Flamingo

A last non-DIY blogpost.

As it is perfect weather at the moment, sunny with a light breeze, we have lots of visitors this time of the year. Consequently we spend more time visiting the town then we spend time behind the sewing machine.

Yesterday, we went to watch the birds at the RasAlKhor bird sanctuary and reserve; a peaceful place in the middle of the city.

I only brought my cell phone and the birds were too far to take decent pictures; so I placed my cell phone in front of the binoculars and took these cute snaps.

A tiny bit of nature in the middle of a lot of concrete constructions.

Sir Baniyas Island in pictures

A last post with sunny pictures; after this one we will return to the usual content of this blog.

Last Eid we went to Sir Baniyas Island, we already showed you a picture of that trip, nevertheless we took many more, and I finally found the time to select our favorites for you.

We had a great time spotting mammals and birds during a wildlife safari.

The kids had a great time playing, swimming, jumping, running, biking and looking for bones left behind after the hyena’s meal.

The girls showed off their gymnastics skills.

We took the time to take plenty of family pictures.

The lure of Wadi Ray

Two days in a row I designed patterns, washed fabric and cut fabric. This resulted in two piles of fabric to be assembled. The first pile contains yersey for 8 different garments.

The second pile cotton for 3 dresses.

Nevertheless this weekend we had something better to do than assemble the different items. The lure of Wadi Ray was bigger than the lure of the sewing machine.

The weather during the month of April was not the weather we are used to in the United Arab Emirates. At least 2 entire weeks it was cloudy and on several occasions it actually rained, sometimes even inclusive of thunder and lightning. This is pretty exceptional not only for this time of the year as well as just for the climate in this region in general.

Thanks to these conditions the temperatures are a couple of degrees lower than to be expected this time of the year; thus permitting a day trip to the mountains before summer temperatures hit.  

Hoping there would be water in our favorite wadi, we loaded the car and took off to the Omani border.

We were glad to find the highest water level in Wadi Ray we have seen in 9 years. 

The wadi was converted in a glorious mountain stream and did not look anywhere near the dry wadi we mostly visit.  

Our walk, which is usually dry and hot, was heavenly as we could just wade through the water.

We swom,

we clambered and slide,

and we splashed.

The area was nice and green and the fauna interesting. The children tried to catch frogs and we saw huge dragonflies.

We enjoyed our picknick, along and on the water.

Normally ‘strangers’ don’t make our blog, but this one does! Meet the suicidal gymnastics trainer of our children ...

A daytrip to cherish, as soon it will be too hot, even just to go outside.

Multicultural attire

Elias has a ‘Marcelleke’ in wear; he claims a genuine Marcel is a foil to his super muscles.

Yesterday it was pretty warm in the desert and the man in the background got an extra headscarf out of his car to prevent Elias would suffer from heat stroke.

Not a bad combination this keffiyeh and Le Fabuleux Marcel de Bruxelles.

Sewing project or family trip?

Yesterday afternoon I received a package. Packages always make me smile, especially this one!

I had a great night and dreamed about my next blog post.

At the break of dawn our kids decided that the content of the blog post would not be the one I dreamed about. They unanimously decided to do something fun all together and more specifically something fun WITHOUT a sewing machine.

Mister P invited us earlier this week to join him on a trip to the mountains. As our ‘pater familias’ was absent this week, I told him I did not have the courage to go on an off road trip with all five of our kids on my own.

So mister P was asked ‘last minute’ if the offer that was turned down earlier was still standing. Luckily mister P was happy to take us on the trip. We agreed to meet in an idyllic mountain village and where he would guide us to a secluded lake.

The way to the village was long and dry. Luckily there were some distractions along the way. Construction work pipes, which –according to the kids- looked like bombs: exciting!

A stack of shriveled palm trees (enough for a huge bonfire).

A couple of goats, who were eating the only patch of grass for miles around.

A house with an outside sitting area, with a grandstand view of the desert.

And a very lonely fruit seller.

After kilometers of sandy scenery we finally reached the mountains.

We tried to call mister P who seemingly did not have network! So we were left to our devices to find the idyllic lake.

After some climbing and clambering our efforts got rewarded.

A little hour and some nice pictures later we left to go back home, disappointingly enough without the promised swim as the local authorities put a ‘no swimming allowed’ sign on the shore of the reservoir.

To soften the disappointment of the kids, we did a pit stop in the desert on the way home. The love horse around in the dunes. Like real locals we stopped on the side of the highway and picnicked 50 meters away from heavy evening traffic. The photo’s look way more romantic than the actual spot really was.

Omar got his whole face covered in sand when he fell over.

Finally the sun started to go down and the wheels of our off road toy car were getting stuck because of an overload of sand; time to go home.

Back home, a phone call with mister P taught us that we were at the same lake but at other sides, we were hidden from each other by a high rock formation. On his side of the lake there was no ban on swimming. Next time we take dad on the trip and we go for a swim too!