Half birthdays, hospitals and craziness

What a crazy week! Frankie had a half birthday.... 6 months old, can you believe that! Piper was the bravest. girl. ever. (much braver than her Mum and Dad to be honest) and had her tonsils and adenoids removed, and tubes put in her ears.
She took it all in her stride and bounced back amazingly, but the past 48 hours have been toughest. She is completely and utterly over the pain, a bit down in the dumps, and not sleeping so well. I am sure she will be back to normal Piper in a few days, this is kind of that final hump.
Sure we have our amazing nanny Rose, but this was one of those weeks where being away from family is hard. I could certainly have done with a hug from my Mum.

Otherwise life has been kicking along as per normal. Frankie is still proving to be an early riser, hello 4:30am starts to the day. Naz competed in a duathlon on Saturday and came 7th in his category, although he ran in relatively new shoes and now has the most horrendous blisters on his feet.
The heat has really kicked in even though we are still a month from summer, days are averaging 38 - 40 degrees and nighttime lows of 27 - 28. Any form of cool breeze is now a distant memory for the next 6 months.
As it heats up our plan of sticking out the summer in Dubai this year is fading. I have found myself looking up flights and accommodation for July or August a lot lately. Right now we are thinking Turkey or maybe Greece.

My favourite thing at the moment is watching the girls play together - Frankie can not get enough of Piper, and is becoming more active and responsive to Piper by the day. Almost the perfect marriage - Piper loves to put on a performance and Frankie is the best captive audience.

Naz in Lycra

Two weeks ago Naz competed in an Olympic distance triathlon held at the Atlantis Hotel, on The Palm, Dubai.

Fortunately, this coincided with Grandpa’s holiday in Dubai, so he was lucky enough to have 4 family members out there cheering for him.

I have been chasing Naz around crazy sport events for long enough now that I can read an event map like a pro, calculate what his times should be and when he will transition, and then get myself around the event to at least catch him 3 or 4 times throughout the race, and give him a bit of encouragement.
It’s a lot more fun these days too with Piper running around with me. Her excitement to cheer for her Dadda is pretty infectious.

On this particular day I was pretty impressed that I had managed to get two kids up, dressed, fed and out the door by 7am on my own, (I felt like I had completed a triathlon myself just getting us all into the car). Naz had left at about 4:30am to get his bike and gear checked in.

Naz kicked some butt on the day and came in 21st in Olympic Male Open. He also got to race against, and meet his boy crush, fellow Australian and two time World Champion Chris McCormack.

Not one to slow down, yesterday ,Naz competed in the world first Desert Triathlon. A combination of run, cycle, and endurance horse ride. 
Before you go picturing Naz in lycra on horseback, he competed as part of a team - he completed the cycle leg only. Unfortunately his horse was disqualified and did not race so they received no team result, but Naz’s cycle leg was an impressive 31 out of 127 competitors.

Unfortunately, I did not take my camera - I knew I would have my hands full with the girls. The event was incredible and dominated by local Arabs and royal family members. His Highness Nasser bin Hamad al Khalifa was the winner – completing the run, cycle and 40km horse ride on his own – faster individually than the teams could do it!! He was pretty impressive, I guess if you are the son of the King of Bahrain and married to the Head Sheikh of Dubai’s daughter you probably have a bit of time on your hands to train, I am thinking employment is not really an issue.

If you want some more eye candy of Naz in lycra, below are some of the official photographs taken at the Atlantis Triathlon. Piper received the best cheer for her run down to the finish line with Naz, and they gave her a medal of her own.