Delma Island

December 11: Side by side with some of our adventure loving friends, we decided to go camping on an island we didn't know much about. One of Ken's acquaintances from there had encouraged us to go visit it, and some other friends had tried it out and had fun, so we decided to give it a go. 

Summary: it was cool. 

Disclaimers: forgetting your id card is not a good idea when you are 3 hours away from home and the ferry is about to leave; Owen gets sea sick; lack of bathrooms + camping with kids = situations I'd rather forget; Colby doesn't like sleeping in a tent

But enough of that - the bad eventually fades (I hear) and the good memories stick around :)

Here's our ferry. We had a 1.5 hour ride to the island, and the water was a little rough. Most of the adults were looking a little green by the time we made it to land that night. Owen, well, let's just say if he could have held out ONE more minute, we would have made it to land. You know your friend is great when she cleans it up using tissues because she sees the look on your face. Thanks Jess :)

A movie on the ferry? Yes please!

It was already dark when we got there, and my pictures wouldn't do any justice to the giant clusters of stars we could see. The sunrise was spectacular (I think that every time though) and we were up nice and extra early to catch every minute of it (thanks Owen :)

Treasure hunting

Tyler wanted to have a "babysitting tent." You all want to be locked up together in the tent while I leisurely eat breakfast? Be my guest!

We spent the rest of the day exploring the island. Ken and I did a little snorkeling, and the kids ran in a pack. You can see the four musketeers running around in the distance here.

Treasure hunting was bounteous. Will wanted to keep every fish and bird skull we found. Umm…nope!

Shells are a different story though! I may have brought home a few of these beauties...

Heritage Festival

December 9: We spent one night checking out a new heritage festival they started this year. While we had fun wandering around, I forgot that UAE winters can get chilly (a blustering 65 degrees) and didn't bring jackets for anyone. To say that the kids and I froze would not be an understatement. I don't understand why Ken was laughing... We caught some traditional dance moves.

And tried out the tanks. The boys were quite disappointed that they didn't ACTUALLY shoot.

The car might not drive, but the horn worked just fine! We put an end to that station early...

There were several artists who were specially invited from other countries to share and sell their wares. We enjoyed seeing things from Egypt, Morocco, Kazakstan and Albania. This gentleman was carving things with his feet. He made and gave Hailey a necklace that she proudly wore for several days :)

I found some amazing Morrocan lamps … didn't buy this big one, but I thought it was beautiful! Those are all Arabic letters of the alphabet.

When Owen got tired of following us around the booths, he decided to listen to this Morrocan band. He danced for a while, then just sat and listened. We literally had to tear him away. Heritage, friends and fun! Who could ask for anything more? Other than a jacket or two;)

Grandma is Great!

We were thrilled to have Ken's mom and his aunt come visit us for a couple weeks. We got the chance to see lots of our favorite sites, as well as do a couple new things. We spent a day in Dubai, riding the water taxis and visiting the souqs. I forgot my camera, and perhaps for the first time truly appreciated how awesome these things called 'smartphones' are! Ken has one from work, so I was still able to get some shots.

Gold souq

Spice souq

Of course, Owen made friends with the first shopowner we stopped at to browse, and walked away with a gift, a container full of camel milk chocolate rocks. He proceeded to guard them jealously the rest of the day, fighting off attempts by his older siblings to eat them. I got an earful about "why does Owen always get free stuff and not us?!" Probably because an 8 year old is just not as cute as a 2 year old, just saying...

We were able to go up to the (almost) top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Wow what a sight!

Owen was my self appointed buddy the whole time at the top. I'm not saying I didn't trust those glass windows not to fall out when leaned on by a bouncy little boy, but … we were REALLY high up!

We finished the day with some yummy Mexican food and the fountain show at the mall.

Its nice to be short - you can burrow in between all the crowds of adults, and no one gets mad at you cause you're cute and little!

We also took time to relax at the beach.

We spent one fun day in Al Ain. Here's Owen with his partner in mayhem - well, Owen is the mayhem, she's the disarming face!

At this point, Colby was just starting to get into the whole walking thing. Owen's version of helping Colby walk too often ends with Colby's face meeting the pavement. He's since been relieved of those duties.

As you can see, we hadn't invested in Colby's shoes yet, on account that (a) we weren't sure he was ever going to walk and (b) we were hoping to help him develop the kinds of soles that can walk barefoot on any terrain

The fabulous five

A palm tree oasis is a wonderful place to run loose :)

Balance, careful...

Dr. Suess tree

No shade? No problem!

We stopped at the fort on our way out. Another fun place to run around.

Hailey's favorite part is still the dates. She smiled once, and he kept giving her date after date. At least now, she's old enough to realize you should spit out the pit!

Holding her precious cargo for the drive home.

A visit here wouldn't be complete without a trip to the dunes!

The Sharps also joined us - Colby was trying to debate if it was worth the effort...

Yep! It was :)

We love Grandma! (And Aunt Gene too!)

Dad, making his famous walking tacos

There was also an experiment to see how reheating pizza over the fire would go (it mostly worked!)

Colby was determined to get a closer view, so we decided to help instead of letting him crawl right up to it :)

The night before she left, we opened Grandma's Christmas presents.

Can't wait until we see you again!