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!

Happy Easter

I hope everyone is having a nice Easter. We have been relaxing and lovin' it!

Our BBQ in the desert was a lot of fun, one of those "why don't we do this more often?" occasions.
The kids had a blast - leaping off dunes, patting some friendly camels and toasting marshmallows. It's like being in a different world and it's less than an hours drive from the city.

Scott has his new kart, Grant has been busy making adjustments and generally fiddling around. Scott has had a few drives and is really happy with it. They are still getting some things sorted out like the seat position but it's all coming along nicely. The man selling it also gave Scott his old racesuit so Scott looks a bit different now.

(arrow doodles by Studio Sausan at Scrapbookgraphics)

I took Jake to the theater last night. We saw "The Flying Superkids" They are a gymnastic group from Denmark, the show is a mix of dance, comedy, acrobatics and singing. Jake loved it, those kids are great role models. Jake got some of their signatures after the performance so he was very happy.

Today Grant took the boys to the latest Mr. Bean movie, they thought it was good but not the funniest they have seen. It gave me a few nice quiet hours around here and a chance for a wee afternoon nap.

Last weekend we went to Abu Dhabi to see the Red Bull Air Race. The racing was great to see, there was an excellent commentary and huge screens showing live "pilot cam". The whole event was put together in a very professional manner.
We arrived in Abu Dhabi nice and early and set up our chairs and a couple of small golf umbrellas in what looked like a good spot. Well, the crowds poured in, we kept our spot and even kept the umbrellas up because there was no shade and parents were sharing ours to keep their little ones out of the sun. The news paper reported the spectators at 250,000 and the temperature was 39C. It was weird, so many of the people watching are from crowded countries and live in crowded flats and they don't share our concept of personal space. After hours of having strangers pressing in all around us I could not wait to get away from it all. Even now the thought of being in a crowd upsets me. Some people were nice, one even said "excuse me please" as he tried to move past but everyone else just pushed, shoved, leaned or pressed themselves right up to you. It was horrible! I would go again but next time would pay for a V.I.P. seat! The people standing in the foreground of this photo have climbed the fence and are standing on the breakwater, the big crowd is actually behind me. The large building in the background is the Emirates Palace Hotel, to say it's grand is a huge understatement, perhaps I will get to visit it sometime?

That's it for news at the moment. Happy Birthday to Sue, hope you had a nice day!
And a special HI to Mum!! thanks for the email, it is great to hear from you.