First Family Photo

Today while visiting the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi we realised we had not taken a family photo since the arrival of Frankie 4 months ago. So here it is, our first photo together as a family of 4!

Yes, I am wearing an Abaya it is not a post pregnancy cover-up. Our trip to the Grand Mosque was amazing, lots more pics and stories to come, I just couldn't resist sharing this one now. 

Market Mornings

Our favourite part of the weekend is by far Friday mornings. During winter there is a large market in the grounds of one of Dubai's largest parks. It is a beautiful market of fresh farm produce, gourmet food and craft all under the shade of large palms.

On Fridays we get-up and head straight to the market, we grab a coffee and some food then find a patch of grass under a palm to spread out our picnic mat. We are usually joined by friends and the kids run crazy while we relax on the grass, stroll through the market stalls and eat some more.

The weather has started to heat up fast over the past week and sadly there will only be a handful of Fridays left to enjoy these beautiful mornings before it is too hot and all outdoor fun ceases.

A catch-up in pictures

We watched Uncle Simon jumped from a plane

Just a speck in the sky

Cousins

Friends

Ghosts of Dubai #1

After a 6 year boom the financial crisis in 2007 - 2010 had a significant impact on Dubai.

One of these is the 'ghosts of Dubai' - projects started and never completed. There are hundreds of these projects around Dubai, more recently they are tearing some down, filling holes and restarting. But a lot are rather iconic, and have now stood still in mid-construction for so long they are part of the landscape.

Below are a couple of pics taken recently, I will add some more over time. At 38 weeks pregnant my ability to get out and about on excursions for taking photographs is somewhat limited by my size, swollen hands and feet and the ever present Dubai heat which has made one final come back before winter kicks in.

Universal Studios - part of the never built Dubailand. It is a common theme in Dubai to build grand entrances first then construction follows - unfortunately this project never made it past the front gate!

These two connected towers would of been an impressive structure, however they are likely never to be completed having stood exactly like this since about 2009. They are eerie building sites - everything right down to workers belongings just sits there.

Life Lately in Happy Snaps

1. Playing in our new pool - not sure who is the bigger kid

2. 'Never too early in the morning for licking the bowl' - wisdom from Piper

3. Backyard, trampoline, sprinkler - what more could an Aussie kid want? - Who would believe we live in the middle of the desert!

4. Robot Man - built by Piper and Mumma

5. End of the first week back at school - little munchkin couldn't stay awake a minute longer by 7pm

6. Nesting Carly style - building furniture while Naz relaxes on the couch and watches

Europe Road Trip - Part 2

We made it home to Dubai safe and sound on Friday and our holiday now feels like a long time ago. 

Especially as I am here in Dubai and yesterday Naz and Piper flew to Australia for the next month.

It was the hardest goodbye ever, well for me anyway, Piper couldn't wait to get on the plane and get to Nanny's house, wear gumboots, see rain, play with her cousins and enjoy being totally spoilt for the next month.

A selfish part of me wanted to stop her leaving but it doesn't make sense for her to be here right now. She still has a month left of school holidays, Ramadan doesn't finish for another 10 days and it is far too hot to go outside in the daytime at all.

Enough of my feeling sorry for myself on my lonesome here, I have finally edited some more photo's from our holiday and some of my favourites from the German Alps region around Fussen are below.

Town of Fussen at the foot of the Alps

Medieval lunch in Fussen - love those paper bibs

View out the window from the cable car we took to the top of the mountains.... sensational view but I could barely breathe the entire trip up and down!

Looking down from the cable car on the toboggan run down the mountain....... this was one ride I wasn't skipping. I promised Naz I would behave and go down the hill slowly but my childhood Magic Mountain  memories kicked in and I flew down that thing! Don't stress grandparents - bub is just fine :)

Breakfast on top of the mountains

The top of the Alps was full of crazy people like this preparing to jump off and fly.....

Preparing to jump

Running to launch

Up up and away! We had to tear Naz away, he would of stayed watching all day if  we let him. I have a bad feeling that one day we will be watching him jump from mountains!!

Life lately in happy snaps

Do you use Instagram? I love it and how easy it is to stay in touch and share photo's. You can follow me under the Instagram name carlyobrien.

Please don't just stalk our blog, leave your Instagram name in the comments section at the bottom of this post or send me a comment via Instagram so I can stalk you too.

Below are a few pics from my iphone lately. I also got a little fancy schmancy and added an Instagram widget to my sidebar where you can see my latest pics.

Kite flying on a lazy afternoon (thanks for the kite Nana Liz)

Our afternoon was interrupted last week by a strong earthquake in nearby Iran that was felt here in the UAE. It was quite frightening and went for far longer than anything I have felt before. We evacuated our apartment for a short time. This pic was taken later in the afternoon, our energy and adrenalin spent tso his is how these two iPad addicts rested.

This is how Piper dresses herself to go to Sushi Train for dinner!
One always needs a tiara to eat Japanese right?

This is what 3 year old fairies do after too much sugar and fun at a kid's party!

In typical Dubai style we attended a children's birthday party at the 5 star Al Qasr hotel this weekend.
As you can see Piper made a classy departure!

Early morning road trip through the desert. Yesterday Naz and friends competed in a triathlon type event in the nearby Emirate of Al Ain ( blog post to come soon). I am also proud to say the early morning was worth it, Naz finished 14th!!

Don't forget to leave a comment below and share your Instagram name!

Life Lately in Happy Snaps

From left to right starting from the top:

1. Rocking it out to old school Kylie with Mum

2. Happy Lily (we have finally found a great dog beach just out of town)

3. Sandstorm last Tuesday, the building disappearing is the Burj Khalifa, it also poured with rain for about 5 minutes, the most rain we have seen in 10 months. Temperatures at the moment are averaging between 42 and 48 every day

4. Example of Dubai's dedication to wasting money. This sign etched in metal and professionally erected is a direct result of Lily's love of swimming in the pond. Crazy dog hating country, honestly have a look at the pond, she was not harming a fly

5. Beach fun - unfortunately beach weather is now over until winter, it is far too hot and the water is bath water warm and not in the slightest bit refreshing

6. Our little model and poser, this was taken today. For her birthday we spent the day at KidZania and she played her little heart out

7. Last photo ever taken of Piper with her dummy (or yodgee as she calls it), two weeks ago she decided she was grown-up and threw it down the rubbish chute and has not asked for it once since. The only tears were from me, I am pathetic I know

8. Atlantis Hotel at the end of the Palm

9. Happy 3rd Birthday Piper!! Taken tonight, we celebrated with Magnolia Bakery cupcakes from Bloomingdales

The Birthday Party

Apologies to everybody who has been harassing me to put up photo's of Piper's birthday party, given her party was held two weeks before her birthday these photo's aren't technically late.

Luckily we have a community hall within our building available for free use by residents so we were able to have a birthday party at home but without the mess and hassle.
Also because of the heat now it is impossible to play outside so this gave the kids enough space to run crazy with out destroying my house.

Piper had a fabulous day at her princess party as you will see below:

Pom poms I made earlier in the week

Birthday girl with her Princess Castle birthday cake (a little easier to make this year than the past two years I have to admit)

Party game fun!

I always felt bad she had a winter birthday in Australia, now over here it might be too hot but this birthday has been drawn out over two weeks so it has it's advantages.

Technology wizz

I use so many different apps and websites to store and share our photographs and bits and pieces that I get completely lost and overwhelmed all the time.
I have finally found a great website and app 'Posterous' which allows me to automatically upload instagram photo's from my iphone to this blog at the push of a button..... just a wee bit excited about this! I can now share our fun photo's here without having to log-in to my laptop and download the photo's everytime. See below for my first attempt direct from the iphone.
Keep your eyes open for more happy snaps coming your way! Piper is also a big fan of taking photo's with our iphones so maybe a Piper blog contribution in the future.

If you have anymore great apps or websites that can help me integrate everything please leave me a comment below xo

February Photo a Day - Week 3

Ok so work has been extremely crazy this past week and I got a little slack with my photo's but here are the next round (I still have a couple to catch-up on so will double post next week I promise).

15. Phone - Piper's 'iphone' she swipes it with one finger like an iphone and it goes with us everywhere.... whenever we think she is talking to herself we often find that she has this to her ear and is talking to Nanny, Stella, Molly, Tilly, Finn, Leigh or Steery. Her one sided conversations and imagination are hysterical!

16. Something New - My new goggles. I can't run, my shins are absolutely destroyed from netball and running for fitness is not worth the pain, I also hate the gym! Actually I think it is just that I dislike 'gym people'. So given we have a swimming pool in our apartment building I have decided to take up swimming.... uh huh real swimming like laps and stuff not just floating, splashing and cooling off with Piper. I took the plunge this week for the first time and surprisingly I actually really enjoyed it..... let's see if I can keep it up.

17. Time - note exactly time but these little gadgets on my computer screen remind of the time difference and just how far away Australia is. Ironically in the photo it is my winter and Melb summer temperature being displayed.

18. Drink - My fave drink at the moment, I have pretty much cut down non essential dairy but hate soy milk hot chocolates and they are so impractical in the heat here so I am on soy milk ice chocolates..... YUM!! (and Starbucks do free home delivery)

19. Something you Hate to do - Working very late at night on pricing and cost analysis for proposals! This was appropriate at the time given it was very late and I had worked 60 plus hours during the week and was in a foul mood, but the reality is I am a nerd at heart and love pricing analysis and spreadsheets.......

20. Handwriting - Piper practicing her P's..... which would be great and so cute.... if only she hadn't practiced on her white wooden table and had used paper instead!!