Donna's First Hamburger!!

So.... Donna had her first hamburger!!! To be honest, I think the build up was more exciting than than the burger itself, but it was all alot of fun anyway! And for those who were wandering-that is not coke-it is apple juice!! That would be pushing us too far!!

Much to Ryan's delight; this was the only bite Donna had...

PACKING!!

So, it's coming to the end of our stay here in Uptown Mirdiff. We have been so blessed to stay here, it has been a great place to live and grow (in all ways!). For those of you that could come visit us here, thank you-we hope that you had fun and were refreshed. For those that never made it over-sorry for you....!

Packing has gone ok so far-very slow, but getting there anyway! As much as I pack, little Miss Muffit unpacks to check out and look at again! I managed to do one box from her room, but have decided to leave the rest of her room for last-it was impossible!! Donna was so kind though, she gave away 2 full boxes of toys to a charity. She was so excited to give some of her toys to children who don't have any, "Now all children have toys!" was her response when we dropped them off. Bless her!

We got this clip from a friend in the week, Donna just loved it-for those that haven't seen it yet-enjoy! Those that have-enjoy again, it's so cute!!

Night at Al Qsar

We had an amazing opportunity to live it up at the very, very fancy Al Qsar hotel with Mel and Sean last weekend. It was a real treat! Again I had such fun with my camera, taking too many pictures of the Burj al Arab-but then one doesn't get a perfect, uninterrupted sea view of it everyday, so I took full advantage of the time I had! We had a great time with Mel and Sean, Donna is getting to love Mel more and more, which is so heart warming to see. Donna walked hand-in-hand with Mel for about 1 1/2 kms when we went out for supper, chatting away-not stopping for a moment's breath. I was quite impressed with her level of fitness!

Breakfast the next morning was just brilliant, variety like non other-we ate enough for breakfast, lunch and a bit of supper too (well it was the price of about 3 meals!!). It was in this over-the-top breakfast setting that Donna said "I could live in this hotel forever!!"....

After breakfast we went to the pool and had a superbly relaxing time. We also went in for a dip in the sea, which was so hot and had Donna gagging because it is so salty, so that didn't last long! But I got my sea swim in-so it was good!

We were very thankful for the time we had away, a great time with the Emirati Pennies altogether!

Bab al Shams

Bab al Shams, "Gateway to the Sun", has been one of my favourite visits of our time here in Dubai. I so loved the realness of it, it's one of the few places here in Dubai where they are true to the surroundings, and don't try to be something they're not. The desert is beautiful, and it was a privilege to experience it like this!

The falconry was amazing, the falcon is such an agile bird, it's awesome to see God's diversity in creativity on display like that. I took far too many pictures!

That evening we had a fantastic traditional Bedouin style supper, out in the desert. The food was delicious, far too much, but delicious! The entertainment was superb, again local at it's best!

The pool was beautiful. An Infinity pool overlooking nothing but desert. Quite something! We met up with the Dercksens (unplanned!) and Donna's superhero Keagen, aka Spiderman, was enjoying swimming so much, that he enticed Donna to go to depths she never has in the swimming world! Since then, and after watching hours of Olympics, she is swimming like a proper fish! I will be posting a video soon, you cannot believe how this 2 year old can swim! It makes her dad very proud!

Leaving Bab al Shams was really hard, even Donna said, "It's so sad to leave "Bubble Saams", she really had a fantastic time, which made the trip just so much more enjoyable and amazing!