Grant's 50th Birthday!

Hi all

The time has just flown by again, we are enjoying a little break just now - Jake has mid-term break (that means so do I!).

It was Grant's birthday on Thursday, the BIG 50. He had decided against a big party so we did some other stuff. The boys and I had organised a surprise trip to the Autodrome for the "single seater race car experience". Later we had dinner out, also a wee surprise.

I think Grant really enjoyed his race car driving, he was a tiny bit nervous but got into the swing of things fast. Scott begged a ride in the pace car, he was soon squealing around the track with smoke coming off the wheels! Grant said he had to back off at times to keep behind the pace car! The next level up is when they use one of the single seaters as a pace car. Anyway, he had a lot of fun, pity motor racing is so expensive. After that we went back home for a cool down and coffee and birthday cake. I got him a yummy cake made from profiteroles filled with creamy custard, it was a hit!
Later that evening we all went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant in town. The food was very nice, Jake and Grant love Thai food but even Scott managed to try some different things and the tropical fruit for desert was lovely. Unfortunately we encountered a huge traffic jam getting there and were an hour late. How does a truck travelling in a straight line (no overtaking) at 80k's manage to dump a 20ft container in the middle of the motorway? We were all a bunch of tired puppies by the time we got home.

Earlier in the day Jake had an audition so didn't go to school, I was working so Grant took him. It was at the Dubai Community Theater and was held by a UK company called Popular Productions. Jake had been practicing his lines and an introduction for a couple few weeks now and I had made him a CV. He did a passage from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". The auditions were open, just a way for the theatre group to get a database of talent to draw on for upcoming productions. It was all very exciting and the feed back from Jake's drama teacher was that all her students were very promising.

This weekend Scott has finally got his chance to learn to drive, he has been out over two days and has had no trouble in picking it up. You can't drive in the UAE until 18 years so they were strictly in zero traffic areas (unused newly constructed roads). So now he will be all set for some race car training in NZ. There was some 24hr karting here over the weekend but Scott was not in the right place at the right time and didn't get on a team, hopefully next time! Next weekend there is the last race before the summer break. Scott will be racing in TAG for this one. Grant has been doing the results for the Rotax Max series and Scott is currently first but with some tough competition not really expecting to hold on to that spot. One guy is just miles faster than Scott (Grants job is to get the kart flying for the races later in the year).

My job is going great, I really like it. Just got to get a bit more organised around home!

We are all getting excited about getting back to NZ, not long now and this time of year things go so fast. The weather here is getting quite hot 39-40 most days but we had a 44C last week! The swimming pool is getting plenty of use and the garden is looking very nice, the summer heat has not started to kill things yet. A while back I planted 3 dozen white periwinkles around the place and they are all starting to look nice too.

Now this place is starting to get noisy, Jake is having a tidy up for me in the study - he thinks my organisation is very slack, anything that has no home is going in the "cable box" works for me!!! Time to go make lunch!

News, Photos and Thanks!

Thanks for the b-day wishes, I will give a more detailed update on the blog after next race meeting coming up this weak. Hopefully with a better result. From Scott
Scott had a nice birthday, even though it was really quiet! He is still waiting for his driving lessons but was very happy to get money (thanks Sue & Mike), he also got some racing magazines and a playstation racing game.

On Scott's Birthday Jake had a rugby match at Abu Dhabi, it was in the evening but was still darn hot! Here is a photo taken at that match....

As you can see I have been making an effort to get some scrapbooking pages done - I wish that was all I had to do because it's so much fun creating them.

THE WEEKEND BEFORE LAST

Jake was away on camp (photos when I get them developed). He had a great time with no injuries or illness. His favourite activity was snorkeling. The kids also went kayaking, wall climbing, had a talent quest and went on a dhow trip. It was an action packed few days for him and he came back exhausted but happy.

Over that weekend Scott took part in a fun day at the Jebel Ali Kart track. It was a laugh and great training at the same time. They did normal track, reversed track and oval races. Position on the grid for the first race was decided by whoever got their helmet on first (or whoever got to the line first)! Scott came second and got a nice wee voucher for his effort.

LAST WEEKEND

Jake was away in Bahrain for a rugby tournament. Everything went smoothly except it was such a long day. Up at 4.30am, meeting at airport at 5.45am then they finally get back at midnight. Jake came back sunburnt, no shade and most of the day spent in the pool (and no mum making sure he was using plenty of sunblock). They only had one match and again it was far to hot, no more rugby with the exception of a fun day for the season wind down.

Scott was again kart racing, no Rotax Max series as it was postponed because of the heat. It is to bloody hot but the organisers mucked around and argued all through the cold months then set the dates for the series over the hot months then cancel races because it's too hot - REALLY!!

Anyway, Scott raced in the TAG class and had another shitty day. It all started after a collision that he was not involved it sent another kart airborn and it landed on a back wheel of Scott. This resulted in a flat tyre with the little screw things that hold the air in being shorn off. I will not go into all the details, Scott tells me he will but after heroic repairs and awsome driving Scott only came sixth (4th fastest lap time overall).

NEWS
I'm starting work tomorrow. Full time school hours in the learning support department at Jake's school. I'm really excited - been waiting on the go ahead for a couple of weeks and just this morning was phoned up to say I start tomorrow!

It's going to be a bit of a shock for me - I'm always busy but now I will be running to my bosses schedule!

Anyway, it's all good and I'm sure it will be fine once I'm settled into a pattern.

Camel Jam

I've got to run now - I will leave you with this photo of the camels. We were getting sick of traffic jams on Al Khail Road so Jake convinced me to take a slightly longer but infinitely less stressful way to school. Now we count camels not cars!

I really have to go now - will add credits for the scrap pages later today. Cheers for now and thanks for all your comments.

That's Racing!

I'm a bit late with this - too much other stuff going on!
Anyway, Scott's last weekend racing ended up on a rather miserable note.
After a day of great racing on his part, he gets to the final. He is in third place and has second in his sights when the kart ceases. He was so very disappointed, as usual the amount of work and preparation was huge. Grant is never satisfied and is always making sure everything is fine. This was their first meeting with the new kart. What a bummer!
Now a few days have passed and the engine has been inspected at the workshop. It seems that it wasn't actually a cease but the con rod snapped, resulting in a written off bottom end. Now the engine will be sent back to Austria for further inspection and hopefully a "no charge" repair as it seems to be a manufacturing problem. Luckily Grant's got a spare engine (you can see why I have no PERGOLA!!). Scott is bouncing back from his utter frustration and Grant is already planning the next meeting! Like they say "that's racing"!

It's Scott's birthday tomorrow - it's going to be very quiet for him unfortunately.

We've all decided no parties this year (even Grant's 50th). Scott's main birthday present is driving lessons in a manual car, he is hanging out for proper race car training but needs to be able to handle the gears first. Jake has an early evening rugby tournament in Abu Dhabi tomorrow so we will be picking up a DVD and something yummy for dinner on the way home and having a night in.

The following day (Saturday) Jake is off on his school camp, he is really looking forward to it. It's only a short camp and he will be back on the 1st then on the 4th he is off to Bahrain for another rugby tournament. That will be the last for the year as it's starting to get very hot (high 30's).

The rugby club are chartering a plane, I think it's only about an hours flight. This will be Jake's first trip to another country without us so I do hope there are no hiccups.

I have been busy but have to keep a secret a bit longer! Wait till next week....

OK I'm going to finish sorting out stuff for Jake's camping bag and by then dinner should be ready, NZ lamb flavoured with rosemary picked out of my very own garden!

Scott is making himself a special desert "Crumble Pie" he loves it!

Here is the recipe if you are desperate enough to try a real teenage boy type dessert;

Drain 1 big tin of fruit (Scott likes fruit salad) and put it into an ovenproof bowl.

In a separate bowl empty 1 packet of cake mix (Scott likes vanilla) and combine it with about 1/2 cup of melted butter.

Mix these till it's all crumbly then sprinkle it over the fruit.

Bake it in a medium oven till it looks ready.

Serve with ice cream and cream.

I don't like it but the boys do - Scott says it's great cold the next day too!