Swedish Halloween

Our Halloween celebrations just kept going this year! As a part three, and to finish off the weekend we went out to our friends in Al Reef, where the Halloween tradition to 'Trick or Treat' is huge. A lot of the tenants decorate their houses and take part, and it's really safe letting the kids walk around to do the 'Trick or Treat' in the area.
There are some unwritten rules regarding the 'Trick or Treat' in the compound: you are only allowed to come knocking between 5-7pm and you are only allowed to visit the houses that have their outside light on.

Pia had invited a few Swedish families over, and while the kids went off to scurry the neighbourhood for Halloween candy, us adults could catch up over some yummy cakes and tapas:

Lucas, Sofie, Linnea and Gustav:

Emma and Astrid:

Even though the kids were only out for about 40 minutes, their loot was impressive! It'll last until Christmas at least!

CrossFit Halloween

Last week at the CrossFit Kids, the kids were asked to dress up for this morning's special Halloween WOD, AND - to bring an adult to torture!! Needless to say Lucas' eyes lit up at the thought of a parent-kids WOD-off! Bring it!

All dressed up and ready to WOD, we joined a big group of the CrossFit Kids, Tweens and some more brave Mums and Dads for a bit of fun this morning!

Coach Annie was looking very cute as Wilma Flintstone. She had prepared lots of yummy Halloween treats for after the WOD:

Coach Sabine and Coach Annie giving the briefing:

For the warm up, we had to build a skeleton. The kids had to go into the (dark) Box next door, to try and find all the pieces of their skeleton; the adults had to run outside to the new outdoor Box, to find theirs!

It was hilarious to see the faces of the people waiting for their cruise to start just outside, when us adults in different scary costumes blew down the stairs and past them!

The WOD was 2 rounds of: 300m row, 30 pumpkin squats, 30 burpees and a 3 lap run - tied together with toilet paper. We had to work in teams of three, here's my team:

It got serious pretty quickly - Sofie had to drop both the hat and the cape!

Lucas and his team mummied together, and off they went on their three laps:

After the WOD, we had to throw wet sponges on a board, and try to make the witch disappear. This wasn't as easy as you might have thought, took some heavy cheating on both parts. I'm not quite sure who won this event as - no surprise - it turned into a water fight pretty quickly!

Finally, the kids won the traditional apple bobbing game! They went all in - good effort!

I call this photo "Dedicated Mums"! Well, it might have been a kids session, but we all had so much fun! Great morning!

Compound Halloween

Yesterday we were invited to a bit of a Halloween Bash at one of our neighbours here in the compound. Our old next-door neighbours who moved away to Dubai in the summer made a return for the party, and the kids were really excited to see baby A again - or should I say, Captain America!

The kids' dress-ups were rather understated. They are not all that into dressing up any more, and were quite happy just being dressed in black, with some added colourful hair and spooky eye make-up.

My dress-up was even more subtle... can you see it..?

There were Halloween decorations galore, tons of Halloween treats and fun Halloween party games. A lovely afternoon, making new friends.

Park play

Unfortunately there are not many places here where dogs are allowed. We are lucky though to have one are where you can bring your dog really close, the Yas Gateway Park. We have been to this park before on the north side, having picnics with the Swedish community. This morning, Linnea and I came to the other side of the park with Oakley. 

Our neighbours Andrew and Alex go every weekend with their dog Amber. Amber and Oakley had lots of fun together.

It was really lovely to be out and about somewhere green, aaahhh. I will make this our weekend routine during these winter months when the temperatures are so perfect. These big green lawns are the perfect place to train Oakley too, we have got an extra long lead for him, to use while training recall. He has so much to learn!

First bath

Linnea and I thought it was time for Oakley's first bath yesterday. We used to clean our dogs in Brunei outside, with the hose; but Oakley got the luxury treatment and got a warm bath in our bathroom.

He wasn't all that keen, but he stood still while we soaped him up and didn't try to escape. Now he is clean, fluffy and smells really nice!

More birthday gifts

The birthday parcel from Mormor and Morfar unfortunately didn't arrive in time for Linnea's birthday this year. It didn't bother Linnea at all, as she likes stretching out her birthday celebrations and have something to look forward to.

But yesterday Daddy went to pick up the mail, and there it was! Yay!

She got really happy finding two cute Pandora charms in there (she has already been eyeing up mine, to add to her new bracelet...) - an elephant "Because you are a strong and kind girl", and an owl "Because you are a smart and fun girl"! How lovely!

Grade Four Health Expo

This week the Grade Four classes had a big Annual Expo, about 'Health'. They all had been researching different subjects, made poster boards and Power Point presentations to showcase their findings. Yesterday morning the projects were presented in their classrooms.
Parents were invited to come and take part in the day, and interact with various students stalls. The Grade Two, Three and Five students had also been visiting during the morning.
Here's Linnea with her project about sleep:

Some other projects were on fitness, air, nutrition etc. Everything was concentrated around the central idea that the choices we make is a fundamental part of a healthy lifestyle.

One of Linnea's friends had created a fitness routine especially for the expo:

Well done Linnea!