Go Dawgs

Aren't they adorable :)

Dubai Marina Mums

We have been fortunate to participate in playgroup activities here in the marina with the Dubai Marina Mums. The group is led by a lady named Dee that lives in Jumeirah Beach Residence. She lives in a plaza-level townhome that is right next to one of the plaza "gardens." They plant grass here since it doesn't grow naturally, so they are called gardens. This is the "Marina Mums Garden" which is actually the JBR Rimal 1 garden. Rimal 1 is one of the many buildings in JBR. The first event we attended was a carnival with vendors, storytelling, and lots of toys from a place called "Toys on Rent."Colin had a blast in the splash pools. The two cuties in this picture are twin girls named Anya and Maya. They are Colin's age and are originally from New York. Aren't they adorable?

Colin REALLY loves these trampolines! They are everywhere here!He was nervous the girls were going to take the trampoline from him. Look at that face!!He also liked the playground equipment they had.

It was hot as blazes, so we were all sweating like crazy. Even the babies were sweaty.

Then, he got a balloon!! He loves balloons! He kept letting it go and watching it float. He was mesmerized.
The next week we attended the Cookie Monsters Club at Dee's apartment. Here she is reading the story of the Hungry Catepillar. She is a great storyteller!

The intention of the afternoon was for the kids to make catepillars and butterflies out of colored fondant. Here were the plates Dee prepared.

Colin preferred to eat his fondant.

This was all that we managed to construct:

We've really loved the Marina Mums activities here. Dee plans something once per week, so we have lots of opportunites to go. The next one we will attend will be a Diwali Festival, so that will be a great cultural experience for both of us!

Here's the mail it never fails....

(The title is a Blue's Clues reference if you aren't keen)

We got a package! Yay for mail! My Mom sent Joe's birthday present, and even though it took For.Ev.Er to arrive, we're so happy it's here! Colin managed to score an awesome UGA jersey (imagine that!) and it makes him look like a little man! Joe and I got a Halloween card that plays "Shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake your "BOO"tie". Guess who confiscated the card. I've heard that song at least 100 times in the last 48 hours!

Colin's loving the book "Goodnight Moon" and jibberjabbers while he flips the pages. So adorable.

Today, he had an awesome snack to go along with it....GOLDFISH! Thanks, Grandmommy!

All Smiles

I just had to share these sweet faces with you!

He's started doing this strange horse laugh!

How can you not love this face...

We took Colin to Mall of the Emirates tonight so I could get a camera cord. Colin was loving the strobe lights in the Virgin store.

Then, Joe got a hankering for ice cream, so we ended up at Coldstone Creamery.

Colin loved the ice cream after some coaxing.

Some morning exercise

This morning, I decided to get out for a walk to the beach. From our apartment, you just cross the bridge over the Dubai Marina, take a stroll down The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residence, and choose where you'd like to cross the street to enter the beach. (I didn't take this picture...you'll see why in a minute).

So, off we went, across the bridge, down The Walk, into Starbucks for a quick fruit salad and strawberry smoothie, and across the street to the beach. My intentions were to walk on the sand with Colin so he could find some shells and watch the waves from a safe distance. Unfortunately, people park on the sand so it's quite rocky and hard on the feet. We walked further down the hill to the softer sand closer to the water.

Colin totally freaked.

I sort of anticipated this, but was really hoping he wouldn't since we didn't have swimsuits or towels. I could have turned around, trudged up the hill and back to the stroller with a screaming child, but I decided to try another route. We went straight to the water and sat down in the surf...jean shorts and all. He clung to me for a few minutes, then his little body relaxed and he started giggling at the waves, especially when they would hit us. We stayed until his little cheeks were rosy red.

I spent the walk to the top of the beach thinking of how we would have missed such a fun time if I was worried about getting my clothes wet and sandy. And boy were we sandy.

I figured that hailing a taxi was out of the question, but one stopped in front of me as I waited to cross the street. He rolled down his window, looked at us for a second, then said "Sorry, too many problems." I had to laugh.

We found a women's bathroom and I hoped to rinse off as much as possible so we could walk home without anyone staring. Guess what...the sinks were out of order. And there were no other bathrooms nearby. Paper towels did the trick.

So, we went back down The Walk, across the bridge, and to the apartment...in wet, sandy, jeans and 102 degree weather.

Quite a way to get my exercise.

The Dubai Mall

This morning we headed to the Dubai Mall so Colin could see the aquarium. On the way, we went under a Salik toll booth. These were designed in 2007 to improve traffic flow. Instead of throwing a quarter into the toll booth, a Radio Frequency Identification camera reads the barcode that you have to stick on your windshield and sends you a bill. Dubai can issue you a speeding ticket in the same fashion. No cops on the side of the road here...just cameras. We saw the Burj Khalifa on the way. (The tallest building in the world)

Once inside, we saw the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. Colin was hooked! (No pun intended) It has the world's largest acrylic panel. Noticing a trend here? Dubai likes to have the biggest EVERYTHING.

We didn't go into the aquarium because, well, we're cheap, and you can see a huge tank without paying to go inside! We'll go in eventually, I'm sure.

Colin was totally in awe. I think we probably stayed at the viewing window for close to an hour, total.

Every time a fish would come near the glass (acrylic, I guess!), he would just laugh and laugh.

A little guy about Colin's size joined us for awhile. He was equally amused.

Luckily, Romano's Macaroni Grill is just across from this tank. We ate lunch there so Colin could keep tabs on the fish.

Also in the mall is this awesome wall of water with silver diving manequins. I couldn't find any information online about those, so all I have is a picture :)

And then we found the Hershey's store! YUM!

And the Reese's corner of the Hershey's store...super YUM. Joe found white chocolate Reese's cups which made him happy.

For a mere 69 dirhams, you can have a Hershey's Dubai shirt.

The entrance to the Burj Khalifa is actually inside the mall. We went out to the plaza to take some pics.

If you look just to the left of the building, you can see the moon.

Colin wasn't super thrilled about having his picture taken with the Burj Khalifa, but it turned out pretty good anyway! This was my favorite store in the whole mall...

Reunited

I haven't forgotten to post...just haven't had any pictures since my iPhone is being configured (if you will) so that I can use it here. That means that my camera has been gone for few days and the pics I've taken on our Nikkon will remain there until we can find the cord to upload them.

Today, my Swiffer Vac arrived...for those who didn't see my posts of excitement on Facebook.I charged it up as soon as it showed up at the door, and tonight, I swept the whole apartment in less than 5 minutes. Seriously. All 1400 square feet of marble tile...it was marvelous. I'd love to also have a Swiffer WetJet, but that one requires cloths AND liquid, plus mopping isn't as difficult as a broom and dustpan.

Mom, I'd like Swiffer cloths for my birthday, please :) I also started drinking hot tea again this week. Diet Coke here doesn't taste right, Coca-Cola is entirely too sugary to drink regularly, and Joe bought a kettle that boils water in about 2 minutes, so it was only natural. Today I bought some Lipton Rosehip Peach tea at the market. Little did I know that it's formulated to heighten my spirits and lift my mood. I just think it tastes fantastic.