Dubai Pets

We currently have far too many pets in both Dubai and Budapest. In Dubai we have 1 cat and 3 dogs. 

In Budapest we have Betty and Gigi. I'll post about them shortly.

First, here is Oswald (aka Ozzie) with his reindeer ears. He is so ugly and so cute at the same time. He turns 1 in January. Note to self, look up his date of birth. PS He was born in Hungary.

Coco, our elf (right below), is a silly Dubai desert rescue. She is so timid and afraid of her own shadow but craves attention and love all the time. 

Lucky is the alpha of the group - when Daisy isn't around - and another Dubai desert rescue. We thought Lucky would be a small to medium sized dog but he grew and grew and grew. He's lovely but also a bit protective so friends who visit know his bark. Below is a photo of him with Ozzie. For some reason we thought it would be funny to have Lucky wear my dragon boat team top. I think blue suits him! Paddles Ready!

Early on, after Oswald joined our family and Lucky started accepting him, we would (and still do) find Ozzie taking cover underneath Lucky. He fits perfectly. Sometimes he cleans (yes, ewwwww!) and sometimes he just hides.

Daisy is our cat and she is the best cat we have ever owned. She is super cool and friendly, spends her nights outdoors (so we don't wake up with her running across our faces or to her howling at 4am), doesn't jump up and eat our food and leaves our Christmas tree, water glasses and fragile items alone. 

Photo below on left is Daisy and Ozzie about one month after Ozzie joined our family. Daisy took the longest time to accept him and he was so afraid and curious of Daisy.  Every day he inched a bit closer. Today, about 4 months later, they can lay on the same couch as each other and she doesn't hiss at him if he touches her.

The other photo is one of my usual views when I come out of my bedroom and look down into the kids' TV room. Terence in his element (when he is home from school): food, video games, laptop, animals. Usually he has Daisy and one or all dogs surrounding him. His sunnies are nearby as he probably just got home or about to go out. 

This last one is a video. Love it as it captures how I dog walk. Ozzie is off the lead / leash but has to take part so instead he likes to keep either Lucky or Coco's leash in his mouth. It's his attempt of either being in charge or being part of the pack. I have yet to work it out but find it amusing. He goes for Coco's leash more than Lucky's as I think Lucky is bit too tall and he has trouble jumping up to reach it.

Happy Birthday Uncle Robert

As I mentioned, Uncle Robert's birthday fell on the same day as we celebrated our 2017 Christmas. Here is a little message the kids sent him. I accidentally thought they were done and cut off the best part, "I love you". But, he knows that.

Robert turned 57 in December!

Early Christmas

Due to our trip this year to Vietnam, we celebrated Christmas a bit early. We had our Christmas celebration on December 18th (also on Robert's birthday). Our departure to Hanoi, Vietnam was on December 20th at 3:30am on Emirates flight EK394. So technically we had to head to the airport at about midnight on the 19th.  This made December 18th our best option for an at home Christmas celebration.

Christmas was lovely and, as always in Dubai, feels a bit strange in t-shirts and shorts. I had put up the tree this year before Thanksgiving which I have never done before but as we found a lovely large artificial (slightly white to give it a snow dusted appearance) tree, it was easy to do without all the maintenance of a live tree. 

With all the kids now knowing the 'truth' about Santa and his magic, the presents started to pile up under the tree in the weeks and days leading up to our Christmas celebration on the 18th. This heightened the excitement and made it all easier and more fun to celebrate early.

The hardest thing for the kids (mostly Ali and Mia) was that I didn't allow them to wake up on the 18th and open presents right away - as we always do on Christmas morning. Part of the reason why was it was still a work day so Curt left before they all woke up. I did my usual 'mom' activities and hit the gym then finalized shopping for all the food items, breakfast treats (knowing they wouldn't wake until late morning when I was due back home), and last minute holiday necessities (including a few last minute stocking stuffers I had forgotten).

When I returned home, I only heard a bit of shuffling from our trio upstairs so they were all treated to a special breakfast in bed. I wish I had taken pictures as their breakfasts were all served up on Christmas plates and included all sorts of yummy foods that they all loved including some delicious fresh fruits, freshly baked croissants and donuts (from Baker and Spice) and for Mia her favorite avocados. She can eat avocados all day and night. 

Normally on Christmas morning I make home made cinnamon rolls but with all the travels I had been doing and about to do and Christmas presents still to wrap and dinner still to prepare, the Baker and Spice treat seemed like the perfect breakfast treat and they were all very happy!

Curt returned home at about 4:30pm with the last of the presents that just arrived via post. Phew, that was a close call! I was still at the dentist with Ali (really not a normal 'Christmas day') but made it home just after 5pm to do a quick 45 minute packing job and dinner preparation. 

Dinner consisted of amazing grade 11 wagyu steaks prepared by Curt on the charcoal grill, mashed potatoes, broccoli, green beans, tomato salad and home made dinner rolls. We all gobbled it up and the kids were bouncing around ready to open our presents before we even had a chance to clear the table.

We decided to leave our dessert of homemade Angel Food Cake for after our present opening. 

Below are some of my favorite photos of our tree and the kids. In the next post (may work out to be previous post as it's been a while since I blogged), I'll post a few more pics from the day.