Just Dreaming

Vacation

I was planning on blogging a bit this last week but ran out of time and now it is 5:20 am and we are finishing up last minute preparations for a vacation to the Oregon Coast.  We are excited to visit the Salem Children's Museum (one of the BEST children's museums I have ever been to) and The Oregon Coast Aquarium.  We are staying in the little town of Yachates in a log cabin on the beach.  It should be a fun little adventure and I am already looking forward to the crash of the waves and the salty sea air.  Nothing refreshes me like the ocean.

See you next week (with pictures!)

 

Cama Beach

I can hardly believe it has been a month since I last blogged!  I was waiting for life to slow down once school ended but it has just been non-stop action for the entire month of June.  I don't even know where to start and I have so many things to blog about (all of them SOOO exciting I assure you).

We just arrived home yesterday from an exciting 2 day trek to Cama Beach. 

Cama Beach originally opened in 1934 as a family friendly fishing resort.  It was closed in 1989 and was later sold to the state park's department.  A couple of years ago it was refurbished and re-opened as as a charming, inexpensive place to take your family.  The cabins are simple, functional and toasty warm at night when the cool evening breezes hit.  We loved getting away from all the noise (tv, radio, internet) that seems to distract us from each other.  We just could hang out, relax and enjoy the beauty that you can only find in the Pacific Northwest.

We had such a great time and I really enjoyed that the entire place was just filled with families.  It had such a welcoming and fun feel to it for everyone. People chatted, kids played and we all kind of relished the summer camp feel of it.  

 

Did I mention the crab?

July 1st at 7:00am was opening day of crabbing season.

We crabbed.

We ate.

We crabbed.

We ate.

We had so much fun!

We caught 16 crabs that were legal and we have devoured them all in the last few days. 

I want to go back!

He's on the way!

Dave is on the way home and he should land today at seatac around 2:30.  I will update when I hear from him.  I am frantically cleaning after ignoring the house (except for the basics of course) for 11 days.

He is scheduled to take the airporter from the airport to Bellingham and should arrive at the Value Inn tonight around 7:30.

***UPDATE***

He is in Seattle - standing in line for customs!  On the ground!  Yeah!!!

Dave Update

Here is the email I got from Paula:

Hello and ready for an update?

Paula and David drove from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain. On the way, we stopped at the Al Ain museum and rested in a traditional tent.  We then stayed at the Mecure Jebel Hafeet hotel. Nice views. We saw one of my Fujairah co-workers, Michael Armour, there.
Small world.

Then the next day we drove up the east coast to Fujairah. We had lunch at the Hilton Hotel, looking over the water, and then had ice cream at Al Meshwar (lebanese restaurant with the BEST ice cream).

That same day we drove to my friend Fran's house, put our stuff there, and drove to the Global Village. It was a Friday night and it was packed. David had a fun time there.

The next day we got up and the weather was bad. We went to the Wafi mall and I made David have a spa day. He got a massage and a manacure. No, he wasn't in Egypt, the mall looks like that! We also went to a new souq they are making UNDER the wafi center, which had the beautiful stained glass. The weather was still bad. Very windy and cold so we decided to change the dates of our dune bashing and went to Ski Dubai. We went skiing for 2 hours. David kept saying how amazing everything is. This country has been a country for 36 years and they've done a lot! After Ski Dubai we went to Festival
City to have dinner. I wanted to show him the canals in the mall... and there were some clowns there doing skits. (roll of eyes)

The next day we packed up our stuff, got dressed nicely, went to the Majlis Gallery (an old house) and the Dubai Museum. We drove along Jumeira beach road to the Burj, and had lunch at the seafood restaurant. After that, we walked around the Madinat Jumeria hotel and souq. People aren't supposed to walk around the hotel unless they are staying there, but no one asked us anything and we didn't say anything. wink. Then we decided to go to the gold souq. Because there isn't any parking
there, I told david we should walk. After walking about an hour, and waiting for the bus/taxi for 45 min, we went back to the car, drove there, looked for parking, drove to the opposite side of the street, found parking, looked around and David has a good story about that!

Global Village

Dave called last night.  We had not talked in a couple of days so it was good to hear from him.  I think this is the first time in 10 years of marriage that I have no idea where he is at or what he is doing.  A 3 minute call every few days just feels so strange.  There is a 12 hour time difference so if it is 8:00 at night here it is 8:00 in the morning there.  He basically can only call in the morning and at night.  He can use his cell phone but it is $2 a minute to call us.  Anyway he told me he went to visit the Global Village.  It is this cool shopping area where they have built various pavilions or buildings representing different countries.  Inside there is food, wares and entertainment from each country.  After looking at the site I found there was 31 countries represented it sounds really cool!

Here is the website:

http://www.globalvillage.ae/Index.html

A shopaholic’s delight, the Pavilions are where craftsmen and tradesmen of the world come together to display and sell their wares. The most unique element of Global Village is the pavilions where you can buy merchandise of countries around the world without actually traveling there. It’s probably the only place in the world where you can buy an intricately-woven Indian pashmina shawl, a Japanese bonsai and fresh Canadian Maple Syrup all from the same place.

Here is a site that has video of the global village:

http://www.imedia.ae/projects/GVillage/Index_GVillage.html

He is gone............again

Dave left this morning at 6:30 for the UAE to visit his sister Paula.  He will be gone 11 days and will be back February 6th.  11 .......    loooooooong  .......   days.  This is his first time traveling so far and he is a bit nervous.  I have to admit I am a bit nervous too - this is by far the longest he has ever been gone and Connor just woke up crying with a sore throat.  He first flies from Seattle to Amsterdam which is a 10 hour flight.  Then after a 5 1/2 hour layover he has a 7 hour flight from Amsterdam to the UAE.  Pray for his safety traveling please - oh and maybe for my sanity :)

Dave - prepared and ready

Jill - prepared and ready

A map of the UAE - Dave's sister lives in Abu Dhabi.