When we left for Dubai, we were still uncertain as to how we were going to make Kate’s 4th birthday special. It wasn’t an issue of location; there are tons of places to hold a birthday party in Dubai. The problem was invitees. Since Kate didn’t start school until a couple of weeks ago, we didn’t have the base of friends to draw on. And birthday parties with all adults are not exactly what soon-to-be 4 year olds have in mind.
When we arrived in Dubai, I told Camilla Odberg (Pamela’s long-time college friend and a resident of Dubai) that her entire family needed to come to Kate’s birthday party as they may be the only ones invited. Our list of friends was rather short at the time.
Well.....the morning of Kate’s party I found myself at Carrefour completing shopping trip #3. The attendance had grown to 42 (23 adults and 19 kids). We had people from America, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Britain, Jordan, and South Africa.
The party was at Jumeirah Beach Park, a public park in Jumeirah. It has playground equipment, places to have a barbeque and a terrific beach. Although we struggled with the barbeque (one of our friends drove home to fetch his Weber), the rest of the facilities were good and absorbed the crowd well. We cooked Brazilian and New Zealand beef burgers, turkey hot dogs and Salmon burgers. We got the park at 11 a.m., which is early by Dubai standards. By 3:00 p.m. we had multiple offers for our barbeque space and a cash offer for the grill. By the time we left there were three families trying to assert control over our spot.
After the party we went to Deanna and Nael Said’s home for coffee, dates and olives from their farm in Jordan. The kids put down a few boxes of Mac n’ Cheese (Kraft, of course!) prepared by Ria, the Said’s housemaid. She likes Maria and wants us to employ her aunty as our housemaid because Maria is so nice. The Saids also have a home in Thiensville, Wisconsin, and are sharing our sadness over the Packers.
Kate had a wonderful time and exhibited all the signs of a successful birthday party: grubby clothes, sticky stuff and sand in her hair, and she fell asleep in the car on the way home. The gifts were opened with a resounding “YES”!!
Before falling asleep she said that she wanted to have her next birthday at the “Dubai beach,” but she was homesick for Minneapolis--a complicated woman already. --Steve
When we arrived in Dubai, I told Camilla Odberg (Pamela’s long-time college friend and a resident of Dubai) that her entire family needed to come to Kate’s birthday party as they may be the only ones invited. Our list of friends was rather short at the time.
Well.....the morning of Kate’s party I found myself at Carrefour completing shopping trip #3. The attendance had grown to 42 (23 adults and 19 kids). We had people from America, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Britain, Jordan, and South Africa.
The party was at Jumeirah Beach Park, a public park in Jumeirah. It has playground equipment, places to have a barbeque and a terrific beach. Although we struggled with the barbeque (one of our friends drove home to fetch his Weber), the rest of the facilities were good and absorbed the crowd well. We cooked Brazilian and New Zealand beef burgers, turkey hot dogs and Salmon burgers. We got the park at 11 a.m., which is early by Dubai standards. By 3:00 p.m. we had multiple offers for our barbeque space and a cash offer for the grill. By the time we left there were three families trying to assert control over our spot.
After the party we went to Deanna and Nael Said’s home for coffee, dates and olives from their farm in Jordan. The kids put down a few boxes of Mac n’ Cheese (Kraft, of course!) prepared by Ria, the Said’s housemaid. She likes Maria and wants us to employ her aunty as our housemaid because Maria is so nice. The Saids also have a home in Thiensville, Wisconsin, and are sharing our sadness over the Packers.
Kate had a wonderful time and exhibited all the signs of a successful birthday party: grubby clothes, sticky stuff and sand in her hair, and she fell asleep in the car on the way home. The gifts were opened with a resounding “YES”!!
Before falling asleep she said that she wanted to have her next birthday at the “Dubai beach,” but she was homesick for Minneapolis--a complicated woman already. --Steve
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