Most of the ride from Abu Dhabi to Dubai looked like this…a lot of nothing but sand. After living in a concrete jungle for three years, I think this view is beautiful.

Sometimes we came across these air conditioned bus stops.

Getting gas in the UAE is time consuming. Since there aren’t a lot of gas stations in the country, you wait in long lines to fill up your car.

We made it to our friend’s home and it was great to to see them again and our kids couldn’t wait for their kids to get home from school.

Our first evening in Dubai, we left the kids with our friends and Matt and I had another date night. This time at the Mall of the Emirates. Matt tried snow boarding at Ski Dubai, and I watched the penguin show since I have only tried skiing once in the fourth grade and that wasn’t a fun experience.

We had a delicious dinner at Karam Beirut where we were also able to watch people on the slopes at Ski Dubai.

Our friend and tour guide, Carey, had us walking a lot on our first morning.

First stop was to Al Bastakiya area to attend a culture breakfast at Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding. We ate the traditional food that Emerati families would eat and then we were able to ask any question to our hosts about their country, culture, or anything else on our mind. Yummy food, very informative and fun.

We walked to the water taxi area and rode the boat for a short ride to cross the Dubai creek so we could see some spice souk & gold souk.

GOLD ring that is big enough for a giant!

While the older kids stayed home to play with their friends and toys, Blake joined Matt & I at the Dubai Mall where we took him to his first aquarium.

Blake wasn’t sure about this glass flooring where there were large fish (maybe some sharks) underneath. He was too scared to walk over the clear areas.

While waiting to watch the Dubai Mall fountain show, Blake was making friends.

Duabi Mall fountain show is only about three minutes, but was fun to watch and to see Blake enjoy the lights, music and water.

Night view of the Burj Khalifa after the water show. We actually watched the water show twice before heading home.

Our friends got us 9am tickets to go up the tallest building in the world, The Burj Khalifa.

You don’t actually go all the way to the top of the building, but still at 452 meters (494 yards), we made the records books.

Our kids looking out at Dubai from the Burj Khalifa

If the Burj Khalifa had a voice, this what it would say.

We had time to spare in the afternoon, so we went to the “Atlantis The Palm” hotel and walked around their Lost Chambers Aquarium.

In the late afternoon we got picked up in a four-runner and headed out to the desert to experience a desert safari. Blake stayed home with our friends for the evening since he was too young.

There were so many cars there to do “dune bashing.” It is like a roller coaster ride in the car.

We stopped and watched the sunset during our time of dune bashing.

We arrived at the “Arabian Nights Tour” dinner location where hundreds of people gather for a buffet dinner, entertainment and a fun experience. Mason quickly made friends with the majority of the kids there and they all played tag.

Mom & daughter henna.

Camel ride was short, but now we can say we rode a camel in the desert.

Farley family as Emiratis.

In the Middle East, Fridays are the Sabbath day. So we got to attend church with our friends inside this villa that is the LDS church building.

After dinner we drove about 15-20 minutes and pulled off on the side of the road and picked a “camp ground” area in the sand dunes. Matt caught this small lizard as it was zipping over the sand dunes.

We got to watch the sunset with friends.

We built a fire in the sand and made s’mores.

To end our Friday Sabbath, we went home and decorated Halloween sugar cookies.

We woke up early and went to the JBR beach where they “mow” the sand. 

We spent a couple of hours playing on these inflatables in water and enjoying the company of friends.

Mason got to help carve a pumpkin since it was Halloween. Poor boy is six years old and that was his first time to “carve” a pumpkin.

We had such a fabulous time being with friends and exploring Dubai.

Philippine Air has a direct flight from Manila to Abu Dhabi that is nearly nine hours. To upgrade to business class is rather inexpensive for this flight, so that is what we did and even 16 month old Blake knows that this is the way to go.

We made it to Abu Dhabi where our friends were waiting to pick us up.

Part of the view from our friend’s condo in Abu Dhabi.

First place to visit was the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

Inner area of the Grand Mosque. Kalani was a little bit upset that women had to wear long sleeve shirts, long pants and cover our heads. Whereas, the men could wear short sleeve shirts and didn’t have to cover their heads.

Amazing chandeliers are inside the Grand Mosque.

We had lunch at a yummy Lebanese restaurant.

We strolled along some malls and found a few “spice stores”. Pictured: so many different types of spices before they are ground up.

We are friends from Texas, so we had to snap a photo in front of a Texas Roadhouse restaurant…Blake’s never been to Texas, so he isn’t in the photo.

Farleys are in Abu Dhabi

We were too tired to go inside and explore Ferrari World, but we made it to the entrance.

We spent the morning exploring the UAE Heritage Village.

Family photo with an Abu Dhabi skyline.

Our first time seeing a camel up close. Mason was very comfortable being around it.

Lunch at a Mexican restaurant where all of the staff were Filipino. So of course they helped us take care of Blake so we could eat.

We had an appointment to visit the Falcon Hospital and learned a lot about falcons. If they are wearing a falcon hood they are calm and can go on an airplane with their own passport. (in their own seat!)

Blake wasn’t too keen on being this close to a falcon. It was such a neat and educational experience for all of us.

Date night at Emirates Palace. There is a strict dress code to enter, but you can never dress too fancy there.

ATM machine where you can buy gold, inside the Emirates Palace.

Night view of Etihad Towers that are across from Emirates Palace. The towers were used as a filming location for the 2015 film Furious 7.

Within a couple of hours of arriving at the resort we were already in the water doing our first night dive where we saw this octopus and other sea creatures.

We woke up at 5am two days in a row to see the rare thresher shark.

We took a boat to Gato Island and found some white tip reef sharks.

We watched this really long sea snake rise from the bottom of the ocean floor.

We saw various sizes of cuttlefish.

After seven dives in less than 48 hours we are now certified to dive down to 30 meters (100 feet) and to use Nitrox air which allows us to stay under water longer.

We rented a motor bike and drove around the island of Malapascua. Not many roads are paved.

We found this make-shift basketball hoop nailed to a coconut tree.

Even on a small island in the Philippines, basketball games are still played, with or without shoes.

We wanted to get to the lighthouse, but were not certain how to actually get there since there was no visible road when we got near.

These kids became our guides and showed us how to get up to the lighthouse through some foliage and brush.

These plant was growing all around the light house. The red color on the leaves make it look like it is a flower from a distance.

It was long weekend to be able to spend time together as a couple and enjoy a new hobby of scuba diving together.

We started off the morning having breakfast at the resort and then saw these four LDS missionaries. We paid for their breakfast buffet.

We had the whole beach to ourselves. Everyone had a great time playing in the water.

There is clean water on their property, but you have to use the spigot to pump it out. Mason really liked using the spigot.

The kids also liked playing on the hammocks.

We had a super yummy BBQ for lunch.

After lunch we walked to another area of the property to have a friend climb up a tree and get us some coconuts.

A beautiful location, good food and great people about sums up our weekend in Baler.

Our flight was delayed in Manila, so to pass the time the kids shared the iPads.

Sheridan Resort had nice rooms and friendly staff, but the food wasn’t great…we discovered Daluyon Resort/restaurant nearby that had AMAZING food

The clouds were coming in, but we still stuck with our plan to do the Underground River

The kids waiting for the paper work to be completed before boarding the boat for the Underground River tour.

Other people waiting to board the boat for the Underground River asked to take photos with Matt.

On the boat ride to the Underground River we could see the “Sleeping Giant” in the mountain.

We made it to the Underground River…Blake stayed at the resort with a babysitter.

Our group is ready to enter the caves of the Underground River.

Bats and swallows were in the cave.

After a huge downpour, we all decided to go swimming. The kids really liked this trench and spent a good portion of their time here.

The dads did boogie boarding and had some pretty decent size waves.

After swimming we decided to do the zipline over the ocean. Mason was a bit scared and probably too young as well to ride by himself, so Tia went with him.

Kalani got to ride the zipline by herself and we bought the photo the company took of her.

We did a mangrove tour and saw 2 different snakes in the trees…and we got wet with another downpour.

We waited for the rain to stop and then used these umbrellas for the tour which came in handy since the rain started up again. Our three-year old friend had a nice nap towards the end of the tour.

Dinner buddies…this little three-year old LOVES Tia.

We went to Daluyon Resort for lunch and saw a monitor lizard. The kids were all very impressed.

The walk between the Sheridan and Daluyon was along a dirt road and the kids had a great time exploring.

Palawan 2015 was nice and we are so glad that we were able to be with friends.