Spring break

This is our first Spring break in Abu Dhabi!  We started off by buying a new toy for Graham. He earned all 10 stars and as promised, he was able to buy anything he wanted (within budget, of course).  Stars were earned when behaving and listening well during dinner when we're out and about. The crane is taller than both kids!

And Spring break is never complete without play in water.  The boys love to swim and even Charlie is now getting comfortable with arm floaties!

Canonball!

And when we're not swimming, it's splash park fun as the temperature is rising in the afternoons:

Lots of laughs and running around:

Cool new misting feature at the splash pad:

Charlie seems to be quite accident prone.  We were having dinner at a restaurant by the splash pad and he was running to get some ice-cream, except he ran straight into the glass instead of through the doorway. BANG! Thankfully, the waitress was quick in getting him some cookies and he was happy with that and his ice wrap. Poor kid!

And speaking of temperature rising, look at the forecast for tomorrow.   97F... YIKES!

And by the way, the mention of "widespread dust" for this past Wednesday was completely accurate! We woke up to this orange tinge - it was very strange.  The dust finally lifted a little after 3pm. Thank goodness!

And what's our new thing when we're stuck indoors? Fun with scissors!

I'm still a little nervous with Charlie but Graham has pretty good control now with a pair of scissors:

And the boys went to pee together for the first time!  Graham suggested that Charlie use the stool and even helped Charlie pull his pants down. Too cute!

So far, no more accidents since last week and we even went to the movies today without a pull-up! :-)

Charlie is 20 months old

I can't remember the last time I updated Charlie's progress.  It was much easier when it was just one kid.  I'll have to apologize for the 3rd kid now, if we end up having another!

Charlie continues to love playing with his legos:

And continues to get bumps and bruises! This one on his forehead recently:

The potty training is coming along quite well (despite an accident yesterday when I was on the webcam with Grandma and Pop-pop).  He sings this song now after a successful poop in the potty. Too cute :-)

Charlie is now learning to play better with his big brother.  It's so cute to see (and hear!) how both of them interact with each other. They love being silly together!

Charlie is still not very keen on getting kisses from his brother:

But best of all, they both love to dance!

And I can't believe Graham is only 2 months away from turning 5.  How time flies!

New light shades

Bobby finally caved in and decided we needed some pendant light shades.  When we moved into our apartment here, we had these exposed light bulbs.  According to a friend of mine, we were actually lucky to even have that.  When they moved into their villa years ago, they only had exposed wiring hanging down from the ceiling!

Doesn't look too bad :-) thanks to IKEA, of course.  We only have them in the living room for now. As you can see, we still have an exposed light bulb (top left of pic).  That's in our dining room. May do something different there.  The paper shades are nice but having broken a little piece of the frame, the middle one doesn't hold on that well any more.  Plus, the boys are now kicking soccer balls in the house - that doesn't help either!

Random pics of the week

We've been enjoying the block of cheeses that Bobby brought back from Italy.  They are big blocks for sure!

And so yummy!  Used some to make some risotto using some authentic ingredients as well last night. Mmmm... mmmm... mmmm...!!!  I'm never using chicken broth again!

The boys have been getting their fix on speedy sports cars (or perhaps I have too).  I spotted a McClaren in a parking garage recently:

And yesterday, the boys wanted to take a picture in front of this Aston Martin.  So pretty!

Meanwhile, at home... lots of bath time as the weather is warming up quickly!

And Charlie's new thing is laying down in the bath with his ears under water.  He loves it!

And also watching TV upside-down.  Monkey see, monkey do!

And the potty training continues.  Charlie would hide sometimes in the corners of the house when he has to go poop. Most of the time he tells me he loves me first before going. Very funny, until of course I find his "gift"!

And finally, our friend introduced us to a new Malaysian restaurant. Well, it's a small one located in a gas station and this is the short cut to get to it!

It's this way or otherwise it's 85 km (or 52 miles) down to the next town before able to turn around since it's on the other side of the freeway.  Obviously the wrong side then!  And oh, when you get to the end of this "road", please don't attempt to go up the hill and over the curb! Yes, honey... you will never hear the end of this one either! :-P

Boys' ang pows

We finally had a chance to give the boys their ang pows (Chinese New Year red packets).  It was actually a couple days after CNY but obviously the boys didn't know that.  They were just excited about the money in it!

Charlie is still figuring it out:

I remembered as a kid counting all the money I received at the end of the day. The first few days were always really good as those were the busy days where people would come to the house or we would go to our relatives' homes to celebrate the New Year.  Ahh.... those were the days.  It's too bad the boys aren't able to experience that.  We'll have to go back to Malaysia for that some day!

By the way, I'm finally able to update my blog again because my computer was running out of space!  Too many videos and photos but I was finally able to transfer some of it to a memory stick to free up some space. Only a matter of time before it fills up again.  Thankfully the memory stick was quite affordable. Phew! Now I just have to be sure not to lose it!

Another medal for Graham!

Graham is continuing to have soccer practice every Friday and is quite a confident player now. Every week, someone is awarded a medal for 1) Listening 2) Playing hard and 3) Smiling.  Looks like we finally got that combination covered last week!

Normally Charlie would be home with me, but I finally had a chance to see a massage therapist.  So Charlie tagged along with Daddy and Graham.  He would always jump or dance around and end up in this "Star-fish" pose as Bobby puts it.  No idea where he learned this one from!

Can't miss this coming week's soccer practice as Graham will be the Pass Master for the day!  Will be sure to post pictures later this week.

Random pics of the week

When our friends were visiting from out-of-town, we obviously had a few late nights. Poor Graham fell asleep at the table after dinner! Funny how he was still holding his color pencil :-)

Charlie, on the other hand, was still going strong!

Never a dull moment when we go grocery shopping with Daddy:

After 2 days of sand and wind, there's so much sand accumulated on the roads!  It was cleared up after a couple of days.  Not sure how they cleaned it up but at a smaller roundabout yesterday, I saw a garbage man with a shovel (vs. his usual grabber) scooping up the sand into his big garbage bin.

And we finally invested in some Sidr honey. One of the moms here recommended it for the boys. I used the word "invested" because it's 400dhs per kilo!  That's equivalent to almost USD 50 per pound! Foie gras costs just as much. Ha! Anyhow, we only bought 1/2 kilo. Originating from Yemen, the honey from the Sidr tree has been reported to have several medical benefits. We just started feeding the boys a little teaspoon of it every day this past week. We'll see how they do - if they are less prone to coughs, etc.  Look how dark it is!

There was also a honey for sale at the same kiosk but with cinnamon and ginger. So yummy! But at 300dhs per kilo, I decided to wait on that purchase.  Although now reading up more on the benefits of honey and cinnamon, I probably won't wait too much longer. Suppose to help with arthritis, lowering cholesterol, colds, upset tummy, strengthen immune system, longevity, and the list just goes on and on!

By the way, it rained again - I mean drizzled - a couple of days ago (view from inside the minivan).  Needless to say, the car is just filthy now with the combination from the sand storm last weekend.

And finally, after almost 21 years of patching and sewing up, I've decided to retire my hand-knitted golf head cover.  It was a gift from my caddy when I played in the 1994 ASIAN Games in Hiroshima. She was a petite older lady, covered up from head to toe in a white uniform with a big hat like all the caddies do in Japan. She gave me a set of head covers when I was there and sent another set to my home in Malaysia back then. So sweet!

What's funny about this change was that I almost couldn't find my 5-wood yesterday as I didn't recognize my new head cover in my golf bag!

Water fun

It's never a dull moment at the water splash park.  A few new things have been added to the pattern of the water spouts. FUN!

The boys have the whole place to themselves:

Love seeing the boys laugh:

All the spouts going! And there's a new high water spout in the very middle:

All done! Check out that nice yatch in the background:

Thankfully Daddy had a clean blanket in his car. Mommy forgot the towels!

Always a fun place to play for the boys!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year started this past Thursday.  This year is the Year of the Ram.  Hmm... I wonder what the horoscope says about our life, money, and adventures for the year.  Guess we'll just have to find out one day at a time :-)
There were some Chinese New Year celebrations at a mall in Abu Dhabi this past Wednesday so we decided to check it out.  But first, to kill some time and get the best seat in the house for the show - some yummy chocolate covered strawberries:

The boys love their chocolate!

Our friends from out-of-town were still with us, so we were all anxiously waiting for something to happen:

Finally... some balancing tricks!

Impressive!

Then, some martial arts, although I was surprised by the fans. Most of the time the fans would be used by the women. The fans did make a pretty neat sound when it was quickly opened and closed:

Then some plate spinning. I thought I saw the sticks poking through those plates though. Cheat!

We decided to see what was outside after the show.  The lanterns were pretty:

The boys got their tattoos and balloons shaped like swords:

Graham having fun!

Of course, what else would they do with swords but fight!

I though the lion dance would have been outside but it was back inside the mall. And somehow I was expecting the big drums but I guess that might have been too loud for a fancy mall.  At least the boys were not afraid of the lions like they have been before:

Back outside, the stage lights finally came on and I thought there was going to be some Chinese Opera. Wrong! It was some very loud music and just some dancing on stage.

Needless to say, I was quite disappointed. Sure makes me miss home this time of the year!

At least the skyline of Abu Dhabi was pretty:

And the boys were excited about the laser show.  Thankfully this was a little bit better than the one we saw during the Kite Festival last month in Dubai:

Overall, it wasn't as exciting as I thought it would have been but at least the boys enjoyed it and our friends were able to experience some of the Chinese culture. They definitely needed to work on the timing of the food set up but thankfully Graham was happy with his hot dog and Charlie was very happy with his pop-corn.

We'll definitely have to search for something more for next Chinese New Year!  Speaking of search, still need to find some "ang pow" or red packets for the boys!  Thankfully the CNY lasts for 15 days!