Happy St. George's Day!

It's St. George's Day, y'all!  I totally stole this holiday from Lyndsey and Ben, who stole it from our Spanish ELL teacher, Ines.  I don't know much about St. George's Day besides the fact that you're supposed give your significant other a book and flower, but what I do know is that I freaking love it.  What an awesome way to say "I love you" in the middle of a typically boring month.  

I briefly mentioned St. George's Day to Casey and thought we'd celebrate this weekend by going on a mini date to the bookstore, but that was not the case.  When I got home from yoga tonight, this is what I found...

How unbelievably cute and sweet is this?  I didn't even remember it was St. George's Day today so I was totally surprised, and then I read this tiny note on the bag...

 :)

Best husband ever, just for the record.

My new books :)

I've been reading a lot about essential oils and want to start using them instead of traditional medicine whenever possible.  I don't really love the idea of taking medicine anyway, and I've been reading so many great things about oils that I thought I'd give it a shot.  Three Cups of Tea has been on my want-to-read list for a loooong time, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.  Casey knows me so well.

High five to Casey for remembering St. George's Day, listening to my random thoughts about essential oils, somehow intuitively knowing that I want to read Three Cups of Tea and happy-ing up our apartment with tulips!  St. George's Day is my favorite!

Pops in Dubai!

We finally had our first visitor!  Our friends Kai and Freya have had 832 visitors since August while we waited patiently for our first.  It's quite surprising that it turned out to be my dad because when we left 9 months ago, he said, "I won't meet you in Dubai, but I'll meet you somewhere in Europe."  Hooray for him taking the leap and flying 14 hours to see us.

Photo highlights

This is what he looked like an hour or so after arriving,

but he sucked it up like a champ and went out to see the sights.

Largest mall in the world, largest fountains in the world,

and tallest building in the world (next to the tallest hotel in the world, not pictured).

Dubai loves its superlatives.

My mom's been obsessed with going on this dinner cruise.  It's supposed to be the best in Dubai, so we tried it out.  The food was delicious, but the cruise was so slow I just wanted to step on the gas and floor it down the creek.  Awkward.  After my dad's review of the cruise, my mom decided it's not something she needs to do when she visits, thankfully.

Casey's boaty glamor shot.

The beautiful Madinat.  I'm obsessed with this place.  It's the most beautiful hotel I've ever seen with a million restaurants, shops, bars, etc.  It's so big, you can take a boat where you need to go if you don't want to walk.

Our fearless leaders.

Our first camel sighting.

Dinner on the beach near this beauty, not too shabby.

<3

 I love this building!  The architect snuck a giant cross on the on the other side that you can only see from the ocean.  That's a bit cheeky for me, especially in a Muslim country, but it's still one of my favorite building ever.

Fuzzy, but still my favorite picture from the trip.

Spice souks!

Every vendor pretty much has the same thing.  We didn't buy anything, but I wonder if one vendor is better than another.  The colors are stunning.

We took an abra from the spice souk to the gold souk.  1 dirham each, $0.27.

The amazing Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi!  I'm also obsessed with this place if you can remember from this post.

I got in trouble for taking this picture because it's the VIP entrance, but it's the prettiest side.  There's a helipad over here in case someone wants to take a helicopter to the mosque to pray.

In case you're wondering, this is the 8th largest mosque in the world with the largest carpet in the world...

We had our first sandstorm the first 5 days my dad was here.  It wasn't crazy like it was in Mission Impossible, just really hazy and tons of sand in the air.  It was so bad we had to cancel our first camel-riding adventure, but luckily they had an opening for later in the week.

Jumeriah Mosque, one of the first places we visited when we moved to Dubai in August.  If you're interested in seeing the inside of the mosque, check it out here.

Dad learning about Islam.  

I got to do the traditional pre-prayer wash in the fountain :)

CAMELS!  Finally.  I've been dying to ride camels since we got here but I usually feel sorry for them.  Not these camels.  They're living the high life.  They live at Al Sahra Desert Resort with the sweetest people ever.  They are extremely well fed, only work 80 minutes a day, get daily baths and pretty much just relax 98% of the time.  They were really sweet and gentle and I'm obsessed.

Dad on a camel - woot!

Our amazing guide.

This guy is the camel whisperer.  He loves the camels like his own babies and trained them to walk with just a little rope.  Normally, camels have a huge metal ring drilled through their noses so you can guide them, but he didn't want to do that to these guys.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!"

Dad drinking camel milk, another thing he said he wouldn't do.

Camel milk is very nutritious, more so than cow milk.  It's a bit salty but has so many  health benefits I think I could get used to the taste.

And, last but not least, some Instagram faves...

 

Spice Souk

Pretty colors

Largest carpet in the world.  Holla.

Prettiest mosque there ever was.

One thing I didn't get a picture of was my dad going to the doctor twice.  He came with a nasty cough and I think all the sand made it worse.  He had to get two breathing treatments and about 3 prescriptions.  Going to the doctor in a foreign country is probably not his idea of vacation fun.  He was a trooper, though.  Even through his sickness and the sandstorm, we managed to have a little fun.

Can't wait to see the rest of my family in August (and can't wait for Shannon to visit in November with my mom and Carolyn...hint, hint).  Counting down the days!

Praslin

I apologize for another obnoxious Seychelles post, but I need to document this fabulous day for my old lady self so I can remember all the fun we had.

The day after Jordan and Jay got there, we took a ferry to Praslin to scuba dive.  None of us had done it before and I swore I never would because I'm scared of unknown ocean depths and swimmy things, but the Seychelles are supposed to be one of the best places to dive, so I sucked it up and went along.  Praslin was the island I was least excited about (in a relative way, of course).  I was super pumped about La Digue because I did most of my research about La Digue.  I didn't know much about Praslin but it was, of course, very beautiful and tons of fun.

The Seychelles should be renamed the Beautifulchelles.

How cute is this?!  And they're not even posing.  Casey just snuck up behind them and took a picture.

This is real life, people!

Post-dive elation!

We did an intro dive since none of us are certified.  It was only 70 euros, which is pretty cheap for scuba diving, and each couple got to dive with their own dive instructor for 40 minutes.  It was the perfect, perfect intro for scaredy-cat me.  I freaked out a little when I put on the mask, but I tried to hide it from the instructor.  He was very calm and relaxed and such an awesome guide through the colorful underwater world.  With his zen-ness and Casey holding my hand the first half of the dive, I felt totally safe and comfortable (after the first five minutes of freak-out).  

Biggest dive highlight: We saw 2 sharks!!!  And they weren't even scary!

 After the dive, we hired this guy (Baba) to take us to a tiny island near Praslin called Curieuse Island.  We did a little hiking, a little tortoise petting and a little swimming.  It was lovely.  We accidentally hiked too far and found the cutest little cottage in the middle of nowhere.  We stopped to talk to its owners for a minute and found out they are one of two families who live on the island.  They're there (they're/there/their) working on some environment preservation project.  They definitely have some things figured out in life.

That pretty much sums up our day on Praslin.  When it was time to go back to the ferry, Baba took us in the back of his truck. :)

It was just a leeeeeetle windy on the ferry...

I can't believe I'm done writing about the Seychelles!  What am I going to do with my life now?

Seychelles summary:  Everything was beyond our wildest island vacation dreams.  I don't even want to go to another island again because nothing will ever beat the Seychelles.  Start saving and go there as soon as you can.  You will thank me when you get back!