Maldives

We have done A LOT of sightseeing this year so we were all really looking forward to a relaxing vacation (tough life, I know).  We flew out late on a Friday night so we were anxious all day long waiting for the car to pick us up.  We were packed and ready hours before we were scheduled to leave so that was quite different for us!  We decided to try flying out of the Dammam airport instead of going all the way to Bahrain.  I had heard horror stories so I was a little nervous, but I was pleasantly surprised!  We got to the airport around 7:00 and it was pretty empty.  Supposedly there used to not be a queue to go through security so you basically had to fight people to get through.  This is totally not shocking in Saudi Arabia...in fact, it is pretty normal.  They actually have the barriers set up now to force people to form a line!  We breezed right on through!  It was basically us with a whole bunch of Indian men probably going for a home visit so I especially breezed through.  Don't all airports have separate lines for males and females??  We got to our gate waayyy early so we had to sit a couple more hours in anticipation.  I was surprisingly relaxed while waiting.  I have a serious irrational fear of flying and I am usually a nervous wreck so it was really nice to not be dealing with anxiety!  Maybe I'm getting over my fear?  Considering how much we fly and the length of our flights, that would be awesome!  Jet setting around the world sounds glamorous, right?  Not for me...well not the actual being on the jet part. 

Here I am in my black party dress :)  I saw a few ladies without an abaya on and I have a few friends who don't wear one in the airport, but since the shirt I had on didn't have long sleeves I wasn't going to chance it!    

Our first flight was an easy 35 minute ride to Doha, Qatar.  It was about 1:00 am when we boarded our next flight to Male and Jameson was still wide awake!  He goes to sleep on his own in his bed now so it was quite a challenge getting him to sleep on the plane.  He was totally exhausted so that made matters even worse.  I've decided that I really don't care what people on the plane think anymore.  He's a baby and there's nothing we can do about it if he's screaming at the top of his lungs.  

A few air shots on our decent into Male.  These are all islands that make up the Maldives.

We walked out of the airport to our ride pulling up to bring us to our resort.  How cool is that?!?  Walk straight out of the airport and onto a boat!

Are we seriously about to get on that boat after flying all night??  LOL

No sleep and flying for hours left us all looking a little rough, but we were ready to start our next adventure!  The guy gave us a bottle of water and a cold, coconut-scented towel to refresh ourselves with.

Our little island resort!

We chose to stay at Kurumba because it is only a 10 minute boat ride from the airport.  It is pretty amazing from the moment you arrive!  The receptionist gave us more cold coconut-scented towels (those things are freaking awesome) and some of their homemade coconut sorbet.  It was delicious and a great way to start our trip!

One of the guys gave both boys a Kurumba bear.  This was Jameson's reaction haha!  He smiles and laughs a lot, I promise!  But he is also very calculating and inquisitive.  He didn't know what to make of this stranger trying to give him a bear.  He is a no nonsense kind of kid!  I wonder wear his gets this personality from? ;)

We got to Kurumba about 8:30 am so I thought we would have to stay in their lounge or roam around all morning, but our villa was available so we got to check right in!  That was definitely a plus.

A tour of our villa!

The bathroom is outside!

Very relaxing to take a bath while listening to the pool water flowing over the edge.

Outdoor shower.

Our private pool.

Gorgeous clouds!  When you live in Saudi Arabia, you notice the clouds :)

Off to grab a little breakfast.  This little guy was worn out!

My sweet baby boy!

After we got our bellies full and got a couple hours of sleep we hopped right into the pool.

Later on, Connor and I decided to go explore our little island getaway.  We stumbled on a couple getting married!

A little beach fun.

This is the sandwich Connor made with stuff leftover from the kid's meal he got on the plane.  He took it to snack on while we explored.  A cracker sandwich...we're on vacation, why not?!

A coconut that fell from the tree.  We saw them pretty often!

A few more pics from our walk.  It's a pretty small island so it only took us about 15 minutes to get around it.  So crazy to think we were on a tiny island in the Indian Ocean.

After room service and a little night swimming we were ready to wrap up our first day in paradise!

We decided that day two would be a lazy beach day.  I had to wake this sleepy head up! 

We had a swanky champagne breakfast at Thila.  I had the eggs benedict with pulled pork...mmmm...pork.

This was only the second time Jameson had been to the beach.  The first time was quite a while back so he really didn't even get to play in the sand.  He had a great time!  

His favorite thing to do was put handfuls of sand in the bucket.  He did it over and over and over again.

I was able to get him to take a nap while Harry and Connor went snorkeling.

He had been practicing in the pool for quite some time and he was finally ready for his ocean debut.

He was having a blast...until he saw this!  He was done after that.  Haha!

Snorkel selfie!

Back on shore for some beach time!

A guy came around with what he called coconut ice cream, but it was more like a popsicle.  So good and refreshing!  

After lunch we took Connor for his first trip to the kid's club.  He loved it of course.  I met up with him a little later while they fed the fish at the main jetty.

It was really neat to see all the topical fish!

Jameson was taking a nap when we got back to the villa so we hung out on the porch.  So nice to actually get to relax and just go wherever the wind takes us!

And to think...he "wasn't tired".  One of the negatives about the resort is that none of the restaurants are open for dinner service until 7:00.  We usually eat dinner pretty early, around 5:00 so this was a change for us.  He crashed while waiting for 7:00 to roll around!  

Me and my little guys!

We decided to eat at Thila again and it did not disappoint!  This time we had a table right on the water.  Super nice!  We even saw a shark, but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture!

Giving daddy kisses!  See...he really is a sweet baby.  He's not always mean muggin somebody!

Connor thought it was so cool to walk across the "ice" aka glass.  LOL

Another great day in paradise :)

We woke up to glorious rainfall the next morning!  When you live in Saudi Arabia, you absolutely notice and appreciate the rain (at least I do)!  We saw this guy on our way back from breakfast.

It was my turn to practice snorkeling because I planned to go with Harry for the house reef tour the following day.  Snorkel selfies with my coconut!

Jameson wants to snorkel too!

This kid is something else!  When he was getting dressed I noticed that the shorts were a little too small for him.  Well that's because they were Jameson's shorts!  9 month shorts on a 5 year old!  

We saw these guys around the island pretty often.

The kid's club had a few afternoon activities going on so of course Connor wanted to go.  They called it water mania, but they basically played keep away.

After water mania, they went to the beach for sandcastle building.

Kisses on the beach from baby boy :)

We decided to grab a drink at the bar while they played in the sand.  

Such a rough life!

We spotted a black tip reef shark while sitting there!

After drinks and dinner we ended the night with cartoons in our villa.  

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, and got the boys to the kids club and sitter.  We booked a snorkeling tour of the resort's house reef.  I was having serious second thoughts about doing this because I don't like to be out in the open water.  It totally freaks me out.  I just kept telling myself that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  There we were on an island in the Indian Ocean.  An island that supposedly won't even be there anymore one day.  I couldn't let my fear stop me from the experience so off I went.

I totally felt like Nemo right here.  Don't go to the drop off!  Haha!  And I didn't :)  I couldn't work up the nerve to go in the deep part!

These pictures do not do it justice at all!  We saw tons of colorful fish, but Harry wasn't able to get good pictures of them.  Our guide pointed out a shark near us but I had my head out of the water at the time so I missed it.  That's probably a good thing though.  I know that they aren't aggressive, but it still freaks me out.  Even though I was pretty uncomfortable the whole time, it was amazing!  Not so amazing that I'll do it again though.  I may or may not have had a few mild panic attacks lol!  I'm not particularly adventurous so doing things outside of my comfort zone isn't easy for me, but I can usually work up the nerve to try most things at least once.  I'm really glad I did it, but I'm checking it off as done...not doing it again.  Halas! 

After we had some lunch and Jameson had a nap, we brought the boys back to the kids club and sitter so we could go get massages.  So nice!  Later that evening the resort hosted a guest cocktail reception with drinks and a little info on the Maldives.  We enjoyed our cocktails and Connor sipped his apple juice.

The couple in the middle are dressed in the more traditional Maldivian clothes, while the two on the sides are a more modern style of dress.

Painting on the beach.  I'm not sure if this held some significance...I think it may have just been for the ambiance.

Connor thought it was "so awesome" to play in this bubble like chair.  He was playing with Jameson through the holes and making him laugh up a storm!

I can't remember if this was made out of the leaves from the coconut tree or the shell of the coconut.  He gave us quite a few tidbits about the country.  They have only been founded since 1965 and are only about 4 feet above sea level.  They used to use shells and coconuts as money!

After the cocktail reception we had dinner at East, the Chinese restaurant on the island.  I guess Jameson was tired of the purees we got for him and wanted to order his own dinner!  We ended our night with some cuddles and a movie.

The next day brought more beach time!  This kid was all greased up and ready to go!

He did this crab walk all over the place.  He's walking pretty good these days so I'm not sure why he just didn't stand up.

We spotted another reef shark swimming right up to the beach.  You can see the sand which gives you an idea of just how close to the beach he came.

After the beach, I headed to a Maldivian cooking demonstration.  It was really neat and the food was delicious!  The chef made kandu kukullo, coconut rice with fried onions, and an onion salad.  The kandu kukullo is kind of like a tuna roll cooked in a curry.  I'm not a big fan of curry, but this was amazing!  The coconut rice with friend onions was just as good!  He said that both dishes were typically only served for a special occasion.  I didn't really care for the onion salad, but I don't like raw onions.

He used strips from a coconut leaf to keep the tuna roll closed for cooking.

This is the walkway leading back to our villa.  So nice to be in a green space again!  Our compound is pretty much asphalt and concrete with a few patches of grass and a couple of trees and flowers.  Nothing like home and NOTHING like this.  

After I got back from the cooking demo, Harry went out for a snorkeling excursion on a reef off of the Kurumba island.  He got a few good pictures, but again, he said the pictures don't do it justice.  

While he was out snorkeling, the boys and I went have a little fun in the kids club.

Connor showing off his hula hoop skills!

Making a boat!

A little later the kids club had a pizza making activity.  This was definitely his favorite part of the day.

He thought it was so fun to order a drink at the bar!  It was Sprite, of course.

That night we ate at Hamakaze, the Japanese restaurant on the island.  Connor kept saying that it was so awesome to watch the chef cook.  I guess he doesn't remember eating hibachi at home.   

After dinner we went watch some bodu beru.  This is a type of Maldivian folk music and dance.  It was quite entertaining!  

I don't think Connor was as impressed as the rest of us!

Jameson was completely into it though!  His eyes were glued to them the whole time!

Let me tell you...these guys can shake it!  Excuse the crazy focusing.  I'm still trying to figure out the video setting on my new camera!  It was so much fun and a great way to end our last night on the island.

We took advantage of our late flight and soaked up every minute of our last day in paradise.  We finally got a picture of Jameson smiling!

Connor saying bye to the island.

He went from the beach straight to the pool.  He became quite the little fish while we were there.  He was able to start going all the way to the bottom to get a rock.  He also started doing flips!

A few days before, Connor painted the Kurumba island in kids club.  Here is his masterpiece!

We were all so sad to be leaving the Maldives!  Our flight didn't leave Male until 7:30 pm so I knew it would be a long trip home and we would all be exhausted.  By the time we got to our layover in Doha I could barely go anymore!  Connor was so cranky and tired...until he saw this!  The airport there is very nice!  It is very clean and not too big but has a ton of stuff to see.  It also has these playgrounds set up in a few places.

This is exactly what I wanted to do.  Just lay right there and sleep!

Of course this guy had to get in on the action.  I have to say, he did so much better on the flights back home!  So thankful for that!

It was waayyy past his bedtime!

We had such a great time in the Maldives!  At one point Connor even said that he preferred it over Disney World.  He changed his mind about that after he thought about it though!  We are so blessed to be able to visit all these cool places while we are on this project.