Spring Break Day #1

Our very good friends, the Kowalec family, visited us this year from Taiwan for Spring Break.  They arrived early Saturday morning after an all-night flight so we decided to have a lazy day at Kite Beach to start our adventure together.

Spring Break: Week 2

After Lynn and Pete left, we crossed a few things off of our Dubai bucket list. We had fun doing the following things:

1. The Cat Cafe - a cafe with live cats running around.  Very fun but the smell would have killed anyone.

2. Biking along the boardwalk at the beach.

3. To the zoo outside Abu Dhabi to see the camels and the monkeys (and a ton of other animals but these were the most fun).

4. Through the car wash (Ripley's choice).

5. To lunch by the Burj Khalifa at Claw (Mommy's choice).

Here are a few pictures of our adventures!  I miss my camera!

Spring Break - The Whole Shebang!

Important note - The camera I love and have had since I studied in Northern Ireland was lost on this trip.  I put it on the roof of our car when I saw packing the stroller and the kids into the car, and we drove off with it on the roof.  We heard that it made it quite a while down the highway on the roof before flying off and smashing into a million pieces.  I usually take more pictures, but all have been lost.

Lynn and Pete came to visit us in Dubai during the first week of Spring Break this year.  They wanted to see the UAE and Oman.  Our first overnight trip was to Musandam in northern Oman.

We took a half day Dhow boat cruise around the fiords in Musandam.  We saw some beautiful mountains, tropical fish, and dolphins.

Ripley loved being on the boat all day!

Teddy?  Not so much!

We then went back to Dubai for the night.  Michael took his parents out for dinner at a fun Thai restaurant called Pai Thai with a beautiful view of the Burj Al Arab.

And not such a bad view of the most fancy hotel in Dubai, the Jumeriah Al Qasr. 

 We then drove from Dubai, through Al Ain, into Oman.  Our first stop was Hatta.

We went to the main Hatta Fort for a tour.

A beautiful view over the city of Hatta.

A fun panorama inside the fort with a moving Teddy.

We then traveled to a historical home outside of the city.

A grave inside the home of the original owner.

Inside the reading room.  Can we have one of these rooms in our home?

On the roof.

What a beautiful view of the mountains!

This is the last picture of my camera in existence.  So sad!

Lynn enjoying the quiet and the coolness of one of the inner courtyards.

A view from the inner courtyard up into the house.

 Michael and Pete had a little adventure into the mountains of Hatta.  They ended up in a date farm and a wadi, not really sure how to get out!

 We then drove into Muscat, the capital of Oman.

Lynn and Pete at the Sultan's palace.

Looking into where the Sultan lives.

We think the Sultan loves grass and flowers!

We enjoyed splashing in the ocean.  

Exploring more forts outside the city.

 We spent a lot of time in the car together and it was great that all six of us fit into our little Ford Explorer.  Here is a picture of all of us!

We finally made it back to Dubai and enjoyed some amazing Persian food on the water as a family.  It was a wonderful way to spend our last day together. 

Jeju-do

We are spending our last spring break in Korea on Korea's largest tropical island, Jeju! We are looking forward to a fun family adventure!