When we found out that we were moving to India, our two Muggles were excited for three reasons 1- To eat more Indian food, 2- To see Mount Everest, 3- To see Burj Khalifa. As you know we crossed off the first two already. But we had not been to Dubai yet. That may have been because we were not sure what to expect about going there. But we had some friends from Mumbai move to Dubai and thought it would be a GREAT opportunity to go.
I have to say that we all LOVED Dubai. It is hot, sure...but it is also clean and has so much to do. I knew that kids were enjoying it when they were begging to come back before we had even left! We ate delicious food and had all kinds of fund with may different activities.
Dubai is similar to Singapore in a way that it is "East meets West" type of an experience. We were so excited to eat at Din Tai Fung--one of our favorites restauarant chains of all time! We were also able to eat some of our favorite US brands of food too!
One of the things Koala Bear wanted to do was ski! She heard about skiing in Dubai from one of the families at church who used to live in Dubai. Sadly, they were unable to ski because they had not skied before and the lessons were too late and we would have missed our flight. But our adrenaline junkie family LOVED the experience. We were not sure what to expect, but it was SO much fun!
These two begged to make snow angels first thing in the morning.
We arrived as soon as it opened. That was such a good choice because we did not wait in any lines the entire time. By the time we were ready to leave Large groups were coming in and we had already done some amazing things! We drove bummer cars themed like snow plows. We rode on sleds down the luge course and we tubed so many times.
We all commented on how it was odd to be so cold in the snow area when it was SO HOT outside!!
We did the HUGE zip line. We were teasing the Muggles about going down and being safe. As the guy strapped them in I told them that if they die to tell Vaitafe and theirs sisters hello. All we got from Koala Bear was a mewling whine! HAHA
We could not just go down the hill! We had to spin and race. I told you we were adrenaline junkies!
We rode the ZORB balls down the hill. It was not as fun as New Zealand. In NZ we had the water inside to ride on. In this one they wanted you to "tumble." No thank you! That does not sound fun.
One of the hotels overlooks the mountain. What a cool view!
As we do in many countries we find grocery stores and walk around them seeing what is available. I was sold on living in Dubai someday when I saw they had things we have to ship ourselves in India. They had our favorite treats from Asia and United States!
The aisles were so clean and spacious!
Dinners were always an experience. We had belly dancers and spinning dancers perform for us. It was fun to watch them.
They were full of tricks. I am not sure how this guy was not dizzy after spinning so much
We found Lego stores! And we found Disney Stores! And we found See's chocolates! We had so much fun exploring them together.
These two enjoyed rock climbing. They perfected their climbing in summer camps in Mumbai. But these walls were extremely tall and difficult. But they conquered like champions.
We made it to Din Tai Fung again! Haha
To stay cool we went to the water park! We raced each other down slide after slide. You can see that Turtle also joined us on the trip. He got lost on one slide and I found him after a family man-hunt to return him!
We spent every evening and night at the beach building castles and digging holes. One night we could see the stingrays swimming by. We also watched the wealthy people land their helicopters onto their massive yachts for to spend the evening.
I love these people! We have so much fun traveling together
And there we saw it! The Burg Khalifa!
We spent the day with our friends that now live in Dubai. The kids loved to see their friends again and we were happy to spend time with their parents. We miss them living so close to us and we are glad that we could go see them. The four kids were on a constant run for the day. Bouncing from one experience to the next!
The Mall of Dubai is MASSIVE. I would say that we are not really "mall people" but when the mall is where to eat, play, go to the zoo, and have activities for everyone, you go! We spent several hours in Kidzania letting the kids learn to work and live life.
The four of them made their own Lego people. The salesperson was sneaky...she told them "just try" and the next thing we knew they were asking to print them!
The kids designed their own shoes, learned about germs, were police people, did their own banking, were astronauts and pilots, and worked in grocery stores.
They made their own smoothies by peddling bikes to power the blender. It was fun to watch (yes, I watched and cheered all the blender people on!)
They also bought McDonald's food and were the workers to prepare it too. I had to laugh when they said that it was their "dream job!"
Thanks for sharing your memories family. Ofa atu from Aotearoa New Zealand 🇳🇿.
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