End Of A Chapter

As you may have gathered my girls and I have relocated back to Australia for good. MrL is soon to follow, don't you worry about that. The three years spent in Abu Dhabi I look back with fondness and that city and I will always be connected due to the fact that our Lily was conceived and born there. I'm pretty sure we had to go there to have our Lily. That's the way I look at it.

Then there came a point, about mid way last year, when MrL and I decided we had kind of had enough. Not that we were hating it but we came to the conclusion that a country like that isn't real. It's hard to understand unless you've lived there. Some people love that kind of lifestyle, others do not. We enjoyed it whilst it lasted but wanted more for our girls, especially Lily. We wanted to share with Lily what we got to share with Monet when we originally lived in Australia.

When a job in Cairns was advertised in which MrL was qualified for and fitted the bill in what he wanted to do, well after a lengthly process and many Internet interviews the job was his.

So with a villa lease up in mid January, it made sense for the girls and I to leave Lily's birth country, headed for country Victoria to stay with family and reconnect with long time friends. MrL had to give two months notice and with the new job beginning after Easter in our town we consider 'home', every thing fell into place. He is currently batching long(short?) term in a hotel on Yas Island.

Which leads us to today.

MrL will be boarding a plane in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, bound for Cairns. The girls and I are bound for Cairns on Monday and arrive a couple of hours before him. He is there with us for a week to help us settle in and organize stuff that will need organizing. He returns to Abu Dhabi for another month but then will be back for good.

That's when our new chapter begins and I can't wait. :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

You Know I'm Still Here

As nice as it is spending time in country Victoria, dividing our time between my parents any my in-laws, I'm pretty much convinced I couldn't live in this state. If it's not the weather I'm whinging about (it's summer and it is unseasonably freezing!), it's the thought (& sight) of big hairy huntsman spiders that's doing my head in. *heehee*

However, the girls have been having a blast here. I've noted that Lily has spent more time outdoors here in Australia over the past month than in her entire life span of two and a half years. She loves being outside and is constantly asking to go out no matter what the weather.

We are off on our next port of call in a little over two weeks. But I'll keep you posted on that.

(mind my first experimental post using my iPad).











- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Small Things

The girls and I have now been back in Australia for just about two weeks now. We have enjoyed being back in 'reality' bar the fact we are not surrounded by our own things (they're currently somewhere between the UAE and Australia) and the three of us are missing MrL. (Monet gets a bit teary when she thinks of him).

One thing I am enjoying back in Oz is the small things.  Stupid really, but living back in Australia is back in the real world.  Unless you've lived in the UAE would you understand this.

I visited a Coles Supermarket yesterday for the first time on over three years.  I forgot how much I love Coles.  And to be able to practically get what you want in the one shop instead of having to visit three.  And  having a choice of 'dips'.  Oh my, I have missed dips.  You get a bit over Hummus when that is practically all on offer there if you don't want to pay a small fortune.    Smiths Crinkle Cut Crisps - proper Chicken flavour.  *drool*.  Cheese and Bacon Balls.  Twisites.  Cheezels.  (See a trend here?)  DIM SIMS.  Fish'n'Chips.  Lamingtons.  Vanilla Slice.  Proper sliced Bread.  Butter that spreads instantly from the fridge!  Milk with longer than four days use-by.  Buying booze freely.  (Though I did miss the big black bag that your alcohol gets placed in before you leave the store.)  Target.  Big W.  BBQ sausages.

I know in time there will be things I will miss about the UAE.  Number one would be the ultra cheap petrol.  I'm dreading the first time I have to fill up the car.  And having to get out of the car and pump the petrol yourself?  Nup - not looking forward to that.  *heehee*

But the main thing I am missing currently about the UAE is my husband!  But it isn't forever and we will see him again in no time.

Back To Reality

Guess who is back in Australia? Not for a holiday but for good? Umm, yeah, that would be me. Along with the girls. MrL is still residing in Abu Dhabi for a couple more months before he can join us.

As Lily was born and raised for two years in the UAE, she quickly discovered just how nice Iced Vovo biscuits are... I have a sneaky suspicion that she even had one for breakfast this morning. ;)

A Poorly Christmas

We had plans this year to spend Christmas Day lunch at the Saadiyat Gold Club with a handful of friends, but the four people in this household had to cancel.

Monet was ill for four days, which wasn't fun for the seven year old.  The 'four day tummy bug' has been going around and it seems to have missed the rest of us here, which is a good thing.  Lily though has a sore throat and a head cold and a voice that sounds like Donald Duck, but she is now slowly on the mend after sharing the head cold with me.  She's been sleeping solidly which is fabulous, considering on her first night of a sore throat she was awake and crying after every sleep cycle (ie. every 40 minutes).

Santa still dropped off presents for our girls, which was just as well!  It took Lily a little convincing that 'Santa' wasn't hanging around downstairs when she came down and then after she spied what he had left,  spent the rest of the day saying that 'Santa is a good boy'.  Her little wooden kitchen was a hit.  Monet laid on the couch as MrL put together a beautiful little dolls house for her, poor poppet.

One positive thing, living in a Muslim country is that all the shops are open on Christmas Day.  So as we cancelled our Christmas Lunch outing, MrL went and bought a rolled pork, a chicken, a bottle of champagne and other bits and bobs.  So whilst the girls napped, and both without appetite, MrL and I sat and drank and ate.

A very different Christmas and we will look back in years to come and talk about Christmas 2011.

This following photo was taken at a Christmas Party a week previously.  

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and everyone was fit and healthy, which is more than what I can say about my little family here in Abu Dhabi.  =)

Christmas in the UAE...

For a Muslim country, the UAE sure know how to decorate a Christmas tree.  Santa even comes and visits but shhh, we won't tell Lily - she is not a fan of the man in red.  Trust me, we've caught a couple of glimpses this week of him and she is definitely not a fan!

But that hasn't stopped her requesting that he comes and visits in a few nights time...

40th Celebrations.

If you've been reading my blog, you would remember that the UAE turned 40 a couple of weeks back. For the three years we have been here, we have always seen the cars the locals 'dress up' to mark the nation's birthday but I have never taken any photographs of them. I didn't think I would get around to snapping any pics this year either, until....

On Friday December 2nd, my dad, MrL and I decided we'd go over to Yas Island for a pint or two and lunch whilst Grandma agreed to stay at home and look after the girls for us. We saw spotted around the island, near the Yas Marina track, signs about the 'parade of the Union of the Nation' and thought, nahh, won't get to see anything. We were wrong. After a couple of hours at a couple of bars and a couple *ahem* pints in us, the parade had started.

I have never seen anything quite like it before and was grateful I had chosen to take my camera with me in my bag. So *joyous* and so funny! The local Emirates, certainly know how to amuse this Australian gal.  Yep, the old 'let's hang out the car window and the sunroof!', the lack of seat belts, the constant car tooting, the noise, the 'lets spray each other with foam', the car decorations all in one place.  And we were at the right place at the right time.

Below is a quick selection of photos from the afternoon.

My first, like, you know, 'Proper' Market Stall.

Well,with a bit of nervousness and much determination, I had my first market stall last Friday. I put my lovingly made skirts 'out there' for the public to ponder through.

I had been invited by someone to sell my skirts at a Christmas Bazaar, held in the area we live in, between the three current compounds. I jumped at the chance and got myself organised in the week leading up to the event.

As MrL had to work in the morning of the market (which ran from 10am till Midday), it was I who had to work out how to get my skirt rack from our villa to where it needed to be and organise two young girls to come with me.  I need not have worried - IKEA furniture is made to come apart and with a spare Allen Key (which I found in MrL's tool box), I had disassembled the rack and put it up again!

The Market itself was rather quiet, but busy enough for me to sell 10 skirts within those two hours.  Not a bad couple of hours work.  The girls were really well behaved, entertaining themselves with some snacks I had brought along and a couple of toys they had brought along.  My mate Kaz visited and entertained the girls for half an hour or so which was greatly appreciated.

This Thursday evening I am having another stall at the British Embassy Christmas Market.  I am actually looking forward to it and hopefully I will sell quite a few skirts to justify that extra glass of wine I will indulge in at our 'Abu Dhabi Family' Christmas party on Friday evening....