Elaine in Dubai!

Elaine had been planning to go on a Caribbean cruise in February with some of our extended family members. She'd been stressed at work and was tired of the cold weather so was obviously really looking forward to it. Then came news of Zika. Elaine had just found out that she was pregnant, literally just about 5 weeks along. A case of Zika had just been confirmed in Puerto Rico which, go figure, was the starting point of the cruise. She and Bryan talked with their doctor about options but  the likelihood was that Zika would continue to spread, possibly throughout the Caribbean and her doctor advised it wasn't worth the risk. I got a text from her one day saying, "I know this may sound crazy but what if I book a last minute flight and just come to Dubai for the week?" I was beyond pumped. I'd been trying to get her out here for 2.5 years! She was able to find an amazing price on a direct flight on Emirates and booked! I explained the situation to my supervisor at work and asked if I could only work until 1:00 that week. I normally work from 7:30-6:00 (intense, I know) but the regular school day ends at 12.30 so I'd be with my class during the most important part of the day. I was able to get the time off and immediately started making last minute plans to make the most of our time!

We took her to some of our favorite spots, including JBR, 360 Bar at Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Mango Tree, which overlooks the fountain show at Burj Khalifa. We spent some days lounging by the pool, rode camels on the beach, went to the malls and had the infamous Chin Chin. We took her to Abu Dhabi for a night tour of the Grand Mosque, which just never gets old however many times you see it, it's just stunning. After Elaine's first day I asked her what she thought of Dubai, she said "snazzy" lol, I was like "Who says snazzy? What are you 80?"

Stroll around the Marina Walk (our hood)

  Spending the day at JBR:

Elaine in a word: terrified

 We realized after the fact that while taking selfies on a camel sounded cool, we really only look like idiots making faces on the beach bc you can't tell that we're on a camel in any of those pics...

360 Bar!

 Burj Al Arab:

 Lunch at Riva on the Palm (which Elaine called "Zika" lol, you can see where her mind was):

 Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi:

Of course I had to take Elaine to work with me one day. I had explained to my kids and they were pretty excited leading up to it. Hilariously the day of many of them were pretty weirded out when they saw her in person and went silent. One of my most talkative boys was quite quiet and his mom told me that when he went home he said "Mom, there were 2 Miss Jennifers and it was freaking me out!" hahah. At one point one of my girls looked at me then looked at Elaine and I thought she got it but when I walked out of the class for a second she turns to Elaine and says, "you cut your hair", then I popped my head back in and said, "S, I'm over here" and she just stared, so confused. A couple of them immediately took a liking to Elaine and were fighting to hold her hand lol. They continue to ask about her occasionally, "But where is your sister?" "She went back on the airplane?"