The half term break went too fast!

We decided to surprise the kids with a trip to Motiongate on Sunday. The morning didn’t start out so well as I was awakened at 3 am because our air conditioners upstairs had all tripped the breaker. It turns out it was our unit that caused the issue. At 6 am I finally went downstairs to try to sleep a couple more hours in a cooler room. At 8 am I called maintenance and told them they needed to come immediately as we were leaving for the day and wouldn’t be back until later that night. They did come, but the unit in our room wasn’t fixed as they didn’t have the part. 

We decided to carry on with our day and took off towards Dubai. The kids had no idea what we were doing. They kept bugging us to tell them, and even when we arrived in the parking lot, they weren’t exactly sure where we going. When we told them, Jack seemed a bit low. I asked him what was wrong. He said, ‘I wish Henry and May were here.’ He’s a boy who misses his friends. Bless him!

We carried on and after a few rides, he was having a blast. Motiongate is Dream Works, Lions Gate, Smurfs, and Columbia Pictures in one theme park. The rides were fantastic. The queues were minimal. We didn’t wait more than 5 minutes to ride anything all day. We were able to ride every ride at least twice and our favorite ones we rode at least 4 times. Millie seemed to be the most thrilled of all when all was said and done. She said to me, ‘Mom, this was such a great day. We should come here more often.’ 

No park experience is complete without the 3D ride. 


We love us some How to Train Your Dragon. 

Shrek? Stuart? Similarities?

Millie never met a merry go round she didn’t love. 

Millie was excited to see the characters. Puss n Boots didn’t disappoint. 


A tour of Hotel Transylvania? Why not!

And you can’t go to a park without riding at least one water ride. As you would guess, Millie stayed the driest. 

At the end of the time at the park, we came out and ate at Famous Dave’s at Riverland. Riverland is a bit like Downtown Disney with shops and restaurants around. Once dinner was over we headed home. I did everything I could to keep the kids awake as I insisted they shower before bed. Since our air conditioner wasn’t fixed, Stuart and I slept in Millie’s bed and Millie slept with Jack. The kids actually went to bed with no fuss. Stuart and I stayed up and watched some television, and of course I stayed up later than he did. 

Stuart decided to take Monday off with us as well. We called the maintenance guy and he said he would be at our house at 3 pm. So we decided to head to Abu Dhabi to take the kids to Adventure HQ. This is the place where they climb, scooter, and trampoline to their heart’s content. We had a two hour pass and then went to eat at Bucca di Beppo. Oh how we love that Italian food. 

Geared up for the climbing course. 

This was the first time Millie was tall enough to climb. I’m not sure she really was tall enough, but they let her climb anyway. 

We got back to Al Ain and called the maintenance guy. He came, and after a bit, the air conditioner was fixed. So back to our own beds for the night. We decided to meet Cathy, Kayleigh and Claire at the club for dinner. We met them there around 5:30. Jack and Millie played as they usually do and we sat around and chatted. Stuart went to training and we decided since the kids didn’t have school the following day, it wouldn’t hurt them to stay at the club a little later. Once we were home, it was the regular routine. Stuart watched one episode of the Walking Dead and then the television was left to me, for the next to last evening of my holiday. Yahoo for me!!!!!

Tuesday morning I got up around 6:30 am. Stuart was gone to work, Jack was on his PS4, and Millie was still in bed......until 8:45 am, as a matter of fact. Clearly she needed her rest. When she did get up she was starving. So, because fighting the crappy internet was a losing battle, I resigned the television to Millie and made her breakfast. Around 11 am Kayleigh showed up to stay with the kids because I had an appointment with immigration at the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi. Since Stuart’s green card and residency expires in June, I needed to find out what he needed to do to renew it. Unfortunately, what I suspected was he would have to apply online and then go back to Arizona when his appointment was made for his biometric exam. This translates to ‘it’s going to be a costly adventure’. However, the other option which is letting his residency lapse is really not an option. This would mean he would have to go through the entire process from the beginning, which would be stupid. 

I returned in time to take Millie to dance, which had been canceled because of halfterm break. Had I read the newsletter, I would have known it was canceled. Oh well! Instead we went to Gift City to buy some more candy for the Halloween event. Then we dropped it at the club and headed home to get Millie ready for bed and feed her. Once she was in bed Lara and Kayla came over to help me finish up the Halloween activities for the night at the club. Jack had his touch game at 7:20 pm so returned from the club around 8:30 pm. Lara and Kayla stayed until just before 10 pm and then it was bed for the rest of us. 

Wednesday morning we were up and out of the house and back to school. Surely I would be able to handle a two day week. The day was relatively smooth and the kids were glad to see their friends. After school I had a meeting with one of my student’s parents. This little girl in my class only turned 6 the last week of August. So we have been trying to decide what we should do to make sure she is successful. She is painfully more immature than anyone in my class. The recommendation, after a lot of thought and observation, was to send her back to Year 1. She’s never been in formal education so to place her directly on Year 2 because technically she’s old enough was not right. Hopefully now she will be better placed. It was decided, with a bit of hesitation from her mom, that we would gradually integrate her into a Year 1 classroom over the next week. 

Wednesday after school we came home and the kids showered. We then headed to the golf club for Kayleigh’s surprise birthday party. About 25 people showed up. It was a good night. We got everyone 50% off their food, so that was a bonus. The kids ended up playing outside so of course once we got home they took another shower. They stunk!

Thursday school was as normal. The kids were excited as the rugby club Halloween party was that night. We ended up leaving school at 3 pm, which is about an hour earlier than I normally do. Once we were home the kids went to work on getting dressed in their costumes. We then headed to the club to set up the games stations. It was windy and we just hoped the wind died down as not to destroy our games. 

In the end, the night was a great success. There were a ton of kids who showed up to enjoy the fun. The costumes were brilliant and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. At the end of the evening I was exhausted, but the joy on the faces of the kids was worth it all. 

Stuart did Jack’s zombie make-up. 

Supergirl once again. 

My lovely zombie. 

These boys are on Jack’s rugby team. The decorations were done by the receptionist at the club. 

We managed to have some fun at the Halloween Bash as well. 

On Friday we were up early and heading to Dubai for Jack’s rugby match. His team was playing the best under 10s team in the A bracket. Jack’s team is in the B bracket. The boys played really hard and ended up beating the other team. Jack scores the winning try for his team. When he described the try to me you could tell he thought out the play very carefully. The thing I really appreciate about Jack’s athletic ability is that he mixes his physical abilities with his mental abilities. We were so proud of him. 

He’s a bit intense. 

He wasn’t terribly happy with us after the match, as we made him go to the outlet mall to try to buy him some swimming trunks instead of letting him go home on the bus with his friends. However, he is so picky about the way things fit that I’ve decided I dare not buy clothes of any kind for him without him trying them on. Thank goodness we did actually find two pair of trunks otherwise he would have seen our efforts as a waste of his time. 

Stuart left us after lunch and headed to Jebel Ali to play rugby. When we returned from Dubai I stopped at the super market to get a snack for our Halloween party at DeDe’s that afternoon. The kids were asleep in the car so I just popped into the shop. Once we were home they both woke up and just chilled on the sofa for an hour or so. Cathy came over right at 3pm and we headed to DeDe’s. I was thinking her kids were getting too old for these parties, but it seems this year they decided to plan it on their own. They planned the crafts and games. It was a refreshing change. The adults just chatted and ate the food. It was a great few hours. 

This was a spider game they played. 

Pumpkin carving never gets old. 

Millie acted as if she was highly involved. She wasn’t. 

These were the tank top treat bags they made. They simply cut the bottom of a tank top in even cuts and tied the two sides of each cut together in a know. It was super clever and now they have their Halloween bags. 

After the party the kids, Cathy and I came back to our place. Cathy and I sat and listened to music while the kids took their showers. Millie ate dinner and Jack played on his PS4. Stuart called about a half hour after we got home. I was under the impression the second match he was playing in that day didn’t start until 6, when in fact it started at 4 pm. So he called to say he was on his way home. I decided to get the bubble and squeak in the over and get the roasted chicken out of the refrigerator. I then messaged Sean to invite him over as well. He was also on his way home from the match. Once they both arrived, we had dinner and just chat the night away. They left just before 11 pm. Stuart was off to bed and I stayed downstairs to watch some television. 

Saturday morning I got up to take Sean’s daughter to the hair salon. Men are not allowed in the salons as there are Muslim women who get their hair done in these salons and are not to be seen by men, uncovered. So he said he would pick her up after the appointment. I headed back home and was going to head out with the family to the supermarket for our weekly shop. In the end Stuart decided to go on his own as the kids absolutely hate the supermarket and the hassle is sometimes not worth it. So I stayed home with the kids and we watched Hotel Transylvania 3. 

Stuart returned from the store with lamb steaks for dinner.  He also had the rest of the groceries for the week. He is a much better shopper than I am. He actually sticks to the list. The kids went upstairs to play and Stuart and I began watching a new series called The Bodyguard. Ooooo, it’s very good. I was supposed to head to DeDe’s for a Thirty-One bag party, but by the time 4 pm hit I just couldn’t be asked to go. So I stayed at home, had a lovely dinner with the whole family and spent the evening relaxing.