Emirates Palace

The entrance of Emirates Palace.

The adult's room - calm and peaceful.

The kid's room. Neither calm nor peaceful.

On one side if the hotel were the family pools. Daisy got nailed on the orange slide in the background.

Daisy and Andy have a competition to see who has the longest legs. I wisely kept out of it.

Bastie loves his Barbie armbands.

I marched them up to the top of the hill!

The hotel from the beach. It's huge.

Andy powers to shore.

Daisy was thrilled she was over 5 and allowed on the kayaks.

The girls heading out for a paddle.

The boys make the most of not being allowed to go for a paddle.

Daisy and Zach ready to go up...

...up...

...up and away.

From camel to golf cart, how very UAE.

Bastie gets his first marshmallow.

Stoked!

Not Zach's first marshmallow but he's still stoked.

The bread basket was a hit too.

The breakfast terrace.

Inside, and here starts the King Midas photos...

The central atrium. Gold.

A vending machine selling...

...gold.

A lift. Gold.

The corridor outside our room. Gold.

Water hammocks in one of the relaxation pools. Not gold and not relaxing once we arrived.

Some more of the relaxation pools.

Pool rugby.

Bastie risks a red card for hitting another player with a cone.

Almost time for home, a great night away.

A week in to July we decided to take advantage of one of the great cheap summer deals around and headed off to Abu Dhabi for a night at Emirates Palace. We drove there through all the new developments on Yas Island which was quite interesting.

Emirates Palace was jaw droppingly, mind boggingly, ginormous. A huge marble and gold creation on the beach right by town. It's facade raised even a smile from Daisy who is infuriatingly blase about luxury hotels.

After arriving, we spent the afternoon in the family pool, Daisy bravely went on the hydroslide and managed not to cry after coming off it upside down and back to front with a mouthful of water. Zach wouldn't go near it. There was a lazy river which is always a hit. We also had a lovely walk over grassy hills, a great time taking out some kayaks, Daisy and Zach really enjoyed a camel ride down the beach and all the kids enjoyed riding on the golf carts.

We had a lazy start to the following day - I think cartoons in bed are the kid's favourite part of staying in hotels - then spent some time in the relaxation (ha!) pool area before heading back home.

All in all a fab night away. I liked Emirates Palace although Andy found it too big and museum like. It was definately over the top (think gold fittings in the bathrooms etc) but actually managed to pull it off without veering in to tacky. I'm partial to a bit of bling though.

Bx

Atlantis and the Monorail.

Waiting for the monorail.

Spiderman came along for the ride.


Bastie wasn't too impressed at first.

Zach was.

Daisy too.

Atlantis glides in to view.

Fish!

Sharks!

Ducklings!

Lots of fish.

Picnic lunch. Thanks Starbucks for the use of your facilities.

Peanut butter monster.

Another peanut butter monster.

The kids wistfully check out Aquaventure. Yes, Daisy really did don devil horns for the ride home. She had them stashed in her handbag. As you do.

The kids and I did a morning trip to Atlantis. We parked at the base of the Palm then got the monorail to Atlantis where we had a wander around and checked out the aquarium then had a picnic lunch.

Bx

Moby.

Ronald, Rob, Brian, Elena and I wait for Moby.

Moby on guitar!



It was a great show.

Moby on drums!

Disco in the desert! We had a wicked night seeing Moby at the World Trade Centre. We went with Ronald, Rob, Elena and Brian and danced up a storm. Well, Elena and I did, the boys stood around nodding their heads.

Bx

School holiday heaven.

We went to Modhesh World where Daisy got to do the bungee thing which she loves.

Spiderman live at Bur Jurman. Summer is great for free shows in the malls. We have also been to Circus Africa at Mirdif Mall.

There were lots of acrobatics and fighting moves.



Bastie was terrified of the dry ice.

We went to Andy's work for lunch one day. Zach and Bastie are looking quite alike of late.

The kids were thrilled to discover that Andy has MTV in the office.

It didn't take long for the kids to start causing mayhem.

We've been going to the pool lots, it's perfect pool weather.

We've also had lots of playdates. The dress ups often come out.

We are in week three of school hols and having a fantastic time. Lots of friends are staying this year so we've had plenty of play dates and been doing so much fun stuff. There is loads to do and we've been making the most of our time. It's so nice having the time to really enjoy things without the constant rush rush rush.

Bx

Lots of lasts.

The dress up dance hip hop routine get underway.

Zach with his medal.

The kids with their dance teacher Heba. She's 6 months pregnant with twins.

Ballerinas.

Bastie enjoys an end of term cupcake by the pool.

Zach showcases his swim fin.

Daisy, Hannah and Charlie do their best to sink the float boat.

Zach with his playgroup teacher Lisa. He's really going to miss her.

A last cuddle from his playgroup helper Emily.

With the end of the school year and summer hols looming we've had lots of 'last days' recently.

Daisy finished her Reception year at Repton and made us very proud with a fantastic final report. She's done so well during her two years in the Early Years department. She has had a great time and made some wonderful friends, she is in top groups for reading and maths and is doing really well in french and arabic. She's making the big jump to year one and the junior school in September. Her class is being split up but luckliy she is with her closest group of friends in her new class.

Zach finished at Lisa's Playgroup where he has had a wonderful time for the past two years. He'll be starting at Repton in September which he is very excited about. He has his new school shoes already which I practically had to wrestle off him. He's passing the torch to Bastie who is starting two mornings a week with Lisa in September, yikes!

Daisy and Zach had their end of year dance show which was a lot of fun. They both do dress up dance which is hip hop style moves. Daisy also does pre-primary ballet. They have practised really hard learning their routines and both did a fantastic job. Daisy won best girl dancer and got a huge trophy for her effort. Go Daisy!

Daisy and Zach both had their last swimming lessons for the school year. Zach has had lessons with Dawn along with his best friend Miles and they have both done so well. They went from being scared of putting their faces in the water to being confident and happy going under and can now even swim short distances by themselves. Well done boys! Daisy has had lessons with Lisa and is very confident in the water, she is brilliant at breast stroke and getting better and better at over arm and back stroke.

We are all REALLY looking forward to the summer break. We have lots of fun activities planned and I'm super looking forward to not having to constantly rush rush rush the kids. I'm sure they are looking forward to me not constantly badgering them either! Bastie really misses Daisy and Zach when they are gone so he is going to be in heaven with them around constantly. Summer is normally a quieter time at Andy's work which will be good for him.

Bx