Trick or Treat!

The lead up to Halloween last year was very low as key as the children really had no idea what it was all about! However this year they have been counting down the days for weeks. Although I am fairly sure they don’t fully understand the traditions involved and are only in it for the candy! They chose their costumes early- Lachs as a wizard (you would think this would be an easy costume to find….. but it was a nightmare, luckily we found one in Dubai last weekend) and Charlotte as Mariposa (a Barbie fairy for those of you without young girls)! I was a witch and Clint went to the grand Prix for the afternoon.

The kids were so excited all day and couldn’t wait to get started. There were kids out everywhere, and the atmosphere around the compound was fantastic, there are about 400 villas in our area of the compound so there were plenty of houses to visit. But after about 90 mins the kids were done, they had enough candy and chocolate to feed an army and were getting tired of walking! (the house here are more spaced out then our previous compound).

After the trick or treating we headed to one of the common areas for some more fun. About 50 families got together for a bbq and some Halloween games for the kids. It was a great evening but an early finish as the kids all had school the next day.

Halloween is definitely one of the things the children will miss when we eventually move on!

 

Photos of my little wizard and Mariposa ready for trick and treat plus at the bbq afterwards. The kids loved the party games, especially turning their friends into Mummies with toilet paper.

 

Party, party, party…

We have only been back a few weeks and already the kids social calendars are filled with parties! Meaning our weekends are also filled with parties, Charlotte is too young to leave by herself yet, not to mention still terrified of clowns. And not many parties are held at home so we  stay with Lachs at the party places as the toilets and things are always outside in the general area, and while the staff are usually lovely, close supervision isn’t a strong point.

Last weekend they had a party and this weekend we had Jasmines 5th, Claire’s 4th and Jacks 6th. Of course the kids love it and have a wonderful time, and I enjoy the catch up with the other parents. Jasmine’s was bowling (Charlotte very proud of her first strike) and Jack and Claire’s was at a party/play centre. They loved the rides, Charlotte’s favourite was the rollercoaster and Lachie loved the “crazy cars” (strapped into a car that goes round while going up, down and jerking sideways), Charlotte came off that one saying it was fun but a little bit scary.

While I have had enough cake and party games to last quite sometime, Lachs is off to another party Monday night- yes you read that correctly, Monday night with school the next day! But it’s fairly normal here for the locals to have late evening parties as they tend to sleep in the afternoon after school and then stay up late. It is one of Lachie’s good friends so I said he could go as long as Clint could be home so I don’t have to take Charlotte too (she just wouldnt cope with the late night) and that we would have to leave early cause otherwise we won’t get home till 8:30 and thats late for him on a school night…. so I guess I will be singing Happy Birthday one more time !

Some Summer Holiday Photos…. (click on photo 10 to view sibling love!)

Photos…

1 Lachie and his cousin Sam (on holidays from Japan)

2 Charlotte and cousin Joshua (on holidays from Japan)

3 Me with my niece Lucinda (also from Japan)

4 Mum (Mama) with her Grandkids

5 Charlotte and Lucinda

6 Charlotte and Lachie with cousins Olivia, Brigitte and Ryan

7 Lachie with one of Aunty Nicki’s puppies (yes he asked to keep one, what a shame we live overseas!)

8 Lachie and cousin Aiden

9 Dad’s (Papa’s) birthday

10 At the beach with the cousins, despite what it looks like Lachie really does love Charlotte!

11 Lachie with cousin Ryan (born 29 days apart)

A few photos

Okay so I have been rather slack of late but I have a good excuse.  We have moved house and it is 50 degrees here most days!

Here are a few photos from the last month so you can remember what we look like!

1. The boys off to the cricket in their Aussie head dress- the first dry cricket match for them all! Luckily Australia won!

2. Charlotte with her best friend Claire

3. Lachie and his best friend Jasmine

4. Charlotte on her way to yet another party

Summer has hit!

Well apparentlywe are not actually in Summer until tomorrow but I beg to differ. Last week the temperatures started hitting the good old 50 degree mark and the daytime heat is really oppressive. Luckily everything is air-conditioned and if you can avoid going outside (darn having to pick the kids up from school) during the middle of the day it is bearable… especially knowing that it isn’t too long until the kids and I escape to Australia for the worst of it!

We are finally settled into our new place. We have left Sea Shore villas and are now living in another similar expat community development. We have a 3 level townhouse. The kitchen/lounge/dining is on the first floor, second floor has the 2 kids rooms, their bathroom and a landing that doubles as a play room and the top floor is ours. We have our bedroom, bathroom and study up there. It is quite spacious and better designed then where we were. There is no pool though so we are still visiting the old place a few times a week for the kids to play with the friends still their and to go swimming. The kids are happy with the new place, it is closer to school for them both and we bought a trampoline for them so they are loving that!

Not long now till we head to Australia and we are looking forward to catching up with everyone!

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny knew who had been good!  The kids were very excited when they finally woke up just before 10:30am and saw that the Easter Bunny had been. They had lots of fun finding the hidden Easter eggs.

They were also very excited to find eggs that Nanny and Poppy (thanks Linda) and Mama and Papa (thanks Mum) had sent. There is nothing like chocolate for breakfast!

This afternoon we are heading out onto the street for an egg hunt with all the kids!

 

Update:

The egg hunt was a great success with a dozen squealing children running up and down the sreet in the middle of yet another sand storm!

Clint has been sick since we returned from holidays but was well enough to put his new bike together (does that suprise anyone?) Apparently it will make him race faster…. silly me thinking that was what training was for!

Beautiful Tuscany

We have just returned from an unforgettable week in Tuscany. Luckily we were nowhere near the devastating earthquake and actually didn’t know about it until the text messages checking our safety started coming through (nice to know we are loved)!

We left Abu Dhabi last Friday flying with QATAR who claim to be a 5 star airline and for the kids they definitely were. The kids meals were great, the entertainment system covered all ages and they got given a backpack with wallet, sunglasses, drink bottle, pencils and activity book to keep them amused. I loved the fact that they were just as excited over the second bag as they were the first. We flew 40 mins to Doha then had a 2hour wait which flew by at the indoor playground then a 5 hour flight to Rome. In a true reflection of the nature of my children Lachie curled up and slept the entire way while Charlotte announced in no uncertain terms that she would not be sleeping. She did however sit happily in her seat making up stories and singing to herself.

By the time we arrived in Rome and picked up the hire car… brand new BMW (budget would later regret that decision) it was 11:30pm Abu Dhabi time and with no sleep Charlotte had reached her threshold. She went from happy and giggling to crying for 5 mins before falling into a deep deep sleep in her car seat. Poor Lachs wasn’t feeling well, we have discovered with travelling after about 9 hours and lack of sleep he is sick… so the poor boy vomited a few times on the 2 hour trip… there’s one way to get rid of the new car smell!

We found the village of Pereta easily as we had borrowed a friends Italian gps (much easier then trying to read maps in the dark).  Most cars don’t go into the village because of the narrow alleys but we were told it would be alright to drive close to our alley, empty the car they park on the village edge. One tight corner and a nice scrap down the edge of the brand new BMW… hmmm 2 hours old and the pride of German engineering nil, Theil boys 2!!  The comprehensive insurance was the best money we ever spent!

We stayed in the village of Pereta, built in the 10th Century with a population of about 200. It was a picture of how we imagined Tuscany to be…. stone archways, narrow cobbled lanes, friendly people and breathtaking scenery.  The place itself was small but cosy and had everything you could need- toys and games for the kids, drawing stuff and a welcome basket with everything we needed for breakfast in the morning.

The week flew by exploring local villages and towns Scansano, Siena, Pisa and Porto.S. Stefano to name a few. The amazing old building didn’t do much for the kids but they enjoyed chasing the pigeons in every old town square much to the amusement of other tourists! They also had a ball playing in local parks, picking wild flowers, collecting firewood (not really necessary but fun), watching the 3 wheel trucks, discovering Italian hot chocolate and eating there body weights in pizza, pasta and gelate!

The weather was perfect and apart from one rainy morning we were comfortable in jeans and a tshirt, enjoying the beautiful sunshine and fresh air. Living in the desert you forget how green trees are when they are not sand coated!

We knew the flight back was going to be a nightmare, we left Rome at 11pm then had 3 hours in Doha before the 40 mins flight back home. What we didn’t for-seewas both Clint and I waking up with head colds and nausea that day. The kids were actually really good, a little hyper before the flight out of Rome as they hadn’t slept but thats better then whining. They both slept the whole way, played happily in the Doha playground and then Charlotte was perfect on the last flight. Lachs however had reached the magic 9 hours and was sick again but perked up as soon as we were out of the airport and into the fresh air… which took a little longer then expected as the customs guy tried to tell us we had the wrong residency visas and had to leave the country for 6 months. Luckily another guy sorted it out!

Our week was fantastic but getting home was also wonderful, the kids (and us) all had an afternoon sleep then after a hugs play with the friends they went to bed early. It is now 10 am Easter Sunday and they are still sounds asleep. I have had to put the aircon on so the eggs don’t melt!

 

 

Photos:

A view of the village

Our Petera house- check out the narrow lanes

Doorway to our house

Bubbles on the balcony- look at the amazing view

Outside the village

Pigeon stalking

More spagetti

Hot chocolate heaven

Morning tea in Porto S Stefano

Gellate in Siena

Lala picking wild flowers

Family shot Siena

Congratulations!

Clint’s brother Brandon and his girlfriend Allison became engaged last week! Looks like the wedding will be sometime next year so we will have another trip to Australia!

Congratulations guys!!!!

Update

It’s Sunday here so back to work for Clint and off to school for Lachie, although even after a big weekend (that included riding his bike up to the shops for the first time while Clint jogged) he was more then happy to bounce out of bed this morning as he has a friend coming home after school with him.

Clint’s Grandmother has been here just over a week so we have been doing some of the tourist things. Clint is hoping to take a day off this week and take her to the Grand Mosque. Yesterday we headed up to Dubai Mall, it is the biggest mall in the world (apparently) with an internal floor area of 5.9 million square feet and has 1200 shops, plus cinemas, a zillion restaurants as well as an Olympic size ice-rink, 3 story aquarium (apparently with the worlds largest… isn’t everything here… single viewing window which is 32.88m x 8.3m) with 33000 aquatic animals including fish, sharks and stingrays, a gold souk (also apparently the worlds biggest indoor one) and some amazing fountains…. everything you need really when you go to pick up some milk and bread!

We are in the process of finalising a trip to Italy for the first week of the April school holidays. We fly into Rome then have booked a villa in a little village in Tuscany for the week. We get back home easter saturday (in time for the easter bunny) which gives me just under a week before my baby girl turns 3… where has all the time gone???

Winter and the wet season

It is only early February and already the days are getting warm, the weather at the moment is perfect but Iam not looking forward to June! The wet season (month of January) saw a whole 4 or so days of rain, which is about average and apparently winter has also been and gone. It did get cold enough for a long sleeve shirt outside at night but I really only felt the cold at the malls where they seem to lower the air-conditioner temperature; maybe to encourage people to buy the winter clothing.

The kids are both good but Charlotte has spent the last 4 days covered in red spots. Apparently the result of an allergic reaction (to what we don’t know) but it looks worse than it is. She is feeling fine but it is hard to get out and about with a child who looks rather contagious!

It will be half term this weekend, so Lachie will have Sunday and Monday off school. It comes at a perfect time as the last 2 days he has started to struggle to get out of bed for school so the couple of sleep ins will be good. The break also coincides with the arrival of Great Grandma (Clint’s maternal Grandmother) who is coming to stay for 3 weeks.  Lachie is looking forward to seeing her and Charlotte (in her usual style) talks about her coming but no doubt will take a day to warm to her again.

We have enrolled Charlotte to start school in September and now wit to find out if she got a place, like everything here you need a million copies of documents, signatures and of course passport photos. She was very proud to be having her photos taken for school: