When it’s over 100 degrees in the desert, the only time to play is after the sun goes down. We saw beautiful parks all over Abu Dhabi, but they were deserted. Until dark. We went down by the waterfront for dinner and let the boys play on the playground. It was 9:30 at night and the place was packed with kids of all ages.
The climbing structure was in the shape of a traditional dhow (fishing boat). It was a beautiful, clean, and well maintained play place.
The entire playground was covered in padded mats so Camille was able to crawl around. I just had to make sure she didn’t get trampled by all the kids who were thrilled to be running and climbing, including my own.
In fact, Calvin was so excited that he hurdled the chain that fenced in the park, caught his back foot, and would have hit the ground face first if he hadn’t tucked his shoulder and rolled.
And yes, I took a picture (once I knew he was ok), but we were all laughing so hard that it came out blurry. It was especially funny since this is not the first time that he has injured himself due to clumsiness on this trip, but that story is in another post.
Something we’ve been missing since living in Muscat is doing things that local people do. We’ve realized that we need to shift our schedules and live like the Omanis who bring their babies and little kids to the mall at 10 pm and shop and eat at the food court as if it were 3 in the afternoon. We might as well, since our baby is awake anyway and ready to play.
After the park we walked over to ColdStone and then drove by the Grand Mosque on our way back to the hotel. It changes color depending on the phase of the moon. At a full moon it is bright white and gradually changes to a dark blue when there is no moon.
*The title of this post comes from THIS 80s classic. At least it was a classic for those of us living in Oakland.