Recapping the Adventure

As our time in the UAE winds down, I thought I should take some time to create a photo recap of our adventure on this side of the world. Below, in chronological order is the history of our excursions around the globe since arriving. What a ride it's been!

June 2011 - Holiday, and first trip to Dubai. Met our new friend Samson Javed.

XXXXX - Gail's Ladies trip to Bahrain

September 2011 -  Sydney and Hunter Valley Australia for Adam and Juliette's wedding

September 2011 - Our first visitors...Rob and Kayleigh

November 2011 - Gail's Ladies trip to Oman

November 2011 - Istanbul, Turkey

November 2011 - Cody's visit

New Years 2012 - Camping in Fujairah, UAE

January 2012 - Curtis's visit and Kayleigh too.

February 2012 - Tour of Oman

March 2012 - Gail's Ladies trip to Goa, India

March 2012 - Tate's visit

April 2012 - Rome, Palermo, Tunisia, Barcelona, Monaco, La Spezia

June 2012 - Danat Jebel Resort, UAE

July 2012 - Gail's Baltic Cruise

October 2012 - Prague, Czech Republic

November 2012 - Patricia and Jamie visit

November 2012 - Home and Las Vegas

December 2012 - Ops Smile China

January 2013 - Cairo, Egypt

April 2012- Op Smile China

April 2013 - Bangkok, Thailand

May 2013 - Philadelphia and New York

May 2013 - Gail's Alaska Cruise

July 2013 - Gail's Amsterdam - Samoen, France Ladies trip

August 2013 - Gail's Mission to Lilongwe, Melowie

August 2013 - Mark's trip to Larnaca, Cyprus

September 2013 - England - France

September 2013 - Rob and Kayleigh visit

October 2013 - Jeff's visit

October 2013 - Mom and Dad King visit

November 2013 - Home and Las Vegas

January 2014 - Oman to visit Kayleigh and Rob

March 2014 - Ops Smile Kolkata, India

March 2014 - Simon's visit

April 2014 - Louann visit

April 2014 - Greek Island cruise

May 2014 - Ops Smile Mekele, Ethiopia
June 2014 - ........HOME!

Over to Oman

Kayleigh says, "please come and meet Rob and I in Oman when we dock there" in her pouty voice that we struggle to say no to, so we did.

Happy Gail

Gail and I hopped the 45 minute flight in the morning and were unpacking in our Muscat hotel by noon. We got suckered into upgrading to a club room at the Intercontinental, but at least it was facing the ocean.

Rockin' the 12, Oman style

We spent the rest of that day laying by the pool and took a long walk on the wide beach at low tide. Along the way we found all kinds of interesting critter in the sand and sea.

Sasquatch Sighting

RUN!

The next day, Rob and Kayleigh's ship pulled into port early and they taxi'ed over to our place. After a gift giving ceremony (thanks for the French wine) we again headed over to the beach and waded through the surf.

Soon it was time to head to the ship so that Rob could get to work. We had a bit of a fiasco getting into the port, but a little persistence and politeness got us in. Kayleigh gave us a tour while Rob went to work, then we sat on the deck for a couple of sundowners.

A little later we met up with some of Kayleigh's friends for trivia, which we thoroughly butchered, but it was fun. Soon it was time for dinner at Canaletto, a nice Italian restaurant on board. Thanks Rob and Kayleigh for dinner!

After dinner is was up to the Crow's Nest lounge for music trivia, which we actually won, but because we had ship staff on our team, had to forfeit to the second place finishers.

Alas, it was time to leave the ship and head back to our hotel.  Kayleigh came with us and spent the night spooning with Gail.  A good night sleep, and back to the port in the morning!

We had awhile before Rob could meet us, so we went into the souk looking for treasures. I came out with a cool ornamental coffee urn. Just another treasure from our travels.  After Rob met us, we did a lovely walk on the Corniche, which brought back memories for me from when Gail and I were there last to watch the Tour of Oman bike race.

After a really crappy lunch we hugged the kids and sent them on their way to India. It's alway hard to say goodbye but we're so grateful for the short time we got to spend with them.

We had the rest of the day, so headed back to the pool of course! The weather was perfect, and for a couple days I didn't even think about work!