We booked our hotel with airline staff discount through Emirates and stayed in the Novotel Mestre Castellana as it was the only hotel that could fit all 4 of us in one room. Without knowing it the hotel actually provided gluten free breakfast. I got two slightly heated Schär panini with special ham and a small basket of other stuff like muesli, crackers, biscuits and sponges.

 

We had our first dinner in Venice at "L'Osteria All'Ombra". They had a separate gluten free menu that included all the ready meals DS have to offer (tortellini, canelloni, pizza and lasagne) All dishes were 12 Euro and to be perfectly honest I think its quite expensive for dishes I can buy from the supermarket freezer for 4-5 Euro! However if you dont live in Europe and are not used to the slection there is in the supermarkets there I guess it would be really exciting...On the other hand they had some desserts (like profiteroles) that would have been interesting had we not been so tired by then.

 

 

My canneollni. Unfortunately I didnt take lots of photos at this place but you can read some more about it and find directions on Trip Advisor.

Here are the photos from that weekend when we had to leave the eggcup paining and take J to the doctor...

 

Last weekend we spent a full day by the pool at Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

 

Today was the day for the Year 1 Swim Gala at DESS. The children competed in two of the different swimstrokes and the points were added up for their houses. I have to say Im very impressed with the children´s ability and the dedication of their teachers. 5-6 year olds swimming 25 meters is really not bad!

 

I dont think Dubai has seen as much rain as we have had this winter for years, last winter it rained twice I think. Dont get me wrong, we love it, especially knowing what we have ahead of us!

 

When I was waiting for A outside his classroom the other day the children came out to collect their bags to pack them up. A came out carrying a small yellow bag looking "very important". When they then finished school he told me how their year leader had challenged them to calculate how much 3x34 is! Together with his friend they had been the only childre to manage to solve it and he was so proud of himself, repeating all afternoon "Im so proud of myself" :)

 

It has taken us almost a week to settle down after our holiday but i think we are finally there. There are lots of things to deal with when you´ve been away for 2 weeks. Kids have settled in school, I have had my 3 monthly visit to the liver doctor, after school activities, decided upon and paid for, car service, pedicure and small things here and there. Not much to tell though, its all very boring and old. 

 

Here are some photos from J´s new ballet class with Ms. V. She has decided that she wants to do a double dance session on tuesdays so we´ll give it a shot and see how it goes.

 

 

 

I dont remember if I have written about the stuff that has been going on with the ballet when we came back after christmas. If I did, here is a reminder ;)

 

J has always loved her ballet and was always full of smiles when I dropped her off and picked her up but after christmas something happened. She is not big enough to put words to her feelings and explain why she hasnt wanted to go but I have a feeling why.

 

When we arrived for the first ballet lesson this term J was tired since we came back from Sweden that night but she was happy and excited to go to her ballet lesson. There is a 15 minute break between the "baby ballet" and her class and when the "babies" have finished their class the girls in J´s class that are slightly early always go in and dance (read run) in the studio until all girls are there and its time to start the class. I didnt see exactly what happened this time but J ran to the studio to do her usual stuff but came back quickly saying "Ms. C said its not time yet" meaning she was not allowed in the studio yet. J almost looked scared and she curled up in my lap and I think this is where it went wrong. She probably felt that she was being told off and couldnt understand why when she didnt think she had done anything wrong. I do think that the fact that she was tired played part in it, maybe she took the words worse because of it but I can understand that she couldnt see why something that was ok for a whole term suddenly wasnt. Since then it has been a struggle to get her to go to her class and it might sound terrible to make her go but we have said that if the kids have commited to or said they want to do some activity they have to stick with it for the agreed period of time (normally a term). It is not ok to say you want to do this and you want to do that and then quit after one or two times. In this case I also thought she might start enjoying it again if she felt she could trust her teacher again. This hasnt happened and we have been on countdown to see how many classes left and now its finally over. Its not just this but some small incidents during the term, Ms. C is not a very "good" teacher (at least for kids), she has very obvious favourites in the class and the kids have felt it. The hip hop teacher Ms. V, that both kids adore has a ballet class for J´s year group just before the hip hop so for next term J has 3 choices, she can stop ballet completely, she can do a double class with ballet first and hip hop then or stop the hip hop and do ballet instead.

 

This term has passed so quickly, last 4 days of school to go and we cant wait! R is doing his medical right now, a yearly checkup that the pilots have to do to make sure they are healthy enough to fly a plane. This means he has the car so I couldnt go help out in J´s class. Instead I went for a walk this morning, followed by a bath and some swedish tv on the computer. Right now Im waiting to hear from R to see what we are going to do when he is ready.

 

J has her last ballet class today and that means we can go in and see her which will be fun of course. Since R is not working the whole family will go see her, she will be very excited about that :) It will be the last class she does with this teacher, which Im really happy about but that is a whole other entry reallly.

 

On Friday we leave for London. Im sooo looking forward. The sleeping plans changed a bit though since my friend will be going away for easter and they offered us to borrow their house which of course will be much more convenient for us than sleeping on the other friend´s tvroom floor. Dont get me wrong, we are very happy to have friends in London to avoid paying for hotels but when you have the choice of staying in an empty house its pretty easy. Just in case someone had missed that detail, after London we will be heading to Malta for some 10 days. Looking forward to seeing both the "new" and "old" cousin and of course my friends back in Malta but most of all I look forward to having some time with my whole family without the musts of every day life.

 

 

So my mum has left and we are back to normal. At least for a week since we are leaving for London and then Malta on friday. Yesterday R left for Venice and the kids had their last football practice and today we rode our bikes to the bigger playground in our area.