Weekend in Oman

With grandma in town we decided to use the opportunity to show her one of our favorite countries in the region, Oman. 

As always, the boys were excited to be getting on an airplane - Tylor loved the bus ride and sitting by himself like a big boy.  We stayed at the Shangri-la which is a great place for kids. 

They had ponies and camels to sit on.  Jaydon loved the pony and thought the camel was a little smelly. 

Tylor hated the camel and started crying whenever he saw it so I had to take him back to the top of the beach while Jaydon enjoyed the animals. 

We also spent a lot of time at the water park they have just for kiddos. 

Tylor loved scooting around all the water features, getting to splash around and get soaked. 

Jaydon still doesn't like getting his face wet so it took him awhile to warm up to it the fun but he definitely liked playing in water without a life jacket or floating ring. 

We also spent sometime at the beach. 

Tylor was fearless in the waves (luckily they were small) and Jaydon found all kinds of neat creatures to catch - mainly hermit crabs. 

At dinner Tylor enjoyed eating big people food and showed off his 4 teeth.  We rented a 4 wheel drive one day and ventured out into the country. 

Oman has some beautiful landscape, very rugged and dramatic. 

 

We stopped at an old fort and explored the local souqs. 

We have a similar picture of Jaydon ridding on a canon in Austria so couldn't resist getting this shot. 

It was very hot in Oman so we were happy to venture up into the mountains for the cooler temperatures.  Jabal Shams is one of the must sees of Oman and we had yet to make it there on our previous trips to Oman so wanted to be sure to see it this time.  It was a much longer drive then we expected, fortunately we planned ahead and packed a lunch. 

During our lunch break we met some of the local lizards and gave Tylor a chance to get used to the backpack. 

Jabal Shams is called the Grand Canyon of the middle east. 

It is a spectacular view and made me realize that I'm afraid of heights - especially when my boys are within steps of an amazing sheer drop onto rocks down below. 

The last stop on our adventure was to the grand mosque. 

Then we loaded back up on the plane to head home.