Sunday offered even more rain but we managed to go to the cemetary where we put some sunflowers on my grandpa´s grave. (For anyone who doesnt know, sunflowers are "my" flowers, I love them and had them in my bouquet for our wedding) Another two of my aunts came to visit for a late lunch,"aunt 3" joined later and we had a lovely afternoon together.

Another one of the kid´s wishes were to fish for crabs but on the way to the sea the skies opened and we had to turn back home again.Instead we went to Torp, a shopping mall, but I didnt buy anything. Better I guess, there is lots of shopping to do in Dubai :) After lunch we went to one of my 3 aunts to see her family and the new kitchen. Its always very nice to visit them, they adoooore kids and it gives me a chance to relax a bit.

The weather forecast said rain for all our days on the westcoast and I had been worrying a bit about our visit to Liseberg and when Friday offered decent weather we decided to try our luck. I felt we couldnt chance it by waiting until Saturday, we had no guarantees it would be better. Liseberg didnt open until 3 pm so we had time to stop by at a biscuit and cracker factory where we got lots of goodies and then IKEA. The visit to IKEA was mainly for me to have a chance to look a bit at sofas, dining tables etc for Dubai. Partly to have an idea what I liked but also to be able to discuss and get some feedback from my mum. I find it quite useful to have someone else´s input and thought about sizes, colours and fabrics.

The visit to Liseberg is of course the main attraction for the kids and we did have a blast. J enjoyed that she was allowed to do the same rides as A and her favourite was Rabalder (a rollercoaster) and A´s favourite was Flumeride. We did miss R a lot though and really hope he can be with us next year.....We arrived at Liseberg @3pm and left at 9.40 pm (20 minutes before they closed) and you can bet we were all extremely tired when we sat down in the car.

Now we are home again after a lovely weekend but with many long hours in the car. Updates will come as I upload photos and write down what we did.

In Dubai its common practice to have a living in maid that clean, cook and sometimes help with the kids. R and I was not on the same page originally and even though I could understand his reasoning I still felt it was an obvious choice. R said ppl dont live like that anywhere else in the world and that it would not be good for the kids as they would be a bit screwed when they grow up and cant clean or pick up. Personally I think its up to us to make sure they still learn to pick up after themselves anyway. Just cause you have someone to clean your house doesnt mean you dont have to pick up your toys at the end of the day. After explaining to R that I wouldnt let the kids boss the maid around he agreed that it was a brilliant idea to have a maid. This would mean that we would have more time together and since I really hate cleaning I think it would make me feel a lot better knowing I dont have to clean all the time. This is something my parents can not understand at all...if im not working and im not going to take care of the house, what am I going to do? Im sure I will be busy anyway, all other families in Dubai live like that and Im thinking I will finally have time to take care of myself a bit. Exercise, rest, socialize and be a better mother. I wonder if it could be the swedish jealousy? Wouldnt everyone want to have someone to clean for them? Regardless what it is I dont like that ppl see me as lazy ....Come on and let us enjoy life!

Today is a grey day but when my mum can leave work (hopefully a bit earlier) we will load the car and go to the westcoast and my granny. Looking forward! The weather seems to be a problem for the weekend, especially since we wanted to go to Liseberg (a brilliant amusement park in Gothenburg). Pls keep all fingers crossed for good enough weather to go. Kids have been talking about it basically since last year (and I have been looking forward too, I turn into a kid when I go there) and J is finally tall enough to go on the rides A could do last year and she had to stay looking on...

Today when I had just poured the pasta in the pan A came in the kitchen and told me, dead serious:

Mum, if my tummy doesnt get food NOW I will die!

How I laughed and gave him a big hug <3

Today we spent the day at my dads cabin in the forest, the kids really like it there. A probably a bit more than J. He really didnt want to leave and told me to go home and come back for him later. Instead we decided that one day when we are back from our trip to the westcoast my dad would take him there on his own, just the two of them. A is already excited about it :)

It appears the hassle never end....After finishing yesterday with a good feeling it feels pitch black today. Driving licence is the problem, all of a sudden it seems I wont be allowed to drive as i didnt get an "Entry visa" but a "Resident visa" but dont ask me what the difference is, I only know that on entry visa I could drive but on resident I cant until I get the UAE diriving licence. This means neither me nor R can drive. That s%cks since we REALLY need to go here and there the first few days since we still dont have furniture or anything at home.

Late translation from a post made yesterday

Yesterday R collected our "Entry visas" that lets us enter Dubai as non tourists and also applied for our "joining tickets". Everything is computerized and even though he asked lots of ppl who to talk to about getting our tickets all the way from Sweden. I was hoping to avoid getting our own ticktes to Copenhagen since it would mean I would have to collect luggage and check-in again. Keeping in mind how many things I will be bringing I was not looking forward to it, especially with two wild children :) Our thought was that they could book the whole trip but charge us for the first leg. Today R got to know that the refused his request for tickes as we had to travel from Malta (because Malta is his "official home destination"). Sh&t! R called up his co-ordinator and got the name of the person he should talk to. She appeared very helpful and in the afternoon R got to know that they will not only book us all the way from Stockholm but they will also pay for us all the way! We will be arriving same day as R, 24th September but unfortunately we we have to travel via Copenhagen instead of Frankfurt where we could have met up with R but I guess we should be happy we got tickets all the way and our flight will land only 10 min before his flight from Frankfurt so we basically arrive at the same time :) I think the kids will be pretty impressed by the big airplane and the monitors with kids stuff and games that the flight will be ok even without R.

...hoping for an after b´fast nap :) Its 6.40 and I have already been up for an hour. How is it that one of the kids always wake up so early? Im abs knackered and hoping to sneak a nap after b´fast :)

We are back from Kolmården zoo, havent really had the time or energy to write about it. Guess it will be a post with more pictures than test when i have the time to upload them :)

Its raining outside, pouring down and the kids are a bit bored inside. Just helped them build a bit of a tent and I hope it will keep the happy for a bit.

This morning they painted some paintings for R that we will try to send him when we have an address for him in Toulouse. A drew R on his picture, with a sad face. When I asked why dad was sad A replied: "cause he is alone". Bless him for thinking about the fact that R is missing them...

Feeling amazingly lazy today. J awake before 6 and grey weather might have something to do with it? We will take a relaxed morning, lunch at my dads and before the end of the day I have to have packed and prepared for our two day trip to Kolmården zoo tomorrow!

Much to A´s joy we went out to pick more chantarelles today. Both kids were very brave and good and walked around a lot without complaining. We found blueberries too and they ate quite a few. Finished off by seeing the wild boar roaming in that area.

Today we have been around looking at some farms in the area, once a year organised by the community, some farms open up for anyone to come and see animals and the work they do there. We went to 4 different places and seen cows milked by robots, had our hands licked by little calves, sitting in tractors, seen free range hens (and bought their eggs), seen horses, sheep, goats, cows, pigs, geese, hens etc and the finale was when we saw a dog rounding up the cows to bring them back to the farm. What a lovely and eventful day!

Yesterday we bought some stuff to clean wood with for my mums outside furniture and balcony floor cause we wanted to paint and oil them before winter. Today we managed to give a basecoat to the furniture and I oiled the floor. I can feel it in my body, I guarantee :) Tomorrow we hope to paint the furniture with the brown colour my mum picked for them.

...is back but there is a feeling of autumn and coolness to the air. No problem for us though, we will enjoy the cold too :)

Have been out for a walk, taken a shower and now waiting for a visitor. A friend I went to school with is coming over and this afternoon we are going to Borlänge to collect my new passport and give J her chickenpox vaccine.

The passport is a story in itself....that A needed a new passport we knew perfectly well but when the kids were showing the passports to my dad he said that its will soon be time for me too. As if I replied but he was right! In July next year my passport will expire and there are quite a few reasons to renew it in Sweden, now. I went to Borlänge on tuesday hoping it would be ready today when we had to go up for the vaccination and believe it or not, I did get an sms today saying it was ready for collection. Luck is on my side for once!

On monday A was scratching his head really much and complaining about it, we thought he was warm and said that we would cut his hair throughout the day. When I got around to it I saw something moving near his scalp. Lice? After googling we felt that must have been the case and after checking both me and J we discovered that we all had it :( We went to get something for it, had to sleep with it overnight and wash it out the morning after and it seems like we got rid of them and we just have to keep an eye and re apply the liquid in a week´s time.

It very strange that even though I KNOW that it has nothing to do with cleanliness, or the lack of it, if you get lice it feels dirty and slightly shameful, why is that?  

Today I finally got my netbook back from repair. Ohhh how I have missed you!

Today we got some rain, and we didnt mind at all. Kids went out running naked in the rain, just like me and my brother used to do when we were kids. I remember clearly how much fun we used to have doing just that and Im so happy the kids get to experience things like that. We baked the cake I have been longing for since the day I saw the receipe. Its called Very Cherry Chocolate Cake and I tried baking it glutenfree so I could eat it. It seems it wasnt the best of idea since it just never was ready. After an extra 15 minutes I took it out of the oven anyway and it wasnt nearly enough so I ended up putting it back in again! It didnt come a complete cake but it did taste quite good but I wouldnt have minded some more cherry cake :)

Now in the evening my best childhood friend came over for some cake, tea and a chat, its always lovely. I hope we can have many more evenings like that before I leave.

This last week has been pretty relaxed, we have mostly stayed near the house, played by the swings, with neighbouring boys, gone for walks, practiced with the bike etc so there hasnt been lots to write about, that is why the blog has been empty :)

Today we are celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately on totally different parts of the globe but we will make it a brilliant one next year instead :)

Tonight certainly hasnt been a good evening....Working hard to mow my mum´s lawn after having tried this afternoon but the mower went off and couldnt be started again. The kids were running behind me and when we were putting the tent back in place A tipped and fell flat and ended up with grass all over. Promised to read a short book but the rollerblind wouldnt stay down and went up with a bang and knocked down the lamp that was haning there and it broke in a million pieces. Just what I needed....not! Swept and also had to use the vaccum cleaner to remove all small pieces while my whole upper body was aching from all the pulling to start the lawnmower and the tears were rolling down with exhaustion. The lovely children tried to encourage me for the first time since we got here I havent heard them complain since we said goodnight :)