Corniche Beach - Abu Dhabi

Corniche Beach - Abu Dhabi

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Easter in the Emirates

During our first several years of marriage, Easter was always one of the times that gave us a terrible case of "baby fever."  Sure the traditions have nothing to do with the "true meaning of the holiday" and represent the commercialism virus that plagues our society.  Yet, any way you slice it, Easter's just no fun without a wee one to dote on and hide eggs for!  We tried with the dogs, but the effect was never quite what we wanted.  Enter our darling little girl, and Easter suddenly took on a whole new meaning and wonder that we were so glad to finally be a part of - regardless of the silliness of the traditions surrounding the holiday.

Last year, Easter was easy.  Score an Easter dress, grab a basket, hide some eggs for the kids, done.  Lila was so cute and tiny in her little dress and actually attempted finding some eggs.  We had the cold weather to contend with, as per the usual for any Easter celebration in Idaho.  But a long-sleeved shirt under the darling dress solved that problem, and Easter was pronounced a success.  Here are some photos to show just how great Easter went last year.







This year proved to be a little more difficult.  Luckily, we have found a store here that tends to cater to Westerners and all their silly holiday traditions.  We found plastic eggs and Easter baskets on a cute little display in the back.  Easter for us has always been celebrated with family, and with ours a whole ocean away, we had to adopt a new family.  Dalila was ecstatic to have her Easter egg hunt with some of her favorite boys that we've met since moving here.  And our connection with our close friends provided the much-needed adult interaction and conversation that came with Easter dinner.  A great solution for our home-sickness.  The weather presented a mild problem for our festivities, but in a way we have NEVER experienced for Easter before - it was too HOT!! So hot, in fact, that our poor friends discovered the downside of filling plastic eggs with chocolate only a few short minutes into the Easter egg hunt - only jelly and hard candies for us!!  New to this concept of a warm Easter hunt, we dressed Lila in a sweet, comfortable little sundress and plastered her with sunscreen.  Another problem we've never encountered for this holiday was a complete lack of yard space.  How to have an outdoor egg hunt without a yard!?!  Easy - the Easter bunny was kind enough to hide the eggs at a near-by park and then inform the daddies of their general location.  That Easter bunny thinks of everything.  Throw all this together, and we have one terrific Easter experience.  Some eggs were even hidden in the trunks of palm trees!  I think it's safe to label this latest Easter experience a victory as well - even when we're half a world away from home.

Finding some eggs on the play area first.


My absolute FAVORITE picture of the day.
It's so beautiful and captures her excitement and determination.
Plus, the egg's under a low palm tree branch!!



The hunters, basking in their glory after a successful day.

Dalila's little buddy, Bayne, being a gentleman and carrying her basket for her.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Spring Break

After a very trying second trimester at school, we were desperate for a break.  Fortunately, we were all rewarded with an extra week off this spring - bringing our vacation time to two full weeks.  Our little family made full use of the entire time.

We began our holiday with a little trip to the northern Emirates.  We live in the largest emirate - Abu Dhabi - and have traveled to Dubai on many occasions.  We were pleasantly surprised when we extended our usual drive past Dubai and were able to hit all but one of the emirates on the way.  The drive was very desert-esque, as one would imagine - and we spent the time watching for grazing wild camels and quiet Bedouin villages.  

After a very short 2-3 hour drive, we arrived in Ras Al Khaimah - the northernmost emirate.  It is MUCH smaller than even our little city of Al Ain - but has beautiful buildings and even a number of high-rises with hundreds of flats.  We stayed in one of these through a company called Airbnb.  By choosing this lodging option, we were able to book an entire flat to ourselves for half the cost of a hotel.  It was comfortable, roomy, and featured separate rooms to make sleeping arrangements with the toddler much more convenient.  I HIGHLY recommend using Airbnb rather than booking hotel rooms.  We plan to use them again when we head to London this summer! 

Enough with the business plug - back to Ras Al Khaimah. The beach there was beautifully natural, very rugged, and lined with fantastic sea shells.  We were even able to experience some real waves - Dalila's least favorite part of the trip.  She squealed at us to move her toys further and further each time a wave rolled in.  Collecting sea shells with Daddy finally distracted our little princess well enough to allow her to enjoy herself.  Our favorite part was the unexpected appearances of random sea creatures.  The first day, we were certain we had seen some kind of water animal  in the shallow waves of the beach - something very octopus-like, but not so much like a jelly fish. The excitement of the second day came when Jeremy spotted a stingray flitting away before he nearly stepped on it.  He was lucky enough to spot it again and point it out to me before it swam for safer waters.  VERY cool experience.

The grumpy beach babe, feeling irritated by the waves.
The beautiful buildings in the background are where we stayed!

Mommy and Lila - when she was a teeny, tiny bit happy.

Daddy and Lila finding sea shells - her favorite part!
Grass angels with friends!


Some of Dalila's favorite friends were able to meet us the last day of our trip to enjoy some time at the pool and make grass angels on the lawn in front of their accommodations (it's the little things in life, like nice cool grass when it's usually so rare, that matter the most).  We found an amazing pizzeria and a liquor store that is about half the cost of the one we frequent now!  A perfect end to a fantastic trip!!

Almost the entire remainder of spring break was spent attempting to acquire our new vehicle - which was finally successful!  We chose to stay in Dubai for an overnight, allowing us time to see and drive a number of cars.  Jeremy had broadened his search earlier that morning to include a Mitsubishi Outlander as a long shot.  Of course, this is the one we ended up purchasing for SO many reasons, many of which having to do with the former owner of the car.  We went for our test drive late that evening, hoping to catch some dinner after a short meeting.  The man whose father had owned the car was the most endearing, welcoming, and generous person we have had the pleasure to meet here so far.  He comes from Jordan and possesses the most positive outlook on Americans I have heard in a long time.  He insisted that Jeremy and I join him and his wife for Turkish coffee (AMAZING!!) and attempted to send half of his children's toy room home with Dalila - who also adored him.  We were so lucky to experience Arabic hospitality at its finest in a place where we never would have expected it.  We are fortunate to count our salesman as a friend now - plus, he lives in an incredible part of Dubai along the marina and insists that we visit as often as possible.  The car, at this point, was icing on the cake of our successful Dubai trip!

Dalila enjoying our comfy hotel bed...instead of her own.
School has since resumed, leaving me with the arduous countdown that all teachers employ around this time of year.  This time, however, my countdown will lead to another amazing adventure with our first trip to London booked the day after school releases!  As excited as we are for our London trip - spring break has also brought us closer to our summer trip home - the part I look forward to every day that stars in each one of my daydreams.  Not long now, everybody!