Touring Sharjah and Dubai

 I was honored to receive an invitation to attend the Sharjah Children's Book Fair.  My books were recommended to the selection committee by Annie Oswald, a VP of Books and Audio for FranklinCovey Co.  As we are also cousins, it was exciting that we were both invited to attend the book fair and spent time together there.

My flight was originally to Seattle, where I would meet up with Annie and fly to Dubai.  But, because my connecting flight was delayed, I was fortunately rerouted to San Francisco, and then flew to Dubai, arriving only an hour later than planned.  The business class flight on Emirates Airline was amazing!

I left Friday morning, May 5, and arrived Saturday evening, Dubai time.  Sunday Annie and I took a cab to attend church, held in a hotel.

Afterward, we had dinner with another cousin of Annie's, who lives in Dubai.  Several people from church came over to prepare and eat dinner together.

Annie and I were taken on Monday by our driver to see the exhibit called the Rainroom.  If you enter the large "rain shower" slowly, censors recognize your position, and hypothetically you don't get wet. :)

Then we walked to the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization, which had many interesting, ancient relics.

That evening Annie and I took a cab to see the modern Sharjah Mall.

We took a quick dip in the hotel pool, which looked lovely in the evening. Everything about the hotel was wonderful: my beautiful room and the wonderful Mediterranean buffet meals at the restaurant.

On Tuesday, I sat at lunch with other authors and was invited with a small group to tour the House of Wisdom. The Fair supplied drivers to our hotel to take us to this and other Fair-related excursions. This new building held thousands of books including special editions owned by the Sheikh of Sharjah.

Tuesday evening Annie and I took a cab to Dubai.  We started with the spectacular 4-story mall.

An enormous waterfall in the middle of the mall.  The divers are much larger than life-size.

Inside the mall is also a large ice skating rink and this huge aquarium.

Just outside the mall is the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.  It was a beautiful night filled with people enjoying the sights.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the mix of modern and traditional, and the peaceable mix of people who come to live and work in Dubai from all over the world.

A Day with Claire and Elliott

Daniel and Meg celebrated their 7th anniversary.  Dave and I watched Claire and Elliott for the day.

                            playing ball with Grandpa outside.

                                                          Playing at nearby Hammond Park

                                                 Claire helped Elliott navigate the big slides.   :)
 

December 26

With Andrea/Dylan and Julia/Matt/Grayson still here, we drove to scenic Annapolis, about a half hour away. It's so pretty on the water, but it was really cold!

                                            Grayson was so patient with the cold.  What a trooper!

Walking through the Naval Academy grounds thanks to Dylan's military ID.

We looked in shop windows and stopped for some hot chocolate.

                    Andrea and Dylan celebrated that night at a favorite Indian food restaurant. 

  And, Dave and I watched Grayson so Julia and Matt could have a pre-anniversary dinner celebration, since their 6th anniversary was the next day.

Christmas 2020

We were happy to have Andrea and Dylan here in Maryland for Christmas!

Julia, Matt and Grayson were also here and got a nice pic out on our deck Christmas morning.

                                  Julia is sporting the custom scarf I crocheted for her. :)

Santa even made a showing.  Daniel's family joined us again for dinner and to spend the day together.

We're grateful to have so much of our family with us this year!

 

Christmas Eve 2020

We were fortunate that Andrea and Dylan could fly in from Utah to be with us over Christmas. Most of our family traditions are on Christmas Eve.  This year we made our gingerbread houses that day.  We mostly like to visit and eat a little candy.  :)

Julia, Matt and Grayson live an hour drive from us, but they stayed over a few days to be a part of all the festivities. Daniel and his family also joined us. We had a yummy plant-based dinner.

Dave kept a fire for us so we could enjoy a cozy, rustic setting.

 

We sang Christmas carols and read the Christmas story.

We continue a plant-based Danish tradition of eating rice pudding for dessert.  The person who found the whole almond received an almond chocolate bar. (The traditional gift is a marzapan (almond paste) pig. :)

Birthday/Thanksgiving trip to Utah

Dave and I flew to Utah on my birthday.  Andrea and Dylan picked us up at the SLC airport, and took us to their apartment in Orem.  

We scheduled a pottery making class for that evening, and all four of us made a pot.

That night Andrea had gone all out to make a beautiful vegan cheesecake.  She and Dylan gave me some lovely gifts.  I was featured in her social media story that day. :)

The next morning Dave and I, along with Andrea and Dylan  met a old friend of Dave's for breakfast, who he hadn't seem in over forty years. We had a great time catching up with him and his wife.

We continued our drive down to St. George, Utah to visit my mom and Craig.

We took a scenic walk behind Mom's house, as well as checking out some red rock and desert gardens.

We also had the best 'tea party' ever.  We dressed up with some of my Mom's old crazy stuff and prepared lots of little finger foods, and bought a cake. Even Craig, Dave and Dylan joined in, as it was also a birthday party for Andrea. 
Andrea and Dylan drove Dave back to the airport, while I stayed another 10 days with my Mom, and helped her organize things in her house.