Another Christmas Has Come and Gone.

So, how was your Christmas?

It's quite fun for us now having two young children and seeing their faces on the big Day. MissM was taken by surprise that Santa left her a 'Barbie Glam Jet' as her main gift. It's pretty ace. MissL loved the new baby doll and pram he left for her. She loves pushing that pram around and around, pushing anything that comes in her path, which she pops in the pram.

On their grandparents behalf, I took charge of gifts from them to their granddaughters. MissL was so excited to see a 'Dress Me' Kitty, which I think may just be one of her most favourite things. She, the Kitty, got a big push around in the pram on Christmas Day, as seen below...

MrL and I gave the girls new outfits to wear for the day. I think they both looked rather lovely before we headed out for lunch in their new kits. What do you think?

We spent Christmas lunch with 30 other 'expat' friends, at the Crowne Plaza over at Yas Hotel (where the F1 track is) and enjoyed a four hour long boozey buffet brunch. (I was one of the non-boozers, I saved my drinking for the evening.) We ended up getting a massive discount (over 1500 dirhams, a bit under $500aud) due to 3 of us owning a special discount card so everyone was most rapt and thankful to me *gloat* as I had organised the lunch (along with another friend) and we got to use our discount card. Best thing - no washing up, no mess. If we are still here next Christmas I will definitely do the same thing again.

The evening was spent with some neighbour friends, having a quiet drink and chat. Good fun.

However one thing Christmas means to me is Trifle. I don't do 'plum pud', so I always make my own Trifle (or my mum does if I'm at hers). It was rather delicious, I must say.

MrL and I decided we'd buy a new bed frame with our Christmas cash. Like the new table, we'd been searching for just the right bed head and we actually found it at the place we got our new table from. It is made from Indian Teak and is polished and stained in any tint you like. We wanted a darker colour to match our existing bedside tables. We love it.

I hope Santa was kind to you and you enjoyed Christmas. Can't believe it has come and gone already.

A Girl of Many Talents.

Four hats, many talents.

Merry Christmas

From my little family here in Abu Dhabi...


...wishing all my readers a very safe and merriest of Christmases!

*pop*
*chink, chink*

Happy 'Brum-day' To You

It's MrL's birthday today. Because I can sometimes be an awesome wife, I spent a good while trying (unsuccessfully) to reproduce his car, in a cake. Hhhmmm.

Started off well.

Then the wheels kind of fell off my design but it still vaguely looks like his British Racing Green Mini Cooper S. Gee, I hope it does.

We are not going out for dinner, bit hard when the 15 month old is in bed at 6pm. Instead MrL

requested some mini Wagu Party Pies which I had to order especially from Jones The Grocer. Not every day you order 12 party pies that cost around $50aud, but it is a special ocassion after all.

In other news MissL got her stitches successfully removed on Monday. She's now got a little scar just above her left eyebrow. I will try and get my hands on some Bio Oil now to help prevent too much of a scar.

She's still adorable. Scar and all.

Khalifa Park

The girls and I met up with a friend from school and her three children in Khalifa Park. Set on Abu Dhabi island, I have been wanting to visit there for a long time, after discovering it about six months ago. It is actually very pretty and lovely and quiet when we visited on Monday.

Lots of water fountains....

Loads of greenery....

And little places for little children to explore in...

There is even a section with about five shallow paddling pools with smaller fountains for the children to have fun in. I know where I'll be heading with MissM and MissL when the weather warms up...

A Table for Eight

For years we have been looking for the right dining table. Years I tell you. And it was nice to be able to find pretty much exactly what we have been looking for and being able to afford it was even better.

This is MrL's and my 3rd dining table, after 14 years together.

Our first was a round table, bought in the town we were living. I think they were pretty popular in their day, round, 4 wooden chairs, tan-nie colour. It did us well until we moved into a big house down the Mornington Peninsular which was partly furnished some 6 years later. This house had a solid maroon coloured massive rectangle table with benches. We loved that table, but it was not ours. After we had MissM and moved into an inner-city apartment we bought a new dining table, dark brown, rectangle, 6 seats - Harvey Norman style. That table had then been transported to Cairns and then over to Abu Dhabi. I've now sold it to a neighbour, as we finally got a table we are going to stick with.

In our books, we find it perfect.


Square, 8 (surprisingly comfortable) chairs made from Indian Teak and stained to a colour we requested (which went something like MrL saying, not light, not dark, bit of a reddish tone). The photo above was taken on the night it arrived, but now we've got navy blue chair cushions and 8 placemats. We have never used a table so much. I don't think I've eaten dinner on my lap since it arrived over two weeks ago!

We are very happy with our purchase which will hopefully see us through....

Kisses Through The Window

Must be nice to be so adored, your little sister wants to kiss you through the window.

A bit of Local Culture

Even though is seems like ages and ages ago that my parents visit I still thought I'd do a post on 'The Heritage Village', where I took them on their last day here. Located on the breakwater of Abu Dhabi Marina it is a great place to visit for little souvenirs and hand crafted goodies.

It is also a good place for your child to befriend a local Emirati man and for you to take photos...

Yeah, MissL may not look too sure but I was most surprised that she allowed the gentleman to pick her up. (And yeah, she is a little Granny with her purple handbag.)

And once again my girls went hand in hand around the little village.

I'm pretty sure my dad was in his element, being the keen photographer he is - there is loads of photo opportunites to be had at the Heritage Village.

As you can see it is very picturesque. (When we first moved here the tallest building in Abu Dhabi was the dark blue building on the middle right. It is slowly being dwarfed my more and more construction.)

If you ever come and visit, I'll make sure I take you there too. =)

1 Here Plus 1 There Equal 2 Stitches!

It's not nice seeing your own 15 month child at the doctors anytime, especially in the emergency department of your local hospital!

Being the toddler that she is, MissL yesterday morning, she fell off the 'round chair' her and MissM were playing on, slap, bang into the corner of our low lying tv cabinet. Much bloood and screaming later, we could see the gash just above her eyebrow, not too big, but big enough for us to be concerned.

I took her to hospital and we were seen straight away. For a little girl who isn't a fan of men at the moment, let alone strangers, she did sooooo well to be held down by four of them and I. With a needle to numb the area, she received two big blue stitches. (Have you ever seen the needle they use to stitch skin?) A few little bandaids were placed over the stitches and then followed by a bandage and tape. (Now, that'll hurt coming off!)

I have to return MissL to the hospital this Monday for the bandage to be replaced and then the following Monday for the stitches to come out. I'm not looking forward to either but you do what you have to do. =)

Souk, it's Arabic for Market Place

Monday saw MissL and I take my parents to the Souk Qaryat Al Beri, located on the edge of the mainland, before Abu Dhabi island.

The souk is fairly new, opening in stages between the Shangri-La hotel complex and the Traders Hotel. Outside opposite, they are building a new Ritz Carlton. (Yeah, not short of a quid over here.)

It is a pretty part of Abu Dhabi, with gorgeous views of sparkling, calm, blue waters and across from the Grand Mosque...

Whilst in the Souk, I turned around to find my parents had changed into different gear! =)

Back outside we walked down to near the traders Hotel, which stands next door to the gorgeous Fairmont Hotel. Looking at the photo below, next to the Fairmont is two bridges, the furthest one was just opened late last week after a construction period of 6 years! (The tall white pointy bit is meant to represent a giant sand dune.) The construction of this bridge now takes a good 5-10 minute drive time off commuters travelling from Dubai to Abu Dhabi city.

A visit to Abu Dhabi is not complete without a visit to the Souk at Qaryat Al Beri.