On way to Toronto

Back in Abu Dhabi, Nathan went on his own adventure. 
They have removed New York from the A380 schedule, and instead put Toronto on it. 

This was his first Toronto flight, and it really is a trek, which can be seen from the route mapped out on Flightradar. First they were flying almost straight up north, passed Finland, and then over to the west, descending via Greenland.

Long flight!

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!

Splitting the G

Nathan is on a mission to "Split the G" in as many locations as possible. Here in Sydney he chose to do it at the oldest pub in Sydney, Fortune of War.

"Split the G" is taking enough gulps in one go of a Guinness beer, as to leave the line of the foam in right in the middle of the G of the Guinness. It's an art!

He didn't manage too well to split the G this time around, but he still enjoyed his beer!

Lunch date

Many moons ago, long before we met, Nathan used to work for an airline called Pegasus and was based out of Turkey. First a few months in Istanbul and then a short while in Dalaman.
He had come over with a bunch of his Kiwi mates who used to work for Garuda. Amongst them was Mike, who ended up marrying a Turkish girl and staying put, having lived there since back in those days 25+ years ago.

We met up for lunch, went for gyros and a catch-up. Good for Nathan to see an old mate!
We really do have friends in all places!

London baby!

Time for a little trip! My suitcase packed like Tetris, and off I went on the first leg on my trip, to London!

Nathan had flewn his big bird up in the middle of the night, and I had tried to swap my flight to be able to go with him, but no dice. So I came along on the 787 in the morning instead.

Nathan met me at the airport and we went into the city on the train. He only had that afternoon, before he had to get back out to Slough and the hotel, so we made the most of it.

I checked into the hotel where I was going to stay, and then we had lunch in the White Hart pub on Drury Lane. Archives reveal this corner to be the first and oldest licensed premise in London, since 1216! We had Fish & Chips, and Bangers & Mash, cause why not, when in England!

We walked around quite a bit in the area. My hotel turned out to be situated not so far from the area where Linnea and I stayed on our pre-Christmas trip 2023, so I found my way around. Did some shopping and just enjoyed the city.
Then I found a Swedish bakery, Fabrique - and lo and behold, they had semlor! So time to stop for a coffee and indulge!

I had been seeing semlor across my Insta-feed for weeks, since it's the time for them in Sweden now, so I got really happy I didn't have to wait another couple of weeks before I could satisfy my craving.

We finished the afternoon in another pub, good timing, as it started to rain ever so lightly and became rather cold. Nathan then returned back to his hotel, to get ready to fly back home the following morning - and I went to mine, to wait for Linnea to turn up for a girls' weekend in London!
A good start to the trip!

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. ♥︎

Momancholy

It has been a bit quiet on the blog for the past few weeks, since Linnea left. I haven't done much else really than work, come home, eat dinner, see TV and sleep. Nathan and I are going away next week for a short trip, so making the most of getting some time in at the museum before then.

When I am here at home I walk around a little aimlessly, feeling sad for no particular reason, and keep thinking of old memories. It is quite weird here at home without Linnea. I keep waiting for her to come bouncing down the stairs in the evenings to make a cup of tea or some popcorn. It has been a big change for us both, to have our last child leave us. It was really very brutal and abrupt to just put on her on a plane, and say "See you at Christmas!". When you live this expat life, it's not like your kids can come home for a fika every now and then, for Sunday roast or to get their laundry done. It is very definite.

But, we actually talk more to her now than we have done all together I think the past two years. We text all the time and Zoom every day. She is doing ok with her Au Pair family, but of course it is not so easy to just go out and find friends, so she has been feeling a little bit lonely. It will take time, but we are sure she will find her feet properly soon. We will continue to be there for as long as she needs us (and beyond!), and hope that the momancholy feelings subside as well with time.

Happy birthday Nathan

Birthday boy got celebrated with balloons and gifts in bed, as per tradition.

Not many gifts, just the token fun ones, such as a Beer Trivia Game, some giblets for his Crocs, and a rather special Christmas decoration that Mormor had got custom made:

Isn't he gorgeous! He will take pride place eventually as we get closer to Christmas:

Birthday breakfast was cooked breakfast this time, as I completely forgot about making pancakes.

 
The rest of the day was spent doing chores that were urgent, like sorting out Linnea's Visa, and picking up Nathan's Swedish passport from the embassy. We had lunch at a Libanese restaurant in town (which was a bit of a let down), and then cooked ribs for dinner, and invited Will over.

10 years later

Today the 14th of January is a special day as it marks the 10 year anniversary in Etihad Airways for Nathan. He got a heartfelt congratulation message this morning from - the company chatbot! Ha ha!

Ten years! That's such a long time... I can't believe how time flies!

Seems suitable that at the end of the month, Nathan is going to be changing things up a bit. He is leaving both the Training Department and the A320-fleet, and moving across to the big bird, the A380, as a line-pilot. New adventures awaits - long haul flights! Really exciting!

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. ♥︎

Five-Oh!

As we had overnight guests, and had all had a long, late night the night before; Nathan didn't get sung to in bed as we normally do on birthdays. In fact, he tried to come downstairs in the midst of breakfast preparations, so he got sent back up to go back to bed until we were done.
No one had specified which bed though... so this is how we found him and Freddie. One of them slightly more awake than the other...

Then he was invited to his breakfast table, with flags, singing and presents!

Hmmm... all secretive about what was in this one. Turns out it was a nice decanter and glasses. As great minds think alike, he actually got TWO decanters - one from the Dehlis, and one from us.

Funny card from one of his colleagues:

A French electric table pancake maker! (Inspired by our friends the Petersens who had one when we visited this summer)

And, lots of whisky! I think I counted 5 bottles! This one came all the way from Sweden, a Mackmyra Special Edition:

Ida got put on pancake-making duty, and she did a splendid job! Such a cool machine!

After the long breakfast which lasted pretty much all morning, we had a chill day at home with our friends. Went down to the pool for a bit and just took it easy.
In the late afternoon, Nathan had wished for roast pork for dinner, so Freddie the masterchef very kindly rustled up a yummy birthday meal with Danish browned potatoes, red cabbage and roast pork with crackling. Felt like Christmas, but birthday boy was happy!

And cake, of course!

Happy happy 50th! ♡♡♡

Taco bout a party!

We are currently recovering from a weekend of celebration - celebrating Nathan's big 50th birthday! Hourray!

He had invited just a few friends down to Yas Bay, and had a private part of La Carnita booked. Linnea and I had brought a huge bunch of balloons to decorate to make it look really nice:

We had the room for a few hours of free-flow nachos, tacos, guacamole and all the Mexican food; together with Prosecco, SideHustle beer - and Margaritas, of course!

Some family photos before it all took off. We missed Lucas of course.

And photos with the closest thing to family we have here in the sandpit, the Dehlis who had come down from Dubai.

Peta was there too:

And Browny, and Johan! Linda unfortunately had to miss it since she was in Newcastle for a work thing, but Johan was intent on determining if these Margaritas had anything on my Thermomix ones..! Verdict is still out by the way.

Peter was there, and Karin and Holger.

The McGeehees also came from Dubai.

To really create the Brunei 2.0 feeling, Peta and Pip's parents Sandy and Pete also came by for a quick hello.

Linnea and Ida.

The girlies had some fun with their parents in the photo booth:

I took charge in bringing the balloons home for the next day, and walking down the waterfront everyone kept wishing me happy birthday... so I had to keep saying "They're not mine!" Not just yet anyway..!

There was even fireworks to celebrate! Hip hourray!