Ballet- Spring term

Waiting for the class to start

Charlotte is still enjoying her weekly ballet lesson, normally the parents sit outside but at the end of each trimester we get to watch. It really is very cute at this age watching a sea of pink twirl around doing their ballet exercises.

Friends

A very pink circle

A spinning circle of giggles- the girls loved this

Waiting her turn to take the floor

La's and Miss Helen

My ballerina

Ribbons

Abu Dhabi International Triathlon

The second annual Abu Dhabi International Triathlon was held last weekend, the event has more than doubled in size since last year and the number of professional Ironman/triathletes that flew in to race was really quite extraordinary. There were team events, a sprint distance, short course and long (3km swim, 200km cycle, 20km run) course which was the one Clint did.

With La being sick all week, Lachs having a birthday party at the other end of the island and the course not really set up for spectators, the kids and I only went out to watch the end of Clint’s race. Thank goodness we were only there for the last 2 hours, it was over 40 degrees and although their had been lots of wind on the bike leg it was still and HOT by the time they started the run. It was so hot the medic tents were overflowing and there were a lot that did not finish.

Unlike Ironman where you can get disqualified for running down the chute with non-racers, this tri didn’t have the same rule so Lachie waited in eager anticipation for Clint to hit the final stretch, so they could finish the race together. Lachie was so excited to cross the line with Clint… and get daddy’s hard-earned medal!

Pulling Dad across the line

Clint was really happy with his time he finished in 8 hours and 40 mins, coming 4th in his age group and beating some of the professionals times.

Proudly wearing Dad's medal (and an ice-cream grin)

unfortunately this all came back up on the trip home... but that's another post!!

Charlotte’s hospital stay

Not happy about the IV

For close to a month Lala has been struggling with a persistent cough. She had visited a Doctor every couple of weeks and we were originally told it is just the sand in the air irritating her throat, a reasonable diagnosis as the sand storms have been persistent and the cough was not at all deep. Last Sunday however, she was sent home from school with a slight fever and proceeded to go downhill over the course of the day and her cough seemed to get deeper and more ‘chestier’ (is that even a word?). So Monday morning I took her off to the Doctor again, this time they decided something wasn’t right and within an hour Charlotte had had x-rays and blood tests and the results were pneumonia!

Clint was working in Dubai so they allowed me to take her home to pack her bag as long as she was back within the hour to be admitted to hospital. She was in the girls children’s ward- I am sure the only difference between the girls and the boys wards are the colour stripes painted on the wall! The children’s ward here is very unlike the Mater or RBH, the only thing differentiating her room from an adults room were 6 pictures printed from a computer of dolls and baby bottles! But she was lucky to have her own room, which was great when you consider the majority of patients speak different languages and the locals live by completely different body clocks, and have no regard for visiting hours which officially finished at 8pm but the room opposite us still had visitors (adults and kids) up to midnight.

She was only in for 3 days and the IV drip, although she fought it, made a huge difference. Clint hooked our media link up to the tv as all the kid stations were in Arabic, so she filled her days with reading, drawing and watching television, and like me, slowly going crazy with being confined in a small room. The food was actually pretty good, not that La’s ate much the first few days but the adult meals were good. I stayed in with her and just ducked home each morning and night for a shower while Clint sat with her. Lachs also came up each afternoon to see her.

She was discharged late Wednesday afternoon (that was a process in itself) and was welcomed home with a lovely bright sign on the door that Lachs had made and a bag of cards from her classmates as well as a lovely stuffed toy from her teacher, who had emailed daily to find out how she was.

She had a fairly quite weekend, although I did allow her to go to a neighbours birthday party (she was devastated about missing the other one later the same day) and she came out for a couple of hours to see Clint finish his race on the Saturday. She was back to school and ballet yesterday and this afternoon went home to a friend’s house after school. As of this morning she is also off the medication, so she is all better and I have caught up on all the lost sleep!

Keeping busy