Another 3 months have come and gone

I have some more catching up to do with this blog. Time is going by so fast, how is it already May! Even though we don’t change time here it feels like I lost an hour somewhere. Maybe that is just part of getting older. Either way here is another catch up post about the last 3 months in Abu Dhabi.  

February – Brian turns 40 and Tyler tests positive for Covid

February didn’t start off great for us. On the same day that the Abu Dhabi government announced that it had the Pfizer vaccination available for Tyler’s age group, Tyler got a fever and tested positive for Covid the following day. We were extremely lucky that Tyler only had symptoms for about 24 hours and hasn’t had any issues since. Not to mention that Brian and I didn’t catch it, thank you booster shots. We did however have to quarantine for 10 days, which put us on lockdown for Brian’s 40th birthday. We eventually had a little celebration with cake but his actual birthday was a bust. Tyler is now fully vaccinated, and the new cases per day in the UAE are lingering in the 200’s. Here is hoping that everyone stays healthy and safe. 

Icee Finds Friends

Once we were released from our quarantine we were all ready to get out of the apartment. We found a great place called Cloud 9 to take Icee to for doggy daycare so she could have fun too. This place is amazing, and they offer so many services and have all sorts of animals there. Check out their Instagram stories to see some cuteness. Icee loves it there, is always so excited to go, and exhausted when she comes home. We also found a great dog park that we can take her to let her run around and play off leash. When we walk her around the apartment she has to stay on leash but that doesn’t stop her from wrestling with her best dog friends, Maggie (Golden Retriever) and Riley (Chocolate Lab). 

Optical Illusions

We found this optical illusion art installation in one of the malls and it was so cool. We were lucky and were able to see it the week that it was ending. It was at the World Trade Center mall, which is kind of small but that made it easy to wander around and find all of the installations. When looking at these photos keep in mind that they are all laid out in a flat square space. 

When I See a Flamingo Fly

After seeing flamingos in zoos all my life I never really thought about how different it would be to see them in the wild. It was kind of strange. I guess the strangest part was seeing them fly, which I have probably seen in some documentaries but never really paid that much attention to it. We made the drive down to Al Wathba Wetland Reserve. Ideally we would have left the apartment a little earlier to be able to enjoy the hike and flamingos in cooler less humid weather, but we survived. They told us that there are lots more flamingos there in the morning, but we were still able to see a good number of them. We hope to go back next winter earlier in the day so we can enjoy it in cooler weather with a larger herd (flamboyance) of flamingos. 

Spring break

During Tyler’s spring break we stayed a couple of nights in Dubai so we could visit Expo 2020 before it ended and see a few things there. This is where we realized that we are way out of practice when it comes to a large theme park experience including all the walking, dehydration, meal choices, heat, and people. It was still really fun and interesting. We look forward to visiting what remains when they convert it to District 2020.

We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah, and it was beautiful. Thanks to Covid we had lots of Hilton points and made it up to Diamond status, so we were upgraded and it was amazing. Tyler’s favorite part of the hotel room was the fact that it had a tv in the bathroom allowing you to could take a bath while watching tv. We got in late that first night, but I couldn’t tell him no to a tv bath. 

The next morning after breakfast we went down to the hotel’s beach. As most of you know I am not a beach person, but after this trip I realized I am however a resort beach person. I mean you have chairs, umbrellas, towels, and a secluded uncrowded beach. Add to that access to water, showers, and a menu to order food and beverages straight to your little spot. The water was so clear and just the right temperature for the weather, which was pretty nice. We were even able to see a small school of fish. I could have spent the rest of our trip at that beach, but we had other things on the agenda. On the bright side I didn’t get sunburned.  

We gave Tyler a few activities to pick from for our trip, and the one that he selected was to visit the Infinity des Lumières digital art museum. It is an immersive digital art experience, and I can’t wait to go back. The exhibits that we were able to see were Van Gogh and Dreamed Japan. They had a special event that evening so we will have to go back to see the Cosmos and Verse exhibits. The highlights for me were watching Tyler take in the beauty of it all and the section of the Van Gogh exhibit when they played Nina Simon’s “Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”. This video doesn’t do it justice but gives you a general idea. 

When we made our way back to Abu Dhabi we had lunch at Burro Blanco (Tyler and I sampled some amazingly good shredded chicken tacos) and then went to check out the Abu Dhabi Children’s Library. It is probably the coolest library I have ever seen. They had all these nooks and great places for kids to curl up with a book. Since we were all kind of tired from our Dubai trip we didn’t spend that much time there, but we are definitely keeping it on our list of things to do. 

Coming Soon

Since this post covers Tyler’s spring break I will save some of the other random stories for the next post. Which I have already started working on, so it shouldn’t be too far behind this one. With the weather warming up I am missing the days of having the balcony doors open all day and all night, drinking my morning tea out on the balcony, and being able to wear a light sweater or cardigan. So far early morning and late evenings are comfortable, but that means I have to get up early or stay up late to enjoy them. I look forward to fully appreciating the cooler weather next winter. My point is that maybe the hot weather will help keep me up to date with the blog, we will see.