I was awake at 1.30am so I checked us in online! I moved our seats as usual - we were seated in the four across the middle and I moved us to a window three and an aisle behind.
I woke up for day at 6.30am. F was awake shortly after and the boys by 8am.
We went to the Club Lounge for breakfast. Three of us had omelettes and J had museli!
The destination for the morning was Wild Wadi. We took a cab as the easiest option and were just there for opening.
Compared to last year when we came at the end of April it was a lot busier this year. The kids' school holidays were later and didn't coincide with anywhere else!
We had learnt to do the slow loading rides first so both J and O did the free surf a few times!
We did a few goes on the spiral tube rides (the boys going on the extreme version) before hitting our favourite slides. Your backside does half get bruised!
But it is a lot of fun ...
And there seemed to be a lot if pushing and shoving between the boys to be the first ones down
O also went a few times on the Jumeirah Screamer! Never any queues for this - I wonder why
We ended up in another lazy river which was quiet and very relaxing!
We had lunch - fish and chips again - before I went onto a sun lounger for a nap and the others apparently did the slides and lazy river again.
They woke me up at 2pm and we decided to leave as it was heaving. The advantage of not paying for access meant we didn't feel bad leaving after a few hours (4 today! )
We got a cab to the Mall of Emirates. Another big mall but more manageable than the Dubai Mall.
F was a bit low (well quite a lot actually!) so we took the opportunity to have a couple of cheesecakes at the Cheesecake Factory.
We had learnt from last year and only got 2 pieces - salted caramel and key lime pie. They were more than enough - the jury is still out on whether they live up to the hype.
One reason for coming here was to get some photos of Dubai Ski. F's class has discussed this in geography when looking at water and she promised to get some photos!
After a few purchases (A&F t-shirt and hoodie for F and some new Superstar trainers in mint green also for F (we had been looking for the latter since we arrived!) we got a can back as no-one fancied the metro!
We left O in the room whilst we looked for a restaurant for dinner. An Indian restaurant in the Irish Village seemed like it could be a good bet. J went off for another shave and F and I got some treats for the flight!
We got back and once J turned up clean shaven we went back to the restaurant! Big fail on the photo front though! We had various curries and F had mac n cheese which came from the Italian restaurant next door!
The photo us our view down onto the lobby. J who gates heights was not a fan (nor of the glass lifts!)
We had the room until 10ish (the hotel do a 24h check in option so we had the room 6 x 24h from when we checked in - but we had to show flight times!). We all showered and did the last of the packing.
We checked out via the Club Lounge and got a cab to the airport - probably too early but I hate feeling rushed!
Bag drop was quick as was security. Now we are just waiting for the gate to be announced!
The flight was called on time - we were beeped at boarding pass control as F's screen wasn't working and they offered to move us to a row of 4 in the middle. We declined! I swapped with F (win for me as I got next to the window)!
I fell asleep before take off (a 1am take off time works well
) and slept for most of the flight!
At Frankfurt it was a long walk - over 3.5km all told! We were at the furthest gate possible. Thankfully the flight was short and uneventful!
Unfortunately our lovely suitcase above has gone walkabouts - the other arrived! It has our still damp swimsuits and all of J's clothes and some of ours - though the new stuff was in the other case! When we reported it missing we were told it was currently untraceable...
Hopefully it will turn up either this evening or tomorrow!
At home now- washing machine going and grocery shop done!
Thanks for reading and accompanying us on this trip! I will try to do a highs and lows at some point!