Dubai 2016
Madi's school break was this past week and I knew I wanted to go somewhere, even just for a few days. We decided on Dubai because it's close and the tickets are reasonable. The trip was a nice break for us and we splurged a bit on eating out at loads of American restaurants (since we won't be in the US at all this year...) On our list was Texas Roadhouse, The Cheesecake Factory, Chili's, and PF Changs just to name a few.
The trip started a bit rough with the twins having their 40th flight and definitely their worst flight to date! They refused to nap on board, but perked back up after we got checked into the hotel and over to the Dubai Mall for the famous fountain show.
Sunday we had tickets to the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world. We rode the fast elevator to the 124th floor and walked around the observation deck.
We splurged on the over-priced tourist photo since it had all five of us looking - ha! They also gave us the digital of all the pictures. :-)
Afterwards Jason took the girls back to the hotel and let me wander the mall for a couple hours. They re-joined me after naps and we visited the Dubai aquarium. These girls LOVE animals and could have spent hours there. I'm pretty sure everyone in the mall knew when we left because of Olivia's protests. We could barely get her to move in the aquarium and had to pick her up quickly and say "more fishies". :-)
We learned on this trip just how cautious Evelyn has become. She hesitated to walk onto the glass floor in the aquarium and a few other places where the floor was uneven or obscure. Olivia just barreled ahead screaming at the fish. Quite the difference between the two of them!
We hit up the Rainforest Cafe for dinner that evening and lucked out with a table that gave the girls a view of the fish and the parents a semi-peaceful meal. Evelyn was quite skeptical of the frog...
On Monday we had a late morning and hit the road for the 1.5 hour drive to Abu Dhabi. We visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. It was beautiful and we enjoyed getting to see it.
Afterwards we headed to meet a friend we knew in Norway for lunch. It was wonderful to catch up with her, but our time was too short and we are looking forward to planning another trip to visit them for longer.
On our way out of Abu Dhabi we stopped at the Emirates Park Zoo. It was modest, but perfect for toddlers. You could buy peanuts and grass to feed the monkeys, zebras, giraffes, and camels. The girls has a blast despite Olivia's face in our family photo. She thought we were picking her up to leave...enter meltdown (and rolling-eyed emoji).
Tuesday was our last full day in Dubai and we headed to the Marina area and found a splash pad near the beach. The girls had a ball running through the water. Again, Evelyn was a bit hesitant at first, but then decided she was on board.
We walked back along the boulevard and stopped to play at the playground below the overpass since the twins were asleep in the stroller. Then we headed to the Marina Mall for snacks and some lego fun before making our way back towards the hotel.
We decided to visit the Dubai Fountain one last time (along with The Cheesecake Factory!) and let the girls run around on these cool lighted floors that hadn't been there the previous day.
Then we headed back to the hotel for baths and packing for our trip home the next day. It was a total 180 on our flight home (thankfully!) and all three girls were really well-behaved. The twins ate a good lunch and took naps without a single cry... it was amazing! Thanks for a great time Dubai!!
