M.E. Adventure Part 2: Yabba Dabba Doo

So, I have always had a funny relationship with words. Since forever my brain has had a way of making me remember names/words that are a little adjacent to the exact name/word I am trying to recall. My girls call it "Mom-Speak", but I can assure you, I've been doing this long before I ever became a mom.

Case in point: for the longest time and for the life of me, I could not remember the name Abu Dhabi even though we have family living there. I kept referring to it as Yabba Dabba Doo...much to the chagrin of everyone. BUT, they all knew what I was talking about! This just proves that even though my brain is a bit wonky, I can still get my meaning across. : )

Anywaaay, as I mentioned in M.E. Adventure: Part 1, we traveled to Yabba Dabba Doo...uh, Abu Dhabi so we could do this:

Heaven!

I like YOU!

Surprise scruffies.

And to celebrate with these people:

Happy Birthday Honey Cake!

While we were there, when we were not holding the baby, we did do some sightseeing:

The Presidential Palace:

Opulence much?

Opulent, but actually quite soothing color choices.

Our cute little tour guide.

A visit to the Abu Dhabi location of the Louvre Art Museum (yeah, THAT Louvre, like the one in Paris, but in the UAE instead) :

We didn't get a chance to go inside, but we did eat at a FANCY French restaurant next to the museum for Joe's birthday.








Unfortunately it was colder than we expected and Joe had to wear my scarf as a shall:

Cute!

We went to the Grand Mosque:

Pretty darn grand.

Dressed in tradition clothes provided by Mosque.

Pretty, but most of the facility was off limits to visitors.

The most surprising (and disturbing) part of the Mosque visit was the fact that you have to pass through a literal MALL when you enter and exit the tour! Most of the stores and food counters were American - including a Cinnabon!

No visit to a Mosque is complete without a purchase of a stuffed banana.

In my humble opinion, the neighborhood mosques are much prettier than the 'Grand' one:

A neighborhood mosque near the grocery store.

Geographically, Abu Dhabi is especially unique because it is a desert on the shores of the Persian Gulf. It is a kind of strange juxtaposition of geographic regions:

Having grown up in Orange County, California, I was struck by how much Abu Dhabi reminded me of OC - for better or worse. I did not feel like I was in what I had imagined the Middle East to be.

Full moon shining on modern hotels...

...that have a prayer space in the hotel lobby.

But at the end of the day, being with our family was the best part of visiting Yabba Dabba Doo 😉

Today's poem is about the "joys" of babies that you might forget once your kids are grown:

tiny tickles
on his tummy
soon after
something yummy

baby giggles
face lights up
and then OOPS
he spits up

©2020, Bridget Magee. All Rights Reserved.

Catch up on the first installment: M.E. Adventure Part 1: Hair Tomorrow?