Darcy and I had a wonderful time at the new hotel on Sir Bani Yas Island for her birthday two weeks ago. It will rank as one of our special places along with Jasper and the Everglades. The weather could have been better but it was interesting to experience tremendous lightning storms. It rained a lot but apparently not as much as in the northern emirates. We still managed to do four outdoor activities: archery; wadi walk; game drive; kayaking. The hotel opened only six months ago so they are still hiring staff and developing the island's infrastructure. The conservation efforts are impressive since the island is really just a big area of salt and minerals. A majority of the plants need watering from miles and miles of connecting hoses. There are many gazelles and other animals that have been brought from Africa (ostrich, cheeta, peacock, oryx).
Other news is that the Formula One race to be held here on November 1 has been selling tickets briskly. They went on sale a week ago. Construction noise in our neighborhood and Darcy's work is bad. We hosted a baby shower for a friend on Friday and Darcy did a great job. There was a lot to eat! Finally, I'm in an unusual dilemma of having to use up 45 days day of vacation by the end of the year or risk losing all of it. That's excluding time off that I've booked for our summer vacation and 15 days that I can carry over into 2010. Guess I've been working too hard and not taking enough time off! Darcy doesn't have as much time off and I don't want to have to take vacations by myself. Hmmm.....maybe I can work four day work weeks the rest of the year!
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