Desert Safari

After visiting Ski Dubai, Cel and I made our way to a "Desert Safari" tour. Our guide came and picked us up at our hotel, then we drove outside the city limits of Dubai and into the desert. The sand dunes were beautiful and the sand was so fine and soft. We met up with several other tour vehicles (Land Cruisers), where the guides/drivers all let air out of the tires to prepare for our desert off-roading.

We piled into our vehicle and the drivers then took us on a half-hour drive through the desert, jumping over and sliding down sand dunes. It was wild! In some places, it felt like a roller coaster. All the while, heavy-based techno music blasted from the speakers. Around sunset we stopped to take some pictures, one of which is shown above.

Camels in the distance.

Just as the light was fading, we reached our camp destination. The camp consisted of a little shanty-town like area, but had modern bathrooms (thank goodness!). There were a few places selling things, as well as various activities. You could get henna tattoos, or smoke sheesha (flavored tobacco out of those big hookah pipes), or ride camels or ATVs. There was a guy doing a magic show, and little low-lying tables with cushions for us to sit on. It was really beautiful out under the desert stars, surrounded by huge sand dunes. Usually there is a belly-dancing show, but since it was Ramadan, there wasn't one. Our guides made BBQ chicken, lamb and beef, as well as a variety of other Arabic dishes for us to try out. It was actually pretty tasty!

Once dinner was wrapped up, our tour guide took us back to our hotel where we watched a little bit of Animal Planet and collapsed into sleep.

Celeste's henna tattoo as it was drying.

Skiing in the Desert

After a flight that was delayed for two hours, Celeste and I made our way (kid-free!!!) to Dubai on an airplane that made very strange and worrisome noises. We managed to land without incident, though, and made our way into the "City of Captivating Contrasts" in the United Arab Emirates.

Our first stop was to the Mall of the Emirates to Ski Dubai. It's an indoor ski slope inside the mall. As we entered the mall, we passed stores like Gucci, Prada, Armani and other places that we didn't even dare step foot inside. We headed pretty much straight to the slope.

When we got to the front of the line to buy our tickets, there was a big sign that said, "You must be able to complete these minimum skills to gain entry to the ski slope. 1. Stopping. 2. Controlling speed. 3. Linked turns. 4. The ability to use the ski lift." I looked at the pictures and said, "We can do all that! Who needs skiing lessons???"

Yeah, well....apparently we did because our first attempts on the ski slope were quite comical and probably a little dangerous. We started out on the baby ski school slope and it didn't go so well the first few times. Let's just say that we became intimately acquainted with the snow several times. We fell, we slid, we lost ski poles, we looked ridiculous....but it was fun!

We met a girl from New York who was there on a business trip and buddied up with her. She was a little more daring and encouraged us to try out a slope beyond the bunny slope. Eventually we did go down the medium slope a few times, but not very gracefully. It's amazing how quickly you gain bravado when doing something like this. In no time at all I went from busting my butt on the bunny slope to seriously considering going on the huge slope. Never did, but in my mind I thought I could probably handle it.

Of course, there were tons of little European kids who blew us out of the water, but we kept plugging away and by the end of our two hours at Ski Dubai, we managed to go down the middle slope without falling. Yeah!

On the right is the medium slope that we went down. On the left is the end of the big slope. It winds up around the corner and out of sight.

Celeste at the beginning of our ski adventure.

Celeste making it up the people mover.

As we initially got all of our gear from the attendants, the person at the counter asked me what my ski level was. As I had not been on the slope yet, my warped mind caused me to say "moderate," so the rest of Celeste's visit, she teased me about how I was a moderate skiier, among other things. In reality, my "moderate" skiing consisted of me forming a snow plow with my skis, making it look like I had to pee really bad and flailing my arms like a windmill, ski poles attached. Not pretty---but lots of fun!

Q-U to the I to the Double N! Yo!

Quinn in her new hat.

Quinn.

Pictures From Cel's Visit 5

Quinn and Cel after Quinn's bath.

Elle after a bath.

Kai and Elle playing Twister.

Kai and Elle playing Twister.

Pictures From Cel's Visit 4

Elle's thoughts on traveling by air.

Elle playing with Quinn's playmat.

Elle with Ugly Betty, the baby doll.

Kai posing for the camera.

Pictures From Cel's Visit 3

Kai wants to drive, but Elle wants to tell him where to go.

Kai and Elle at the Seef Mall playground.

Kai and Elle on a merry-go-round.

Kai and Elle in a helicopter.

Pictures From Cel's Visit 2

Kai and Elle playing ring around the rosie.

Kai and Elle.

Elle kissing Kai goodbye. :(

Pictures From Cel's Visit

Quinn with Ugly Betty, the baby doll.

Quinn in her stroller, asking to get out.

Elle playing at the Seef Mall playground.

Elle and Kai at the Seef Mall playground.

Da Kids (Said Like, "Da Bears!")

Kai and Quinn playing together.

Kai, with crumbs on his face.

Kai chillaxin' on the couch. Look at how long his legs are getting! He's getting tall.

Quinn with a hammer.

Things My Kids WILL Play With

1. Paper products of any kind. Paper towels, paper plates, toilet paper, napkins, Kleenex, receipts, EMT homework assignments, and so on.

2. Refrigerator magnets, which can make a surprisingly huge mess and give me paranoid thoughts about the kids swallowing magnets and having intestinal tears.

3. Me, but only if I'm busy.



4. My yoga mat and weights. At least somebody is using them.

5. Toy vehicles of any kind. We have so many helicopters, cars, trucks, jeeps, trains and planes that I can't even count them. I also can't count the number of times that I have stepped on some die-cast military vehicle model that settles right into the arch of my foot. These things are dangerous. Our living room is like a constant mine field.



6. Kitchen appliances, electronics, wires, cord, strings, sharp things, broken things, plumbing fixtures, dangerous substances and pretty much anything else they're NOT supposed to play with. They're especially fond of things that involve climbing.

7. ANYTHING that makes noise. The louder, the better. Thank you greatly to all the aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents who have made our vast collection of brain-rattlingly loud toys possible.

Toys--Why Do We Even Bother?

I'm too lazy to look up the official statistics, but we all know that the toy industry is a multi-billion (probably trillion) dollar industry. Looking around our place, I'm confused as to why that is.

Things my children won't play with:

1. That cool ball house, unless it's to throw ALL the balls out. It's going to the thrift store on Friday.

2. That awesome, high-tech, expensive walker, unless it's being pushed around to hit each other with. Although, the kids did get some excitement out of disassembling the interesting parts.

3. Any human or animal figurine that is intact. It must be missing at least one limb for it to be worth playing with.

4. Each other, unless it involves hitting. See #2.

5. This entire box of toys. I'm not sure what is in there, but it must be all nice stuff, otherwise the kids would love it.

A Husband Meme

Here is a fun Meme on husbands that I got courtesy of my sister and her husband, Jamas.

1. Who is your man? Shawn Cherri.
2. How long have you been together? Met 2 years, 2 months ago. Married 632 days ago (1 year, 9 months or so).
3. How long did you date? Hm...tough one. We didn't really date---we call it our "courtship." And it lasted about 5 months.
4. How old is your man? 29, almost 4 years older than me.
5. Who eats more? Him, except when I'm pregnant.
6. Who said "I love you" first? Him.
7. Who is taller? Him.
8. Who sings better? We're both decent, but not great.
9. Who is smarter? I'm book smart and he's street smart.
10. Whose temper is worse? Me, hands down. I'm not sure he actually has a temper, as I have only seen him mad once and it was over a basketball game.
11. Who does the laundry? Me.
12. Who takes out the garbage? Him.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Depends on your perspective. Looking at the bed while standing up, I do. Lying down, he does.
14. Who pays the bills? Him.
15. Who is better with the computer? Him.
16. Who mows the lawn? No lawn to speak of.
17. Who cooks dinner? Me, most of the time. He helps sometimes, though.
18. Who drives when you are together? Almost always him.
19. Who pays when you go out? Him.
20. Who is most stubborn? Me.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Hmm, me, I think.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Tie. We see each of them RARELY.
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me.
24. Who asked who out?He asked me out.....six weeks after we were engaged. Our first official date was a disaster.
25. Who proposed?He did, after making me walk about 15 miles.
26. Who is more sensitive? Him. I tease him about crying so much during movies.
27. Who has more friends? Him.
28. Who has more siblings? Me.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Definitely him.