Even better!

I didn't think the weather could get any better, but believe it or not, the rain continued today - nearly ALL day again! Yay!
We even got some thunder and lightning this afternoon, and whereas Oakley really wasn't sure what was going on with all the loud noise - I loved it! It was right over the house, a proper thunderstorm!

School pickup was an interesting experience today. I took some umbrellas for the kids so they wouldn't get soaked on the way to the car, but as it turns out, all the wet came just as much from below..! This country just isn't equipped for this much rain, and everything floods... the roads, the gardens, the pitches at school, the walkways... 

Again I stood there with the biggest grin on my face and just enjoyed it all - and so did most of the kids! They came out and jumped in the puddles, laughed and put their faces to the sky - like they had never seen rain before, some of them! Well, it sure is exotic in this part of the world!

It was equally funny to watch all the parents, and the different ways they had equipped themselves to try and stay dry in the rain - not a rain coat in sight, but some with card boards, some with sun shields from the car, tiny kids umbrellas etc; the locals hoisting up their white dress not to get them wet and people jumping here and there to - in vain might I add - try to avoid the puddles and mud.

We got home without any bigger problems than some extra muddy shoes and clothes, but we just got a message that school might be cancelled tomorrow due to the flooding and some power issues due to the "extreme" (ha ha) weather. So watch this space.

Bestest day ever!

Oh wow, today has been my favourite day so far in Abu Dhabi - weather wise.
It has rained ALL DAY! Such a treat!!

We have had grey skies and heavy rain clouds, ALL day - and I even managed to get caught in quite a heavy (read: normal) rain shower when out doing some jobs! Ha ha, I walked right out into it and put my face towards the sky, but honestly, I actually was far from the only one walking through the rain with a huge grin on my face!

I even got to use my umbrella at school pickup! Yay!

And driving home from Linnea's piano lesson late this afternoon, the skies looked like this:

So beautiful!!
Ah, so refreshing... Such a shame it's only a couple of times a year this happens... literally.

Another flying visit

Uncle Kieran came through Abu Dhabi very shortly again this weekend. He was on his way from Sydney to Edinburgh on Saturday and got to spend the day with us.
It included taking Lucas to CrossFit, strolling Yas Marina, watching YouTube with Linnea, having bacon & egg pie for lunch, skyping with the Taupo crew and shouting us pizza for dinner. Thank you Uncle Kieran!

Poor puppy

Oakley is feeling very sorry for himself this weekend. On Wednesday he went in for his neutering, which in itself is a fairly easy surgery, but now he has to wear this cone, to avoid him licking the incision site while it heals, as it could cause infection. He was not impressed at all when we brought him home on Wednesday afternoon, just sat there like this for the longest time:

Now a couple of days into it, he's moving about more and getting around the house, only occasionally bumping into things, but at least he seems to have found a few comfortable positions that works, even with a cone!

As Oakley was an Animal Action rescue puppy, we had to agree upon adopting him to have him neutered when he reached the right age. Here in the UAE it's a way of controlling the pet homelessness crisis. There are so many abandoned dogs here, that ultimately risks getting euthanized even though they are healthy, because there simply aren't enough homes to go around.

We are going back for a post-op check-up on Sunday, and so far it's healing well, so I hope he can get rid off the cone by then, so he can get back to his normal self.

New favourite spot

While we still have the gate in place on the stairs, it's actually rarely closed anymore. Oakley just wants to be where we are, so if we are downstairs he doesn't wander off upstairs on his own anyway. We have decided to keep the gate in place for a wee longer just in case as we don't want him to sneak up there and then get hurt eating some little toy or something.
But if we are busy doing stuff upstairs, he gets to come along more and more.

The other day he came up with Lucas to his room, and found a new favourite spot in Lucas' window. He thought that was fantastic! He discovered can sit up there and keep track of what's going on outside, in all three directions! Bless him, that kept him happy for hours!

366 in 2016 - February

So my project continues and here's the short movie from our month of February, about 10 seconds from each day. This movie takes us through International Day at school, a trip to Paris, Waitangi Day, several visitors, birthday celebrations and much more:

Thank you!

On their last day, we managed to squeeze in a visit to Yas Waterworld as well! The Robertsons went after lunch, the kids and Nathan joined after school - and finally I came as soon as I had done my Zumba Kids lesson.
Tilde, being the family daredevil, had gone on nearly all the rides and Jens the Liwa Loop. Max mostly just enjoyed the wave pool and Karin relaxed on a sun bed.
Today they have returned home to only +3 degrees and snow mush... brrr.

Great visit! Thank you for coming! I truly cherish our friendship, and I love that the kids have friends they have known literally their whole life..!

Lucky duck

Friday evening Lucas asked if he could bring his laptop to our friends, as he plays the same games as his mate there - and Linnea then just followed suit and brought hers too, plus her iPad...(Picking our fights, it just wasn't the time to argue, but they had to carry it all by themselves.)
As it turns out, the boys ended up just playing outside, but Linnea and Tilde actually got on her computer for a bit, as they didn't want to go outside in the dark.

When it was time to go home, we flagged down two taxis on the street and squeezed us all in to go home. As soon as we came home I took Oakley out for a quick walk, and when he and I returned all hell had broken loose in our house... - Linnea had left the bag with the laptop and her iPad behind in the taxi..!!
Argh!!!

While Nathan was busy still scolding Linnea, I immediately called the TransAD call center and their Lost & Found to start a search.
Normally when you order a taxi, you get a text with the name, number of the taxi and phone number of the driver; but since we had flagged the taxis on the street, we had no information. I had to leave the times we were picked up and dropped off, the locations, how much we had paid, how many passengers we had been etc etc.
Then, all we could do was to wait.

Leaving something behind like that normally means you will never see it again. Although living in the UAE, I had hope. Stealing is punished very hard here, and is considered a severe crime. I had blocked the iPad via the 'Find my iPhone'-app, and according to that no one had tried to use it. I kept believing the bag would turn up, eventually.

And would you believe it - yesterday the taxi company called and told us that the bag had been handed in by the taxi driver (hourray for honest people!), and we could come and pick it up at their main office!
I took Linnea and Tilde with me, and we went to deepest, darkest Mussaffah to recuperate the bag - happy days! Lucky lucky lah lah!

Must-sees

Sunday it was back to school for our kids, and as no visit to Abu Dhabi is complete without a visit to the Grand Mosque, we decided to go there in the morning.

Another great day for sightseeing, no queue at all to pick up the abayas, and a lot of space inside the mosque as well. It was lovely for a change to be able to take it all in without having people sticking their smartphones and tablets everywhere and in every direction to get photos.

After the mosque everybody was hungry, so we took the Robertsons downtown and up in the Marina Mall Tower. We had lunch in the café up there where the food is only just ok, but the view is great.

Sunday afternoon was then spent - ehm, not taking photos. :/
Karin didn't feel well, so she went to bed early; the girls played outside with the other kids in the compound most of the afternoon; I had a Zumba class and Nathan took Jens and Max to the F1 track. The TrainYas was on, so Jens and Max ran one lap while Nathan rode his bike a few laps. Another cool experience that is very UAE!

Wiiiii-hooooo!

Saturday morning it was time for the highlight of the Robertson holiday, at least if you asked Max - Ferrari World! The nr 1 thing he wanted to do when in Abu Dhabi (followed by swimming in the sea - check - and going into the desert - check!).

We were surprised, but happy, to see that there weren't a lot of visitors this day, even though it was a weekend. Nearly no queues at all anywhere, the kids went on all the rides and did all the experiences - and we hardly had to wait anywhere at all.
Here Lucas and Max are changing tyres on a racing car:

In the F1 simulator going around the Yas Marina track. Max was Michael Schumacher:

Nathan, Lucas was Felipe Massa:

Jens and Karin tried it as well, but Max was actually the winner!

We also raced in the go-karts. So much fun!

The girls were too short to do this, so they were in charge of the photos:

AND - we went on the world's fastest roller coaster, the 'Formula Rossa'! What a rush! It shoots out and accelerates 0-240 km/h in 4,8 seconds, and throughout the ride the max G-force is 4.8Gs!
The whole 2 km ride took just a minute and a half, and we came back and stepped out of the coaster train completely adrenaline filled! Oah!

Just like every other race driver that take on speeds like this, we had to wear safety goggles. They left at nice little mark on all our foreheads!

The kids also took on the 'Training Camp', where they got to climb different obstacles. Here's Linnea on her way up some pipes:

 Max to the left and Linnea to the right:

Perfect day to visit Ferrari World, and happy to finally be able to say that we've been on the fastest roller coaster in the world!