Sports Camp pick up

It hadn't heard much from Lucas throughout the week so I was looking forward to picking him up to hear all about this years camp. In this case no news were definitely good news, he had been having another great week!

He was actually rather sad saying goodbye, considering this was his last time and many of his mates have been with him all four years.

He came out with another award hat, so proud of him.

He now plans to come back to camp next year as a leader! He had been approached by the rugby coaches to apply, so he is now all excited about that prospect. I hope that'll work out!

Sports Camp drop off

This year Linnea had decided she didn't want to go to Sports Camp. I guess it was because she doesn't really have a specific sport she enjoys. She is participating in many different sports at school, but I guess there wasn't really one she felt comfortable joining here at camp.

So she got to stick with me and see off her brother instead. Lucas was doing rugby again, of course. For the last time actually, as the year you turn 15 is the last year you are allowed to participate.

He wasn't too happy with this years t-shirt... as it was in South African colours, ha ha!

This year as well, I met up with a few of the other Abu Dhabi Mums. Or rather, Sanna and Nina have both moved back to Sweden, while Annica and I are still holding down the Abu Dhabi fort.

Lucas with Philip, Adrian and one of Adrian's friends from the football group. 

This year Linnea got to enjoy the inauguration ceremony from the sidelines instead. Vibrating of energy and anticipation as usual!

Meeting the NZ All Black 7s & Black Ferns 7s

Last night Lucas took part in a special rugby training session at the Cricket Stadium, with the NZ All Black 7s and the Black Ferns 7s.

All rugby kids in the capital were invited and Lucas went along with some of his mates from their school rugby team. Great opportunity for the kids, and it looked like they all had so much fun!

After the training session, the Black Ferns 7s showed a few of the drills they use at trainings. Lucas said he found it really interesting, even just watching.

And then it was autograph signings:

Sports Camp pick-up

My wonderful alone-week came to an end all to quickly, but I couldn't be happier and my heart felt full after having created so many great memories to cherish, until next time. Norrköping here I come!

I had only seen a few pictures on the FB and Instagram accounts from the Sports Camp, and to be honest not heard much from the kids either. But this year, I chose to think that no news was good news.

It felt good to be back and pick up the kids. Both of them had had a really good time, again. I'm sure we'll be back next year again, they really seem to thrive here.

And for the third year in a row, the Watson kids brought home one of the priced hats! Lucas came out with another award - Friend of the Week. So proud!

Mormor and Morfar met me at the train station and we went to pick up the kids with the house truck. It felt good coming back to Skara and finally be able to unpack the suitcases properly.
Ice cream break on the drive back, in Karlsborg:

Sports Camp check-in

For the third year in a row the kids were going to Stadium Sports Camp again this summer. We came down already on the Saturday afternoon after having seen Nathan off and checked in to a hotel for the night, in preparation. Our dinner here wasn't as fancy as our last one in Nyköping - ha ha, we went for a Pokémon walk, and just had dinner at the 'korvmojjen'! (Yes, we still hunt Pokémon while in Sweden, as it's really a non-thing in Abu Dhabi we have to make the most of it during the summer.)

And then finally on the Sunday it was time to hit the Sports Camp check-in.

Lucas was happy to reunite with his familiar rugby gang, lots of his friends were here again too, and the coaches were the same as previous years. All really happy to see him again.
Linnea had chosen dance this year, like her first year. We made up her bed in one of the big sleeping rooms, and waited to see if any of the other girls would turn up before I had to leave her.

Nobody came, so we went for ice cream instead. But by the time it was time for the inauguration ceremony, I had found another little girl who also seemed to be there on her own and paired them up.

I also found some friends! I knew Adrian had signed up for football this week so I was expecting to see Annica; but running into Nina (who left AD last year) was a fun surprise!

The inauguration was full of energy and excitement, as per usual. This year it was hosted by the one of the Swedish 'Biggest Loser'-trainers Mårten Nylén. In the end he took a selfie with all the kids - from my perspective it looked like this:

But from his, like this:

After having said goodbye to the kids, it was time for my escape!! Into the rental car and off to Stockholm I went, wii-hoo!

U14 Award Ceremony

This weekend it was time for Lucas to officially celebrate the end of this season of rugby with the U14 Harlequins. As per tradition there was an Award Ceremony organized by the club, this year at the Novotel.

Roché and Bevan, the U14 coaches, shared some wise words with the boys before handing out the special awards:

All players got medals:

Then the obligatory group photo, although it gets harder and harder to get these boys to all look the same way and focus, they're too busy fixing their hair and finding the right cool photo pose...

HSCB Tournament 2018

We have a few recurrent happenings on our UAE calendar and this weekend it was time for one of them, the HSBC Youth Rugby Tournament. Linnea is not doing rugby this year, but Lucas and his now U14 team participated.

We were all up in Dubai, as Nathan and I had been out the night before with our ex-neighbours Chad & Kristen for Kristen's birthday; so we had stayed over at their place. Even though we didn't have to do the long Abu Dhabi-Dubai 7evens drive in the morning, we all still felt a bit tired going out to the grounds...
Linnea found a good spot to "support" from:

As per usual it was a rather long day, as there are long breaks in between games. Lucas and his mates played three games in the pool play, won 2 and lost 1. Then we had to wait a few hours for the semi-final, which they unfortunately lost, before we could go home.

Boys played well though, but above all they seemed to have fun. I do enjoy their banter in between games, they are a great bunch of kids.

Hybholts here, Day 8

On the Wednesday (Day 7) the Hybholts took off to Dubai on their own, while the rest of us caught up with stuff like work, washing, ironing, grocery shopping, errands, school and after-school activities. Hence no photos from that day.

On Day 8 on the other hand, there was Zumba (and Haddins) again in the morning, with a nice catch-up at Costas afterwards for Pia to say goodbye, as that was her last session for this time.

In the evening Lucas had rugby as per usual, and they also did this years team photos.
Here are this years U14 Harlequins team, Lucas is the forth boy from the left in the bottom row:

Our little sunshine

It was another day with gorgeous weather when we went to pick the kids up from camp. It was really nice for Nathan to get to see where they had spent their week. It seems like they are really enjoying this so I'm hoping they'll want to participate yet another time next summer.

We managed to catch them quickly before the End Ceremony started, and to our joy, this year Lucas had won an award - as Sunshine of The Week! Proud parents!