Monday, May 23, 2011

Another year flies by - photographic re-cap

Above - June 2010 - The Summer heat meant the boys dragged out the slip and slide plastic mat and used Craig's (our neighbour) hose to cool down.



Above - June 2010 - We have this secret little fishing hole in the middle of the desert that we go to occasionally. The water comes from an underground resevoir and is teaming with heaps of tiny perch. Its the same place we do a bit of 4x4 in the nearby dunes.





Above - June 2010 - B1 and FS chilling out as the sun sets on another day of outdoor weekend activities.

Above - September 2010 - B3 and B4, best mates!



Above - October 2010 - So, B4 came to his own birthday party perfectly proportioned. He met a couple of ex-rugby forwards (Craig & Bob) at the water slide and left the party with leg and arm extensions.


Above - October 2010 - B4 birthday party apple-bob, with mates looking on.




Above - November 2010 - Another girls night out, Emma, Lozza, FS and Kerry get their hoola going at Paco's.


Above - November 2010 - B1, B2 (looking like Dicky-Nee) and NS at the Lincoln Park Concert, Abu Dhabi.


Above - November 2010 - B2 and B1 at the Yas Marina Circuit Forumla 1 Race, VIP seats on the start/finish line.



Above - December 2010 - Cosimo, Villi and B1 at the Dubai Rugby 7's Tournament, cheering for England, Fiji and Australia respectively. Sth Africa ended up beating Samoa in the final.




Above - December 2010 - Xmas; Mary and Joseph looking for an Inn with baby Jesus, played by Kirra, B3 and Matilda. All they found was a couch at Villa 148 and few pavlovas and BBQ'd seafood.


Above - December 2010 - The Onion (Oyoun) Village International Pub Crawl. This stop was at our villa for the Aussie Outback Bar, complete with custom built timber bar with corrugated iron sheet cladding. L to R - FS, Mick, Wayne, Karla, Liam, Ocker Nick, Go West, Lexi, Bob, Lozza, Claire, Craig, Marcia, Phil and Seb.


Above - December 2010 - Nan came over for a visit; here, FS and Nan don the berka and cover up to enter the Sh. Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi.



Above - December 2010 - Grand Mosque, reported to have cost 1Billion dollars to build! It really is very impressive and worth a visit to anyone travelling here.



Above - December 2010 - Every year we hold a Xmas Eve Party at our villa, and each year Santa's entries get a little more dangerous. This year, he entered the party climbing down a make shift rope from the second story bedroom window...the stairs would have been too easy! Lucky, saftey officer Go West was on hand to catch santa and his sack if needed.




Above - December 2010 - Desert Safari with Nan.


Above - B4 & B3 with Nan in desert.




Above - Nan teaching Zach and Archie how to smoke some quality bongs.....I mean sheesha.




Above - December 2010 - Took Nan on a desert safari trip and ended up in a bedoin camp doing some belly dancing.


Above - NYE, pre evening drinks around the Aussie Outback Bar at our villa. L to R, Mick, Karla, FS, Hala, NS, Mitch, Lozza and Go West.


Above - NYE at the Hilton Hotel Party.


Above - January 2011 - Archie fires away down the feild during a tournament for the U7 and 8 teams he plays with.



Above - B3 again, side-stepping his way through the opposition.



Above - January 2011 - During a quick 'visa-run', i managed to spend some time in the sleepy town of Muscat, Oman. Really pretty little fishing town.



Above - January 2011 - B2 palms-off the Sharjah defense to run away for a try during the U/12 Al Ain rugby tournament.



Above - January 2011 - B3 celebrated tunring 7 witha fancy wedding style cake, baked by dad. His mate Sam and little Ailsa watch on.




Above - B3's party, the troops are charging; Ben, Sam, B3, Josh, Mike and B2.




Above - February 2011 - Not child cruelty (see B1 inside the cage), although this seemed a good child containment area; we built it for the pets, being a bunch of budgies, a couple of terapins and a couple of tortoises.


Above - February 2011 - The Socceroos came right to our front door when they played the UAE in a friendly international across the road at the Khalifa Stadium. Here is me and Karla meeting Harry Kewell. The match finished 0-0.


Above - February 2011 - A Roman Empire Murder Mystery. Flotilla Submergia pleads her innocense.


Above - February 2011 - The Roman Empire would have fallen well before it did if this mob were in charge at the time. B to F: FS, Go West, Karla, Jody, Amanda, Mick, Lozza and NS.


Above - March 2011 - B2 busted his arm playing rugby against the Azerbajan Tisa Titans. This xray is off the break still after 5 weeks in a cast. He ended up having it re-broken and a steel plate inserted to 'fix it proper'.


Above - March 2011 - B1's U/14 team travelled to Malaysia and won the Kuala Lumpar Cup, after falling short in the semis the previous year. This team was a big success for the Al Ain Amblers Rugby Club in 2010 and 2011, also making the semis of the league Cup.



Above - April 2011 - B1 accepts the Man of Match award for the game against Doha. The boys all had stella years, with B2 being awarded the Sportmans award for the U/12 team, B1, highest try scorer award for U/14 and B3 for Best player U/8. B4 had the audacity to line up for a medallion in the U/6's even though he only played half the season with them.



Above - April 2011 - B2 now sports a nasty scar after his surgery to repair the break. His already working on some great stories for how the shark attacked him or the ninja fight he was in, or more recently how he now has a bionic arm!


Above - Back yard fun with all the boys.


Above - May 2011 - Irish Mick always ripping off my fashion ideas.



Above - May 2011 - We really love the Onion Village life. People always popping in and a great social setting for kids and adults alike. Just another lazy Saturday Arvo in the 'secret garden'.




Above - May 2011 - 70's and 80's disco party at Liam's. Great party, had it all from the great outfits, to good people, beer flowing, pumping tunes, daggy dancing and even a punch up at the end of the night between Irish Mick and some other tosser.



Above - Michelle, NS (Richard Simmons) and someone else.



Above - May 2011 - FS walking through the Siq at Petra, Jordan.




Above - May 2011 - FS at the Treasury, Petra, Jordan. No point trying to describe this 50m high stone carving at the entrance to this once lost city. It is simply amazing!



Above - NS at the entrance to a tomb in Petra. These caves ran 20 metres deep into the mountain face and were at least 12feet high inside. Many were used as tombs as well as housing, and shops back in 6th Century B.C.




Above - "Nice ass.....he must work-out". In fact he does, the donkeys do this trip up to the top of the mountain to reach the Monestary about 5 times a day. Lots areas with cliff edges on either side and uneven footing for the donkeys, its a great fun ride but i wonder how many people have a donkey who decides to just throw it all in an walk off the edge?



Above - May 2011 - Petra, Jordan - We made it to the top. Me on board Micheal Jackson and FS riding Suzzane....that was actually their names.



Above - May 2011 - Dead Sea, Jordan - The outlook from our hotel. Just across the water you can see Jerihco, Jerusalem.



Above - May 2011 - NS and FS, romantic weekend away to Jordan. 'When in Rome', or in this case Jordan, of course you cover each other in the magical powers of the Dead Sea mud, jump into the Dead Sea, float like a cork and then feel the silky smoothness of your skin and wash away any bone and muslce soreness.



Above - May 2011 - FS, Yep, she scrubs up o.k. My own Arabian princess awaits.





I can not beleive that it has seriously been nearly 1 year since the last update. The photos above kind of tell the story of everything that we did in that time, but suffice to say, it is amazing how quickly the months has gone by.


After posting the blog on our family trip to the USA, we landed back in the UAE and then Fran and the boys headed off back to Australia for about 6 weeks. I ended up coming back and resigning from my poisition as seconded Manager to the local company here, effectively closing down our little business. I had been made an offer to join a new startup company in the UAE, a USA based company with a deep history in landscape management, so i felt it a great time to leave the hassles and delayed payments associated with running your own gig in the UAE, and join a company which may open some new experinaces, not to metnion the ease of not worrying about chasing money from clients.


So after closing down our business, I met up with the family back in Oz and we had a relaxing time, enjoying the Sydney winter, doing a bit of surfing and catching up with old friends and family.


Arriving back in the UAE, the new company basically chucked me on a plane and whilst Fran and the boys were getting settled into the new school year, i spent the end part of September and October back in the States travelling the West Coast, of Calfornia and some time in Arizona, all in the name of work. So far, things are looking good and a decision well made. I was so lucky that the timing meant i was on the beach at Lower Trsetles watching the Hurley Pro and watching Kelly Slater cruising through on his way to setting up his 10th World Title. I loved the west coast of California, despite the traffic in some parts, but then really enjoyed travelling through the Soronora Desert, Ariziona taking in the breathe taking sights of natural landscape features the area has to offer. The people between Arizona and California, whilst all lovely, could not be further apart in terms of their outlook on life. The Californians were all tree hugging types and the Arizonians were all shoot em up and hunt'n types. Great contrast.


The boys started years 9, 6, 2 and K respectively and all seemed to enjoy their classes and teachers, although i seem to have been called down to meet with teachers and the principal a hell of a lot with B1? Fran also started a part time gig with a lovely little girl, who she loves teaching.


December swings around and the weather is perfect, 25c every day, clear skies, cool mornings and a great vibe of socialsiing and party in the air. Of course the local celebrations of Eid and National Day all mean that the streets are lit up with decorations also. We co-hosted the innagural International Pub Crawl through Onion Village which included cocktails at the English Inn, Bry and Shots at the Sth African Bar, Fosters and some selected wines at the Aussie Outback Bar and finished the night at Paddy Micks Irish Inn.


December also saw Nan swing over for a few weeks which the kids loved, and it gave us a great oppurtunity or excuse to head back out and do and see some of the really cool things here in the UAE, such a the desert safaris and the Grand Mosque. A memroable occasion was the first day Nan arrived, we took her to the Hilton Hotel for lunch and just when we finsihed eating deserts, Fran had an incident which basically meant we had to call an ambulance and she was trolleid out of the resturant. She jokingly blamed it on the anxiety of having Nan in town with us, but it meant we escaped having to pay the bill for the 7 of us to have eaten there that day.


We held our annual Xmas Eve party with loads of seafood and goodies and all of the neighbours and friends came by. Santa made an appearnace and had rigged a rope coming off the water tank on the roof. After a few good jolly shouts, he leapt out of the upstairs window and scaled down the rope to the cheers of the children and the frightful horror of FS. This year we're thinking of a bugy cord type entrance.


By the time 2011 rolls around the boys are all well and truely into their rugby season and all are enjoying themselves and having some good succeses on the feild. That is until Ozzy breaks his arm (left arm this time) whilst playing against a touring team from Azerbajan. Plastered up for 5 weeks, the xrays revealed that the arm had not set properly and would now need surgery including re-breaking the arm, and setting a steel plate screwed into his bones.


Zach's team travelled to Malaysia again, only this time was the first that we let him go without one of us...what goes on tour stays on tour and so long as the police aren't involved, I don't need to know about it. The boys came back with the trophy in the hands and were well laudered by the club for their success. Archie proved once again this year to be a speed-demon on the feild and scored about 5,000 tries....or something close to that.


We spent a few weekends at the beach in Dubai and managed to score some tiny waves for the boys to take my boards out and practise surfing on, which is always nice to see them doing.


With all the regional troubles and esculating violence in our neighbouring countries like, Eygpt, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi, Syria and more recently across the way in Libya; FS and i decided not to buy the campervan we were so keenly looking at. The plan was to travel from here in the UAE, across Saudi, into Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey, before trucking our way through Europe. It seems the uprisings and associated troubles are going to continue for some time and whilst we're all for taking a few risks, it seemed a little silly to take the family through these areas in a motor home as part of some adventure.


So, as a short term compromise, FS and i headed off to Jordan to see Petra and the Dead Sea. It was a great trip, just the two of us (first holiday just the two of us in over 15 years), so it was kind of like a second honeymoon....Zach came along to the first one. Petra was nothing short of amazing and we loved the walks, the history and even the donkey ride whilst soaking up the sights. It was great to go out just the two of us in the evenig also. We had hired a high-powered-supercharged 1.2 litre Toyota Yaris (it was lucky to fit our bag and the two of us all in), but was perfect for spinning around the Jordanian mountain ranges as we travelled from Petra back over to the Dead Sea. Now i knew before we went there that the Dead Sea had a lot of salt and that made you float, but i had no idea just how much you would float...to the point that i could not sink even when i stretched out like a pencil with arms by my side and toes pointed down, i would not go under past my chest. It was only the body's ballast which bobbed you from side to side, unreal! Funny moment when FS tried to wash the mud off we had earlier applied to ourselves. She jumped into the Dead Sea for the first time and splashed the 33.7% saline water on her face and was basically blinded by the sting of the salt in her eyes. It was knid of funny as she stumbled across the rocks to the jetty to reach some fresh water....of course, she was blind and couldn't see me laughing.


So anyway, that brings us up to date and looking ahead our plans are to make it through to at least December and then start our de-mobilisation from the UAE sometime in 2012, planning our big trip through Europe in 2012 and then eventually back to the Land of Oz. Will try not to let another year fly by without updating the blog though. Till then Ma, Salama.