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Let's Go Crazy

April 22 marked the end of my month-(plus-five-days)-long celebration of my birthday (March 17-April 17).  A group of friends (some old and some newer) came along for a Bollywood themed dinner, at the Ritz Carlton's Punjab Grill restaurant (located in their Venetian village).  HAH!

overexposed

The weather was beautiful (thanks in part to the seeded rain which continues to keep the mercury down), and we had a lovely full moon in the sky, perched above the water dividing Abu Dhabi island, from the rest of the Emirate.

I remember well parties of the past, where we have tried to include friends from all parts of our lives (personal and professional friends), only to discover clumps of people, in different parts of our home, only interacting with people they already know.  Something that I really enjoyed at my dinner, is how everyone made an effort to socialize with everyone else.  I am not sure whether to attribute this to growing up, or being ex-pats, but it sure made the evening relaxing, hearing everyone talking and laughing, and seeing that nobody was left-out.  I like to think that some strategic seating also facilitated this atmosphere (who knows seating plans better than teachers?)

There were many things to celebrate:  my birthday, Ricardo's birthday (which was actually on the 22nd) and Ajay and Isha's 2nd wedding anniversary (on the 24th I think).


The Bollywood theme was inspired by my goal to get as much mileage out of my Indian sarees as possible.  However, as a side effect of weight loss, not many of my blouses fit anymore (need to go to the tailor!), so I decided to try a saree that I have always loved and treasured:  my mom's.

I had to borrow my friend Gopa's plain black blouse though, as I am still not small enough to fit my mom's (I don't remember her every being that tiny).  Gopa was also kind enough to come over and help me get ready (Gopa can tie a saree in 5 minutes!).

We had a good laugh about how Gopa had to borrow all her Indian accessories from me (seems like nobody in India wears bindis anymore...as I had to lend one to all the ladies in attendance).  I have asked all my friends to send out an email to my mom, to tell her what a very proper Indian daughter she raised.

getting the lighting right

I think my sister-in-law, whom we lovingly refer to as the Bollywood Barbie would have been proud (and had she been here, she would have put us all to shame!).

it's not gulab jamun....but it'll do

Cristina is back, and has recovered from a terrible virus that she caught on her flight back from the Philippines (similar to the one I got on the way back from Phuket).  She watched the kids while we celebrated, who were excited for their very own sleep-over with their much-loved friend (she is indeed considered a friend by all three) Anoushka.  Pickle slept on his own, but the girls all slumbered together.  As the stories go, Magoo kept talking and the double A's worked very hard to tell her stories to put her to bed.  Would explain why it was a little past 3 AM when Magoo made her way to my bed.

Sleeping beauties

When we got home around 1 AM, I read the news that Prince had died.  I remember making up dances to his songs, when I was 10 years old, in Forestburg, with my friend Lana.  My mom used to always make fun of that hair, that always hung over his one eye--she always wanted him to push it back so he could see properly.

I still haven't seen Purple Rain...

A few of my favourite things...

In addition to raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

The week before Spring Break began was quite busy--and made more challenging as we were without Cristina, whom we had sent home for her annual vacation.

We had THREE Sports Days events, a Mother's Day spa, Magoo's FIFTH birthday party and a mini-break to Fujairah.  It was both exciting and exhausting!!

Magoo was very enthusiastic about her first Sports Day.  She was team YELLOW, along with her bestie Sho.  They had some great events--and it was so much fun, full of cheering and laughter.  It was well organized and very much designed for maximizing participation and minimizing competition.

the ANCHOR

Litte A had her Sports Day on Monday as well (I lived at school that day).  Team Yellow too.  She didn't participate much and continues to be extremely stressed out at sports events.  It was also very stressful for me, and I actually left the gym when she started crying that she could not do the obstacle course (which I had just seen a gym full of 4 and 5 year olds complete).  I have one picture of her to share, from the swimming event, where she is a pro (and should be, considering all the years of training she has done).

A in the middle

I had to leave little A's Sports Day early to attend a Mother's Day Spa (EY1), which made Little A SOOO incredibly jealous!  In addition to celebrating two birthdays a year, while living in Abu Dhabi I get THREE Mother's Days--British, UAE and North American.  The school celebrated the UAE's Mother's Day, with snacks, massage, make-up and nails.  Magoo was a perfect hostess and was adamant that I was to be given all the decision making power, for every activity.

That afternoon we rushed home, to prepare for Magoo's birthday party at Funworks.  It was crazy--as we sped home to get ready for the party, and get there before the other guests.  Once the kids were settled, I had to zip over to B&R to see if they would store the ice cream cake for us.  After that, I zoomed over to Geant to pick up water bottles, which were not part of the package, but were essential for all the kids bouncing and running around in the FunHouse.

Suffice it to say, I burned a lot of calories and turned a lot of heads: crazy lady running through Yas Mall with the grocery cart.

Magoo had a fabulous time though, and really enjoyed herself--which is what always makes it worthwhile.

On Tuesday, was Pickle's Sports Day (team GREEN).  He participated as much as he could, and really had a lot of fun.  I was sure (and kind of hopeful??) that his event would be rained out--as it had rained a fair amount that morning--but the show went on, and the cloudy day made for some very comfortable weather for the event.  

He was also the anchor, and you can see my FAVOURITE of Pic's teachers this year, Mr. Marcus, who hails from Devon, AB.  In this picture, he is encouraging Pickle to PULL the rope for the tug of war (which he mostly didn't quite get), by telling him to bring the rope to pass it off to him.  I heart Mr. Marcus!

Tuesday was a short day at school, and Ms. Claudia was so sweet to celebrate early for Magoo.  She got a birthday crown and a lovely little book from her entire class.

Entrusting our home and pets to Pernille, we drove to Fujairah on Wednesday (I believe I packed Wednesday morning) and continued our celebrations, at the Radisson Blu.  I was impressed by how much the landscape of the UAE varies from one Emirate to the next.  It was amazing to watch the flat desert change--to see vegetation emerge, followed by foothills which grew into rocky mountains.  Although I prefer the view from the Muscat side, our resort was also a beautiful combination of mountains and water.

Birthday cake (missing:  Little A--crying on sofa left)

Magoo's birthday wish:  Ice cream from Baskin Robbins.

There were many of them in the area, but we found this one in a mall in Fujairah.

Cookies n' cream, Baseball Nut and Mint Chocolate Chip

Peter took the following week off from work (holidays need to be used up).  We took the children to Dubai to see one of their favourite musicals, The Sound of Music.  It was another wet day, but we all loved watching the musical and comparing how it was different from the movie.

We spent one morning on the Donut Boats at the Eastern Mangroves.  It was quite windy, but we all loved it.  It was very quiet, and peaceful.  Pickles was quite keen on being the Captain and steering (so glad to get some mileage out of our hat purchase from the Netherlands), but did get us stuck on a cement block.  Peter saved the day by getting out and pushing us off.  We managed to spot a lot of water birds, and a very emaciated desert fox (who I hope someone will remove from that island sometime very soon--the experiment just isn't working...).

I bid a fond farewell to my Ameda breastpump.  These two benefitted the most from it--but mostly Pix--who was exclusively bottle fed breast-milk.  When I was cleaning out the backpack I found a map of Milan and some new batteries, which we must have had packed from our trip to Italy.  It was shortly after that trip that Pix was weaned onto formula, as my breast-milk supply was reduced due to my pregnancy.

I spent countless hours attached to that pump, watching movies to block out the suction noise and occupy my mind.  I didn't have to use it even once for Magoo--who was a breast-feeding pro right out of the gates. 

I passed it along to my friend Raquel.  I don't think it is working like it used to, and so I advised her to get the motor checked (and serviced if needed).  That pump was magic!

So many memories--all the way back to the Bonnie Doon Health Centre, where we met Laurie Reid, who helped me build back my milk supply (with this pump) and get Little A back on the breast.

Sho came back from her holiday to Vietnam with a beautiful dress for Magoo.  The PEACOCK dress!!  I loved that the day after they arrived home from their holiday, I got a call from Roscha, b/c her little girly was missing my little girly.  That was a crazy busy day too--but I made some time for the girls to get together--just because.

Guess who is going to Vietnam this summer??

We went to try out some climbing at Adventure HQ.  It was great to see how much progress the children made in their climbing skills in 30 minutes!  A special thank you to Dennis, who I designated to help Pickle exclusively.  As you can see--Pix loved him!

Little A shared her kimono project with us.  The grade 3 classes opened up their doors for parents to walk around and listen to all the students share their projects.  The mom in me was very proud and I couldn't stop beaming at my daughter the entire time.  The teacher in me was quite impressed that little A did not read her presentation directly from her board, but only referred back to it from time to time.  I enjoyed how the school chose to share this project; rather than having each child present individually, all the children did it at the same time, to whoever stopped to listen.  I think this took a lot of performance anxiety off of most of the children.

As I write, Peter is on a plane back from Hong Kong, and Cristina is back in her room resting.  Today was a good day--just the kids and I at home, busy, crazy, with lots of laughs (and tears for balance).  I wanted to go to the mall, but the kids were not keen, so I opted to do some cooking--mini-quiches for the week (it is the only way I can get eggs into Pickles as he doesn't quite connect that there are eggs in quiche).  Little A got caught up in what's apping her dad (reading their messages made me laugh out loud!).  So, these two were my primary assistants.  Magoo is quite good at cracking eggs.  

Pickles is not.  

In this picture I am busy stirring onions, shallots and spinach in a hot pan on the stove.  Magoo is screaming at me, and has egg all over her shirt, legs and in her hair--bc Pickles cracked the egg and it squeezed out all over her (by accident of course), all over him, and on the floor and the counter.  He is apologizing repeatedly to me, I am trying to just finish my stirring so I can take them both to be cleaned up, and I am talking and trying to convince Magoo to chill out--it was just an accident, and Chewbacca is licking up the floor as fast as he can.

When I turned my head and looked at her, just really took it all in, it made me laugh out loud (though I really tried hard not to).  It literally 'cracked me up'.

Which just made Magoo scream louder.

aftermath

The mini-quiches turned out great and we had them for supper with broccoli and homemade mac n' cheese (I found a great oatmeal elbow macaroni from Quaker!!).   The kids went to bed relatively early, and I relaxed and ate some dark chocolate with my matcha drink.   Since Peter is not here, and I cannot watch the Blacklist without him, I watched Supernatural and an episode of The Mindy Project (I love them both).

Go to bed!