Cairns Festival Parade

Every year Cairns holds a Festival and every year we have not participated in anything.  Okay, we were absent for a few of those years but I figured this year the girls and I would venture into town for the 'opening' parade.  I'm glad we did.   The girls loved it. 

I met my girlfriend and her family at a particular spot so we all enjoyed it together.  Lily was rather excited and Monet ended up enjoying it after I made her walk from where I had parked the car to the street where the parade was.  (It was a good 15 minute walk.)

It wasn't a massive parade but it did showcase all the clubs and a lot of schools etc., which I enjoyed.

Some of the floats/displays were very clever.  I loved the school display who dressed up like jelly fish.  Very clever....

There is a big Asian culture here in Cairns, but Lily got a bit scared of the chinese dragons...

...She was thankful for her big sister to hide behind...

It was enjoyable and I will go again next year.  I'm positive the girls will make me anyway, but I will try and park the car a little closer to stop Monet from whinging... *heehee*

Late Afternoon Beach Fun

I really should update this blog more often!  Sheesh, where does the time go?  Monet has already been back at school for final term for two weeks now and I haven't even blogged about little things we did.  I will get there eventually.

So....

Quite a few Sunday evenings ago (three weeks ago in fact), MrL and I decided that instead of having a beer or two on our balcony at home that we'd venture down the beach and have a couple there....as you do in Queensland.  It was a perfect evening, busy with tourists still splashing in the water, people chatting and grouped together on the beach and two little sisters besotted with one another.

It's times like that, that makes me appreciate where we live.

And with the sun setting, it was time to enjoy some (perfectly grilled) fish and chips on the foreshore.  I'm not sure of the photo below (lol) with the girl's expressions (lol) but we had a pleasant evening together.

Giggles

I *know* how many times I have blogged before about dress ups but my girls love to dive into the dress up box at least once a week.  I'm not sure who has the most fan, but I would put my money on Monet who loves to dress up her younger sister.  

Part of Lily's birthday parent from MrL's parents was a Dora dress up outfit.  Lily was not too sure at first but lately it has been getting a good run.  I laugh when I see her wear the Dora wig as I imagine that's what she would look like as a brunette. 

Monet does like to get involved too.  However she's growing up so much and those legs of hers are getting longer and longer.  It's getting harder to find outfits to fit such a tall girl...

I am pretty sure that's part of the reason why Monet likes to play 'schools' with her younger sister.  Meet Monet's alter-ego, Miss Lulu.  (A glimpse of the future I imagine...)

And here's a giggle for you all.  My Hawaiian hula girls, cross with a clown...

Clowning Around...

...Not me.  The girls.  They love to dress up.  Monet especially loves to dress up her younger sister and we all get a good giggle!  I think Lily loves the attention and loves to role play.  

The girls had me in tears when Lily came out dressed a few weeks ago in an el'cheapo Kaftan I had bought in Abu Dhabi (for dress ups), a lei and a prayer hat.  When she came out she immediately got down on her knees and began to pray - which is actually quite strange as we are not a praying family!

On the weekend, Monet dressed up Lily in some United Arab Emirate gear.  How could I resist?  And how could Lily not pose?  (Not sure what this face is all about!)

Monet too, is not one to miss out.  She would blend in rather wonderfully in the UAE - I think this girl has seen one too many labourers in the past few years.

Halloween 2011

So, I'm a little late here, but as the saying goes, better late than never.

Halloween has come and gone and the girls had a blast.  Our first 'dose' of Halloween came on the Thursday night beforehand, where Monet's school held their annual 'Fall Festival'.  Basically it is everything Halloween with apple bobbing, 'candy galore', blow up castles, food (food! oh so much food!), lots of people (so many people!) and lots of gorgeous kids dressed up in various costumes and the like.

Monet had decided many weeks ago, that she wanted to be a clown at the Festival.  A clown? Okay, so I thought I might actually make her an outfit....which didn't happen.  I cheated and visited my local 'Party Store' and was most impressed to find an actual clown costume.  The nose and hair were separate purchases, but Monet was rapt when I presented to her, her outfit.  So, with a bit heap of face make up, she was ready to go!

She did scare herself when she looked in the mirror, and ten minutes before we were to head out the door, the wig and nose were on the thrown on the floor and Monet was not at all keen on going dressed as a clown.  Urgh, kids I tell you.  But with a bit of reassurance, we went with Monet dressed as a clown and she was a hit.   I still look at that above photo and don't recognise that girl. I see the clown from Stephen King's IT.

So, by the time Halloween rolled around a few days later, the clown idea was out the window and Monet declared she was going as a 'scary fairy' to go Trick or Treating in our neighbourhood.   And Lily?  Well, she was going as a cute Pumpkin.

A cute pumpkin with an Aussie twist.

By then end of the evening, Lily's trick or treat bucket was full to over-flowing.  It initially took her a few door knocks to get the hang of the whole idea.  She was not keen on people putting something in her bucket but when she worked out that she was getting candy/sweeties/lollies, well, anyone who gave her some were her friend.  

I was most surprised that she didn't want to go trick or treating the following evening.  

Some Unusual Breakfast Guests

Monet and Lily invited a couple of guests to breakfast last week.

Molly (she's Irish) and Squeaky (she's a mouse, but recently accompanied us to Berlin and Barcelona, so she's a well traveled mouse).

They sat quietly (the guests, not the hosts) at the table on the table, and nibbled on their toast, and they had a teeny bit of bacon too, all washed down with a drop of water.

Bet you haven't had breakfast guests like that at yours before.

Dress Up Fun

As I was busy in our family wardrobe room (yes, we have one whole room which houses all our clothes in free-standing wardrobes), organising stuff before we head off, the girls were busy in Lily's room, trying to keep out of trouble. I could hear squeaks of delight coming from the youngest and Monet giggling away.

"Mum, where are you?"
"In the wardrobe room...."
"Okay, well here comes Lily..."

This is how Lily presented herself to me.

Cute eh?  Lily the Fairy.

Well, then it wasn't long until I was given a 'dressing up' fashion parade...

I was visited by a Mermaid and Hula Girl...

A couple of Pumpkin Fairies...

And Snow White with her Wicked Step Mother.

(Check out the shoes on that above photo will you!?!)

Fun, funny times.

Printing Out Fun

MrL and I have discovered a way to keep the girls quiet over the past few days.  Here's what to do; (As I suggest you do this too.)

What you need is one computer, connected to the internet.  You also need one printer.  Go to one of the (hundreds) of children's websites.  The majority of them have pages to print out for the kidlets to colour in.  Young children can find printers fascinating.  See the example below.

And then enjoy your ten minutes of peace and quiet whilst the youngsters colour in the printed pages.

Anyone else have any tips on keeping children aged 1 and 6 nice and quiet for 10 minutes?

Ski Dubai

Last week MrL and I decided that it was about time we took Monet to Ski Dubai. So on a 44 degree day, we did.  Today.

Miss Lily was pretty much petrified of the place, thanks to some gentleman who thought it might be a good idea to throw a snow ball at the window, where the general public can look into the snow park, above her head.  From that moment on, she screamed whenever her and I went near the big planes of windows that look into the 'play park'.  Thank goodness our plans didn't include her or I paying to get in! (Under 3s aren't allowed in anyway)

I did manage to get Lily to stick around in the stroller long enough to see her father and sister enter the park.  (It did help that I bought some soft MandM-laced American cookies.)

Lily and I didn't stick around for too long, it was all too much for her and she promptly feel asleep for a good 90 minutes in her stroller, whilst I was browsing (for bargains - of course!) at H&M.

MrL rang after about an hour to say that they had had enough.  I was (very) surprised to hear that Monet had been on the 'bob-sled' ride - those things go damn fast and she's not one for fast rides!  They tobogganed and basically enjoyed their experience in the cold (-4 degrees Celsius) brrrr brrrr snow in the middle of the desert.

(Have to mention too that we met up beforehand with an old friend who was visiting on business with her youngung (same age as Lily with the same blond locks - oh she was gorgeous!) and husband - very lovely to see a face from, not only Australia, but our home town! Thanks C.)

Halloween. (Remind me to go away next year.)

It wasn't that bad really, my post title may suggest otherwise.  I just think I was taken by surprise just how many 'Trick or Treaters' there were!  You have no idea... You would think that we had relocated ourselves in the U S of A, rather than being slap, bang in the middle of the United Arab Emirates.

Lyndon had scored himself a one day ticket to the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix (and he *loved* it, even better than the Melbourne event which we've been to a number of times) so it was I who had to be giving out the 'treats' to the kids who came a knockin'.  

It had been organised over the last couple of weeks, by a couple of ladies in our street,  fliers which were given out to every home in our compound.  If you wanted to join in the festivities, the flier was to be posted on your door. This way if you didn't want to join in, you wouldn't get any unwanted 'trick or treaters'.  A good idea which I think worked well.  

As most people here in our street are rather 'social' (to say the least) I decided to sit outside with the neighbours and Lily in the pram next to me.  Monet was taken around with her little bestest bud and her mother.

Here were my girls;  Monet wanted to be a witch (of kinds) and I stuck a pair of bunny ears on #2 - not too pleased obviously.

The 'Trick or Treaters' were to 'door knock' between the hours of 4:30-6:30, and let me tell you, at 4:30 there was an onslaught of children, of all ages.  Oh.  My.  I have never seen so, so many dressed up children - the noise was amazing! (And kinda like my worst nightmare.)  I would say that I would have seen at least 200 children!  I was prepared with a big bag of 'treats'; more so than a few of my neighbours!  

It looked like everyone had a great time, especially the children.  Monet came home with her buddy EXHAUSTED!  (Yee-har!)  And with her bag over flowing with 'treats' or 'caaaannndeeee'!  

Lyndon too came home exhausted and buzzing with excitement.  He thought the F1 Yas Marina track was awesome and we're looking forward to watching the race in an hour.  (It is being shown on a local Sports channel here - along with Arabic commentary! Terrific.  Makes for interesting viewing...)

The House of MonetLulu

I am (very) conscious of the amount of time I am spending one-on-one with Monet during her holiday break.  I feel it is important for her and for me, before baby comes and interrupts all that we currently know.  We've explained to Monet that even though I might not have time to spend with her in times to come, that she is loved and will always be special.  She was my first baby after all.  

She understands that a lot of the time I can't be 'stuffed' doing anything, but she usually motivates me to sit and colour with her, or help change her Polly Pockets or Barbies, or get in the kitchen and bake together and even play 'Putt-Putt Golf' on the Wii with her.  She is an excellent helper around the house, doing what I ask (most of the time) and cleaning up after herself.  Bless her.

Monet knows that I will be spending some nights in hospital once I go into labour and have the baby; we're all hoping that it won't be when it is Monet's birthday!  Anyway, I asked her if she'd like to make me something so I could take with me to hospital, to know that she isn't too far from my thoughts.

I gained these yesterday afternoon.

We bought a pack of beads yesterday, something we hadn't seen over here before and Monet was very keen to get home to begin beading.  The first thing she made was the bracelet using some of my favourite colours.

This morning it was a case of 'I-don't-want-breakfast-I-want-us-to-bead', so that's what we did.  Monet gained the set on the left (made by me) and I gained the set on the right (made by Monet).  

I seriously love them.  (They remind me of the little lollies I used to get when I was little, when we'd make the trip to Melbourne.  We'd go to Darryl Lea as a special treat and I'd usually walk out with a little jar of those sticky little lollies!) 

Fresh from the House of MonetLulu. 

Don't we make great models? *heehee*

Street Par-tay

Yesterday we attended a 'street party' in the honour of nothing or no one.  Surprisingly, we all enjoyed ourselves.  

Our 'street' in the compound, is a 'dead-end' one with 26 villas lining it, 13 on either side.  The eight villas, up the end, have been occupied by the tenants (most people have the rent assistance as included in their work contracts and it seems the only owners of villas in this compound are owned by Nationals), for about 8 or so months.  The remaining villas (of which there are 6 vacant ones - we have no one living directly on either side of us) are occupied by people who all work for the same company Lyndon does.  We all arrived around the same time, from September to December.  It is a case of the street being split in too - that end and 'our end'.

It was someone from one of the tenants of 8 months+ who decided it would be a nice idea to get everyone together from the street and meet the ones they wave to.  (ie - likes like me)  We know quite well the people from 'our end' of the street, mainly because we all come from the 'southern hemisphere' and our husbands all work for the same company.  

I learnt yesterday that our street has residents from France, Spain, Belgium, Scotland, England, New Zealand, USA, Australia (hel-lo!), Jordan, Norway, Sweden, Canada, India.  We are multicultural are we not?

I befriended an older French couple, mainly because the woman produced some wonderful salads and desserts for our BBQ late lunch/early dinner.  Oh my.  How one does love french cooking.  The lady gave me the recipe for these fabulous vegetables she produced onto the table to eat.  So very tasty.  Mmmm....  (Hopefully I can remember it when I decide to make it.)Her crepes were to die for too!  *heehee*  They were a lovely couple (he was a French Seaman after all) and it is now nice to know who I am waving at when they drive past my front door (if I happen to be outside!)

Monet had a good time, mainly playing with her little friend Holly from down the street.  

Someone had organised a clown to attend to play some games which got all the kidlets involved.  I have to say, she was rather a bossy clown, but dam it was hot yesterday so I am thinking that running about and trying to organise kids, whilst wearing a big clown suit would have been 'horrid'.  Glad it was her and not I. 

 

We had chats with neighbours, met a few new ones, enjoyed the ABBA dancing from some 'European' dads and the children from the street (very humorous, let me tell you!)  

I think everyone is keen for the next street-do, but with the heat being turned up over the past week, I don't think it will be happening for quite some time.  

Trying to Cheer Up Charlie

There has been so much sadness this week in my life (and it seems in a lot of yours as well)  and I have been feeling so low, I thought I would post a couple of things that have cheered me up somewhat.  If only momentarily, they still brought smiles to my face.

The pool.  Monet and Lyndon had a blast in the pool together the other day.  If only you could hear the giggling coming out of Monet's mouth in this shot...(and yes, that is a hat on Lyndon's foot!)  There is something about being in the pool or watching people in a pool which makes me happy.  Maybe it is all about the calmness of it all.

I will leave you with this, from a favourite of mine, Dom Jolly.  This makes me laugh out loud, no matter how many times I have watched it. (Please mind the 'F-word' within the first 25 seconds and towards the end.)  It is so outback Australian, it isn't funny.  If you enjoy a drink once in a while, I am sure you'll enjoy watching this clip.  I hope it makes you smile as much as it makes me...  

New Beginnings

Welcome to my 2009 edition of biglittlesister, dear readers!

I hope everyone had the New Years Eve they wanted.  We did.  We spent the late evening with new friends (and a couple of old friends, believe it or not) at neighbours.  SingStar got a good work out and most people had a go!  Love to see people enjoying themselves...

This is our very own Shaun Ryder (of Happy Mondays fame) belting out a tune.  (He is actually very good!)

I spent the first half of New Years Eve nursing a sore head, not that I drank much, true.  Just a couple over my 'so-called-limit' but Panadol killed it, thankfully.  After a good dose of a greasy bacon sandwich, chased by a Red Bull I was back to being Melody.  We decided to go on a bit of a drive and headed to the Al Raha Beach area of Abu Dhabi.  Most of this area is under construction - basically it seems the whole shoreline.  (Think they're building a new city area here along with schools, homes, shops, hotels.)  We ended up at a small Mall, which was next door to this...

I said to Lyndon I think it probably the most amazing building I have seen (to date - I am sure I'll see many more in the near future) but I do list it as a favourite!  It looked like one giant coin which was about to roll away.  Just amazing.  (Can you tell I am married to someone in the  construction industry?)

Yesterday we picked up my sister at the airport for a weeks stay.  It is good to see her again and wonder what we'll get up to today. 

 And speaking of today, it is my Father's Birthday!  Happy Birthday Grandad!  Someone is sad that they can't be with you....

*heehee*

2009 is already heading in the direction we wanted and is proving to be a very interesting year, to say the least.  Hope yours will be all you want too!

Boxed On

Hope you all had a great Christmas, as we did.  We spent the day here and the evening joining some neighbours (who HAVE furniture!) and belted out tunes via SingStar on the PS3.   I have a feeling come New Year's Eve, in our street, there is going to be a 'UAE Idol'.  *heehee*

Yesterday we decided to venture into Abu Dhabi and visit a couple of Hotels to enjoy a drink or two, plus do a spot of shopping.  We headed to Marina Mall initially, and then went to Abu Dhabi Mall (bit bigger than Marina Mall).  The thing about Abu Dhabi Mall is that it is squished between two hotels, (read in between the lines here readers.  Hotels are the only public places in this country that serve alcohol.  No bars lining the streets here.  You have to enter the Hotels to enjoy bars/pubs etc.,), The Beach Rotana and the Le Meridien Hotel.

At The Beach Rotana, we enjoyed the Brauhaus section of the Hotel.  Ahh, a nice German Pub serving icy cold, genuine German beers...

...and German nosh.  Of course.

After a feed we made our way 200 meters down the road to the Le Meridien.  Here we had a good look around (amazing little place this one) then continued on to enjoy (another) cool beer, sitting in the sunshine, whilst Monet watched the tourists swimming in the pool...

It was then time to have a little shop in the Mall (lucky me bought some new Birkenstocks, my Christmas present).  

Now, catching the taxi home was an adventure in itself, let me tell you!  (It is not at all recommended to have a drink and drive in the UAE, even if you are under the limit.  They have zero tolerance here.  If you get caught with any alcohol in your system when driving, you spend the evening in jail.  Best to catch taxis - they are very cheap!)  It was nice to drive along the city streets in the dark, the buildings lit up like?  like Christmas trees!  Lol!!

On the way home (I am NOT joking here) the taxi driver was going 140Km's an hour.  Oh my goodness.  They may have a zero tolerance against alcohol in this country but you can drive any bloody speed you like!  Go figure.  (There are signs all up over town and on highways saying about Speed cameras but everyone knows there really isn't any.  Police don't seem to be able to 'police' drivers here.)

Hope you had a relaxing Boxing Day too....