Egypt ~ April 2010

In April of 2010 we had the privilege of traveling to Egypt with one of our favorite families here in the ISE UK world - the Shaffers. They are a family of 5 (Jeanne & Scott are the fabulous Christian parents, Bryce is the awesome teenage son, and Madison & Christina are their two girls close in age to Brittney & Sophie). It was a great time had by all! Considering all the current unrest & violence in Egypt it is almost unreal for me to believe that we were there less than a year ago... It wasn't the cleanest of places but never once did we feel unsafe.

We flew into Hurghada and immediately noticed the difference in temperature. The excitement was growing as the hotel shuttle bus got closer & closer to the Aqua Jungle Park. We knew that there were 21 pools and 35 giant water slides waiting for us! Now that is fun...

Picture of front area

This is just 1 pool; there were 20 others to swim in also!

View from the top of one set of slides

Kiddie pool area (which I really enjoyed because you could lay in the water easier)

We arrived at the hotel Friday evening - too late to swim but it gave us plenty of time to get familiar with the grounds, check out the 5 different all inclusive restaurants, and then off to bed for some rest. We would need that rest because we had lots of swimming to do as well as a few other activities for the week... Saturday would include swimming & eating while the dads scheduled the outings for the week; Sunday was a long day that included Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple and a ferry ride on the Nile River; Monday was for swimming, eating, & massages; Tuesday was a boat ride to the reefs with snorkeling and swimming in the sea; Wednesday the girls stayed with the Shaffer's and swam some more while Kevin & Cathy went to Cairo to see the pyramids; Thursday was a very full day ~ 4 wheeling, go-karting, horse/donkey/camel riding, Bedouin camp, 45 minute jeep ride, and ended with a variety show...

Now, you can't go to Egypt without attempting to 'Walk Like an Egyptian'

along with a few goofy ones as well...

One of the 21 pools was in the 'cul-de-sac' area of our hotel rooms. Our rooms were on opposite sides of the pool so our neighbors never stood a chance for peace-and-quiet ... not that you would come to the Aqua Jungle Park ever expecting peace-and-quiet. In our pool there were these fabulous stepping stones that went from one side of the pool to the other. Of course the girls loved walking those stones (even when they weren't dressed for swimming). However, if you are going to pose while on the stones, expect the unexpected :-)

(doesn't Brittney look so innocent in the picture above)

The girls kept a really good attitude towards each other. I don't remember them ever getting cross with each other, even when they played tricks on each other. They were just enjoying the sunshine, the warmth, the pools, and the great company.

notice my beautifully pedicured toes in the bottom of this picture

There were a lot of things about this holiday that made it feel kinda like a cruise - the food & drink was almost non stop, it was really good food, and all of the activities. But an unexpected fun thing was the towel decorations that were waiting for us each day.

flower with actual flowers & leaves to enhance the beauty

alligator reminding us we shouldn't be watching tv when there was so much to do outside...

Well, now you have an idea of how we spent our time at the water park. I will blog separately about the pyramids, Valley of the Kings, and our adventure day. Until then, I hope you can tell from the above pictures just how much fun we had - (in the words of Sophie) it was awesome!