Fun times ...........

Nan and Pop have been back in the UAE for 2 weeks now.  We had a long, long holiday visiting you all and it was lovely to spend some special time with each one of you.

It was great to meet baby Ameline and Lucian. He loves his little sister and I know you're all going to love your new cousin too.  She's still very tiny so it's difficult for her to travel too far at the moment but you can see her pictures and I'm sure you'll meet up with her when she's a bit older.

You've all grown up so much and we had fun having time and doing special things with you  all like making lanterns with Jasmine and Tamika, putting together the large, floor jigsaw puzzle with Isaac and Angus, playing dollies with Talia and taking pictures with you Lucian.

Isaac, Jasmine & Tamika, you all had birthdays in August and it looked like you had a lovely time.  You all had very special birthday cakes too.  I loved your dinosaur cake Isaac and the video Daddy sent us of you, Jasmine & Tamika, blowing out the candles. Sorry Nan didn't put a  card on the blog for you Isaac but we were travelling and not near a computer.
It'll have to be an extra special one for you next year OK?

Thank you all for the lovely times we had with you all and we look forward to hearing from you soon. 

Don't forget to keep checking your own special blog !!!! xxxxxxx

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY TO YOU Tamika .........

Hope you're having a great day.   We love you.  Lots of (((huggs))) from Nan & Pop xxx

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HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY TO YOU Jasmine ........

Nan and Pop are thinking of you  today.  Have a wonderful birthday.  We love you xxx

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Ameline at 3months

Here's little Ameline at 3 months old looking very happy and well.

 It's not long now before Nan & Pop get to meet her.

What is it ?

It's white and a little bit yellow.
It's big.
It's moving
It's heavy.


What have Sean and Leanne got around their necks? 

July 2009

My how you've all grown and you have two new cousins as well!!

Nan & Pop's visit ...

Hi Grandies.  Well it won't be long before Nan & Pop will be packing their bags and coming  to see you all. We have to get on a plane and travel many hours before we get to your places.

We'll be coming to Adelaide to see you,  Jasmine, Tamika, Isaac, Angus and Talia  first.  That's in about 4 weeks time. We'll be staying in Nan and Pop's holiday house. It's a different house to last time but we're looking forward to coming to see you and for you to come over to see us. Some of you older one's can even have a sleepover.  I know Jasmine,Tamika and Isaac are looking forward to it.

Next we will fly over to see  Lucian and his new baby sister, Ameline. We haven't met Ameline yet so we'll be meeting one of our grandchildren for the first time.

Nan and Pop are really looking forward to seeing you all again so I hope you are counting down the days, because we are !!!!    See you soon...

Jasmine & Tamika. Which one?

 Did Nan get this right?
Love you  Jasmine & Tamika xx.

Ipad games .....

This morning Nan was trying to play a word game on her Ipad and Pushy thought he would help me !!  Do you think he's clever enough to play the game?

Some more Dr Seuss...

Can you read the alphabet?

Another old photo ...

Who do you think these people are? Have you seen them before?

The naughty little ladybug ......

This is a video of a naughty little lady bird who got into trouble with some bees.  ..... 

A surprise in the garden .....

Nan went out into her garden yesterday and when I looked up I noticed that someone had been very busy in the top of our carport,  guess what she found?

Something had collected lots of twigs and feathers from the garden and had built a  home for him or herself .

When I looked closely I could see a little bird sitting in a nest.

Can you see the bird?


What a lovely home she has built for her eggs, way up high so the cats can't get her.

Happy Birthday Talia

Wishing you a wonderful birthday tomorrow 
and a great party on Sunday.
With all our Love from Nan & Pop xxx
PS.  Love you lots.

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Some wildlife pictures ....

 What do you think this little damselfly is trying to do?  I think he's trying to hide don't you? 

And what about this little frog? I'm sure he doesn't know that he's holding onto the mouth of an alligator. What do you think he'll do next?

Happy Easter fun .....

Happy Easter Grandies !!!

Try this  Easter Egg head colouring in and this Easter egg  matching game

Have fun

.

Happy Easter

Nan & Pop hope you all  have a lovely Easter and you get lots of Easter eggs to share !!!

Dr Seuss ....

Hi Grandies. I just want to remind you to be who you are and don't let anyone say you must change.

 Dr Seuss says it very nicely.

Were you always a grandpa? .......

Dear Grandpa can you tell me,
Were you really a little boy too?
Did you play with frogs and balance on logs,
And find scary things to do?

Or were you always grandpa,
Were you always so old and so wise,
With your knowing grin and your stubbly chin,
 And your tongue that never tells lies?

If you were ever little,
Then maybe some day I can be
A grandpa like you, acting just like you do,
With a grandson as loving as me. 


Author Unknown

Ameline Frances ......

Talia Maye ....

Welcome Ameline Frances ...

We have a new addition to our family.

You all have another cousin !!!

Little Ameline Frances was born on Friday, March 9th in the UK so none of us have seen her yet, except Lucian her big brother but I'm sure we'd all like to send her big (((hugggs))).

Use your talents ....

Cute dolls .....

Nan saw these cute dolls at an Art fair in Dubai.  Each doll has it's own character and name. What do you think their names are? 

Fat Cat in pot..........

I hope Joe Joe and Tigger don't try this !!!!

Nan & Pop's fridge....

This is what Nan & Pop's fridge looks like at the moment.  I did have some lovely drawings that Lucian did for me when he was here at Christmas but I had to take them down to make some room.

Thanks Jasmine & Tamika for your lovely drawings of your cameras.  I hope you're enjoying them.

 

We still have this lovely photo A/Laura and U/Randall sent us for Christmas.

Life in the UAE then & now .......

A long time ago the people who lived in the UAE used to live in tents. They didn't have any electricity or  running water because there wasn't any so they would use small lanterns and get water from the well. They lived out in the desert and they would keep moving around depending on the weather and if they could find firewood, water and food to eat. 

Some of them would sit around and play musical instruments and  others would cook over an open fire.  They were very happy people and they enjoyed  having visitors who were passing by and would  come to their tents  and share a meal.  The children played happily but they didn't go to school because their families were moving all the time.

Now the people of this country have big buildings, schools, Universities and shopping malls just like we do in Australia and the UK. They have water in their houses and lights in their homes. The children are learning to use computers and enjoy riding quad bikes in the sand.  They like most of the things you like.

And who is this?

Who do you think these people are?

The weather ..........

Nan and Pop went to Dubai this weekend to do some shopping and go to the movies. The shops were really busy so we were pleased to leave and come home to Ras Al Khaimah where it's much quieter

Lucian in the snow

Jasmine, Tamika and Angus at the beach

 This week we've seen some photos of some of the things you've been doing this week as well. Because you live in different parts of the world the weather is different so when it's summer in Australia it's winter in the UK and when it's winter in Australia it's summer in the UK.

Here in the UAE it's winter but it's not snowing it's just cooler than it is in summer.

Don't forget Nan & Pop love to get photos.

"What does your daddy do?"

The writing is a bit hard to read but I thought this was gorgeous.

           My daughter was asked
           by a little old lady in a
           London Hotel restaurant
           what her Daddy did - she
           replied, "He's a pirate".                
           I was very proud of that answer.
                                          - Johnny Depp

Traditional Arabic Games...

Hi Grandies I thought you might like to learn a little bit about one of the traditional games that is played here in the UAE. Jasmine & Tamika you'll be able to understand this easier than the younger ones so why don't you try playing this game......for the little ones, Lucian, Angus, Isaac and Talia maybe mummy and Daddy can show you what to do.

In the past there were no Nintendo or Sega games, there were no jet skis or dune buggies in the UAE.  The people were very poor and couldn’t afford to buy toys for their children.   There were only palm trees, seashells and pebbles.  However, children in the past were very creative in inventing their own games and making their own toys from the materials they found.  Usually girls and boys played separately and the boy’s games tended to be more active.  At sunset, or Al Maghreb as it is called in Arabic, the games would all end and the children would return to their homes.

The "Al Saqlah" Game  = Marbles This game is played by girls only. The number of players are not more than four girls. They make a shallow hole in the ground and put a number of shells or pebbles in the hole. One of them throws the key stone upwards, extracts as many stones as she can from the hole and then catches the key stone before it hits the ground. She repeats this action for as long as she can catch the key stone.  When she fails to catch the key stone, she must return the last lot of stones to the hole and the turn moves to the next player. This continues until there are no more stones in the hole. The winner is the player who collects the highest number of stones. http://www.emirates.org/traditions/games.html