The Wedding and Other Stuff

Roxy and Rob’s Wedding was fabulous! The driver from the hospital where I used to work picked us up to take us to the church for the lovely (short) ceremony, and then on to the Hilton for the reception. It was a great chance to catch up with all my old work buddies.

The ceremony happened to finish right before the imam in the mosque next door started wailing the afternoon prayer call.

The reception was around the pool, and surprisingly the under 6 guests all stayed away (and so did those wearing kilts)!

There was a shisha tent for chilling out.

Actually its where the children eventually slept

Boo fell asleep on my girlfriend’s ample bosom around 1.00am after a night of dancing, and was very impressed when the DJ played her requests, The Chicken dance and Brown Eyed Girl. And very excited at midnight when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.

Not sure what time we finished up, but there was a handful of us sharing mint shisha, and reminiscing with the bride and groom.

Day 5
Boo became a big grown up 3 year old.

She thought the champagne brunch was her birthday party. The cake cost at the hotel cost me almost as much as if she’d had a party at home – and they couldn’t even spell her name correctly!

This was followed by a trip to the Marina Mall, where we were surprised when the lights went out, and a thunderstorm began, and it began to rain! Yes all of this inside the Mall and man made! Why??? Because its the UAE, and they can! Then out come the cleaners with mops and the Caution: Wet Floor signs…

Followed up by shisha for the grown ups, and ice cream for the little one!

Day 6
Boo and I went on a camel hunt. One of Boo’s requests was to ride a camel in the desert. Well, I suspected I knew where to find one in a big city.

The man did say she could sit on it, but she wouldn’t go very close to it in case it spat at her!!! She was just happy to see one in the desert!!!

We took some photos.

Met some friends at the Abu Dhabi Mall for coffee as they were flying back to Wales that evening, and that made for a teary farewell. Boo had bonded so well with them both, and they had been absolutely fantastic with her.

This was followed up by an all you can eat and drink dinner with the Scottish contingent, where maybe I had a little more than my “all you can drink” share!

Day 7
We farewelled Roxy and Rob on their honeymoon to Bali, and of course there was more tears flowing, before a day at The Club with the water babies. At The Club, I managed to catch up with another couple of friends, albeit briefly but glad I had the chance to see them.

That night Boo and I went to my favourite Abu Dhabi pub, The Captain’s Arms to meet up with another couple of friends, and we had a pleasant evening in the beer garden.

Day 8
Boo and I said our farewells to Chloe and her parents, and to Abu Dhabi, and drove to Dubai where we met another couple of friends at the Ibn Battuta Mall for an early lunch, before heading back to The Mall of the Emirates for coffee with yet another friend, on her lunch break.

I offered Boo the opportunity to play in the snow park at Ski Dubai, but instead she chose to have a play back at Magic Planet.

We then went to Annah’s for a Vegemite Sandwich (does that sound like Day 2)??? We managed to see Grant very briefly before we headed off to the airport around 7pm, homeward bound.

NB Excuse the quality of the photos. I used RAW for the first time and they all seem to be blurring when I convert them!