The day that my family left, Elise got up and decided she was going to ride a bike! That's exactly what she did! So proud of her!
We took the girls out for breakfast since we are all pretty sad about our visitors leaving!
My precious angels sleeping on the plane!
We celebrated New Years with some friends! We are drinking Saudi champagne- which has zero alcohol in it! We had a fun night of playing games and pretending we were somewhere else!
She's back!! Claire and I are so thrilled that Love is back in our life!! They have been playing together every week and loving every minute of it!
Josh and I were so excited that our new niece, Colbie was born! It is really hard to not hop on a plane and go hold her! She is so precious and we are so happy she and her mommy are good and healthy.
Linda and I celebrated her birthday in Khobar. We had a fun day shopping!
We had anxiously been awaiting the arrival of everyone to come visit us! It has been a long process to get them visas to Saudi Arabia. We couldn't believe the day had finally come! We went ahead to Dubai a day early--otherwise they would have landed before us. We spent our day with an amazing breakfast at The Grosvenor House--in fact our entire stay there was out of this world.
A friend of mine recommended the Madinat Jumeriah souk and it did not disappoint. I would highly recommend it during Christmas time for kids. They had a train ride, pretend snow area, and drinks!! It was extremely hot the day we were there!
When you haven't seen anything remotely Christmas -we were like kids in a candy store. Josh and I were just as excited to see the Christmas and hear the music.
Josh took the girls to see a movie while I got a pedicure (gasp! It was the first one I've had since August!)
One of my favorite stores in the Dubai mall (to look, not buy) is the Galeries Lafayette. They had an awesome Santa Claus there and the girls present inside the bag was a picture perfect buttercream cookie--that's why there was no picture--we ate them.
Flight aware got a lot of hits from my phone this day!! We couldn't wait to greet them at the airport!!
They were all troopers on their long flight and we were so happy to be together again!!
We started out our first official day with a breakfast buffet at the hotel and a lot of coffee! The hotel was decorated beautifully for Christmas.
Today's first stop: Atlantis hotel
We went by train because the taxis can be expensive especially when traveling with 12 people!
These two hardly left each other's side the whole two weeks.
Atlantis Resort is on the famous Palm islands in Dubai. It is a really nice resort and you pretty much stay on the resort the whole time if you choose to stay there. You can also come out for the day (like we did) to see the Aquarium. Our main focus was to see Santa's village. We were surprised when we saw Santa himself scuba diving!
This gingerbread house was edible!
Hanging out at the Mall of Emirates and I came across a Giant Downy!! I love this stuff!
If you ask any of our kids what their favorite activity they would all say: Ski Dubai. A ski resort inside a mall?? Only in Dubai! We had so much fun! We just did the snow fun package since we had little kids, but you could definitely make a day of it by skiing, too. Make sure you bring your own gloves and wear warmer clothes otherwise you have to buy some cheap ones on your own.
After our fun day in the snow we needed to warm up!
The next morning we were all up and ready to go head to the Dubai Mall. The kids were so thrilled that the elves had joined us in Dubai.
Our first stop was the Burj Khalifa- the tallest building in the world.
The line wasn't so bad, but we had already purchased our tickets online. You can also get a fast pass-but we didn't need it this day as it wasn't that crowded.
They don't really let you go all the way to the top, but your ears still pop on the highest level they allow you.
The kids had so much fun at Build a Bear in Dubai. We had been promising them a bear from Bahrain, but when we passed the store in the mall we decided to treat them early! We were not disappointed--the staff was amazing and the kids and adults loved every minute of it!
Next stop was Hamley's toy store. They had a Santa Claus and there was no line! Not too many people in the Middle East visit Santa!
We then had a fantastic dinner overlooking the Dubai Fountains. We chose the Italian restaurant Serafina Dubai. We chose that one because it serves alcohol (just being honest). The only restaurants that serve alcohol in Dubai are those that are tied to hotels.
BeBe and Papa watched the kids so we could all go out and have a drink at the famous Buddha bar. The bar was pretty empty since we went fairly early- the drinks were very unique, but very delicious!
The next day was our last full day in Dubai. We started out with our awesome breakfast and then went to the Grosvenor's Sister hotel- the Royal Meridian. When you stay at either of these hotels they offer a free shuttle back and forth. The Royal Meridian is more for people who want a stay-cation. It was beautiful! I'm really glad we went over and walked on the beach.
These camels were beautiful, however extremely overpriced for a camel ride!
Kristin brought me back some Kylie Jenner lipstick-this is me trying to be like Kylie (failing miserably)
Then we were off to Bab Al Shams to do a desert drive and ride some camels! Bab Al Shams is an amazing resort situated in between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I would love to stay there, but I'm assuming it's a pretty penny.
The desert drive is really amazing! It is some very light dune bashing (our kids were fine!) and they let you have some time for some pictures.
After the desert drive, they offer free camel rides and Falcon shows. This is only for their hotel guests or people who have booked the desert drive. The camel rides start at 4:30 and go until 5 30.
We started off our last day in Dubai with one last amazing breakfast at our hotel.
We set off for the Miracle Gardens. They are so beautiful!! It was nice to let the kids run around.
The face painting was a huge hit!
We hurried back to the hotel to finish off the beers and get ready for the flight to Saudi.
I may have told my sisters a white lie...I told them they had to cover their heads to enter Saudi for the first time. ;)
Saying goodbye to our fabulous hotel!
Back to the reality of living in Saudi Arabia....
They managed to only have to wait an hour and a half in Saudi customs which is really good! We were so happy when they let them through. We were all finally in Saudi together! It felt like home.
The next day we took family pictures on the beach and then headed out to the nicest spot in Saudi....Chili's.
I then took them to our grocery store, Tamimis. We have gotten so use to living here, I have forgotten about some of the things they would find funny (different).
We had a lazy Saudi day and the next morning we are up at 6 AM for the drive to Bahrain. We stayed at the Gulf Hotel and had an amazing brunch at the Four Seasons. We chose the Four Seasons because of their awesome kids club!! They do really fun activities with the kids while the parents can enjoy a few hours of eating and drinks!
Larkin was getting a lot of attention in the Bahrain souk.
I loved having these kids in my house!! They had so much fun together.
We always take the new girls to Big World as part of their first week initiation. My sisters were no exception. ;)
Tears were shed when Love returned this week! I was so thrilled that Alecia and Kristin got to meet her at Lulu's. Claire is so excited!!
And just like that, they were gone. The days have been long, quiet, and lonely! We (me) are looking forward to school starting and getting busy! We are already counting down until June! We are so fortunate that they were able to come and see this part of the world. It was an amazing trip that none of us will forget. Thank you to BeBe and Papa!
