Derry does Dubai (and more!)

At the end of April I was lucky enough to have my sister Derry come for a visit!! We had so much fun, and I'm glad we got to squeeze it in before leaving the country. We took her to all of our favorites- first stop, the dunes.

Hailey is loving having her aunt here!

Owen and his friends aren't ones for sitting still to take pictures!

Victory!

Sunset - does it get any more spectacular?!

We were at a new spot in the dunes, and since it was a pretty windy night we quickly realized our car was already too deep in the sand and would be stuck before it was time to go. In a rallying group effort from all of the guys, Ken got the car to a safer spot :)

Partial group shot!! Because I never get these and I know I will regret not having it later!

Just to make Derry's experience the most authentic possible, we saw this camel herder on the road with these two. Random camel sighting - check!

Next up - a kayaking trip in the mangroves. The car was a little tight but we made it work!

Colby realizes the importance of not letting his head get sunburned!

Brave Derry - I don't think she knew what she was getting into with volunteering to be in the kayak with these three!

Almost before we'd pulled away from the dock, Colby was already asleep! The kayak makes him pretty sleepy.

Tyler volunteered to stay back for a bit and hold Colby. Isn't he the sweetest?!

While we were eating lunch, we saw a fox! Its the first time we've ever seen one of these and it was super exciting. 

We discovered that she must be a regular, since there was a bowl of water out for her. 

And then, to make it even better, we saw her two cubs!

Thanks for the family picture Aunt Derry!

Looking for crabs off the dock.

We took Aunt Derry to Heritage Village, mostly because we wanted her to experience a camel ride :)

Colby wasn't feeling it...

And she did it!!

Hailey really wanted a picture with the camel, and the camel was super interested in her yummy smelling hair!

We walked/scootered/skateboarded or biked along the corniche. 

Aunt Derry offered to give him "war paint" sunscreen. He didn't want to rub it in!

The beach never disappoints!

This day we had playgroup at Nichole's house on Yas Island, which includes "her" private beach, so Derry got to try paddle boarding.

Another week day, we headed over to Dubai. Jess and co. joined us too!

Pretty sure that's her "I just LOVE the heat" face!

Jesper was super helpful by pushing Colby around. Never mind that he's almost the same size as her!

Just some super talented graffiti!

We ate lunch near the spice souk - Colby needed some walking around to help him calm down and "sit" through lunch!

Another day, another beach. This time, Saadiyat. 

The trip wouldn't be complete without a tour of the Grand Mosque! Which we took child free due to my amazingly awesome friends:)

It was such a good trip, and I'm so grateful she was willing to come all the way over to visit us! 

Musandom Magic

April 8: There is one trip I have wanted to take ever since we moved here: take a dhow cruise in Musandom, Oman. Somehow, every time we've made plans to go, we've had to change them. But I am happy to say that this weekend, we FINALLY went! And it sure didn't disappoint! The kids scouted out our beach camping sight immediately upon arrival.

With the low tide, Tyler and Lilli made it to this little patch of sand in the water

Will joined them once he realized he could make it there without getting his shorts wet.

The picture doesn't do justice to the awesome sunset we saw. The kids didn't stop exploring though - using flashlights, they found some impressive crabs and lizards hiding in the rocks near our campsite. 

In the morning this sink hole appeared on the shore. Every time the waves rolled in, the water shot up a little ways. I thought it was beautiful, but I did my motherly job to ruin Tyler's fun by forbidding him to swim into it like he wanted to.

We also found this sea turtle hanging out in the very shallow water!

Next step - to find our dhow! We had an eventful ride down a very windy road (ask our neighbors how windy - they had some very carsick girls in their car...) Everyone was pretty excited to venture out on the water and try to spot some dolphins.

Lots of towering cliffs and sparkling water!!

Owen enjoyed the complimentary fruit on board the dhow.

We're here!

Good trips are even better with good friends! The Wierzbonowskis

The Robertsons (aka the Jesbears)

The Garbayos

The dhow was a kid's dream - they could wander around and climb on everything, or sit in their own corner and just take in the sights. And it was a parent's nightmare - making sure none of the 12 kids on board accidentally fell off the (low) sides of the dhow without us noticing… Actually, with so many adults it wasn't really that bad :)

Time to look for fish! The water was a little colder than we've become accustomed to, but we saw plenty of cool fish to make up for it :)

Did I mention the low sides?! Colby REALLY wanted to see those fish...

We saw a couple dolphins, but never too close or too far out of the water. Just spotting them was enough to make my kids talk about it for days on end :)

When everyone was done swimming, we had a picnic lunch i.e. all the kids went to check out what everyone else was eating instead of eating the food their own parents brought. It all works out :)

Then, almost every single adult and child fell asleep on the return trip to the dock. Owen chose this particularly comfy looking spot. Best trip ever!!