Le Meridien Resort, Dahab

Today was all about the hotel. It’s so beautiful here, why leave? The Blue Hole – a world famous snorkeling site is an hour away, but we found the snorkeling just fine on the reef in front of our hotel beach. Everyone made an attempt, but just as he was sitting on the pier, on the steps with his fins already on, Avery bowed out. Later I would try to teach Avery how to use the mask and snorkel in the hotel pool, only to discover that he’s really still too young for it. He sure did like the fins though.

We also discovered that the hotel has a kid’s club. Avery loved it. He and Olivia were excited to show us the paintings that they’d made when we picked them up for lunch. Even Charlotte spent some time having fun in the kids club. That was before she finally decided late in the day (due to several reminder from her parents) to swim some laps in the pool.

It’s disappointing to both Josh and me that it was so difficult to get Charlotte to live up to her agreement to train during this holiday. We knew the opportunities would be limited due to our itinerary, but when there was time, Charlotte was very reluctant. I wish she would set goals for herself and then show a little desire to achieve them. On the other hand, it’s hard to blame her. I had the same attitude during my vacations when I was a young, competitive swimmer.

We had an earlier start to dinner tonight. But not before we availed ourselves once more of the sauna and steam facilities. There was a lovely looking hot tub set into the rocks also, but unfortunately the water was warm and not hot. Still, the family sauna was nice. Did I mention that we made a bee-line for the sauna after we snorkeled in the morning. Because of the wind, it’s very cold when you get out of the water. Olivia’s lips had turned blue. Nothing that couldn’t be cured by the warmth of the sauna though.

Tonight we ate at an “Indian, Thai and Chinese” restaurant called “Kitchen.” It was very professionally run (not always the case in Egypt) and the first Thai food we’d had since moving to Europe. Afterwards, we bought ice cream bars at the local store and did a little shopping. I felt we had to get the kids the requisite t-shirts and I picked out a nice one for Josh too. Avery had been pinning for a drum and the girls chose a couple of beaded bracelets.