Dubai Summer Trip Day Two

Tuesday we went to Dubai Mall and first on the agenda was Kidzania. What an amazing place and we were very lucky because we got there early and for the first three hours it was relatively quiet with no queuing.  The kids first task was to go cash their cheque and get Kidzos the Kidzania currency. 

I could not believe that after I took two photos my camera battery died! So the rest of our visit was recorded on my iPhone and sadly the photos are not good quality. 

The concept is that Kidzania is like a small world where the kids go and train in different careers. The kids both went to University and earned two degrees which was a steal at 6 Kidzos (the kidzania currency) each! 

at Uni

This was a learning point for me as I hovered around to help them out as I know they can be shy but the nice young lady sternly told me that this was time for the kids to do their own growing up and I was welcome to wait outside. Okaaaaay, OMG when did I become a helicopter mom??

I liked that they got paid extra money if they had a degree in that area.  I could actually see them grasp that concept and relate it to themselves after school. 

Here is a selection of some of the jobs they tried ...

Firefighters

Paramedics

Call Center Operator

Policewoman

Pilots

Technician

 Engineers

Movie Makers

Construction Workers

They worked hard earning their salary and they were very happy to spend it too. Lulu paid for herself to go to Culinary school. Laith conquered a fear and paid to go rock climbing. And they both paid to get their driving license and then race cars. 

Culinary School

Rock Climbing

Race Car Driving

We stayed five hours, yes you heard right ... five hours! I was well tired of the noise and the other rather rude pushy kids by then and we called it a day.  We will definitely return again in future years. 

After Kidzania we went to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch.  

 

Tummy's full we went to the cinema to see Ice Age Continental Drift which was a great chance to rest our tired feet.

Our final retail therapy was a visit to Kinokuniya Bookstore, man we love that place!

multiply this by about 5 and that is the size of the store

It is such a treat as we have no large bookshops in Oman. Maybe the place is a little too large as Lulu managed to wander off and get herself lost. At first I was not too worried as she has a habit of doing that but after 20 minutes of looking and yelling out her name I began to worry. The "what if's" crept in ...
Then I found her, tears and hugs from both of us.

The last stop of the day was the fountain display.

It is a gorgeous fountain display to Andrea Bocelli's Time To Say Goodbye.  Ah the look on their faces was priceless. 

We were exhausted and fell into a taxi and went back to the apartment to wait for Ali, Sami and Eyad to arrive. 

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Dubai Summer Trip Day One

This year we are not going away on holidays for several reasons. The first being that I am just not up for an international trip with four children, there I said it, I am a party popper.

Sami can be some what difficult at times with his tantrums and of course Eyad is just a toddler and into everything so the thought of long flights, transit times, car rentals, luggage, etc just did not appeal to me.

(Yes thats me just add another child climbing on top of the other two!)

My other quandary is that I don't think we need to go on an international holiday every year. The kids classmates are probably 95% expatriates so mostly they return to their home country and I realize that it might be harder for my kids to be the ones who were "stuck in Oman" for the long hot summer but this is our home and some years we will travel and others we won't. And of course I am always telling my kids that "when I was a girl ..." (haha, don't you just love it when you start sounding like your parents ;-) , well we did not go on big holidays but I really cherish the memories of the camping trips and trips to the coast etc. 

We were about half way trough the summer break and I suggested to Ali that we take the kids to Dubai for a few days so they have a little mini vacation. Initially I was to take Sami, Lulu and Laith on the Monday and then Ali and Eyad would join us on Wednesday night after work but sadly Sami had been having a few too many tantrums that week and so he stayed with Ali and came over on Wednesday night. It is a pity as he missed out on lots of fun things but in a way it was a blessing as I had some nice quality time with Laith and Lujayne. We flew to Dubai on the Monday and arrived around lunchtime and headed out for some lunch. Applebee's was just next to the apartment and while we waited for lunch to arrive the kids played with my phone ...

Later we got a taxi out to Wild Wadi waterpark at 4pm where we rode those slides like there was no tomorrow. The main slide is eleven slides that connect together while you ride on a tube. Now to get these tubes up those steep slides the water jets propel you at great speeds, under your tube, yes, where your bottom is blasted and you get the worlds worst wedgie!

My backside didn't know what had hit it!

We also went on a rather large slide where you sat in a group tube. Laith was initially scared but once we got going he was howling with glee while I, on the other hand, howled with terror.

We got to the end and the kids were giddy and begging to go again ... I declined!

We left the park at 8pm exhausted and ready for a good nights sleep as day two was going to be a busy one!

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Happy 5th Birthday Sami

My never dull little man spent the first five days of his life in ICU and the next five years making up for lost time!

Lulu and I made the cake this morning and then Sami and Lulu decorated it to their liking this afternoon.  All the while Aunty Sharon was chatting on the phone, can you see her there?

He was thrilled to get three Lego sets as gifts, big smiles all around. Poor kid had a snotty nose / cold today so he was not in 100% form but he muffled through.

After Iftar it was "finally" time for cake ...

He huffed and puffed ... and spat all over the cake as we all looked on a little grossed out. We might have to work on "blowing out candle" skills before next year!

Happy 5th Birthday darling boy xxxxxx

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Happy Anniversary

Last Wednesday, 25th July, Ali and I celebrated our wedding anniversary by going back to where it all began ... The Al Bustan Palace. 

My darling friend Laila took my four "cherubs" for the night and it was really nice to have some alone time with my husband. 

We got an upgrade to one of the lagoon rooms. When we worked there these rooms were looking onto the gardens and now ... you step outside and go for a swim .... very nice indeed! 

After having Iftar in their fantastic Ramadan tent we rested until dinner at the "never to disappoint me yet" China Mood. It was yummy but too much food for us both. We were really looked after. 

Here is to the next 10 years my darling xxxx 

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P.S. I love my Mac but really miss using Windows Live Writer!