Happy Birthday Lucas!

Since it was my birthday, it was also Lucas' birthday of course! Hourray! 22!
It is still strange not to celebrate it together anymore. Instead Lucas is deeply involved in the Danish birthday traditions of the Juhl family, and got woken up with flag waving and singing early early, before everyone was off to work.

He received his birthday gift already a couple of weeks ago, as it was a combined Christmas and birthday gift, from both us and Thomas - a drum set.

 
Lucas got further celebrated throughout the day. His friend Simon had treated him to a Michelin lunch, and in the evening parts of the large Juhl family took him out for Vietnamese. I'm glad he has so many people around him caring about him, when we could not be there.

Departure

End of his leave, and it was time for Nathan to go back home. Linnea decided to go with him for a short while, as I stayed behind with Mormor and Morfar to help out.

They took the rental car back down to Malmö, and had brought Nathan's old road bike with them, to bring across on the train to Copenhagen. Lucas seems to think that he wants to start biking!

So glad you came, thank you for these weeks!

A boys trip

Lucas and Thomas have spent the week. Nathan had his four requested days off while they were here, and I had made sure I was off those days too.
Although, there wasn't much room for me, it was more of a boys trip... They haven't done much more than watch sports on TV, lazy around, and drink..!

I did come for lunch at Craft, for Lucas first beer out here in UAE. For some reason the bars and restaurants here follow the US age limit, which is 21, so he has been a designated driver for quite some time. Not anymore though!

I did leave them there after lunch though, they party better on their own!

Always good to have our boy home nevertheless. ♥︎

The 21st gift

So Nathan and I redeemed ourselves a bit this weekend, as Nathan went up to Copenhagen to hang out with Lucas and Thomas. He took him into town to get him his birthday present from us, and as it was his 21st - it was a big present..!

Lucas has wished for the big Millenium Falcon™ LEGO set forever, and he must have thought it was a completely unattainable wish - he got tears as he got to pick it out from the shop..!
First they just went to look in the shop..:

 

 Then he was told we would get it for him:

A very surprised - and very happy birthday boy! Sad I wasn't there to share this moment with them, but it is what it is.

As the 21st birthday is special for the Kiwis, Nathan himself got a very nice watch from his parents when he turned 21. A watch that he still uses for nice occasions, it's one of his most priced possessions by far. He did initially want to get Lucas a watch as well for his big day, but we finally reckoned he would be - at this time in his life - more happy for this LEGO set, ha ha!
There will come more special birthdays!

Lucas' 21st

In a different continent and time zone, someone else also celebrated his birthday - TWENTY-ONE!
Lucas got woken up as per Danish tradition with singing and flag waving, by his Danish family. They then had breakfast together and he got some gifts, before he was off to Uni for the day.

In the evening the whole clan had gathered for a steak dinner so we only managed to speak with him very briefly when we came back from our dinner. It didn't really suit with the time difference, as he was in the middle of his dinner when we were about to go to bed.

Turning 21 is really only meaningful for him here in the UAE, as you have to be 21 to drink here. Lucas is already looking forward to his next visit, when he will not be our designated driver going to Craft..!

Even if it doesn't mean anything in Scandinavia to turn 21, in Nathan's tradition this is a big one. We admittedly dropped the ball on his gift and didn't get it sorted in time, so he will get it on the weekend when Nathan turns up in Copenhagen. Stretching the celebrations!

10th Abuversary!

This weekend we also had a big milestone in our family - it was our 10th Abuversary on Sunday! TEN YEARS since the kids and I arrived to start our life in the sandpit!

I know I am repeating myself, but wow!! TIME FLIES! It's crazy!!

Lucas obviously is not living in Abu Dhabi anymore, but he was actually here this past week. So nice to have had him here, as always. He had a week without lectures at Uni, so he decided to come down for a bit. As Nathan had leave, they mostly spent the week playing padel and hanging around. I had work, and Linnea was at school of course, but we had time for some family dinners and time together in the TV-sofas.

Lucas and I also went to Dubai together to shorten a bracelet he had bought for Tove for her birthday, and pick up a piece of jewellery Pia had ordered. It was also nice that he got to see Anna & Andrew and Pip while they were here of course. A nice week to come!

I wonder where we will all be in another 10 years time??

Happy 20th!!!

I was of course not the only one having a big birthday over the weekend. It was also a milestone birthday for this one - Happy 20th birthday Lucas!

 

 

Now he is no teenager no more. He's twenty. Oaw... you blink, and time flies.
It has been twenty years since he made me a mother:

We missed him a lot over the weekend, and as much as I would have loved to share these special celebrations with him it just didn't work out for him to come home for his birthday. He celebrated in Copenhagen with his girlfriend and some friends; and it looked like he had a really good day too.

We miss him a lot every day of course, and on a special day like this you can't help but reminisce, and miss ALL the ages that he has been..! Especially this chubby little face of his, ha ha!

Happy Birthday Lucas! We love you always. ♥︎

Favourite visitors

Lucas also really wanted to show Tove the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which of course warmed my heart, and came up to the museum during one of my working days. My late afternoon looked clear, but then I got a last-minute tour, so they started by exploring the galleries by themselves.

I was so pleased to discover that they took their time, and had only made it half way by the time I was finished with my day and could join them. I could show them some of my favourite pieces and explain to Tove what the museum is all about.

Found some nice photo spots here too, but honestly, it is hard not to take great photos under this amazing dome.

We decided to go up to the Art Lounge to have a small snack, and to enjoy the drone show. We were really in the best seats for that - what a view!

Last time I saw the drone show it was already dark outside, so I enjoyed seeing it like this, during the sunset. It was really pretty, all the upcoming institutions on Saadiyat Island. 

 

Kathleen joined us as well. Here with a projection of the mosque at the Abrahamic Family House behind us.

Such a beautiful evening! I so enjoyed!
Since Kathleen and I had worked all day, we left the young ones in the Art Lounge and went home before them. They had come in their own car, so they could drive themselves home later, but it made me really happy they wanted to stay and enjoy a bit further.

Special sightseeing

The last week Lucas was here he had company from his girlfriend Tove, who had been to New Zealand for Christmas with her family (on holiday) and decided to stop over here in Abu Dhabi on her way back home to Sweden. She only came to stay a few days, so there wasn't a lot of time to go explore but one thing she had said she really wanted to do though, was to visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

So off we went! Twice in a month for me!

Tove got to borrow an abaya, and I took them around to have a look at all the beautiful details of the mosque. We came in the late afternoon, so right in the 'Golden Hour'.

We hit all the good photo spots.

Top 9 in 2023

Traditionally I look back at my Instagram year each December with the help of the Top 9-app.
Having a look through the most liked posts this year I see some lovely memories - a really happy girl on her first day of school many moons ago, our wedding anniversary post, a freshly turned 18-year old, some family photos, a nice visit to Lund and bringing guests to the desert.

Brings big smiles to my face. ♥︎

The BEST weekend

We have had a really great weekend. It was so nice to get to celebrate Linnea all together, as a family. I think it meant a lot to her to have her big brother here for her special day.

I am so grateful for these direct flights to Copenhagen, what a game changer they are!
We found out that unfortunately they will only be seasonal, but better than nothing I guess. We keep hoping the loads will keep being good to convince Etihad to keep the flights going all year around.

This school year we are catching up with Lucas quite a lot. Nathan was up for beginning September, I was there in beginning October; now Lucas came home and next month Nathan is going up again before Lucas comes home for a few weeks over Christmas. Love it!

WarPigs update

Here's an update on this post, Lucas' viral reel have now reached THREE million views! Wowsa!

Viral!

In the beginning of the summer, Lucas and his friend Simon got (almost...) free hands to do a Tik-Tok trend at work to be posted on the Warpigs Instagram account.

It immediately got quite a few thousand views, and quickly bypassed the next most viewed reel of the account which sat at about 36,000 views. Then - it took off!
Over the course of less than a week it went from 50,000 to 100,000 to half a million to a million... and bam - TWO MILLION views! They went viral! Completely crazy!

But the reel was very funny and well execute, so good on them!

I'm just a kid

We met Lars in England while working for EasyJet, at the end of 2003. His wife Dorte was back in Denmark, expecting their first child. He told us that as they knew it was a boy, they had already picked out a name - Lukas. I was also pregnant at the time, and although we didn't know the sex, if it was going to be a boy, we had also decided on the name Lucas.
And so it happened, that two little Scandi boys born just a month apart, and with the same name, became the best of friends as babies in Horsham. One got the nickname 'Big Lukas', and the other 'Little Lucas'.

Almost 20 years later, and 'Little Lucas' is not so little anymore, at least not in height! He has bypassed all of us, although 'Big Lukas' is certainly still the more solid one.

We did the Tik-Tok trend 'I'm just a kid...' and recreated this photo from May 2005, shovel, authentic strawberry hats and all; with lots of laughs involved!

I so appreciate this friendship, 20 years and counting! So much looking forward to the winter, when Dorte and Lars will come and visit us here in the sandpit for the first time!

Copenhell 2023

As June is almost over, I realise that I haven't blogged a lot. Not a lot has been going on to be honest. At least not here in Abu Dhabi.

Nathan had leave one week, and he went to Copenhagen for his very much anticipated return to Copenhell. This time WITH Lucas, and Thomas of course.

Linnea and I got sparse reports, but they had a great time. Weather was fantastic, the festival was as expected, and they managed all four days this time - being better prepared and pacing themselves more!

Good fun had by all!

Now there are only a few more weeks, and it's time for the second leave week of the summer. Nathan got one week in June, one week in July, one week in August and one week in September... Not so very handy, but we are making the best of it.

He's back!

We are currently on Spring Break, but Linnea and I are not traveling just yet, as Lucas came back for a quick visit. He only got six full days here this time, but he has made the most of it. So far we have been sightseeing at the Abrahamic Family House, had lush lunch at Mysk on Saadiyat, checked out the new Craft by Sidehustle venture progress; and enjoyed a family steak dinner at Yas Bay.

We have also been to the mall, spent a few hours on the beach and by the pool here in the compound, been for walks; and Lucas and Nathan have played padel.

He has also seen a few of his friends. Today his gang went to Ferrari World and then they had dinner at their favourite Nandos. And - he's had a haircut! As you can see, mullets are apparently still a thing in Scandinavia...

Tomorrow we are flying back to Copenhagen together, Lucas, Linnea and I.
Lucas is going back to Uni and Linnea and I are continuing across to Sweden for a quick visit. Nathan doesn't have leave until June, so he's not coming this time (either) unfortunately. At least he's not missing out on Scandinavian spring, as the weather forecast for the next week is rather grim, booo. I'm really not happy about having to bring my winter jacket and boots, I wanted sunshine and flowers!