My Big, Hot, Dubai Birthday!

Happy Birthday Baby Bear!

I honestly can't believe it, but this little cake faced critter is celebrating her 8th birthday.  Our little Gigi has brought us so much joy - and kept us laughing for the past eight years.  Every time she has a birthday I wish she could just stay that age forever - but I have to say we just love her more each year! 

Since this day would double as a Bye-Bye Dubai party, we decided to blow it out.  We went BIG!  Why not? How many times to you leave your first Expat experience and celebrate your baby's birthday all in one?

For her birthday this year, all she wanted was her very closest friends to celebrate with her at the Sasso home away from home - The Atlantis.  And this is when this blog could be retitled "Ode to the Atlantis Resort".  It is an amazing place - great for families and so much to do you could live there for weeks!  But it is the staff that just makes it unbelievable.  The manager of the kids program - Isabelle -  asked me a few questions about G and her friends, and then proceeded to plan the most fun, personal, perfect birthday ever! 

Of course, we so wish G's wonderful friends and family from home could have been here to share it with her!  I think this is the first birthday since she was 3 that she didn't celebrate with E-Bear and Tay Tay!  So we'll have to take you along with us in pictures.  Here it is - a pictoral of G's 8th Birthday! 

The crew arrives at Atlantis - from left to right is Luke, Sam, Caroline, Blake, Georgia, Olivia and Emily.  I think Emily may be the only pal I haven't introduced yet.  She is a spunky little spitfire with a great sense of humour!  She lives on our frond and she and G have become really close. 

Checking in to our room and enjoying some juice!

The crew at Atlantis had put balloons EVERYWHERE you looked!  In our room, all over the floor, everywhere! 

First stop?  Aquaventure!  It's hooooottttt.  Like Africa hot.  So the kids were more than happy to hop a ride:

They even decked out the cabana at Aquaventure!   And assigned the kids grown up "friends" to play with in the water and on the rides!  Whaaaat? 



Ready for action!

There were plenty of places to stay cool!

Then back to the room for a quick change and a peek at the view - we could see our actual house (and Sam's too!):

Then we hit Club Rush - the Teen/Tween club (like Kids Club, but for slightly older kids). It is a crazy place - it resembles a mini-nightclub - but the bar serves slushies, ice cream and popcorn, and it's filled with computers and video games:

I had told Isabelle that the girls really love Club Penguin.  When we got there she had used all the pics I sent to create a Club Penguin slide show that was running on all of the computers! 

So, Isabelle asked what we would like to eat.  I said "Oh, nothing fancy.  Just some sandwiches and salads".  We got there and she said "The chef wanted to do just a little more.  Is that OK?"  Here's the Atlantis version of "a little more":

Yes.  That is a G shaped ice sculpture filled with little ice creams.  And that is the buffet - adult food to the right, kids food to the left.  All the adults couldn't resist crossing over though.  Hey - they had chili fries!

After lunch they busted a MOVE!



And busted a PINATA!

A Club Penguin Cake! 



Even Uncle Frency Fry approved!  However, he had contributed his own work of art  - Puffle Cookies!  For those of you who are blissfully uninitiated, puffles are these odd round ball things that hang out with the penguins on Club Penguin -  they may be even Penguin pets.  Huh.  Sometimes I think Disney creates weird junk just to laugh at parents when they buy it.  However - the cookes??  AMAZING!  YES!  He made those with icing and freehanded the faces.  And yes, he is "for hire" for your next party.  You should see his Star Wars cookies. 

The adults were having as much fun as the kids! A little Brother vs. Brother on Guitar Hero - what's not to love?

Are we done yet?  Nope!  Really, after ALL that fun in sun, the kids needed a little down time.  So they went to the Spa for a little mani-pedi action!  They had a room in the spa all set up with candles and soothing music, and the girls all had their piggies painted.  And THEN.....

Time for the POOL!  The counselors had set up a Club Penguin spy hunt for the kids around the pool and on the beach.  And then there was a soccer game with a giant ball on the beach, and swimming as the sun set! 

We capped it off with dinner in our cabana by the pool - where they brought her yet another cake.  And I nearly exploded like that guy in the Monty Python movie that eats the wafer thin mint. 

We totally went BIG...and now we're going to go HOME!

Happy Birthday, G-Bear!

We're Movin' On Up!

All right!  Now we're talking!  After 10 months of driving by the iconic Burj Al Arab at least four times a day and staring at it from my backyard - we finally made it INSIDE!  It's all thanks to Uncle French Fry, who put it on the top of his Dubai Bucket List.  And since his Dubai bucket needs to be filled by this Tuesday - we finally pulled the trigger! 

The Burj Al Arab opened in 1999 and is considered one of the world's foremost luxury hotels.  They claim to be the world's only 7 star hotel...a rating that doesn't actually exist...but pfffffttt!  They are VERY sensitive about security - no looky-loos allowed.  The Big Red Bus of Dubai will not be stopping here!  We had to have our reservation number handy to make it through the gates!

 

I think we might be able to get used to rolling like this...

 

One thing for sure?  It definitely falls into the category of "Over The Top".  Step in, look up, and here's what you see:

Riding the escalator in as sophisticated a manner as possible in order to blend:

Lovely fountains in the lobby:

We went for lunch at the Al Muntaha - the restaurant on the 27th floor.  The view was sheer fabulosity!

The food was very tiny (like their main clientele might be the American Girl Doll) and very fancy.  It broke several of my major food rules - such as Never Eat Anything with Mystery Foam on Top, and Vegetables Were Not Meant to Make Cold Soup - but our resident Chef Uncle French Fry assures me it was excellent.  His palate is more appreciative of such things. 

It's the company and the experience that makes it for me - and the Burj had both in spades!  One more Bucket List item down!  I will need a LOOOOONNNGG nap when I get back to California!

Which is in 11 DAYS!  Love to ALL!

Sassos Love Company!

Wait! Who's this??  Could it be?  The Walkers came to Dubai!  We were SO excited that Shauna, Geoff, Taylor and Daniel decided to go big for Spring Break in London and hop on over to our neck of the woods (only a 6 hour flight!).  To say the girls were THRILLED to see them would be a massive understatement.  The Walkers stayed at - where else - The Atlantis, but we got to spend lots of time with them during their visit!

We went to the Bab Al Shams resort to get the Arabic experience - Arabic Buffeast:

The kids were adventurous about the food!  They even tried Arabic Chicken Nuggets (AKA Falafel - shhhh)

Meeting the falcons  - T was a little cautious, but Daniel would have stuffed one in a backpack and taken it home if he could have:



Say it with me:  Obligiatory Camel Shot:

T rocks the henna tatoo:

The best part of the visit was the loooovvvve.  As adults, we all commented that as fun and exciting as expat life is - there is something so comforting about sitting across the table from people you have a shared history with.  The kids must have felt the same way, because G and T spent the whole time holding hands and telling each other "I love you so much".  Precious. 



One night we let the kids play on the beach behind our villa:

 

And then we left them there while we the adults went to dinner.  KIDDING! The babysitter was totally there.  They were out when we got home. 

We also visited the Dubai Mall, saw the fountain show (just like Vegas!), and went to SEGA.  SEGA is an interactive, virtual reality indoor amusement park.  I know Shauna and Geoff are totally thankful I took them there.  They especially loved the giant stuffed duck and AK47 sized water gun that the kids made them take back to London. 

It was such a great visit!  Made even more so by the fact that we know that this is only the first of many adventures with this great family!  So come out and see ALL of us in London!



Maldives!

 

OK, so you know how you always see those pictures of the amazingly too good to be true turquoise water with totally isolated white sand beaches?  And nowhere you visit seems to actually look like that?  Well...we FOUND that place!  The Maldives are made up of 1,190 small islands in the Indian Ocean off the South West coast of India.  100 of the islands have resorts on them, 200 have people, and the other 890 are still untouched.  Honestly?  The most beautiful place I have ever been.  Hands down. 

Augusto and I went to celebrate our 10 1/2 year anniversary (or our 10 year anniversary 6 months late) - and a BIG thanks to Uncle French Fry for watching the chicken littles! 

You fly into Male, and the airport is literally a single runway flanked on either side by marina!  Our resort was on the island of Reethi Rah - a 1 hour boat ride from the airport.  All the resorts have their own boats, lined up to whisk you off...

The resort is the only thing on the island, which is about 2km long and 1km wide.  It was all tropical jungle and you took narrow sand paths to get around.  We have always wanted to try the "over the water villa"...

You walked out our sliding doors onto the deck - you could lounge on the nets and check out the sea life below!

Or you could jump off the deck and paddle over to the beach:

Or, you could just hang out on deck...my preferred option....

I did float for a bit...

But then we saw......SHARK!!!!!!!!!!!  He looked super big and menacing in person.  I swear. Like Jaws.

After that, I stayed safely on deck and became the official Mai Tai drinker.  Self Appointed.  Mama didn't raise no fools.

Of course, this didn't stop AquaMan:

He made a friend!  This giant ray hung out all night sitting right under Augusto as he made conference calls.  Yes, the good people of BlackBerry provide service to paradise.

View from the entry of the restaurant:



Dinner with a view:

And  after 10 1/2 years,  2 kids, 3 dogs and 3 cats (two of which are certifiably insane), 7 different house moves (6 of which he managed to be on business trips), and two (almost three) countries later - my husband is still my handsome Prince.  He slays all the dragons and makes my dreams come true.  I'm a lucky girl. 

 And the countdown to California stands at 18 days....