Vistors!

It's officially Visit Dubai Month!  After only having one visitor last year (thanks, Pops), we were pumped when we found out my mom, Carolyn, Andy and Jerry were all visiting this fall.  My mom and Carolyn visited over Thanksgiving break, and our first stop was Oman.  After the trip to Muscat last year with my teacherfriends, I knew Oman was beautiful, but the Musandam Peninsula is really REALLY beautiful.  

The drive to Musandam, not too shabby.

MOUNTAINS!

Our lovely guide for the mountain safari.

Cute little village on the tippity top.

It was surprisingly cold.

Carolyn, Ma, me, Casey

Our second day in Oman was spent on a dhow cruise.  Oman has stunning fjords, gorgeous water, millions of wandering goats and even dolphins!  Who knew?

This brave dude dove for this sea urchin.

Mama enjoying the dhow cruise.

Time to return to Dubai :(

Even though Oman is only a few hours away from Dubai, it's completely different in the best way.  It would be like going from Texas to New York, only in a really nice, happy, relaxing sort of way.  The people are friendly and incredibly hospitable, and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous.

Sadly, I didn't take anymore pictures of my mom's stay after Oman.  I don't know what I was thinking.  We had a lovely time, toured all the important Dubai sights and planned our first Christmas back in America next year.  Oman was definitely the highlight of the trip for me, and I'm glad my mom got to experience more of the Middle Eastern culture while she was here.  Carolyn spent all of her free time looking for teaching jobs in Dubai :)

Two weeks after my mom and Carolyn left, Casey's dad and brother arrived - yay!  Andy lives in Taiwan, so I've only seen him for a total of maybe 7 days before this trip.  It was lovely getting to know him and seeing Casey's dad again.  We sucked at taking pictures again, but at least we got a few goodies.

Brothers :)

Selfie on a camel :)

Riding camels never gets old, especially at Al Sahra Desert Resort.  They love their camels like children.  Spoiled camels = happy camels.

Big Mama asked me to take lots of pictures of her boys since she doesn't get to see them in the same place very often.  I failed her, but got a few good ones at least.  

The handsome Casler studs at our best dinner of the trip.

Cheeky brothers.

Smiley brothers.

Brothers and their dad.

Andy and Jerry - don't they have great smiles?

Our only group photo at my favorite place in Dubai, the Madinat.

When we dropped Andy off at the airport last night, I thought I was going to cry.  He and Casey have such a nice relationship it was sad to see him go.  We drop Casey's dad off tonight, and then Jessica and Caitlyn arrive the day we get back from Sri Lanka.  Having visitors is so much fun and definitely helps us pass the time 'til Denver.  Anyone else want to visit?? :)

The Onion of the Middle East

I've been duped.  When a friend shared the article about the Gold Class Lane, I totally believed it, as did everyone else I know in Dubai.  But don't fret; the Middle East just got a little bit cooler because The Pan-Arabia Enquirer is an Onion-esque news magazine aimed at poking fun of the excess of this region.  I think the best part about this is that we all believed this story... because it's not too far off of where they are now.

Shut. Up.

For every extraordinary accomplishment the UAE has had in 40 short years, something like this happens...

Gold Class Driving Lane

a VIP lane from Dubai to Abu Dhabi for  "top-end car owners" from a soon-to-be-released list.

Two of my favorite quotes from the article:

"And we’ll be installing manned vehicles along the route – almost like club bouncers – to ensure someone in a dusty Lancer or Corolla doesn’t try to take advantage of the lane and ruin the experience for our members."

and

"It just concerns me that they might be putting, say, a Corvette in the same category as my vastly more expensive vehicle. Perhaps there should be a VVIP or Platinum Class lane as well."

Umm...

Nerdy Teacher Alert

We had good ol' Parent Night tonight... a dreaded day for all teachers because we end up working 13 glorious hours and usually only about 1/3 of the parents show up.  I definitely think it's worth it, but I think ours could have been planned a bit better.  If only I were in charge...

Anyhoo, I had just finished my second presentation of the night and was already wishing I was at home eating Just Falafel in my pjs.  It was that moment when you're staring at the clock, hoping everyone goes home soon so you can, too.  On his way out the door, a little boy named Rayan came up to me and politely asked if he could show his mom his composition books.  He ran over to the drawers and pulled out his science book and reading book and writing book and started telling his mom about everything we've done this year.  It sounded something like this... "And this was when we blew bubbles and described them with fancy words, and this is when Mrs. Elder pretended (looks up at me and grins) she didn't remember what real reading is so we had to teach her, and this is when we made inferences with funny pictures, and this was our GUMMY BEAR EXPERIMENT, and this was when I wrote about all the things that bug me,  and..."  

Umm, how cute is that?  If that doesn't fill your teacher heart with happiness, I don't know what will.  This was definitely one of those moments I want to remember for days when I'm questioning why I'm a teacher at all.

Texas

Four days after Switzerland, I left for the Great State and have nothing but good memories and terrible pictures to show for it.  On the 16 hour flight, I managed to watch 4 movies (including one weird documentary called The Imposter - check it out), a few episodes of Downton Abbey and even get a few winkles of sleep.  Emirates is a supremely comfortable airline, but even with the extra pillows, blankets and meals, I was hurting by the time we landed in DFW.  And even though I had only been gone one year, it felt so weird to be back in Texas.  Everything seemed so flat, but compared to the Rocky Mountains and skyscrapers of Dubai, everything seems flat.

I sucked at taking pictures on this trip, probably because I was on picture overload in Europe.  I stole most of these from other people because I literally have like 3 pictures from 3.5 weeks.

Morgan and Reese, my favorite parts of the trip (sorry friends).  My goal was to make Reese my BFF by the end of the trip because she was scared of me when I got there.  I moved to Denver weeks after she was born and Dubai when she was one, so to her, I'm like the scary new lady that keeps smiling at her and trying to pick her up.  I'm happy to report that we were, indeed, BFFs by the end of the trip.  The challenge now is to not let her forget who I am while I'm away this year. 

Morgan's always my BFF, so no news there.

Sibling time!  Check out the sweet photo of Casey in the traditional UAE wear.  Awesome, eh?  He's posing in the traditional pose, too... serious face looking off to the side. 

The family minus Shannon and Casey F. at BABE'S!!!!!  I had two places I needed to go when I got back - Piranha and Babe's.  I'm embarrassed to say this, but I think Babe's is my favorite restaurant of all the places I've been.  It's at least tied for first with some nicer establishments.

Baby Nate!!  When I found out Alyssa was pregnant, I cried.  She's wanted this for SO long and struggled SO hard to get pregnant, and I'm so happy she finally has the baby she's been dreaming of for so long.  Dumbly, I didn't get a picture of Alyssa, even though I saw her pretty much every other day. :(

More friends!  EJ, Amanda and I had a mini high school reunion.  We haven't all been together in ten years or so, and it was so good to catch up.  I can't wait to do this again next summer!

3.5 weeks in Texas go by so quickly.  I'm so happy I got to see some of my favorite people, and I'm sad I wasn't better at taking pictures of these favorite people.  Oh my gosh, I almost forgot that Casey's mom drove down from Oklahoma to see me!  She got to meet the whole fam (finally).  It's about time for that.  The only two things that would have made this visit better would be more pictures and Casey.  Poor Casey was in Dubai working.

Welp, that's about enough of that.  I went to Texas.  It was fun.  I can't wait to go back.

Switzerland, Sadly

Switzerland, sadly?  Why sadly?  Because, if you couldn't tell, I've been drawing out our summer vacation as long as possible, trying to relive every magical moment, and sadly this was our last stop.  I can't possibly stretch it out any longer and must come to the realization that we are, in fact, back in Dubai, not frolicking through breathtaking European cities and befriending mountain-dwelling cows anymore.  Not that Dubai is all bad.  We're focusing on Dubai positives this year, cherishing our last months in the desert and trying to live in the moment, but even so, nothing compares to the mountains.  Especially Swiss mountains.

The drive from Italy to Interlaken was gorgeous (gorge, as the cool people say).

Oh, how I've missed fresh mountain air.  It instantly lifts my mood.

Happeeeeeeeeeeeness.

And wind.

The view from our apartment in Interlaken.
The first night, we sat out on the balcony for hours watching boats and kayakers go by.  We didn't even explore the new city because we were so tired.  Our excitement for the night was watching two middle schoolers contemplate jumping off the bridge.  After about an hour of standing there, they finally did it.  

The Honesty Shop.

Nobody works here; you just take what you need and leave the appropriate amount of money.  Wouldn't it be nice if this could work in real life and not just tiny mountain towns?

Murren and its beautifulness.  We woke up too late to go to the top of the famous Jungfrau, so we settled for Murren.  I was okay with that because I got to sleep, something we desperately needed at this point in our trip.

A perfect Swiss town with its perfect mountains, perfect sky, perfect flowers, perfect roofs, perfect greenness, and perfect backpacking family.

Interlaken and its surroundings are amazing.  We loved taking the train up the mountain to check out its cute little towns.  The "best" thing we did in Interlaken was a thing called canyoning.  I say "best" because it was basically four hours of me trembling from cold water and fear as we jumped, repelled and slid down a mountain.  Casey loved it, and thanks to him, we did the most extreme version of canyoning Interlaken offers.  I'm glad I did it but will never do it again.  The guides were serious adventurers and most of the canyoners were, too.  I was sure one of the girls in our group would be wimpier than me, but I think I was definitely the most scared.  In fact, they started counting down and giving me a little nudge when it was my turn to go so I would actually jump.  The only reason I was able to do this at all was because I didn't have a choice.  Once we were in the canyon, there was only one way out... down.

If you're dying to see the video, you can check it out here.  I'm Wasp and Casey's Rip Torn.  

After our canyoning nightmare adventure, we drove to Lucerne to relax with the swans.

Ahh... much better.

(notice that my eyes are closed AGAIN in the picture.  always.  why?)

Our second day in Lucerne was one of my favorite days ever.  It started out with these cuties...

(Cows are the coolest.)

had a little bit of mountain happiness in the middle, 

and ended with this craziness...

Paragliding, AHHHHHHHHHH!

After canyoning, this wasn't scary at all!  Notice how I only have one shoe on.  Casey's guide was very concerned about my Toms and wanted me to wear his old stinky boots with no socks.  I told him I'd be okay and had to work really hard to convince him my shoes were a good choice for paragliding.  Welp, it turns out that he was right.  I didn't break my ankle like he thought, but I did lose a shoe on the run down the mountain.  Luckily another paraglider took it down for me :)  My foot was FREEZING on the way down.

Casey started in a cloud and couldn't see much at first, but he was still in heaven.  He's obsessed with flying.  Paragliding was a dream.  I'm terrified of heights but wasn't scared at all for some reason.  It was peaceful and beautiful and just an absolute dream.  I'm trying to pump myself up for skydiving before we leave Dubai, but I don't know if I'm brave enough.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand finally, our last stop on our AMAZING vacation was Zurich.  We immediately took a 3 hour nap when we got there.  The last stop couldn't have come at a better time.  We were e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d.

Zurich was charming.  I wish we had more time to explore, but we just couldn't muster up the energy.

Trip highlights: Everything.  Literally.  It was the trip of a lifetime and I can't believe I was lucky enough to visit some of the most beautiful parts of Europe with my love.  When I'm a wrinkly old grandma looking back on my life, I will think of this trip as one of my favorite memories.  I think Casey's my lucky charm.  My life has gotten exponentially more exciting since I met him and every summer gets better.  Paris and Amsterdam in 2011, Bahamas and Dubai in 2012 and European road trip in 2013.  I wonder what adventures next summer will bring!

Give Me an Apron and Call Me Susie Homemaker

Because I made tortillas today!!  Why has it taken me so long to do this?  Tortillas are practically my favorite food and the one food I've been missing in Dubai.  We have only found fresh tortillas in one store, but it's about 30 minutes away and parking is terrible so we never go there.  We can get "tortillas" here, but they have the longest shelf life ever, and something about tortillas that expire in a year creeps me out.  Now with my new and improved cooking skillz, we can have tortillas whenever we want!  They're so easy - flour, olive oil, water, salt, bam.

Here's the recipe I tried today if you're interested.  Next time (tomorrow) I'll try them with different flour to see if they're just as tasty.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Cow Bells, Donkey Friends and Italian Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeese

ITALY!!  After the 'steins we drove to the mountains of Lake Como hoping for a George Clooney sighting.  We originally planned to stay on Lake Como but by the time we were ready to book a hotel, they were either all taken or too run-down.  We weren't sad for long because we found Il Tivano Bed and Breakfast in Zelbio, Italy.  It was everything we needed in the middle of our trip - comfort, relaxation and peace.

Introducing Il Tivano...

A cute Italian couple renovated this place and live in half of it with their kids and pups.  The other half is a perfectly designed B&B/organic berry/honey farm.

I took a million pictures of this place because I want my future home to be a mixture of this style and old things I find and repaint/refurbish.  It was a beautiful place to spend a few nights.

And - the best part - we were surrounded by cows!

If the owners of Il Tivano got the urge to give me their B&B, I would move here in a heartbeat.  We decided, on this very day as we were sipping red wine on this glorious porch, that we're moving back to Denver next summer and saving for a place like this in the Rocky Mountains.  We're always back and forth with where we want to be, but Il Tivano helped us make up our minds.

We braved the crazy mountain roads to visit Bellagio for the day.  It's just as cute and Italian as it gets.

I'm carrying a bag of desserts in this picture and they were all incredible.  One thing Italians do right is food.  Everything we had in Italy was amazing.

Side story: About 2 seconds after we got to Bellagio, a snarky American teenager looked at me and said, "Yeah, like that looks good," rolled her eyes and nudged her brother so he looked at my outfit...  I was wearing my favorite lace maxi skirt and a black tank top.  I don't know why that was so offensive, but I guess one year in Dubai has made me out of touch with what's cool to wear and what's not.  That's probably the rudest thing a stranger has ever said to me.

Didn't ruin my day, though!

Selfie #236

Oh, just another sunset in Italy...

This was our view from dinner the first night.  Restaurants in Zelbio operate mostly on reservations because they cook everything fresh that day.  We went to two different restaurants during our stay and both were incredible.  The owners were so warm and friendly and couldn't wait to feed us their best recipes and shots of limoncello.  They don't get many tourists up in the mountains, so they were as interested in us as we were in them.  The second night, we asked the waitress to give us whatever she'd feed her family for Sunday dinner.  She brought us two dishes, both completely smothered in cheese, and as I've told you before, cheese and my stomach are not friends.  But, when you're in Italy, how do you turn down cheese?  I decided I was gonna go for it so I could have the full Italian experience... and about 15 minutes later, I had the WORST stomach pains since I quit cheese.  After a night of cheeseystomach, Casey finally started to believe that I have some sort of dairy allergy.  It was totally worth it, though, because real Italian food is amazing.  

And finally, our dinner friend, cutest donkey ever.

Minus the too-skinny roads and crazy drivers, Italy was one of my favorite places on the trip.  Hopefully we'll make it back one day so we can stay a bit longer.