We had lots of fun with Grandpa and Grandma Adsero when they came for their visit! Lots of these are their photos. I didn't do photo creds, cause I barely have time to post the photos, so hoping they'll forgive me.
Church
Valentines day air show from our rooftop.
Camel races
Off to the desert safari in our passenger van.
Dune bashing. Grandma and the little boys sat this one out. It is not for the faint of heart!
Mounting and dismounting is a little awkward. Camels are just awkward.
Henna hands.
Hello!!
Falcon face!
Dinner was pretty good!
Ferrari World = Grandpa's dream world.
Formula 1 track bike riding.
Heritage Village showed all the different types of dwellings they have.
The Bedouins.
I like the contrast with the skyscrapers in the background.
Oliver was concerned.
Grandma found an abaya. Figuring out how to wear the Shayla is a real learning curve.
Night time skyline with some rare rain drops on grandma's shirt.
Panorama
We went for a tour of the Grand Mosque. All the ladies have to cover up, and men must wear pants and long sleeves.
The pillars were pretty amazing with inlaid flowers.
We brought these to jokers with us and left the other two jokers with a babysitter. It was a good move.
More pretty pillars.
These were huge flowers made out of different types of stone, I think mostly marble.
The interior hand-made rug was pretty stunning. I was so stunned, I forgot to take a picture. Laila took this one.
The chandeliers were supposed to be upside down date trees with the different color dates you can find here.
More of the rug.
Bennett being respectful.
The rug some more.
The mihrab you face in the mosque so you know you faced toward the Kaaba in Mecca when you pray. All of the flowers contain one of the "99 names of Allah", i.e. "The Merciful", "The Creator", etc. There is one flower that is empty which indicates that we could never know or understand all the names/roles of Allah.
The evening lighting was pretty amazing.
Gotta figure the Shayla thing out. It looks terrible and was falling off the whole time.
Drove straight north to the tip of the peninsula at the opening of the Persian Gulf. There are mountains!! They call the area the Fjords of the Middle East.
Love the cows by the shop.
Mountians!
Best we could do. View from our hotel in Khasab, Mussandam (Part of Oman).
It was kinda drizzly. Another view from our hotel. We were thinking we might not be able to go boating but it cleared up just in time for us to go see some dolphins.
Lots of fishing boats out there.
Lots of goats around.
On the dhow boat.
Dolphin!
Two dolphins!
Pretty good dolphin show.
If you enlarge this, you can see the fish in there.
See the rainbow fish under the surface?
Lincoln and Bennett are in the orange vests snorkelling.
I got in for a moment. It was not warm.
Look at that water!!
Shell hunting. Found lots of good ones!
Next we hit Dubai to check out the souks.
We hadn't shopped old Dubai before. I was surprised at how much if felt like Taiwan/Korea.
We ate at a random little place.
Checking out the bling at the Gold Souk.
More bling.
Lincoln's dream came true. Got him some Emirati clothes.
View of the Dubai River from our hotel room.
It was a hazy day so we didn't go in the Burj Khalifa, but we went and saw.
Awesome fountain in the Dubai mall.
Next was Atlantis at the Palm.
It was not a warm day, so Richard and Laila purchased wet suits for the whole fam.
One of the highlights was the buffets!!! (and Eldon's crazy smile)
Eldon could not get enough of the petting aquarium.
Big fish, big boy (that greased up his shirt at the buffet).
Such amazing fish.
Lots of love from grandma
Lots of love from grandpa.
Eldon could scuba all day.
I did the lazy river 25,000x with Oliver. He fell asleep in the tube.
Lastly, we took a tour of the Emirates Palace Hotel, which is a government owned hotel which was primarily constructed for a place for dignitaries to stay when they visit the UAE. It is right next to the Presidential Palace. Pretty much everything that looks gold, is gold. They even top your food with gold flecks.
Ceiling in the hotel.
Marble floor.
Mural representing the seven Emirates in the UAE.
Enjoying the ceiling.
Imagining what it might be like to have a bubble bath in there and wrap up in that robe. I think she likes that idea.
The white building in the background is the Presidential Palace.
Out on the balcony.
Some of the cool skyscrapers across the way.
Just started raining!!
To wrap this post up, we've got some photos Eldon took of Gpa while waiting for me in the car. Classic.
Story time while Bennett bites his toenails.
