We have had an amazing last two weeks. Josh's parents came in to Saudi to visit and we went to Dubai and Switzerland. It truly was a trip of a lifetime and one I never thought I would do!
I'll start from the beginning!
Josh's parents flew in late Monday night. Unfortunately, the majority of flights into Saudi are in the middle of the night! Josh went to pick them up with our driver because it is quite scary coming into the Dammam airport at 2 AM. They stayed in my parents villa because there was more space there.
Our first day, we just hung out on the compound and took them to lunch at where else, but Chili's! The options here really are terrible! For dinner, we took them to our favorite Indian restaurant, Cooxon. They were sleepy from their busy travels, so we tried to keep it a quiet day!
On Wednesday, we took them to Le Cafe for a Saudi brunch--which means we were waiting for a long time and half of of the food wasn't available! HA!
Wednesday night we invited our close friends over for dinner so they could all meet Josh's parents.
Thursday was a very exciting day because we took them to Khobar. Khobar is where we do all of our shopping and I wanted to take Rhea to Desert Designs. Since Josh's dad used to work in Saudi, he had an old friend he wanted to meet up with. I did not realize how famous this old friend was!
We met Sheik Abdullah Fouad at the restaurant at the Sheraton in Khobar--which he just happens to own--as well as half of Khobar. He met us with his daughter and granddaughter. They shut the entire restaurant down for just us. It was amazing. He was so kind and shared a lot of interesting stories with us. He is 93 years old and you wouldn't believe it. After lunch, we were able to go to his house where he signed his book for us. His house was also pretty amazing. After driving up in a Rolls, we entered in through security and then a courtyard area. His house was full of staff making coffee/tea and getting anything we needed. I wish I could have taken some pictures! I have the book and dates to prove we were there!
On Friday morning, we were off to Dubai! The flight was uneventful and the kids did great! Since it was such a short flight we didn't buy Claire a ticket since she is still under the age of 2.
We went through customs very quick in Dubai and were picked up by Bill's friend. It was so nice to have a place to stay in Dubai instead of having to get a hotel. It also didn't hurt that these friends are extremely wealthy. I seriously felt like I was a Kardashian for a week and let me tell you it was AMAZING. Those girls have nothing to be unhappy about!When we drove up to their house--which was located in a neighborhood called--Emirates Hills-- his staff literally greeted us at the door. It was like a scene out of a movie. Every single time we pulled up in to the driveway they came out the door. There were several of them and they loved having the kids there.
Some of the amazing things about having a fully staffed house:
You wake up in the morning to coffee and breakfast.
When you leave the house in the morning with your dirty clothes on the floor-you come back later in the day to clean clothes-folded and put away.
When you need something ironed-you just yell, "Haroon, IRON!" Haroon appears and 20 minutes later your clothes are pressed.
Want to have a date night with no kids? No problem--there is a nanny that also lives there.
Want to bring the kids to a fancy dinner? No problem--just bring the nanny with you and she will take care of them the entire dinner.
Want to drink--but need a DD--just bring along the driver and drink as much as you want
Do you see where I'm going with this? PARADISE
One of the other awesome things is that this man was equally amazing and also generous. He set Rhea and I up with a spa appointment in the Burj Al Arab. This building is the one that looks like a sailboat. You can't just walk up to this building and get in. It is a prestigious hotel that only rich people go to--seriously. Our friend--yes, I call him OUR friend now--just happens to be a member of the health club there. So, he made us appointments at the spa there.
The spa and building were amazing. He asked us if 180 minutes was enough time for the spa treatment....ummm...yes, please...
Josh and the boys got to go golfing at the Jumeirah Beach Estates which in boy world was also equally amazing!
Where were my children??? Enjoying the infinity pool with the nanny. Oh yes, and also having helpers blow their bubbles for them.
We got to eat a brunch at the Emirates Golf Club which was really neat because they had all the old golf clubs from the tournaments there.
We also got a chance to explore the Dubai Mall--this is the one with the aquarium in it. It was really neat. We didn't have time to go to the mall with the indoor ski resort. The girls aren't old enough to do it anyway.
We went to the top of the Burj Khalif...amazing view!
Josh and I were also able to go out for drinks at night in Dubai which was a lot of fun. Dubai has a zero drinking and driving policy. Which means if you get pulled over and you have been drinking anything--just even one drink-you are arrested. This is where having a driver is so handy!
Oh yeah...I forgot we were also driven around in these cars....
On Monday morning our extremely lavish lifestyle had to come to somewhat of a halt--not a huge one, but a small one- as we boarded our plane to Switzerland! We flew in to Zurich and then drove to Lucerne for the rest of the week. Lucerne was absolutely beautiful. The girls had so much fun. Elise loved going to the top of Mount Pilatus and riding the boat and train.
We loved being able to wear our fall clothes.
On the cogwheel train, going up Mt pilatus.
They had a fun fall festival and Elise wanted to ride on the Ferris wheel!
