Tag Archive | Dubai

During our holiday in Dubai (yes, we’re back home now…booo!) we used to visit the hotels humongous aquarium on a daily basis. Little Z has always been fascinated with fish, usually of the goldfish variety, so we knew he’d love it.

Each day even before breakfast was finished he’d announce his plans for the morning.

“Feesh!! See feesh!! Feesh!”

We didn’t mind as its so massive and contains so many different types of species there’s always something you hadn’t seen.

Each morning Little Z would have the funniest conversation with them through the glass, mostly along these lines…

[Knocks on glass and waves wildly]

“Hello Feesh!! Ello!! Ello!”

[Fish swim up curious to see if Little Z is about to feed them. They swim around or off once they realise he’s not their feeder]

“What da doing? Come ere!”

[Keeps waving…]

“Where going?? Come ere…Come ere!!”

[Looks up at us]

“Aww naughty!!”

This went on daily, sometimes more than once a day but it would make us chuckle each time. The “Feesh” weren’t always “naughty”. Sometimes he’d just accept they didn’t want to “come ere” and attempt to leg it down the big halls.

I think he would love a goldfish of his own but as fish tend to die in our care (and being not too sure how to explain fish death to a nearly 2 year old) we may wait a while.

Colours

Dec4

The theme in the Gallery this week is Colours.

During our stay we’ve been passing this massive sculpture on a daily basis. Its very impressive and the vibrant colours attracts your gaze instantly. During one lazy afternoon we watched the hotel promo video on loop and learned that it’s been assembled using over 3000 pieces of hand blown glass. The artist, from Seattle, flew over with his team to put it all together and the whole operation took about 2 weeks! (Personally, I would never have that kind of patience… But then I’m not an artist). It’s meant to symbolise all aspects of life in the sea.

The Most Favourite Thing About Our Holiday

Dec4

We have been in Dubai for almost a week now and soon it’ll be time to come home. Little Z had been absolutely loving it and taking it all in his stride. In fact, some days and in some ways it’s like he’s a completely different child.

My very fussy non eater EATS here! Properly eats. Some days one of the first things he does is ask for food. This is amazing for him. He’s mostly asked for pizza or chips for breakfast, which we’ve not yet granted, but this is like music to my ears. I just hope this is something that’s here to stay.

We are staying in a hotel which is completely centred to families and thankfully has about a bazillion children’s activities. It also means it has about a bazillion other children all running around and causing havoc. The staff are just amazing though. Little Z now constantly runs into the arms of most security guards (of which there are many dotted around) and other staff. Each enjoys chucking him in the air and he screams with delight. This is not something I want to take back home with me. I don’t think I have the energy to stop his attempts at running into every strangers arms. Still, here it’s a wonderful sight and has boosted his self confidence no end.

Being surrounded by a bazillion children has its advantages, especially at dinner. The other night we met the girl version of Little Z. She was like a carbon copy in character. Having been seated at the table next to them Little Z and Girl Version Z ran through their obligatory rituals of smiling shyly at each other, followed by playing peekaboo, pointing and calling each other “baby!” and then flinging food around and giving their wipes a sneaky lick…followed by some defiant not so sneaky shoving into mouth when told not to lick them. We’ve not seen them much since that might but it’s very reassuring to meet another toddler that behaves the exact way as your own toddler.

The hotel has some indoor aquariums that stand at about 80ish feet tall. They house some amazing species of fish and sea life. Little Z asks to see them about 3 times a day and will spend ages saying and waving hello to each one and telling them to “come here!”. They sometimes oblige if they’re feeling generous.

But his absolute, most favourite thing about the holiday so far? That would be the escalators in the shopping malls. His face is a complete picture any time we pass one and he can barely contain his excitement when standing on one. Of course, as soon as we get off at the end he wants to immediately get on one going in the opposite direction. We once may have got on them 4 times in succession to avoid a very loud public tantrum.

~~So basically we could have just taken him to the Trafford centre for a few hours.~~