Domo Arigato!

Last night we decided to go out for dinner to celebrate it's Spring Break and we have survived yet another term of school! Nearly there for this school year, just one more term to go!
I was doing a Zumba class in Abu Dhabi Mall, so after that we all went to the hotel just next door to pick a restaurant for dinner. We ended up going to the teppanyaki restaurant, Benihana.

I went to a Benihana restaurant once many moons ago in Athens, but I wanted the kids to experience it. It's not just going for a meal, it's a whole experience. You have your own chef that performs a show while cooking right in front of you on a hot plate, doing endless tricks and joking around.

Our chef was called Michael; he juggled with his utensils and the spice containers, caught eggs in his hat, tossed prawns up in the air and caught them with a fork, flip flattened pieces of fried egg into our mouths from afar, and arranged onion rings into a fire-shooting volcano. It was awesome!

The food was pretty amazing too, we had grilled salmon, chicken, prawns, vegetables and steak; miso soup and onion soup, some sushi, edamame and salad. Yum!

Domo Arigato!

Grade Four Sports Day

It was Sports Day for Linnea's grade today, on the last day of this term. Lucky her to have Grandma here to cheer her on!

They did three different activities, first they were out on the sports field, started with a four-way tug-of-war:

They also did some ball games:

And finally a relay to collect as many bean bags as possible using bouncy balls, wooden spoons and sacks:

After the activities on the field it was time to move inside the gym for an obstacle course:

Finally they did some activities, races and relays in the pool:

Lovely blue skies today, and perfect temperature for a Sports Day!

NZ Peanut Brownies

Linnea had a baking lesson with Grandma the other day, learning to bake one of Daddy's favourites - NZ Peanut Brownies. Yum!

It's not brownies like I know brownies, soft and chewy; it's more of a hard, crunchy peanut biscuit. Very yummy! And look, we have a new cool cake tin to keep them in, very suited!

Ehhhmm...

I might have to have a little chat to my telltale son about exaggerating. No wonder Nathan thought the worst reading these messages the other week:

So, just to set the record straight:
* I hadn't CRASHED the car. I had (yes, unfortunately and it was entirely my bad) scraped another car in the car park at rugby.
* I wasn't waiting for the POLICE, but Saaed. The other lady and I were both quite unsure about what to do, as it was a really small mark, but we thought we would do the right thing and call Saaed. They deal with traffic accidents here. (You need them to come and decide which part is faulty, to be able to have any damages fixed at the repair shops. They won't touch your car without a report from Saaed.)
* I was going to tell Nathan myself (who was in NZ at the time), of course. But first I had to call home and tell Lucas as he was home alone with Oakley, since Linnea and I were going to be a little bit later than I initially had told him because of this. I was going to text Nathan afterwards - but someone else got there first... :)
* I didn't CRASH into the compound gate either. I had merely nudged it earlier that day, when it didn't open on approach as it's supposed to do.

:)

A busy weekend

This weekend was quite a booked up weekend for all of us.
Both children were invited to birthday parties, Linnea went to Adventure HQ on Thursday while Lucas was at rugby practice; and Lucas to a class mate's house on Friday, and then he had a friend here for a sleepover.

I had a farewell brunch on Friday afternoon, two of my good Swedish friends are leaving soon, so we decided to go for one last indulgent Friday Brunch this week at the Ritz Carlton.

Saturday morning after Oakley's walk, Grandma and I took the kids for a swim and poolside lunch at the Fairmont, something we don't do too often so I really enjoyed that. A lovely relaxed morning.

In the afternoon it was time to take Oakley for another Doggy Day Out at the Sanctuary. 27 dogs were there to play, and he had a great time. He played with Riley again, and made more new friends. Initially he didn't come when called, but actually towards the end he came for treats, and he was quite happy to come back on the leash when it was time to go. Baby steps.

Nathan? Well Nathan had to go to work all weekend unfortunately... poor him... He had an overnight at the Maldives... Life is tough... :)

Channelling Jane Goodall

Yesterday it was Linnea's turn to participate in the Grade Four Living Museum, just like Lucas did two years ago. I don't know if it was deliberate, but I had a feeling when I walked around the class room, that most of the explorers they had chosen this time were more recent, some even still alive - like Linnea's choice, Jane Goodall.

A good choice for Linnea, the animal lover that she is.

So many different important people from history were presented, from Pablo Picasso, Ibn Battuta and Bill Gates to Leonardo da Vinci, Yuri Gagarin and Elham Al Qasim, the first UAE woman to reach the North Pole.

We learned a lot this morning, f.e both Daddy and Grandma talked to the "Lee Buyung-chul", the inventor of Samsung, who had done a fantastic presentation:

I listened to most of the kids, but one I really enjoyed learning about was Jean Batten, Grace's choice. A NZ woman aviator who was the first person to fly between England and NZ solo, in 1936.

Great work Grade Four! I love The Living Museum!

Fun and games

It's all full on fun at our house at the moment! Not only has Grandma finally arrived for a visit, but for a few days this week - Uncle Jason is also in town. Double whammy!
Lucas was teaching Grandma how to use the 'Face Swap'-app the other day at lunch, they had lots of fun!

And Jason introduced Lucas to a proper wedgie... ha ha! This is the "Ooooohhh, that'll burn.."-face!

Happiest 5k on the planet

Ever since I read a post from the Adelaide Colour Run on my friend Nina's blog three years ago, I have been wanting to take part in a Colour Run of my own. While we were still in Brunei, there was no such thing there (although they've had their first one there too now!), so when it came here to Abu Dhabi last year - I signed the kids and I up straight away.
Unfortunately, I got really sick just that weekend, and instead of running around in clouds of colour, I spent all that weekend in bed... Booo.

So this year - we signed up again! Here we are, all clean and shiny before the start:

The start was at 8.30 am this morning, 8000 people had signed up.

The first Colour Run event happened in March 2011, and since that first event - the Colour Run is now happening in over 40 different countries and 200 cities every year.

The run was a five kilometer route around the Yas Marina Circuit, and along they way we passed through five different colour stations where we got dunked, drenched, sprayed and squirted with different colours.

About to go through the yellow station:

It's not a timed race, it's more about just having fun. After that first colour station and they knew what it was all about, the kids got right into it! Heading for the blue station:

The people at the orange station were the most vicious, very eager with the colour!

Lucas found some school friends:

I liked these local ladies, who had wonderfully colourful scarves on, they were so happy, had so much fun and looked amazing!

Pink station, seemed to be the most popular one:

The last station was a big finale of exploding colours in all the shades of the rainbow. I had done pretty good up until now, but here I got green colour smacked all in my ear so I couldn't hear, and in my eyes... aaarrggghhh...

Finish line, where Linnea caught up with one of her rugby team mates:

Then it was time for the Finish Festival, a huge party with loud music, dancing - and a massive colour throw! So much fun! What a fun morning!!

Here's a short clip, can you spot Lucas getting in on the fun..?