Get Going...

It has been a while hasn't it?

I've been busy organising our impending trip back to Australia, something we find we are needing.  The girls and I leave and arrive two weeks before Lyndon can join us, which people look at me horrified that I am flying alone with a newbie.  Monet is an old hand at flying so she'll (hopefully) won't be a problem and I'm sure Lily will be fine.  We've had 'dramas' with getting Lily an Exit Visa but that is now all sorted and we're now set to go.  My dad emailed to say there is excitement growing at the prospect of us returning for a holiday and I'm very much looking forward to it. 

As much as I do enjoy living here, I feel it is time to have a visit back in Australia.  I'm finding that I need a break from this country as I find I am getting more and more annoyed with certain things, like driving for example and the way certain things are done is honestly shitting me.  Lyndon feels the same, especially now as he has been socondered(?) to a company in Dubai and has been doing stupid hours up there, a 150kms away from us at Abu Dhabi.  

We enjoy being ex-pats but we are now wondering where our next step is leading us.  Monet is a happy kid in school and at home (most of the time) so I'm sure we'll see out the schooling year (till June) and then reevaluate our situation and take it from there.  Who knows, maybe after this UAE-break, we'll see everything in a new light again.  Maybe I just need an Oz-dose.

Lily is now a thriving 11-week old who is a joy to be with.  I'm sure she's not far off her first giggle (yay!) and is happy most of the time lying in her rocker or on her play gym but I think her favourite place to be is to hang in the Baby Bjorn and nap near my chest.  She's not silly!  I'm looking forward to the family to meet her for the first time and I'm sure my dad won't recognise her as the newborn we brought home close to 11 weeks ago.

The lovely and talented (& now famous!) Tracey has made a cute as a button Christmas dress for Miss Lily to wear so I am looking forward to seeing our baby in it (& I will be sure to post a photo of her in it when the time arrives!) 

  

Lyndon and I (even some of the neighbours have commented) have noticed that Monet must have had a growth spurt.  She has such long lovely legs and her face has got bigger and prettier.  She brought home her first school report card last week and we're very proud of her.  For that, we gave her a ticket back to Australia for a holiday.  *heehee*  (gee, I used to get 5 bucks for a good report! How times have changed! *smirk*)

(This photo was taken by a friend who was a parent on a recent school excursion to 'Children's World' in Dubai.)

Not sure when I'll be back posting, hopefully not too far down the track.  And from a place that isn't the UAE.  (Thanks to those of you who have been back checking this blog - hopefully I get my blog-groove back some time in the near future!)

Sponge

I know that I have been blogging a lot lately about our Lily and Monet has taken a bit of a backseat here.  However...

Our five year old daughter is doing stuff that is making us proud (and sometimes a little irritable) but she's our Monet and we do love her dearly.  Even if I am currently working on a 'Star sticker' system for her behaviour! (She can earn up to 3 stars a day to get a present after a certain number is earned. Currently it seems to be working.)

She is blitzing school.  True dinks.  She is really enjoying it, loves her (young) teacher, has a 'best' friend and is learning so much.   

I was thrilled the other night when Monet actually read a book to me.  To me.  For five years it has been me reading to her so it was lovely for her to be reading to me.  Sure it was about Clifford The Big Red Dog running (and winning) a race against Mac the Dog, but it was a book all the same and she read it to me.  I could have cried.  

And after spending the past four years with Monet in the pool, first using floaties, then a swim vest and her being paranoid getting her face wet, now she can swim underwater!  She does swim lessons at school and even after only a handful of lessons she is doing so well.  Lyndon is usually the one who takes her to the pool at our place so he is rapt!

Monet went on her first school excursion today...to all places, 'Children's world' in Dubai!(Who goes to Dubai on their first school 'field trip'?)  There they saw a little play about the five senses which they are learning about.  She said she had a great time and was rather pleased with herself for not falling asleep on the bus on the way home! (Dubai is 150 kilometres from Abu Dhabi.)

She can count fluently to ten in Arabic and French and sings songs and says words in both languages.  She is learning to write the numbers and letters in both languages too.  

Makes you realise how much of a sponge the brain is when you're a kid, if given the opportunity.  

We're proud parents (its my blog so I can gloat), but we are still ironing out some current 5 year old behavioural problems, but we're getting there.  S L O W L Y.

Yas & Saadiyat Islands. Been there, done that.

We took a family drive yesterday...

Even though we couldn't get into the circuit, to actually see parts of it was jaw dropping.  They built the whole area from scratch in less than 3 years and it looked amazing...

That is a sneaky photo taken from in our car of the marina area of the Circuit. The pointy white bits are some of the Grand Stand seats and that big impressive building is the Yas Hotel.  (I don't know if you saw any of the footage of the race last weekend, but at night the 'covering' of the hotel is array of colours and looks spectacular.)  Parked right next to it was the Head Honcho Sheihk's Boat.  No photos are allowed and I didn't want to risk being thrown in jail by taking a snap.  (Funny as you couldn't take a photo of it, yet last weekend shots of the boat where beamed across the globe!)

Right next to the track is the (still being built) Ferrari World.  The only part that is finished is the concert area which hosted Beyonce, Kings of Leon, Jamiroquai and Areosmith last weekend.   From this photo it looks tiny, but in the flesh it is gigantic.  You can't see in the pic the roller coaster on the side of it.  Apparently it is going to be the fastest roller coaster in the world - travelling at excess of 220km's an hour.

The area where the Race circuit is, is on an island called 'Yas Island' - lots of infrastructure taking place and you honestly have to see it for yourself to believe it.  Yas Island joins onto Saadiyat Island and the road across the Island joins onto Abu Dhabi Island (yes, the city of Abu Dhabi is actually on island) which opened a few weeks ago.  

It is a 10 lane highway, with barely a car in sight for the 25-odd kilometers long it is.  (The above photo is the view you get closer to Abu Dhabi City.)  We were sitting on about 120km's an hour (the norm here people; but that is a different post altogether that one!) when we were passed (not unusual that either) by a Porche doing close to double our speed.  (Now, that was unusual!)  Our car moved around and the sound? Deafening.  My heart was in my mouth for about the next five minutes!

The Highway lead us into the heart of Abu Dhabi City.  We stopped by our favourite restaurant for lunch (Preggo's at the Beach Rotana) and made our way home.  

It was a nice family drive and also nice to get 'out-and-about'...

In other news, our baby is now a day off 9 weeks old.  She is a big smiler, a great little feeder and proving to be a good sleeper too.  She is basically now at night, waking once, after a seven hour chunk of sleep.  I'm loving that.  Her passport to is in the process of being processed and should be in our hot little hands before we know it.  :-)

Isn't she cute?  Well, we here think so...

Halloween. (Remind me to go away next year.)

It wasn't that bad really, my post title may suggest otherwise.  I just think I was taken by surprise just how many 'Trick or Treaters' there were!  You have no idea... You would think that we had relocated ourselves in the U S of A, rather than being slap, bang in the middle of the United Arab Emirates.

Lyndon had scored himself a one day ticket to the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix (and he *loved* it, even better than the Melbourne event which we've been to a number of times) so it was I who had to be giving out the 'treats' to the kids who came a knockin'.  

It had been organised over the last couple of weeks, by a couple of ladies in our street,  fliers which were given out to every home in our compound.  If you wanted to join in the festivities, the flier was to be posted on your door. This way if you didn't want to join in, you wouldn't get any unwanted 'trick or treaters'.  A good idea which I think worked well.  

As most people here in our street are rather 'social' (to say the least) I decided to sit outside with the neighbours and Lily in the pram next to me.  Monet was taken around with her little bestest bud and her mother.

Here were my girls;  Monet wanted to be a witch (of kinds) and I stuck a pair of bunny ears on #2 - not too pleased obviously.

The 'Trick or Treaters' were to 'door knock' between the hours of 4:30-6:30, and let me tell you, at 4:30 there was an onslaught of children, of all ages.  Oh.  My.  I have never seen so, so many dressed up children - the noise was amazing! (And kinda like my worst nightmare.)  I would say that I would have seen at least 200 children!  I was prepared with a big bag of 'treats'; more so than a few of my neighbours!  

It looked like everyone had a great time, especially the children.  Monet came home with her buddy EXHAUSTED!  (Yee-har!)  And with her bag over flowing with 'treats' or 'caaaannndeeee'!  

Lyndon too came home exhausted and buzzing with excitement.  He thought the F1 Yas Marina track was awesome and we're looking forward to watching the race in an hour.  (It is being shown on a local Sports channel here - along with Arabic commentary! Terrific.  Makes for interesting viewing...)