Isle of Skye

Life is so good. Amid the everyday chaos of life, we continue to be blessed by beautiful places to visit and time spent with friends. We are trying to seize every opportunity.

There was a bank holiday last Monday and so we spent the long weekend in Skye with our dear friends the Sarvesvarans. Katy booked a self catering house, we loaded the bikes and plenty of food and off we went. It was glorious. Fantastic weather, fabulous scenery, and tons of fresh air. The perfect weekend.

View from the house. Picture at top is a view from the beach back up to the house.

We spent lots of time back here; behind the house. The owners were clearing the land and it was a little (and big) boy haven. Fallen trees, sticks, fire pits, and axe. Ahhh.

The dads pondering the best way to build the fire.

While they pondered, Katy and I went for a walk. Guess what evidence we found on my camera when we returned?? The pics below of our mostly unsupervised children.

An 11 year old with an axe and small children looking on....

A danger sign with Ethan S close by....

Fallen trees, no problem. They beckon to be conquered.

Unattended fires. Perfect for preschoolers.

Dens with "who-knows-what" living inside! Score!!!

Ahhhhh....we returned from our walk and the men folk reappeared!

We explored a bit of the island and were treated to magical vistas around every turn.

And the farm animals we never tired of seeing.....

A local woman gave us the hint to check out this trek. It was fantastic!

Creeks to jump over and crevices to climb into......

Rivers and rocks to climb and swim.

Wellies and wetsuits......gotta love it!

By this point in the afternoon, Christopher was frozen and very sensibly wrapped in a towel snuggled up on a warm rock!

It was a brilliant weekend with even more brilliant friends!

No Sand in my Camera

So, as you can see....I took more photos in Dubai than I did in Mauritius. That's because every waking moment that we were not eating, we were on the beach while in Mauritius. And my camera doesn't like sand. And we did the same delightful beach activities everyday. So I really didn't take too many pictures there. It was great.

But in Dubai, we spent less time on the beach covered in sand and therefore I had my camera more often. Here are the rest of the photos from our very fun extended holiday. Enjoy!

The boys and I went bowling for the first time in ages. Charlie beat us all. Little turkey. He had the rails up and was throwing like a granny but he still beat us!! He was also making good use of my camera and captured me landing on my bottom after a not so promising throw. NICE.

We went to the mall to Borders for books and a board game and the boys were thrilled to find this yummy spot while I enjoyed a little coffee.

We visited Atlantis the Palm to see the sights, enjoy their water park and aquarium, and to interact with the dolphins. Scott was determined to try out all of Dubai's new public transportation systems. This day, we traveled by monorail from the base of the Palm to the top of the tree where Atlantis is located. In the first picture, we are just leaving the mainland and you can see the Burj Al Arab in the distance; in the second picture, you can see one of the branches with the villas and their beach between the branches; and lastly, Atlantis just in front of us.

Above, the very dramatic aquarium. And below, a fun day at the water park.

Yowsa! That was hard for this momma to watch.

As I have said in a previous post, we stayed in a lovely hotel in Dubai. We enjoyed a few days at the pool and on their beach and the highlight of my trip to Dubai was seeing our dear friends the Dickersons. Sharon was my lifesaver when we were new stay at home moms in Dallas. Her daughter Kathryn was in Ethan's playgroup and we saw each other at least twice a week from the time they were 6 months old until the Dickerson's moved to Houston a few years later. Sharon and I have remained close friends and we now share the experience of living abroad. She and her family live and work in Doha, Qatar and I can't tell you how many times she and I have phoned back and forth sharing stories and providing moral support.

So when I realized that we would be in Dubai for a little longer, I called Sharon to see if we could come to Doha or they could come to Dubai! (Both cities are on the Arabian Peninsula) They came to Duabi. Well, what a treat to spend the day with the Dickersons. It was our last day and we enjoyed a very relaxing afternoon and dinner. Sharon, Steve, Kaylie, Scott and John, thank you for taking the time to fly to Dubai for 12 hours!

Camel ride anyone??

And last, but not least, when you are in a hotel room for the umptenth night in a row, what should you do for entertainment? Put on your dad's shirt, fill it with pillows and have a wrestling match! Life is good.

Old Dubai

One night, we took the boys downtown to the old part of Dubai. It's the old downtown, it's the heart of Dubai from years ago. It's still home many of the gold souks, the fabric souks, the spice souks, the carpet souks and many other places for businesses to buy their wares wholesale. Parts of the souks are now fairly touristy, but some things are just as they were 50 years ago.

There is a creek that runs through the old part of Dubai and Dubai remains an important port of call for western merchants. Old wooden ships called dhows from the far east, India and within the region, would unload their wares in the souks and on the dock. The goods were haggled over and then sent on to their next destination. It's amazing to see these rickety old boats, loaded down with western goods, headed to some far away place across the Persian Gulf or the Indian Ocean! They stack them high and haphazardly. Used cars, rice, TVs and plastic kitchen ware might all be thrown in the same dhow. The contrast of the old boats filled to the brim and decorated with laundry with the modern buildings in the backdrop is fantastic.

We hired an abra, a traditional ferry, to take us on a ride through the creek. Scott and I enjoyed the sights, sounds and the sunset. The boys were not too impressed and really just wanted to hurry up and head to the spice souk and the gold souk we'd been speaking of all day. They loved the spice souk and the shop keepers loved them. They were given sweets and allowed to touch and smell everything. This is still a fascinating part of the city for me.

A few familiar brands as we walked the busy, crowded streets......

The McDonald's was jam packed! And there was a separate line for ice cream cones which they sold for 1 dirham which is about 30 cents.