A missing piece

The girls (including me!) are missing their papa "so very much", since he'd left for a work course in Holland. They were moping about Sunday morning after a difficult night. According to oma, Sera woke up 12 times. Yasmin was slightly better but she did wake up three times during the night and at all three times, she struggled to go back to sleep. Oh gosh, could they be displaying symptoms of missing their papa? Most likely.

Anyway, Baby if you're reading this. Sera is asking to fly to Holland to work with you. And Yasmin keeps exclaiming "PA PAAAAA!", whenever she hears the door open (and you know how Sera likes to open and close the doors in the house!).

Take care baby and see you very soon!

"Fuisssh ... fuisssh ...!"

I was wondering if I should post this ... I mean, it's yet ANOTHER visit to the Dubai Aquarium. Is there NOTHING else we do here? Apparently not. ha ha. But the girls love it there. Every visit was like their first. So why not right? The only difference was that this time, Yas was awake for the whole excursion so instead of admiring the fish, I was mostly observing her, bursting with curiosity and constantly whirling around with excitement. It was, I have to say, the most simple and purest of entertainment for me.

The sharks were eerily lurking over us as we entered the aquarium tunnel.

It's as if the girls were seeing the fish for the first time ... ?

The sharks hovered over us, very disinterested in us

But Yas was calling out to every single one of them ...

I love this shot ... the majestic manta ray

Care for a pucker from the puffer?

In the Underwater Zoo, she reached out to touch every exhibit ...

And the lion fish scream, "ALIENS!"

Sera's Zac

Zac, Sera's good friend, turned 5 today. So we went over to Old Town to spend the day celebrating it with him. It was a full day, starting off with some skating at the Dubai Ice Rink, lunch in (it's Ramadan), a very chocolatey birthday cake (lovingly made by Philippa) and then, Philippa and I suffered the consequences of very sugar-overdosed kids, jumping off the walls for the rest of the afternoon. Ha ha. I have to say, a very typical afternoon for us whenever we meet.

Sera, as usual, hanging out with the boys

She couldn't wait to get on the ice

Zac hung on to the side of the ring and did a complete round ... it really is quite tiring!

Sera was so determined to 'skate' and kept asking me when we were going to skate (after completing the whole round)? She was actually referring to how Johan skated with her the last time. Errr, I tried holding her in front of me but then, I ended up tripping when I started to move. Johan made it look too easy ...

While we were at the Ice Rink, Yas was hanging out with oma, cruisng around the mall

Happy Birthday Zac!


Sugar intoxicated kids

Yas and Reef hanging out

'Ruff Ruff'

It's that time when Yasmin is learning and exploring sounds that animals make ... and as usual, it's that time when we are trying to imitate animal sounds for her. Yas has quickly found an animal that she is fond of, and that is, a dog ... 'ruff ruff'. And she's also found a cuddly that she is growing attached to ... also called 'ruff ruff'.

Welcome Oma!

We went to the Atlantis this afternoon, to spend it indoors, to gawk at the beautiful fish kept in yet another impressive aquarium (though unfortunately, the whale shark is still within!!!!) and to mingle with the endless swarm of tourists. A very unlikely kind of afternoon for us so what did we do? We took the monorail ride from the Atlantis down the trunk of the Palm, and back. Ha ha. I know, cheap thrill but hey the kids were really thrilled.

Yas woke up in time to enjoy the ride

View of Aquaventure from the monorail

Johan and Sera getting comfy. By the way, the rail system is managed by SMRT. Hmm, no wonder it felt strangely familiar ...

Beach-front view of the Atlantis

We had dinner at Al Arrab (Lebanese restaurant) but what got just really tickled was the platter of raw veggies that they laid on our table as appetiser. We were puzzled as to what we were supposed to do? Nibble on them like rabbits do? I suggested taking them home to do a stiry fry, but Johan decided to just munch on the whole cucumber.

Another happy helper

You think she'll be this excited to help me, say in 5 years time?

A visit to Port Khalifa

Johan took us to his work site on Friday. The girls were very excited, especially Sera who was very curious about Johan's work. The girls were pretty good for the 1 hour drive but were definitely ready to hop off the car when we finally arrived. First stop was to his office, basically double storeyed porta cabins, very sparse interiors ... basically functional, and totally opposite from the, I daresay, almost 'luxurious' work environment I left years ago. Ha ha. Well, for sure, Johan really, and ONLY, works when at work.

We spent the morning in his cubby hole while he attended meetings. Sera and Yasmin were fed constantly by the friendly uncle, so they were busy snacking. It was almost tricky for me to entertain them in his office but I found some recycled technical paper for Sera to draw on, and for Yas, I found her some empty plastic bottles. The girls and I were very ready for the site tour when his meetings were over.

The project Johan is currently working on is an offshore port in the northern part of Abu Dhabi. I can't even begin to explain all the technicalities of his work, but my first impression is that it seemed like a massive project. He took us over the bridge, unto the port that is to be, and though it appeared like plots and plots of sand, concrete and machineries all over ... it was almost exciting to see the work in progress of the port. Sera showed much enthusiasm throughout, just because that is her, typically curious about anything and everything ... and just always wanting to be a part of any conversation. Yasmin didn't try very hard to stay awake and slept through the entire tour. I was just snapping photos (trying out my new camera ... haha).

We all had a good time, and it was really nice to physically see what Johan is so busy with everyday at work. And when Johan asked Sera if she enjoyed the visit to his work site, she pondered for a while and said, "Yes papa, there was a lot of sand everywhere. And it entered my shoes. I didn't like that."

Look at that smile ... she couldn't wait to dive into the muffins and cookies

Yasmin was even more blatant ... she just walked into the office pantry to get her snacks

Miss Busybody climbed unto Johan's lap while he was emailing

Putting the crayons to work ...

"Oooh, wait till papa see what new additions I've made to his drawings!"

Start of the tour. She looked out for about 1-2-3-4-5 seconds ...

And then, she slept for the rest of it

Ok, these are some of the shots I captured while we were on the bumpy site tour. It was a Friday morning, the weekend, so the site wasn't as busy as it usually is. So here goes, the makings of an offshore port ...

The end of the tour

'Oomph-ing' around

Last night, Yas was unstoppable on the woddle toddle, making hilarious 'oomph - oomph' sound effects (what is that anyway?) and leaning her body back to give herself more leverage to push forward. Typical ... I wasn't thinking fast enough to video it but only took a photo. Sera and I were just stood by and watched, very amused by her.

Little mermaids

The girls twirling around in their swim rings

One of the simple pleasures I have with the girls is hanging out at the pool with them. I used to steer away from chlorinated water but I've learned to let go of that aversion and instead enjoy the convenience and even luxury of having a pool within walking distance. The girls and I have been going to the pool this summer ... early while others are just getting up. And this morning, the girls had little milestones in the water.

Yasmin decided to join us in the pool instead of lugging her pail and watering can around. She jumped in and excitedly bobbed around the pool till she got very breathless. Sera surprised me by swimming towards me, about 1.5 metres, UNDERWATER ... without floaties. That girl kicked her legs, made circles with her arms, probably drank a lot of water, but most importantly, all her un-coordinated movements propelled her and she SWAM towards me. Ha ha ha. We hugged and laughed ... and she kept on going till she was so physically tired that she sank on her last few attempts. Bravo Sera!

Needless to say, both girls were fabulously tired after the swim ... so we had a pleasantly calm day. 'wink'

No better way to start a day then to go for a swim!

A visit to old Dubai

We gave ourselves a dose of old Dubai today, we went to the Dubai Museum, which resides in a 18th century fort. It was a small museum but it gave us an insight to the very humble beginnings of early Dubai, where the Bedouins roamed the deserts with their camels, the once flourishing pearl diving industry and the discovery of oil. Sera was a bit unnerved by the darkness of the museum (which was probably trying to simulate old Dubai) Yas, who was asleep in the beginning, was very curious and wanted to tour the museum by herself. We eventually arrived at the pearl diving industry exhibit and I realised that Sera was without shoes. She ran to me excitedly, hands spilling with sand ... she finally found something that interested her! Yup, there was literally sand (but of course) throughout the entire museum. That's Dubai, afterall.

It's almost impossible to get a shot of Yas as she is always on the move. So here's one of her, in the morning, walking excitedly to our car

A traditional house back in those days. The ladder leads to an outdoor bed. The tall structure above the hut works as a cooling device during the hot summers.

At the pearl diving exhibition. Sera and sand - she has to take off her shoes when she sees sand, stand in the sand and then touch it ...

A happy and awfully dirty museum visitor ... and of course, Yas can't resist doing the same

Petting Zoo

At the border of Sharjah and Ajman, there is a pet boarding facility cum Animal Rescue Centre cum Animal Petting Zoo. We decided to visit it on Friday afternoon, and not succumb to the air-conditioned malls. It was a long drive, almost an hour but thankfully, Yas has finally realised she actually has the best seat in the car. Literally. She hardly complains and in fact, is easily lulled to sleep once we strapped her in. Phew!

So this little patch of farm, although a little far out and very secluded, is quite a friendly sanctuary for the animals. We, of course, came at the wrong time ... I mean, the temperature was a high 39-degrees and the few unlucky animals that were housed in a sheltered outdoor area were looking mighty lethargic and the few ducks we saw were fluttering their wings to cool themselves down. We had much empathy for them because we were feeling the heat and most probably a very sorry sight as we were dripping with perspiration. Ha ha.

But the girls still had fun and we were invited to the porta cabin where the smaller animals - rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, hedgehog, parrots, were residing in the cool air-conditioning.

Anyway, here's a few shots from our visit. We'll definitely be coming back when the weather gets a little cooler!

Johan ticking the goats while the girls looked on. Yas, who imitates everything Sera does, has started to show anxiety when she's near animals. Tsk tsk ... have to work on that now.

Cows ... a tad skinny, don't you think?

Their sweet resident dog that reminded us of j-dee


A curious baboon they had rescued