Is it Thursday yet?

I have never been one who really tries to keep myself (nor my children) excessively 'busy'.  Though I know people who like to ensure that their children never have a minute of down-time or boredom, I thoroughly enjoy lazy days at home.

So--this week has been a serious anomaly week in my life.

First there was Sunday.  On Sunday I reunited my daughter with her dearest friends Amalya and Arysha.  They spent almost two hours together, laughing and playing (along with Ni-Ni and Magoo), under the watchful eye of Malou, so I could catch up with my BFF Shariza.  As we only had two hours, we managed to pack in some laughter, tears, exchange important parenting tips (toiletting, lunch bags and knot genies), and get in some gripes--basically we did it all--and also enjoyed a nice cup of tea!

Scooter

The most popular ride

On Monday, we joined our friends Hanim and Omar, at the Royal Majlis, in Zayed Sports City, where the Abu Dhabi Mums rent out a room for indoor play.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time there.  As you can see this is a very kid-friendly room, with so many different toys, and only about EIGHT children in total (three of whom I brought along).  Malou came with me, and so I actually got to spend some time sitting on one of those cream leather couches you see in the background, talking to Hanim.  Definitely something we will do again!

Watermelon

On Tuesday, Yeen and 'the boys' came and spent the morning.  Little A had a great time playing with TC and TH at Shariza's house, and so I am waiting for that magic to recur.  Yeen and I enjoy sharing our baked goods (I have two different kinds of scones in the past two weeks...mmmmmm!!).  The down-side:  I am noticing my pants are getting noticeably tighter again (YIKES!) and must get myself back on the diet and exercise program I was following pre-Paris.  

Look out Bollywood!

That evening, we joined our friends Zee, Urooj and family for a 'farewell' dinner at the Noodle House.  Little A had a great time dressing up (it is very hard to get her to put on any of her 'ethnic' clothes), and enjoyed the compliments.  Though not a great fan of Asian food, I made myself a "Legs Eleven" sandwich (memories of Cosi in Paris) beforehand, and I enjoyed the company.

This morning we had appointments for N with his speech therapist and an occupational therapist at SKMC.  Fortunately, they were back-to-back appointments.  Sarah was quite pleased with his progress (he is a lot more verbal now).  The O/T supported my thoughts about Ni-Ni's shoes (soft-soles or none at all), suggested that nursery would be great for him, and said, overall, he doesn't think Ni-Ni needs O/T--he is only mildly delayed.  Nonetheless, he is happy to follow up with him monthly.  

Property of American Gems Academy

Afterwards, 'the girls' made a trek out to Raha Mall (which is still a stupidly ridiculous drive--there is just nothing acceptable about the fact that four years later there is STILL no reasonable way to get to that mall!), to get Little A kitted out for school.  Here she is posing in her polo shirt (54 aed) and navy skort (85 aed).  She is not super-impressed by the colours (navies and blues are not high on the list of favs for five year old girls).  We also had to buy a swim-suit in navy.  I opted not to buy the PE bag, since the salesman could not explain to me why we needed one (the K's wear the polo shirt and SHORTS--not shown in the photo--to school, and so what purpose would the bag serve??).

After we got home, I had about an hour before Phinn needed to go to the vet (vaccinations) and then our little friend Omar popped over for a play while his mummy got herself prepped at a nearby salon for her upcoming holiday to Malaysia.  Omar was very easy to look after (he came with his own nanny) and just played quietly on his own the whole time.  

Tomorrow, mercifully, I have NO PLANS.  Perhaps I will take everyone to the mall and let the kiddies run wild in the air-conditioned halls.  

...only in Abu Dhabi would that be a perfectly acceptable thing to do in the summer, during Ramadan.