Border Run to Sohar, Oman and other pics of the last month

When you arrive in the UAE, your stamped visa is only good for 30 days so we had to cross the border in order to get a new 30 days.  We decided to go to Sohar, Oman because it is decently close and it provided an opportunity to see and do something new.  Near the end of this post are pictures of that day away.  

The pictures prior are from the last few weeks and I'll just expand upon each of them individually.  As I do this I'm sharing a few things about the country that I've been meaning to blog about but don't remember until the pictures jog my memory!

 I was driving the kids to school during their first week and pulled up to the red light.  In front of me were these vehicles.  I had to chuckle to myself a little because this wouldn't be a normal day occurrence in the states.  I was following two Porsches, a Nissan patrol (made for the middle-east region), and a Land Rover.  They're all $70-80 thousand vehicles and you see them everywhere here.

 This is a picture of the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi hospital where Drew is working.  He has now been back there full-time since last week and they are already keeping him busy.  

 This is a picture taken at the Cleveland Clinic physician/family meet and greet.  They provided fun games for the kids, face painting, and lots of delicious food.  It was a spread of all types of food.  Indian, Middle-Eastern, fruit, puddings, fruit drinks.  I couldn't begin to tell you all of the names.  All I know, is I love all the flavors that go into the cooking of the foods I've tasted so far. 

 Rylee taking pictures of the men that delivered our couches the day after we moved into the villa.

 The kids enjoying a decent place to sit.  We haven't had our own couches for two months!  We count our blessings...

 I thought it was so cool that I could buy such a big bunch or bananas.  We had to show them off.

 A couple pictures of the outside of the kids' school.  That's them crossing the busy street that leads to our villa.  We are within walking distance to the school but it's been too hot to let them walk when school lets out.  They walk to school and I've been picking them up after.

 A couple pictures of the kids enjoying the treats from a local bakery.  JR is eating something that looks like a piece of shredded wheat (but much sweeter) filled with cream.  Rylee has small pastry that is made out of a simple sweet dough and fried.

 The grocery stores are mostly located within the malls.  There are a few that are stand alone grocery stores and this happens to be one...

This is a picture of Rylee riding in the grocery cart.  Many stores are multilevel and have escalators.  Many of the escalators are pretty steep and so they're magnetized.  As soon as your cart wheels touch the escalator, it locks the cart into place so you won't go flying.  

 Our villa is on the left.  We're still working on getting curtains so that I feel like there's a little more privacy than we currently have in the two front bedrooms.  

 Rylee on another shopping trip.  They tie all of your bags for you.  Also, something else I forgot, is that the carts cost an AED to get them unattached from the rest of the carts.  Then when you return it, you get your AED back.  It works with a locking system that can be seen in the last cart picture.

 I took a tour of Abu Dhabi with Drew at work this last Monday.  This is a picture of the plant market that's near the Corniche port area.  It was a pretty good sized market that you can literally find just about anything for your home.  I'll have to head back there and take a look around soon.

 This is the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.  We are taking a tour of it tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have more to share about that later!  

 This is the beginning of the pictures from Sohar.  This is the Sohar Fort.  The museum was closed because of the religious holiday that was being observed (which is why the kids were out of school and we decided to visit somewhere).  The name of the holiday is Eid-al-Adha and it celebrates the life of Isaac being spared when Abraham was supposed to sacrifice him, then was instructed not to.  The Lord provided a lamb and so the people eat a lot of meat, specifically lamb, on this holiday.  We saw so many of these animals being prepared for their feasts yesterday.  

 Our first visit to the beach!  The kids loved it!

 All those speckles are shells that kids had a heyday collecting.

 Lots of seashells.  In the background, there were boats lined up near lean-tos that looked like, on a  normal day, would have been a fish market.  

 Jumping the waves!  Rylee especially had a blast, can't you tell from the picture below?  She was sad to leave...

This is a mosque being built in the middle of the desert off the highway between Al Ain and Abu Dhabi.  I'm assuming it's there for the locals if they happen to be on the road during one of the prayer times.

There are more pictures from Drew's phone that I hope to blog about soon.  One more baby step down; blogging with pictures!

Going to Sohar was a little nerve racking for me.  I was worried about being so far from the hospital. I was relieved to be back in Abu Dhabi, just in case this baby comes sooner than I anticipate.  No more trips for a few months.  Baby first, maybe some fun adventures come November-December!