Living in the land of sand.

I can't believe how long it has been since my last post on here... what sort of a blogger am I?

Never mind my motivation is back and I literally have SO much to write about.  Tonight's post is just going to be a casual one to bring my blog into the present as I believe the last time I uploaded was way back in June and an awful lot has happened since then! 

It has been seven weeks and three days since we first stepped foot on Abu Dhabi soil, or should I say sand?   We said our tearful goodbyes, boarded an Ethiad flight at Manchester airport and haven't looked back since!  In all honesty I am still unsure whether the idea that we live here now has sunk in yet!    We work really hard during the week but come the weekend you will usually find us playing in the pool, chasing each other round a soft play or strolling around Yas Mall.   

Before we left, I know some people that know us doubted our decision and worried if we were making the right choice for our family.  The reality is that we have these concerns too.  At the end of the day this was a dream for us, something that we have had in the pipeline since January so to actually be here now feels pretty crazy at times.  Putting all the worry and doubt aside though life is pretty damn great.  Its not always perfect don't get me wrong but what life is?  Compare our life and opportunities to what we had in England to what we have here... it really just isn't even comparable.  P has started FS1 and absolutely loves it (separate posts on first days at school and nursery to come). She gets to swim at school weekly which she thinks is amazing and Lochlann's two new friends at nursery are from Spain and Mexico!

School life for Sam and I is very different to the UK but has presented us with interesting challenges to keep us on our toes, which is always a good thing.  The best thing for sure is the weekends.  I don't think there has been a weekend that has gone by where we haven't been swimming and we have spent so much more quality time as a family which was one of the main reasons for coming out here! 

Do I miss the familiarity of things at home? Yes sometimes but I only have to think about our trip into the desert to play on the sand dunes or splashing around every Saturday at the Crowne Plaza hotel and my faith in our decision is restored. 

Our little P is settling right in Abu Dhabi life now. 

So there we go first post in months, complete.  It's nothing special but I am back and determined to keep this up.  I love writing content for this blog.  It is my hobby, something that is just for me and that is so important when you're a busy, full time working mama! My plan is to blog lots about out life out here in the desert so that Posey and Lochlann can read it in the future and hopefully be proud that their mama and daddy took the plunge and ignited their curiosity for the world.

Our traditional Saturday afternoon spot.

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.” ― Ernest Hemingway

As family activities go, reading books is a firm favourite in the Brookes household.  Without fail, we will  read stories at bedtime. We often tag team as we have two littles that often fancy a different story.  Some nights I will read to P and Sam will read to L, other nights we swap round and sometimes we all sit together to read one of our ultimate favourites.  Books are not just a bedtime thing though we love snuggling up, especially at the weekend with a good book or two in the lounge.  We made an area in our lounge where lots of the children's books are easily accessible to them so that they can go and grab a book to look at whenever they fancy.

Because we value reading so much in our house I thought it would be nice to blog about some of our favourite books at the moment.  It'll be nice for us to look back on and it might also be some inspiration for any other mamas and dads out there who fancy some fresh bedtime story material. :)

I am sure you all know and love the classics such as, The Hungry Caterpiller, Stickman and Where the Wild Things Are... Posey has recently learnt about butterflies at preschool so really enjoys listening to The Hungry Caterpiller and listing all the things he eats through.  Stickman has long been a favourite in our house but it has taken Lochlann until now to request the story at bedtime rather than  just watching the film.  I love reading this to him at bedtime especially as it is has a Christmas theme too (I am an all year round Christmas enthusiast).  We enjoy Where the Wild Things Are as Posey loves to pretend she is one of the wild things swinging through the trees.  This is one we often we if we are all doing story time together in Lochlann's room.

Fox's Socks is a lovely one from the range of lift the flap books written by Julia Donaldson.  This one was much loved by Posey when she was a little younger and now Lochlann loves searching for the missing sock in the story.  Though it has to be said sometimes he gets a little too enthusiastic and the flaps in the book have needed to be fixed with sellotape!

The other two stories I wanted to write about are two that you may not have come across before.  Oi Frog HAS to be read by Daddy as he is far better at reading it with a cockney accent for the cat who is telling the frog all about where different animals need to sit 😂.  Needless to say this book has our littles giggling away and reciting it along with Daddy as he reads.  This is a good one as it is one that I would say is definitely entertaining for children and parents alike!



The Cow That Laid An Egg is another silly but very entertaining one.  Another great one for parents that like to put on accents for the different characters.  I like to think I am great at speaking for the cows in the story (not that I am sure what cows would speak like if they could ha) Lochlann and Posey love it and that is what's important.  It has some funny illustrations to accompany the story and is a highly requested story when 7pm rolls around in our house!

There you have those are the stories we have been enjoying the most lately.  I am thinking about doing a post like this for the books that I have been reading recently so if anyone is interested, let me know.

I really hope that Posey and Lochlann have fond memories of story time with their mummy and daddy. As soon as I knew I was going to become a mother, story time was one of the things I most looked forward to the most.  Both Sam and I have read to the children since they were small babies.  I can only hope that they love books as much I do because if they do my oh my the places they will go and the things they will learn are endless...

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” 
― C.S. Lewis

Thanks for stopping by,

Lots of love,

Holly xx

Dear Diary June 2017

When I younger, certainly through my teenage years and early twenties (as if I am now classed as my late twenties) I kept a diary.  I wrote in it every day, religiously.  It had my deepest, darkest thoughts inside it.  Every happy memory, worry and low moment I had, written down.  For many years it was my escape and the only way I could manage to get through the external things that went on that were out of my control.  Then I met my husband and the writing stopped.  He said it was because we were content, happy and I agreed.  I was proud that I didn't need to pour myself into my writing anymore and for a long time I haven't written.
But I have missed it.

I didn't always write because I needed to escape sometimes I wrote to recount a happy day, to ramble or simply for myself and over the last year or so I have come to really miss it.  This blog came about mainly to document the lives of our two beautiful children but I have decided to use it as my outlet too.  Both for the happy times and the not so happy.  A blog is basically an online journal and so why not use it as one?

So from time to time, when I feel inspired to do so I will write a Dear Diary post.  It will be for me.  Perhaps others might read it and of course I would love for that to happen.  Every connection I have made with a reader of my little slice of the net has been a positive one and it would be great if people felt they could connect with me through these posts too.

There will be no agenda or strict list of subjects for this part of my blog.  I may ramble more than usual and for that I apologise. But man, it feels good just to write...  I feels like I have rediscovered a small part of me that I had lost to my past.  It is ok to write, it is good to write especially when I have some many wonderful people in my life to write about now and so many exciting adventures that we are about to embark upon!

Anyway, there we have it.  Dear Diary entry number one.  :)