Our Travels

OK no paddles involved but went on a boat yesterday in the 42 degree Oman heat! We made a plan to be at the marina at 8am...and the islanders we all were we finally launched at 9am so it wasn't to bad. This was to beat the scorching heat as it is still the height of summer in this gloriously sunny region! All our boat drivers...hubby and two mates are kind of first timers to driving/captaining a boat so were trying out the speed of the boat much to my dismay and wished from the back seat that I had darts to play find the bulls eye on the captain's back! The sea was a bit rough so the ride left a lot to be desired. Basically I was just worried that my two year old would bounce off the boat and none of us had life jackets and they were sitting in the back of the car! Responsible parents we are not, but I blame the heat because we forgot some life saving sh!t in the car! We didn't forget the coolers with the beers though haha. It's all about hydrating in the heat. We foun...

So my seven year old started back at school 3 days ago and it's already the weekend! We survived the first three days and he's been enjoying going back to school. Of course the first morning of school and he announces that he's too tired and may have to stay home, to which I replied he may not! We dropped him to his classroom and his new teacher took the time to engage with him to which he answered her questions nicely. When he went into the classroom, relief was all over his face when he saw his usual friends and off he went without a look back at his parents. Three days in and he's happy with his class. My little one will start at a creche nearby at the end of the month so that will be good for him also. Today after we dropped off Master Seven, Master Twe and I went to the park and he played for about half an hour. I love the park as only the two of us were there and with the shade under the big trees it wasn't too hot. Later on I took him to the Children's ...

Tomorrow we're off to Dubai for a couple of nights before we go on to see friends in Ireland and onwards from there. I can't wait to visit Ireland. 

We drove down to Ras Al Hadd to see the turtles with our 6 and 1 year olds. We stopped at Wadi Shabb Hotel for the night. We enjoyed the hotel pool and had a swim on the spectacular pebble beach in front of the hotel. We took my SUP board so did a bit of paddling along the beach. It was really calm so it was a beautiful relaxing paddling session. There were a lot of fish and I saw a stingray which darted off as I came closer. The downside was the plastic rubbish strewn everywhere which was just awful. There was plastic in the sea and along the beach. The rock face on the West of the hotel was just beautiful as the sun set. The hotel was empty that night so we ate alone and the food was delicious. All the staff par for one receptionist who was there in the morning were non-locals. The place lacked any personal touch and just felt bland though the rooms were clean and spacious and the food was yummy. 

Manuia le aso e fa'atauaina ai tamaitai o le lalolagi.

We start off our Fridays with our family tradition of Pancake Friday coined by Master 6. After the flavour of the pancakes wears off, the whinging begins wanting to go to his friends house for a playdate...well to his best friend's house who are more like family to us so he wants to visit our friends to play with his bestie. So awhile back I explained that Friday is also Family Friday(it's Sunday in other countries) as in it's for families to spend time together and with each other. Thank goodness for that he now understands that there are no playdates that day unless he's lucky and we happen to plan stuff together with the rest of the gang here.  So the whinging for playdates is now pushed back to Saturday morning heh heh. I don't mind playdates and I encourage it as long as they're playing outside and with toys. Since the other parents have similar rules of no electronics during the week, our kids end up playing outside and all sorts of other games and it re...

Christmas and New Year I am disappointed in how slack I've been with this blog. A recap. Had a lovely Christmas and New Year's in Auckland NZ with my family. We were very lucky with the weather. Apparently it's the best summer Auckland has seen in a long time so we were blessed for sure. It was sunny days to no end the whole four weeks we were there. We had a good ol' "Kiwi Christmas Holiday". My Mum was there and all my sisters bio and step with all our children and two brothers-in-law:-) Missed the bio brothers and their families... and the family tree keeps growing. It was great having all the kids in one place to the point where there were fights here and there as they got on each others nerves! eek. While we adults also go on each others nerves but we plodded along with lots of deep breathes and lots of omms oh and the wines now and again helped too! Thought after one big before NY I could hardly stay up for the count down. Yep great greeting of t...