Aus kick- end of season

Yesterday saw the kids finish Aus-kick for the season… a good thing seeing it hit 40 degrees today and summer is still a few months away! Charlotte lost interest half way through the season so we only took her every few weeks. However, Lachie really enjoyed it and his ball skills have improved tremendously.

A few shots from the last session (I am fairly sure Charlotte only participated knowing there was party food at the end of training)!

Ready to start

Warm up

Am I done yet?

ball skill drills

Yep, I see the ball... if you want it, you get it!

game action shot

The New Villa

Ours is the one on the left

Okay so it has taken me nearly a month… but here are some photos of the new villa. It has 5 bedrooms- Us, Lachie, Lala, Spare (so you can all come and stay) plus a training room. Each bedroom has its own ensuite so when you include Marie’s room (all houses have a maids room) and the downstairs bathroom there are 7 toilets!! Thank goodness I don’t have to clean them all:)

Upstairs has 4 bedrooms, a small kitchen (which will never be used now or oven has arrived) and a landing at the top of the stairs we have turned into a playroom. Downstairs is the entry (funny that), lounge, kitchen, study area, training room, Marie’s room, big store room and a visitor washroom.

Entry

Oops a bit dark, but you can see the dining table leading into the lounge

lounge

Bedroom 5... the training room

Apparently a plasma makes you ride faster!

Courtyard

Pool- has another circle section at the other end

Abu Dhabi Triathlon

Clint finishes 8 hours 52 mins!!! (time set for the Elites)

The inaugural Abu Dhabi International Triathlon was held here (obviously) on the weekend. There were team relays, a short course (1k/100k/10k) and Clint did the long course which was…

3 km swim in the lagoon off Emirates Palace

200 km cycle from the Palace, out to Saadiyat island and around the Yas Marina Circuit (formula 1 track)

20 km run along the Corniche out to the heritage village and back.

Clint had a great race, and was (according to him) a perfect training race in the lead up to the Frankfurt Ironman in July, he particularly enjoyed riding on the F1 race track! The kids and I missed the swim (sleeping took preference) but were there to see him finish the bike and do his run. He finished in 8 hours and 52 minutes so was thrilled with his time.

Clint and Matt (both doing Frankfurt Ironman)

Coming in off the bike

Off for the run.

Go Daddy!!

Floods!!

Have to say, I never thought we would be flooded in the dessert. However once we moved here and saw how things are built and there is no infrastructure for wet weather it was probably only a matter of time. Sunday and Monday saw 2 nights (not days) of heavy rain, the first night just saw us with a few leaks (again nothing is built for rain) and a few large puddles on the roads. However with a second storm so soon the water had nowhere to go so it was a nightmare on the roads and we found a few mor leaks in the villa but they are all fixed now. The view from our new driveway…

Flashback

Last Friday night we went to an 80’s party held by some friends of ours. It was in one of the party villas at the Shangri- La- and I have to say, what a place for a party!! Everyone was dressed in theme… the only downside was my feet the next morning after dancing all night to 80’s songs!

Moved… again!

Last Wednesday saw us on the move again, yep for the 6th time since June 08 we moved house.  We have moved to Mohammed Bin Zayed City (still in Abu Dhabi) , it is only about 15 mins from where we were in Raha Gardens but we were able to get a 5 bedroom villa with a shared pool for less then we were paying for a 3 bedroom… crazy isn’t it! We have moved with 4 other families whom we lived with at Seashore Villa so the kids are thrilled to be living so close to all their friends again, and I am happy to have someone to share the pickup/drop offs with.

Luckily, unlike Australia, moving is fairly easy. We even changed days with about 4 days notice with no worries at all. The company send about 13 men, they pack, move and unpack the entire house in a day. Obviously not everything ends up where you want it but it is definitely livable the same day and then it only takes a few days to reorganise the cupboards and things (even quicker with our lovely helper Marie)!

This weekend Clint has the lovely job of putting the pictures and things on the walls then we are all good. Our postal po box is still the same (Clint’s work) but now we have a 5 bedroom house for you all to come and visit!