April was a very busy and exciting month for us. We started it with Evan's first birthday party. We had a house full of people and kids and had a great time celebrating Evan's first year. Emily and Jaelynn were both excited too. A couple days after Evan's birthday Janelle was scheduled to leave for 10 days to Dubai with sister Deana. The day before they flew she was blessed with strep throat. Ugh! Nothing a little antibiotics wouldn't fix....and a lot of rest...which is easy to get on an 18 1/2 hr flight!!
So, I get to write a story on this month's update. The trip to Dubai was amazing. It started with a flight to Houston and then a straight 16 hr flight to Dubai. Both Deana and I were extremely glad to touch ground and walk again after the long flight...don't get me wrong...Emirates airlines is an amazing airline, but c'mon, 16 hrs! We left the house at 8.30 friday morning and arrived in Dubai at 8 p.m. sat. night (on time). Right away I noticed what a different world it was...from the arabic signage, different dress, and the sand...oh yes, the sand!
Dubai is one of 7 Emirates. There's Abu Dhabi (the capital), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al Quwain (hopefully I got the spelling right!). The population is 1.2 million although that is increasing at an amazing rate. Once they have all the palms and the world islands done the population will be more than triple that. The city which was once a pearling and fishing city has started to build it's foundation on tourism. They're making all the "biggest", "best", and most amazing structures in the world. It currently has at least 90 5 star hotels and one 7 star hotel...a lot for the population! A couple of it's marvels are the Burj Al Arab which is the 7 star hotel located on it's own made made island, the Burj Dubai (tallest building in the world) at 164 floors...and it's built so they can add on so it will always be able to be the tallest, the Palms and World Islands, and the indoor ski hill located in the Mall of Emirates. The second day we were there Deana and I took a bus tour of the city. We saw all these and more. They give you so many facts it's mind boggling. Everywhere you look there's shopping, cranes, and something "gold plated", or so it seems. Because Dubai is so hot in the summer months all activities are indoors...and most of those are in the malls. Outside temps soar and unless you're into sand and construction...it's best to be inside! :-) We had beautiful weather while we were there...most of the time the temps weren't above 90 which was nice...and always a nice breeze. We noticed such an array of people there from all corners of the world. One of the biggest concerns most people have is "how did you have to dress"? We wore our usual clothes...shorts, tanks, skirts (not short of course). We get looked at funny at times because we're westerners, blue eyed, and white skinned, but other than that...we were one of the several different cultures that exist in such a diverse culture.
Many of the pictures you'll see initially are from the bus tour we took. For anyone who's been to London and on that bus tour...it's very similar. In fact, much of Dubai is based off the British "way". In fact, you'll see there's several round abouts in the city. One interesting architectural feature is the Bastakiya's or "wind towers". These were standard in the houses in the "older days" as it served as a type of air conditioning. The air would blow through the Bastakiya's and then be pulled into the house and cause a wind current that served as a type of air conditioning. Very important for the extreme heat of the desert. Now, many people have air conditioning so you don't see as many of these Bastakiya's in the modern architecture.
One of the coolest (for lack of a better term) things we did was tour the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It's one of the most amazing buildings I've ever been in. The detail in the design is amazing with walls and floors of marble from several parts of the world. The largest green carpet in the world exists in the mosque which took 2 years to make. When you look at the pictures you'll see all the facts about the mosque. It was great that we were able to tour it as most mosques are closed to the non-muslim population. For us to be able to be in one, and one of such enormity was great. We were also grateful that they provided the Abaya's and Khimars as we went "prepared", but were much more comfortable to find that they supply you with the appropriate attire.
Over the week Lana and Isabelle were troupers as they took us around the city to the malls, shopping, etc. Lana even dropped us at an Ice Bar (she'd been to it before) one afternoon. We figured "oh, we'll meet you in an hour"...being the tough(in respect to cold) Saskatchewan raised girls we are. Well, even though they provided the mittens (actually, mini gloves and we all know how useless they are!), jackets, and down filled booties, we barely lasted 1/2 hr! :-) The temp was only -6C but we were in skirts, drinking cold drinks, holding glasses made of ice with remember...useless mini gloves on! The great part was when we were done and left the room...they gave you warm wash clothes to thaw out your hands. :-) We were also informed that they replaced all the ice every 6 months.
So, one of my other hi-lights was the Desert tour Samuel and I went on. He was a good sport in being my date as we figured the pregnant girls shouldn't be 4x4'ing and riding camels. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the 4x4'ing in the sand dunes was a lot of fun. We very rarely let go of the "oh shit" handles as it was a very bumpy ride. We ended the 4x4'ing with watching the sun set and then headed down for the festivities. I did the Henna on my hands and then rode the camel of course. It was a short ride which was good b/c it was dang uncomfortable! Not much padding! It's also rough as the camel gets up and down. Getting up they go from sitting, to their knees, then to their feet...two big jolts up. Getting down is the same...a drop to the knees, then another drop to the belly. You don't want to let go of those handles!!! The festivities also included sheeshaw, dates (as in the fruit), dinner, and belly dancing...all which were interesting. I had Samuel with me so I knew exactly what I was eating. The beef and chicken were good, but I'm not a big fan of lamb. We also figured the hummus was from a can as I can make it better than what they had. Anyways, we arrived home around 9.30 that night tired and ready for bed.
That's a brief overview of some of what we did. I could write 5 times that much! The trip home was not one to be desired. We left Dubai and hour late and missed our connecting flight in New York. Ended up stuck in the airport for 7 hours before we managed to catch a flight home. Boy, I never thought I'd say this after just flying for 12 hours, but were we glad to be airborne again! We arrived back safe and sound and Emily was still awake and waiting for her good night hug and kiss. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
That leads me to the kids...my parents and Ehren did great with them. Jaelynn had the stomach flu for one day but other than that all went well. Mom looked after everyone and Dad did a lot of the running back and forth for school and activities. Ehren had to work, but did his share of chipping in when he was at home. I can't say enough thanks to all three of them for making it possible for me to take such a trip. After all, how often can someone leave 3 kids under the age of 5 for 10 days, fly to the other side of the world...AND not even worry about them!?!? It was some great sister time and something that we'll always remember. Mom & Dad stayed for a couple days after I got home and then ventured back to Canada. Oh, and for those of you wondering...Evan only shunned me for about 10 minutes when I came home...then he was back to tugging at my leg! :-)
The last week of April was busy with getting ready for more company and spring cleaning. We're expecting Oma & Opa this week and then the Johnson's after that The long weekend in May the girls are in a wedding in Denver and I'm making the wedding cake. Ehren is also in the Bolder Boulder that same weekend. A busy month ahead!
