After school I met another Head of Faculty for coffee. She told me about the new job she was getting and the perks. It seems that private schools are the way to go. I left the coffee house just in time to get Millie and take her to gymnastics. We found out that her friend Kiera was in her class. I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Because Jack went to rugby with Stuart and was planning on eating at the rugby club, I decided to make things easy on myself as well and feed Millie the ever so nutritious McDonalds. She insisted on eating it in the car, which just sped everything up for me. This meant bedtime was closet. Because she had taken a cat nap in the car on her way home from school, although I attempted to put her to bed at 7 pm, she wasn't asleep until after 8 pm. Jack was home and asleep well before she was.
Jack said he ate way more than his daddy, which could be very true.
She was dressed to impress. 
As the head of the junior school led the kids to their assessment rooms, Millie was the first one in line. This kid is fearful of nothing. There were probably 15 students there and she just marched up to the front and followed with confidence.
Henry, May, Millie and Jack are standing on the marina. These are quite privileged kids, if you ask me.
We all jumped off the boat into the gulf. You can see that my thumb got in the way. Oops!
Monday after school I went to meet some of my lady friends for a meal. I went to the far north part of town. We sat and talked for about 2 hours. Me being out meant that Stuart was on his own again. Mr. Mom suites him. Kayleigh came over around 6 so Stuart could go to rugby. I got home about 7:30 and put the kids to bed. Although I love an afternoon out with the girls, it just delays me getting the other things done that I need to do.
Tuesday I supplied my teachers with breakfast treats. I had heard so many other Heads of Faculty talk badly about their English teachers and how they were late turning things in, didn't bother to do things, and other horrible stories. So I decided to show a bit of appreciation for my teachers. I had to go out and get the treats from a store that was supposed to open at 9 am. But no one was there to open the store until 9:06 am. It's just how it is here. I got back to school at 9:30 am and the teachers flooded in and out all day. They were very appreciative and I think they felt the love.
Tuesday evening was officially Jack's last rugby training and what they called an Open Day. They mixed up all the Under 8s, 7s, and 6s and let them play together. They also decided to the let the siblings play. Millie was on Jack's team. It was the funniest thing I've seen in a while. Millie got the ball once and ran all the way down for the try. The only problem was she ran WAY out of bounds. But she thought she scored the try, so I wasn't going to spoil it for her. She is quick as a cat and too tiny for kids to grab her flags. She thought she was the star. And Jack was so sweet with her. He continually tried to make sure he passed the ball to her. He proved his maturity and love for her all at one time.
They took a break at the same time.
All three of my rugby stars. The picture isn't very clear, but they are all there. Jack's New Zealand friend, Kennedy, is standing on the far right.
Wednesday I had a training on differentiated instruction, because I've never had that before. The training we have here is often a repeat of what I've learned from years gone by, so sometimes I wonder why we go to the trouble. But I get to spend a day out of school so I suppose not all is lost.
I ended up having to go back to school for professional development. I was leading it so of course I had to be there.
Millie had gymnastics. When we got home Millie showered and ate her fish fingers, while Jack showered and got ready for his sushi date with Daddy. Since I can't have rice, Millie only eats the rice, and my tummy is no longer suited for buffets, it seemed fitting for them to have a boys' night out. We had promised the kids that once rugby was over we would start having date nights with each of them.
Thursday I left school early, we picked the kids up from school, and took Millie to her play assessment at Brighton College before heading to Dubai for the weekend. At the time we were at Brighton College the head of the junior school was leading us around. We were encouraged by the admissions person to introduce ourselves and remind her we had put our resumes in for a job at Brighton. We did. She seemed a little baffled at first, but then warmed up to us.
After Millie's 'assessment' we were off to Dubai. We arrived just after 5 pm and were told we were upgraded to an ocean view. Ok, we'll take it. The marina was quite a sight.
This is the exact marina where Clare and I did our mile swim. Ah memories.
We decided to walk down the marina to find something to eat. We ended up eating at Nandos. It was about 8 pm when we got back to the hotel. The kids had a bath and then watched a bit of Disney before drifting off to the land of nod.
We were up at half past 6 and down to breakfast by 7:30. Uncle James was in the lobby when we got off the elevator. He was on his way to London and purposely made a one day stop over to spend time with us.
We had breakfast and then were back into the room to get our swimmers on for the day. We headed to the pool and the kids had a swim while I soaked up the beautiful 75 degree weather. Stuart and James went to find James a shirt to wear for dinner. It seems he left his in his hotel which was about a 20 minute cab ride away. They didn't find one, but we were sure they would still let him into the restaurant. We were going to chance it.
Around 11:30 am we headed to the Dubai Marina Yatch Club where we boarded an 85 foot Yatch. Because we were celebrating Clare's birthday we were all treated to a tour and banana boating in the gulf for the day. I love this life we live.
The Black Pearl was her name.
The kids were all protected and ready to set sail.
James seems to have arrived on a good day. Stuart was so thrilled to have him there. We have seen Uncle James more in the past 2 years than we could have imagined. It's been wonderful.
Jack is on the far right. His friend to his left is Henry and the far left is Finn. They were getting ready to go on the water tube.
Stuart and I took this opportunity to show our new skinny faces.
Scott went with Millie on the tube ride.
Our boat tour, although wonderful, seemed way too short. Everyone had a great time and may have caught a bit of the sun. Once we were off the boat we caught cabs back to the hotel. On the way, in the cab, Millie fell asleep. So while James, Stuart and Jack hit the pool back at the hotel, Millie and I went up to the room. Millie continued to sleep while I showered and got ready for dinner that evening. Since there would be five of us using our shower, it probably worked out best that Millie fell asleep forcing us to go to the room. I woke Millie just before six so she would be bathed and ready once the boys returned.
Once the boys were back and showered, we headed to the finest steak house I have ever been to. It was just at the hotel next door so of course we walked.
Although the outfits were not planned to match, we decided we could start a singing group.
Dinner was wonderful. The kids, 13 of them, sat off to our right, while the adults, 14 of us, resided at our own table. We sat outside and the weather was perfect. The kids were angels right to the very end of the evening. Uncle James headed back to his hotel for a sleep before meeting up with Auntie Lou and Billy the following morning for their flight to London. Stuart took the kids upstairs to bed while I paid out portion of the bill. It was a fantastic day.
We met the Richardsons downstairs for breakfast at 8 am. We then spent the morning in the pool before showering, checking out and hitting our Park and Shop Cash and Carry store that often has products in it we can't find anywhere else. After spending too much money in that store, we had a bite to eat. Then we were off to Al Ain.
Once we were home and Millie was well rested after her hour nap in the car, we unpacked as the kids rested on the sofa and watched a movie. I got laundry started and then remembered that our drier had nearly blown up a few days prior. Stuart bought a plug and replaced it, but the outlet where the drier was plugged in was broken/burned out/screwed up. I think we are probably pretty fortunate the place didn't burn down.
After Stuart replaced the plug he took an extension chord and plugged it into a different outlet. This wasn't until after I had hung the first load of finished laundry, but I didn't really care. I was just impressed he knew how to replace a plug on an appliance.
Once the laundry was sorted the kids went upstairs and I read books. Millie was bouncing off the walls. Naps are not our friend. After a couple of hours of her screaming, coming downstairs, asking for daddy to come up and sing, and a little reminder on the butt why we don't disobey, she finally fell asleep just after 8 pm.
Stuart and I watched Clash of the Titans and then were off to bed. I actually watched the movie through my eyelids, as I often do.
We are one week closer to Sri Lanka. Yahoo!
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