Then spread the word!!
Showing posts with label fun stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun stuff. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
My day in photos
I thought I'd document my day with the camera (I've seen it done on a couple of blogs and thought it would be fun.
My day
Not all my days are as busy as this one, thank goodness :)
Thank you also for the well wishes for DS - he's just fine and back at school today!
My day
Not all my days are as busy as this one, thank goodness :)
Thank you also for the well wishes for DS - he's just fine and back at school today!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Backyard Camping!
Even though we are in a Muslim country, the kids still get a long weekend off for Easter. With the in-laws here, my sis-in-law has come to stay for the weekend (she lives a good 30-45 mins away from us in the city) and decided that it would be a great idea for her and the kids to camp out in the backyard :)
DD was keen but DS less so although he changed his mind when we said his friend could stay over and camp out with him too :)
DD and "friends" heading out to bed! This is what she sleeps with every night!!!
DD was keen but DS less so although he changed his mind when we said his friend could stay over and camp out with him too :)
DD and "friends" heading out to bed! This is what she sleeps with every night!!!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Camping Trip - Part Two (Warning: Photo Heavy Post!)
Okay, now where was I? Oh yes, trying to upload photos!! It appears Blogger Photos is being nice to me today but for how long remains to be seen!!!
Anyway, here are a couple of shots of the mountain goats (kids) continuing on up the hill - the bit I passed on!
We were only sleeping one night in the rough so after breakfast, we packed up camp and headed back down the mountains towards the main road and the Fujairah Rotana Hotel (ah, showers, toilets and comfy beds!) where we were to spend the second night! We all rolled in to the lobby looking rather dusty and hot, so much so that a lady appeared bearing cool (white!!) face cloths and another nice lady armed with a tray of ice cold juice for us all. I'd hate to be the poor soul trying to get those cloths white again - lol!
After checking in to our rooms, we all had a quick wash, put on our swimming gear, lathered on the sunscreen and headed down to the pool! Since I really didn't get all that much sleep the night before, I promptly crashed out for an hour or so on the lounger!
The kids had a great time in the pool on the water slide ...
and since the hotel is right on the beach as well, on the banana boat ...
in the giant tube ...
and on the beach itself ...
After the beach fun, the kids went back into the pool, while the adults relaxed poolside with a round or two (or three or four!) of cocktails :) We then all headed back to our respective rooms for showers and a change of clothes for dinner. The kids descended on the buffet and the chocolate fountain while the adults went for the a la carte dining. We had a reasonably early night (before midnight) and after a little sleep-in the next morning, buffet breakfast and another little play in the pool for the kids, we were on the road home by midday.
Going home!
Some of the amazing road side scenery!
We enjoyed our first camping trip and will definitely do it again - although DH reckons that next time we skip the first night under the stars and just head straight to the hotel - lol! Perhaps a compromise of one night roughing it and two nights in a hotel :)
Anyway, here are a couple of shots of the mountain goats (kids) continuing on up the hill - the bit I passed on!
We were only sleeping one night in the rough so after breakfast, we packed up camp and headed back down the mountains towards the main road and the Fujairah Rotana Hotel (ah, showers, toilets and comfy beds!) where we were to spend the second night! We all rolled in to the lobby looking rather dusty and hot, so much so that a lady appeared bearing cool (white!!) face cloths and another nice lady armed with a tray of ice cold juice for us all. I'd hate to be the poor soul trying to get those cloths white again - lol!
After checking in to our rooms, we all had a quick wash, put on our swimming gear, lathered on the sunscreen and headed down to the pool! Since I really didn't get all that much sleep the night before, I promptly crashed out for an hour or so on the lounger!
The kids had a great time in the pool on the water slide ...
and since the hotel is right on the beach as well, on the banana boat ...
in the giant tube ...
and on the beach itself ...
After the beach fun, the kids went back into the pool, while the adults relaxed poolside with a round or two (or three or four!) of cocktails :) We then all headed back to our respective rooms for showers and a change of clothes for dinner. The kids descended on the buffet and the chocolate fountain while the adults went for the a la carte dining. We had a reasonably early night (before midnight) and after a little sleep-in the next morning, buffet breakfast and another little play in the pool for the kids, we were on the road home by midday.
We enjoyed our first camping trip and will definitely do it again - although DH reckons that next time we skip the first night under the stars and just head straight to the hotel - lol! Perhaps a compromise of one night roughing it and two nights in a hotel :)
Monday, November 12, 2007
Camping Trip - Part One
Last Thursday we headed off with four other families for the weekend on our first ever UAE camping trip!
We planned to leave around 2.30pm so Ken took the day off work and I arranged early pick-up of the kids up from school. I had slowly been accumulating all the gear in our spare bedroom the week before and had done all the food shopping on Wednesday so all we had to do Thursday morning was load up the eskies (coolboxes or iceboxes for those non-Australians) with food and drink, load the truck up and head off.
I think we managed to pack everything including the kitchen sink - lol!! Unfortunately, I forgot to get a pic of the truck all packed up but you can imagine how much room two tents, four sleeping bags, one queen and two single airbeds, six collapsible chairs, one collapsible table, clothing, torches, BBQ kettle, eskies, first aid kits, shovel, rope, mini-compressor and other assorted camping gear took up!
We met up with the others at 2pm and by 2.30pm and armed with our trusty UAE Off-Road Explorer book, our convoy of four 4WDs were on our way towards Wadi Sidr/Sana on the East Coast near Fujairah - approximately 140kms. Roughly just under a two-hour drive, with an estimated arrival time of around 4-4.30pm leaving us about an hour of good daylight left to set up camp.
Well, that was the plan! With a couple of missed turn-offs by the lead cars trying to break the land-speed record (we were heading up the rear behind the third vehicle at a more "leisurely" 120kms/hr) we ended up travelling in two convoys of two and eventually meeting up further down the track. Then the route up through the mountains had changed since the last time the leaders had been there, so it made more like 2.5 to 3 hours before we finally got to the plateau where we camping for the night.
Still, given there were eight adults and ten children, we managed to get the tents up and the rest of the camp sorted fairly quickly (despite it being very windy to start with!). The kids went searching for firewood so they could get their bonfire happening and the adults set up tables and chairs, dispensed ice cold beverages, got the meat cooking on the barbie, and salads and other assorted snackage spread out just as it was getting dark. It was so quiet and peaceful and so nice to get out of the city for a change. A rather pleasant evening was had by all.
We were up quite early the next morning (6am) so I took the opportunity to take a few photos before breakfast. You can just see the open boot door of our vehicle on the far side of the camp. We were the only people up there which we thought surprising since the UAE Off-Road Explorer book is quite popular.
See that hill behind the campsite in the photo above? Well, the younger kids and I decided to climb up it! It doesn't look like much but it was quite steep and hard going to the point where I thought I was going to pass out! Anyway, about three-quarters of the way up is an unpaved road where I stopped to catch my breath and take this photo. The kids continued up to the top but I passed and after ensuring that the kids were making their way safely back down to the camp, I opted for the easier route back via the road!
*sigh* Blogger Photos is now being totally unco-operative and won't upload at all so I will save the rest of the photos and try to post them later.
We planned to leave around 2.30pm so Ken took the day off work and I arranged early pick-up of the kids up from school. I had slowly been accumulating all the gear in our spare bedroom the week before and had done all the food shopping on Wednesday so all we had to do Thursday morning was load up the eskies (coolboxes or iceboxes for those non-Australians) with food and drink, load the truck up and head off.
I think we managed to pack everything including the kitchen sink - lol!! Unfortunately, I forgot to get a pic of the truck all packed up but you can imagine how much room two tents, four sleeping bags, one queen and two single airbeds, six collapsible chairs, one collapsible table, clothing, torches, BBQ kettle, eskies, first aid kits, shovel, rope, mini-compressor and other assorted camping gear took up!
We met up with the others at 2pm and by 2.30pm and armed with our trusty UAE Off-Road Explorer book, our convoy of four 4WDs were on our way towards Wadi Sidr/Sana on the East Coast near Fujairah - approximately 140kms. Roughly just under a two-hour drive, with an estimated arrival time of around 4-4.30pm leaving us about an hour of good daylight left to set up camp.
Well, that was the plan! With a couple of missed turn-offs by the lead cars trying to break the land-speed record (we were heading up the rear behind the third vehicle at a more "leisurely" 120kms/hr) we ended up travelling in two convoys of two and eventually meeting up further down the track. Then the route up through the mountains had changed since the last time the leaders had been there, so it made more like 2.5 to 3 hours before we finally got to the plateau where we camping for the night.
Still, given there were eight adults and ten children, we managed to get the tents up and the rest of the camp sorted fairly quickly (despite it being very windy to start with!). The kids went searching for firewood so they could get their bonfire happening and the adults set up tables and chairs, dispensed ice cold beverages, got the meat cooking on the barbie, and salads and other assorted snackage spread out just as it was getting dark. It was so quiet and peaceful and so nice to get out of the city for a change. A rather pleasant evening was had by all.
We were up quite early the next morning (6am) so I took the opportunity to take a few photos before breakfast. You can just see the open boot door of our vehicle on the far side of the camp. We were the only people up there which we thought surprising since the UAE Off-Road Explorer book is quite popular. 
See that hill behind the campsite in the photo above? Well, the younger kids and I decided to climb up it! It doesn't look like much but it was quite steep and hard going to the point where I thought I was going to pass out! Anyway, about three-quarters of the way up is an unpaved road where I stopped to catch my breath and take this photo. The kids continued up to the top but I passed and after ensuring that the kids were making their way safely back down to the camp, I opted for the easier route back via the road!*sigh* Blogger Photos is now being totally unco-operative and won't upload at all so I will save the rest of the photos and try to post them later.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Happy Halloween!
The kids all dressed up and ready to go out and scare up some treats! Liam actually made the little boy from across the road cry when he answered the door to them. I gave him an extra treat and he was soon happy again :)
Tikki got in on the act as well! Ken put my lit-up pumpkin headband on her - I'm not sure that she was all that impressed actually - lol! I think if Caitlin and her friend, Nadia, weren't there she would have bolted!!
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Seasons :)
I got my hands on Seasons, the latest expansion pack for The Sims 2, the other day hence the lack of posting - lol! Of course, there hasn't been a whole lot of stitching happening either!! Should be back to regularly scheduled stitching when I'm all "Seasoned" out :)
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