dubai

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is located in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates.
When we walked up to this mosque- prayer time was beginning. It was beautiful to hear the singing (chanting?) and see the entrance to the mosque- this place pristine.

When we got to this hotel, a guard said we had to have “appropriate clothing” on (long pants and shirts.) Pierre and Florence had prepared us for this, so we had our backpack packed. Most of Maddux’s clothes were in the wash so we brought (what I call) his “Indian lounge outfit.” He was so mad! Emerson and I couldn’t stop laughing- he looked so cute. As soon as we got in the hotel and he saw someone in a tshirt, he took off the shirt and threw it.

The first picture is of an ablution room- below is the definition:
ab·lu·tion
[uh-bloo-shuhn]
noun
“a cleansing with water or other liquid, especially as a religious ritual”
You see these rooms everywhere since many Muslims pray five times per day and usually wash before they enter a prayer room.
We also noticed that people around these parts like gold! Everything is either actual gold or gold plated. Ooh-la-la!

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While in Dubai, we went to Wild Wadi Waterpark that has the scariest, best water ride ever called Jumeira Sceira! Lennon and Luca (who is 6) were the first to go on it- how brave! You step into an enclosed tube, a woman’s voice counts slowly backwards “3, 2, 1” – then the floor swooshes out from under you and you shoot straight down this crazy steep slide!!!! Loved it! We were so happy that Pierre and Florence let Luca miss a day of school for a day of righteous fun!!! Now that’s what I call good parenting. Jules was sick (huge bummer!) and Clement is too small.
I know our paths will cross again for more fun- we’ll make sure of that.

Clement loves to say “La!” all the time. We have since left Dubai, but we still keep saying it. Jules, Luca and Clement- you guys rock! Thanks for making our time in Dubai so fun!!!!!

Photography credits go to Emerson!