Halloween

Repton made a great effort for Spooky Dress Up day. Here is Zach leaving his classroom with his teacher, Mrs Blakely.

At the school gates with Miles and Finn.

Our spooky ghost cake.

I thought Bastie would be a grump about dressing up but he loved it.

Scary! Not.

We had a Halloween disco. Woop woop!

The boys get down.

The bat takes flight.

Waiting for trick or treaters. There were lots.

Choc at the ready.

We had another fun Halloween. The kids had a spooky dress up day at school (which Daisy missed with chicken pox) and we decorated the house, welcomed trick or treaters and did a neighbourhood drive by to check out the action. Halloween is pretty big in the Ranches and the streets were teeming with ghouls of all description. We stayed in the car as Bastie was understandably too scared to leave it!

Bx

Westin brunch

There were acrobats.

The kids were enthralled.

They also had an indoor petting zoo. As you do.

Chameleon. I think.

Snakes alive!

Our table.

More acrobatics to keep the kids amused.

Kath, Jane and Nix.

The rest of the photos are Daisy's handiwork. She nicely captured the carnage. Here's Phoebe.

Zach makes a break for it.

Callum and Megan dashing around.

Zach and Megan try to slip out past the Playstations.

Ben pulls a pose.

Zach clearly had the alcohol included package.

Lucy captures Zach. Daisy told me there was a bit of catch and kiss going on. Scandal!

At the start of September we went to The Westin for Kath and Gav's final leaving brunch. It's one of the biggest Friday brunches and is spread over three restaurants. Lots of fun was had and the kids ran amok as usual.

Bx

September / October round up

We headed out to the desert for sunset one evening. It's only 10 minutes up the road and the kids had a great time running around.

Grandma Julia came to town.

Sundown.

Heading in to the dunes.

Daisy and Zach did well to clamber to the top of this dune.

Made it!

The kids enjoyed many stories with Grandma Julia

We enjoyed the Rugby World Cup. Especially the result. Andy and I even managed to watch the final in a bar, child free, woo!

Gene Simmons popped over for one game.

The kids discovered the latest fad, Gelli Baff.

To celebrate the cooler weather we had a lovely breakfast at The Address Downtown Burj Khalifa. The kids love it there.

Fresh breeze, goodbye summer!

Breakfast on the terrace. It's a beautiful spot, not so relaxing with three little ones and lots of water features but lots of fun.

Zach poses.

Then is joined by Daisy.

Who's no stranger to a pose or two herself.

In the lobby.

Over the summer a pedestrian bridge was built to connect the hotel directly to Dubai Mall. Yay!

We had a fun filled September and October. Summer finally left in October and we were thrilled to rediscover the outdoors.

bx

Chicken Pox

Zach was spotty but on top form and Bastie was thrilled to have a playmate for the week.

Looking really sick there Zach...

Who knew Chicken Pox could be such fun.

Zach was very happy to receive the extra pampering on offer.

Day one of Daisy's Chicken Pox, she was feeling good and stoked to be hanging out at home in pjs and high heels.

A few days down the line however and she wasn't feeling so good. Poor Daisy, not even afternoon tea on the couch could cheer her up.

Chicken Pox did the rounds recently at Repton and Zach got it in early October. Not knowing what it looked like, I actually sent him to school on the first day he had it, thinking he had insect bites. Oops. He had a week off school and had lots of spots but felt fine.

Daisy was the next to fall in late October, she also had a week off school but was covered in nasty spots and felt pretty awful. Poor Daisy.

Despite sharing baths, drinks bottles and everything else, Bastie remained unscathed which I guess means he has good natural immunity.

Bx