! I picked her up at the Dubai airport Friday night. We saw the Burj al Khalifa (tallest building in the world) from the highway and stopped at a souk (market) to sightsee and took a quick ride on an abra (boat) along a fake canal. We then headed to the Burj al Arab (the famous and gorgeous sailboat hotel) for nibbles. She wanted to go check out Ski Dubai but it was after midnight at that point so we missed that landmark (jet lag was working to her benefit at that point in the day!)

The next day in Abu Dhabi, we took a walk along the Corniche (after copious amounts of caffeine to get Courtney moving). Courtney was able to dip a toe into the Arabian gulf, see a dozen or so women in abayas on a banana boat going by (fun stuff!) and we had lunch in a cute Italian cafe overlooking the water. The girls enjoyed the beachside playground.

We dropped Jake and the girls off at home for naps and then headed out to Saadiyat Island to see the models of the new Guggenheim and Louvre museums and enjoyed a cup of coffee on the outdoor terrace of the lovely Fanr restaurant there. We were very lucky - the weather was quite nice this past weekend even though it was already late April. We then dashed to the Zayed Grand Mosque where we hit the jackpot and had a private tour guide who had a real sense of humor. We left after an hour and a half but could have stayed much longer learning about Abu Dhabi, Emirati culture and Islam. It was a *much* better tour than when we went with my family last year.

And because we stayed for longer than the normal one hour tour, we dashed home again, threw Courtney's clothes in her suitcase and ran off to the Emirates Palace Hotel to meet some friends for dinner at the outdoor BBQ al Qasr. The setting was stunning - we ate in a little raised gazebo type structure right on the beach. We could hear the waves crashing and enjoy the nighttime beach and lights. We had a very small world moment when Courtney learned that some of her good friends in Mill Valley were also friends of the friends we invited for dinner. So we snapped a picture and immediately let the mutual friends know that they were dining together in the UAE. Courtney had a late night red-eye after that and I took her to the airport right after dinner (after briefly popping into the Saaidyat exhibit to see a bit more about the museums coming to Abu Dhabi in 5+ years). A quick visit but a lot of fun!