More Balloon Photos

These were all taken from our upstairs balcony at around 7am on Wednesday. I was still in my nightie and it was freezing. I was so pleased to get such great views, the breeze on last two mornings has taken the balloons in different directions (over the city and into the desert). Today is the last day, they will do a "night glow" but I'm not sure that we will want to join the crowds to see it. It will be very crowded because it's Eid Al Adha (major Muslim occasion and holiday weekend). I hope you are all having a nice restful holiday.

Christmas Fun

We have had a lovely Christmas, very quiet and restful. The boys were so happy with their gifts. It was great to chat on the phone although it did make us all rather homesick!
Christmas lunch was great, the food was excellent, lovely seafood again for me.
Grant is busy doing some D.I.Y. enclosing the pool box and making a little area to keep the BBQ. He is using trellis and I will get some climbing plants to grow over it.
Jake and Scott have been busy catching up with their friends and I have finished reading a good book. So we are having a nice little break.
I have some more photos of the hot air balloons, taken from our balcony as they passed over our area this morning. Unfortunately I'm having trouble loading them so will try again in the morning after I get back from the vet.
Daisy is doing a lot better, she is up and about at last.
Hope everyone is having a great time, How will you be spending New Years Eve?

Credits: Sweet Evangeline Kit by Michelle Coleman at ScrapArtist

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Happy Christmas wishes from me to you. I hope your day is wonderful and that you are surrounded by love and happiness.

I have just been having fun making the cake from HELL. I usually trust the Edmonds Cookbook and I guess I'm guilty of not reading the Christmas cake recipe properly but they should have added a few description to help us brainless bakers......
How about a warning like - this recipe makes enough to feed the NZ Army
and - no, you wont have a mixing bowl big enough, use the bath tub
and - even though it says use one cake tin there is no way on earth that you will have one
big enough and it's going to take two
and - warning! the batter will have the consistency of clay sticking to gumboots
and - wash up immediately because the clay will turn to concrete as soon as that oven door
closes

Well it's cooking away now, it will be a long night 4 1/2 hr cooking time, good thing I've got plenty to keep me busy, don't ask why I choose to cook a cake the size of a small continent on Christmas Eve when I've had all week to do it.

Daisy is still ill, poor wee thing. Today the vet put her back on antibiotics, anti-inflamatory and pain killers. She has a very high temp and is sleeping all the time. It seem she has a cold as well as the leg problems. The bucket is gone but she is still limping badly.

The boys are so excited and have taken themselves off to bed early, not sure if they are asleep yet so I will wait a bit before I do my Mrs Santa jobs.

I'm looking forward to some yummy food for lunch tomorrow, my favourite thing is salmon and the restaurant prepare it several ways so I will be having a small course of each one. Throw in a few prawns and a glass of wine and I will be very happy!

Its cold here at the moment, a real chill in the air at night, still it makes it nice and cosy inside with the tree all lit up.

Can't wait to talk to our family tomorrow and I'm thinking of my friends and family that we wont be able to reach and are hoping that everything is going well for you.
Steve and Joanne, Renee (lost your email so send me a message please) Andy and Raewyn - you are away for a few days I hear, Dorene (nice to chat the other day), Judy (thanks for the Silent night email).

OK, time for me to get moving again, I might even make bed before midnight (a record for sure)
a quick shower, get the prezzies out of hiding and do something with those darn cakes!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Credits: Kit by Arlene Santo, Scrapbook Element,s Newsletter Gift

Getting Ready for Xmas

I know it's two sleeps now but this was from yesterday, the boys were happy to help but later declared that they hate housework more than anything else in the world!

Tomorrow Daisy goes back to the vet and I will nip into the supermarket if I'm brave enough.

Jake and I went to the Mall of the Emirates today (to get my gift, Grant passed that one on to me at the last minute!!!) The mall is huge and it was mad, packed and not fun at all.

Credit: In The Spirit by Sheila Nelson at digitalscrapbookfx (free)

Hot Air Balloon Festival

Good Morning
Firstly, Thanks for those emails. I will reply to all emails later today.

We were up well before dawn today (murder to the boys who are on the first day of their holidays). Just down the road a huge hot air balloon festival is taking place. In the paper they said the biggest outside of North America. Around 75 balloons, it was so spectacular!
We arrived at 6.30am not really knowing what to expect and pretty soon balloons were being inflated all around us. I have so many photos but can only give you a wee sample here.
I will go back with Grant when he isn't at work for another look, it was our first look close up at these balloons (only ever seen from a distance) and it's quite a sight.
Yesterday Grant got some photos of them flying right over the house, I was taking Scott to school so missed that but I guess we will be seeing them again if the wind blows the right way.

Daisy is slowly getting better. She had 3 days staying at the vet, and will have her plastic collar on for a couple more days. She is not at all happy, manages to bump into absolutely everything and spends a lot of time licking the inside of it as she can't get at anything else.

We seem to have seen the end of the rain for a while, but it really mucked up the school Christmas carol performances. Jake's evening ended up being postponed and was finally held over two sessions in the school hall. I only got one photo of it before my camera died (flat battery!) but I will post that later today.

Today is my "clean up the house day" its not had a lot of attention for a while and I want to get it nice for Xmas (better be quick!). We stopped getting a cleaning lady months ago, didn't fit in with the karting budget - oh, the sacrifices!!!!! anyway, cleaning and e-mails that's it for me today, some baking if I can squeeze that in as well.
Enjoy the photo's

Hello......I'm back!

I thought I'd give myself a little time off and get away from the computer and it turned out to be a bit longer than planned. Sorry folks...
Hey - I had a great birthday! Thanks for all your wishes, got your card yesterday Joanne (I love it). Andy and Raewyn thank you for all those nice words, the boys really appreciate hearing from you, it's nice for them to know they have family wishing them the best - it can seem a very long way from you all at times. Dad, thanks for your advice too.
We are all looking forward to a big catchup with everyone on Xmas day.
I got loads of neat stuff for my birthday, heaven only knows what Santa will bring because it's all been covered now!

We had some bad news today, our cat Daisy is staying at the vets for a few days. She was in a fight last night (sweet Daisy attacked by a vicious trespasser!) One back leg has some nasty bites and needs drains inserting and antibiotics etc. Poor thing was in a bad way this morning, I think she was really terrified last night.

Last week was not so busy but I was trying to get Xmas shopping done and it takes such a lot of time. Why do I always end up looking for stuff for me??? Must be a major character flaw!......hey, I did need some new clothes, promise.

On the good side my shopping is pretty well sorted and I have been wrapping as soon as I get gifts so for the first time in forever I wont have a big wrapping marathon just before the big day. Some Xmas cards will probably be late.... I'm not that good!

It's been really COLD and WET here, wettest winter in 10 years and we are only at the beginning of the season. All the winter woollies reserved for winter in NZ have been coming out of the closets. Jake has his Christmas Carol performance tomorrow night at the Madinat Amphitheater, it's a lovely venue but I'm not sure about the outside bit! I will try to get a nice photo and post it here.

Grant has been working hard as usual and is now getting the kart fixed after the big accident. (bent steering column, tie rod, stub axle and a few miscellaneous bent brackets) - Note, reporting with improved technical quality!

Jake is fine, he is doing a school project on gems and crystals using all the treasures he collected in NZ last winter. We just found out he missed out on getting into the English College, he did the entrance exam the weekend before last but his results are such that the college says he needs more help than they can offer (heard that a few times before) His other choice will indeed give him a higher level of support so I'm fine with it but he was disappointed because Scott's school has a nice friendly atmosphere. So I will have the boys at different colleges but that's OK.

We are going to have a very quiet Christmas and New Year. Grant is working through. We will get to have a nice lunch out, booked at our favourite Xmas place The Jumeirah Beach Hotel. I do miss our family Xmas in NZ, total chaos and food overload but they are the best!

The photo page is from a couple of weeks ago. I could not get it to load at the time.

Credits: Kit is Crimson Christmas by Susan Long ScrapArtist "Apprentice"

Glitter frame from Sweet Evangeline by Michelle Coleman at ScrapArtist

Finally some Photos

Well blogger is driving me crazy, been trying to do this post all day. Anyway, time to give you an idea of how the weekend went.
The rain mucked things up considerably, Scott just got the one practice in on Saturday before it got too wet. That meant further practicing and the qualifying had to be done before racing on Sunday. Everything was going well on Sunday, after two rounds Scott qualified 9th (in the middle). Not as good as he wanted but it was a learning curve working out how to do some very fast laps with slower karts around.
The first race, everyone was in the collecting area for the grid and the rain came down in buckets. Everyone got the chance to change tyres (luckily, otherwise it would have been a real mess). Scott got Grant to slip a cover over the spark plugs just before he went out and that really helped as a lot of the others had problems with the water. Scott started well back but easily passed everyone he came to. We lost track of his position and thought he was just passing back markers but he ended up with the chequered flag!
His next races went well, he was consistent and didn't get caught up in any collisions.
For the final everything went smoothly again, the winner pulled out a good lead but it was close racing between the others. The flag marshall accidentally let the race go an extra lap and Scott got up to 4th but unfortunately that move didn't count.
Scott has a nice smooth style of racing, very clean and controlled. He has a few things to work on and we have some training lined up for him. He won some decent prize money so that went towards the costs and it didn't end up hugely expensive. It was nice to be able to hand the kart back in excellent condition at the end. Grant and Scott make a really good team, Scott is getting more involved with the mechanical side and is beginning to help Grant out. They enjoyed the Biland, found it a bit finicky to start at times but very quick. Scott did his fastest ever lap times. No more racing planned, probably till after Christmas.

Grant had a day off today and we both did a bit of work in the garden. He oiled the outdoor furniture and got some bougainvilleas planted in my big pots and I did all the smaller pots (planted 4 doz annuals) and trimmed back the big grasses - and cut my thumb on the new pruning shears (very very sharp!) So our little garden is looking rather neat now and with all the rain it should be nice for Christmas.

I'm feeling a bit better, Jake is still sneezing and coughing and Scott recons he is next in line. Hopefully we will get these bugs over and done with soon!

Credits: Above - Background, Chaos by Maya and elements, It's a Guy Thing by Doris Castle both at Scrapbook Graphics
Top of post Background and brads as above. Alpha - Art Trash Alpha Dumster Diving also by Maya. Font, Swissmade.

Photo and Update Tomorrow

For some reason I can't get any photos to load here so I will try again tomorrow.
We are all a bit tired and Jake is getting a cold and feels a bit miserable. He stayed home from school today and most likely will tomorrow too.
Sorry about the quick post but when I can get some photos on I will do the update. Back tomorrow....

Scott 5th Place

What a great day Scott had, I will go into the details tomorrow but just wanted to pass on how well Scott did before I go to bed.
Scott got 5th place in the juniors, a fantastic effort. He was the fastest UAE junior, which was his wish, and we are very proud of his overall performance.
And no accidents!!

Track Closed Early

Just a quick post - events today were stopped early as the track could not be properly cleared of water. There were areas that had dangerous pools of water. This should be improved by tomorrow and also the weather is expected to clear. The timetable tomorrow will now be very busy, starting at 8AM and most likely not ending until 8PM. Scott only got one practice in today, however, his times were reasonable. I will be back tomorrow evening with the results.

It's RAINING!

Typical, it's a wet, windy and cold day here today. Scott and Grant have just left for the track.
Yesterday they had a long day getting the kart sorted. It's brand new (they all are), all the junior karts had the wrong sprocket thingy (no technical stuff here) and changing them over made the program very late. The track is well set out, all the countries have their own area's in the Parc Ferme (closed pit area) I made some stickers for Scott with the U.A.E. flag and his name. He has kart #84, they were allocated in a lottery yesterday.
Today is free practice all morning, then the main briefing followed by more free practice. They get their race tyres at 4pm and have qualifying between 5-6pm.
Tomorrow is a full day, races in the morning and the pre-finals and finals after lunch.
What about this rain!!!! Scott is in the biggest fleet of his life, in a new kart (4 stroke, so it's not like the rotax) and then it rains..... no, he's never driven in the wet before! It only rains 2-3 times a year here in the desert and it sure is nice but the timing is a bit rough.
Anyway, later today Jake and I will go to the track for the qualifying so we will have another update tonight. bye for now!

Still Buzzing Around!

It's been a weird week or two, I've been in a scratchy mood and so of course nothing seems to go right when you feel like that!
Jake's big rugby tournament turned out to be a bit of a flop for us (his club did really well)
Did you know that when you get a blister, if you keep wearing the same boots and keep running around in them it WILL get worse - a plaster will NOT help (I'm sure you do and we do too now)
So Jake missed out playing with his team for a draw in the final, we all arrived home hot, tired and glum.

It's been constantly busy, still more meetings... school trips, parent/teacher interview for Scott.
We have had open days at the two colleges that Jake would like to go to. It looks like he will go straight through to his primary schools sister college. Jake's teacher is happy that he will cope even though his exam results don't show it. The other college that Jake is keen on is to one that Scott attends. After talking to them they encouraged me to apply for Jake, he has two things in his favour (a sibling at the school and a fairly high IQ), so despite his poor last exam results they will look at him, he will however have to do an entrance exam. My main criteria is good support for Jake's needs. I will let you know how it all works out.
Speaking of support I have been assisting Jake in class for one of his literacy lessons, this is in addition to the 5 dyslexia support lessons that I do. Its certainly interesting being in class with Jake, I'm not sure that I help him that much but it's been quite a learning curve for me. I can see now that one of Jake's biggest problems is his processing and working speed. He needs a lot of time to get things done. However, he still understands everything and it's a sign that he has good teachers because he is so happy and positive about school. Jake is also getting after school help privately (not sure if I mentioned that before) it's working out really well, its just a bit of a scramble getting there on time.

The last week has not been to good for me health wise. I think it's been brewing for a while and that's why I have not been feeling myself. I had a lot of pain in my back and side a few nights ago and fearing that it was kidney stones again went to the hospital. (10pm at night - luckily Grant was around). I have had lots of tests and they suspect some sort of infection, still waiting on the results but the antibiotics they gave me seem to be working (like domestos the doctor said - kills everything).





Here is a photo of Jake from last weekend.

Now onto this weekend. Christmas tree time!!!! Jake and I will put the tree up and make the house all Christmassy.

Scott and Grant have their big event - The Biland Worlds!!! It is a very big international race meeting, I haven't been down to the track yet but its been transformed according to Grant. Scott will be competing against 25 Juniors and there are about 50 Seniors. It's huge for Dubai and will be a great experience for Scott. Scott is paying to race here rather than most competitors who have won their way here by being the best in their countries. Scott has only had and hour or so in this type of kart which is quite different from his own. He is hoping to do well but will be happy to be at the front of the local guys. He is mainly looking forward to the race experience of big fleets and racing to international standards and rules.

I am just about too nervous to watch after that big crash at the last meeting. I want Scott to be careful but I know he has to be aggressive out there. I just have to keep quiet and trust that he knows what he is doing.

I really will be back with updates over the weekend. Today they are being allocated their karts, are getting the seats fitted and making sure the paperwork is all up to date. I will let you know how everything went at the end of the day.

OK off to the shops now, got a new school uniform made for Jake and it's ready to collect. And I have to get some Euros to pay for this weekend, seems funny not to be able to use our local money but everything is in Euros only!

Keep checking back over the weekend - love to hear your comments too!