Google Earth

Some Google Earth images of the Meadows.

Here all of the Meadows, Springs, Emirates Hills, Jumeirah Islands, Montgomerie GC and Emirates GC

A closeup of Meadows 9

and street 9

Bekeuring

Zo ziet een arabische bekeuring er dus uit. Ga dan maar eens uitleggen waarom je het er niet mee eens bent.  Het enige wat duidelijk is, is dat het een bekeuring van Thijs is (zie S40)!

Floortje's 1e Nl-se les

Nu Floortje 4 is mag ze net zoals Famke ook naar nederlandse les.  Elke woensdagmiddag gaat ze vanaf deze week 2 uurtjes naar groep 1 op de nederlandse school.  Met Juf Joke zingen ze liedjes, praten over nl-se dingen, kleuren, spelen en luisteren ze naar verhaaltjes.  Elke week mogen ze een nieuw boek uitzoeken om mee naar huis te nemen. Op de terugweg in de auto zei ze: 'Mam, ik vond het leuk!'

Hier op de foto met Thijs! 

Norah again

Norah

Today (actually yesterday, as she was born 3 minutes before 12), we welcomed a new person to our family: Norah!  Marc and Diana are now the proud parents of this beautiful little girl.  She weighs 2730 grams and both mum and Norah are doing very well.  We can't wait to meet her.

Back to school

After almost 3 months of holidays it was finally time to go back to school today.  Happy to be with their friends again, both Famke and Foortje enjoyed their first day.  Famke didn't even look back to wave goodbye, off she went! Famke is now in year 3 and Floortje in Foundation 2.  The first thing Famke told Floortje when they met in the playground was: 'I had to work so hard today!!!'

Dubai Marina

During Eid the pool at the Montgomerie was closed as they were fixing the tiles.  Therefore we were allowed to use the pool of one of the hotels in the Dubai Marina.  The pool is a few floors up and it is really quite amazing to swim between all these high buildings and see the boats below.

Below a Google Earth picture taken in 2006, just as we had arrived in Dubai

And here a Google Earth picture taken in August 2009 (4 years later).  Look at the amount of new building on either side of the Sheikh Zayed Road, amazing!

Summer in Holland, Spain and Scotland

From July 18 until August 31st we escaped the hot Dubai summer and went to Holland (with two short trips to Spain and Aberdeen included).  Thijs joined us for our trip to Spain and spent two weekends in Holland before and after his trip to Houston.


It was nice to have some fresh air again.  The girls loved playing outside in the 'speeltuin' close to opa and oma's house.  For the first time in about 30 years they had kids ringing the doorbell to ask if Famke and Floortje could come and play outside.


Spain was great.  We had a really nice time with Nils, Saskia, Iris and Roos.  The girls got along so well, as did the adults :)  The speedboat gave an extra dimension to the stay as we were able to go to all the little bays close by and have lovely relaxed spanish lunches.


The girls and I also took a trip to ABerdeen (or actually Turriff).  It was nice to be back there again, it feels a bit like home to me.  Luckily it also rained on the Friday because it just wouldn't have been the same without.  We went to the movies, picked raspberries in the forest and visited Fyvie Castle.  Below some pictures of our holidays.