Qasr Al Hosn 2015

A few weeks ago we went to one of our favorite cultural events here, the Qasr Al Hosn Festival. Basically, it is a chance to see lots of Emiratie culture in one place! This time, we got to tour the fort, taste Emeratie cooking, and visit the different attractions. Our adopted grandma (pictured later) came with us, which made it 3 adults on 5 kids, much more manageable odds at these type of things!

Here, we watched the men shaping planks of palm wood.

This man shows how they collect dates.

Horse rides are always a hit!

Owen was super excited - until it was his turn :) He had lots of encouragement to get on the horse, and he grew more confident as the horse trekked on!

Hailey  relished every moment of her ride - she probably would have stayed there the entire time if there hadn't been other kids waiting for a turn.

You can't leave without holding a falcon! Owen thought he wanted to, until he got close up. He then ran off to look for the saluki hunting dogs.

"Found the dogs! And no, I'm not letting go of the leash. Ever."

I wish I could make friends as fast as Owen does. I think he can get a smile from anyone :)

Wow. I definitely can't do that. 

I came to take a picture of the women, because I saw that they were willing to let people photograph them. After a second, I realized they were calling me over to BE in the picture with them. Tyler was the only one with me, so he took it for me :)

After some of Ken's diplomacy (hurriedly shoving the kids and I through the door at the last minute as they let in last few people, he didn't even make it in) the kids and I watched a horse show. It was pretty cool.

Boat making!

Learning about pearls and oysters on the pearling boat. 

Here is the promised photo of our local grandma, who has so kindly allowed us to adopt her during our stay here (her husband had to work and missed out on the fun) Still smiling while wrestling with the kids to keep them happy while Ken and I finished dinner!

Abu Dhabi has some pretty fun things to do, but the people are what make it amazing!