Happy Birthday to Me

Being I have a milestone birthday coming up there is reason to celebrate. I did not want the typical “Lordy, Lordy, Michelle is 40”, surprise party... mostly because I don’t have that many friends. hee! My hope was to have a family getaway somewhere we have never been. With this in mind, months ago, I began my pursuit….Seychelles, Zanzibar, Mauritius…with my strongest desire for the latter. Well, I did not get too far in my pursuit to realize taking a family of 5 to any of these destinations did not jive with the bank account. Insert boo-hoo here!

After some sulking (just kidding) and learning about some great connections my pursuit turned to the Middle East. Strange as it may seem, boarding an 8 hour flight to another continent became more economical than flying to a neighboring country. That along with some other connections and Starwood Points, accommodation began looking favorable. So I did it, booked tickets to Dubai! Home to the fantastic plastic (ridiculous indoor fun), gorgeous beach, renowned shopping, shawarmas, camels…even a Chicago Uno's Pizzeria.

When do we leave….on Friday! My kids have a week and half Springbreak so we decided it would be a great time to go. After a wonderful but looong and busy winter and the schedule on an upward spiral finishing up the year this will bring some welcome respite!

Each of the Franzen fam has certain things they are particularly looking forward to…Tori- riding a camel, Sky-riding the world’s longest water slide, Blake-riding a toboggan at the indoor snow park, Me- laying horizontal for hours on the beach and Rich- air-conditioning. We are ready and so grateful for this next week of nothing but pure Franzenfam Adventure.

Lordy, Lordy, Michelle is almost 40 and will be celebrating Dubai style! Happy Birthday to Me!

Look Alike

Obviously there is sibling look alike. Some even say married people begin to look alike after awhile but pet look alike?.....


Not sure about that but I have to admit they both are pretty cute!

Slops on the Brain

As I've been perusing blogs this week I've read about pool closings, cooler temperatures, fall shopping, and back to school. Admittedly, a smile emerged across my face as I read my fellow Americans posting about summer's end because you know what that means for me and my fellow South Africans don't you? It means warmer temperatures, pool openings, spring shopping, and school's end.

Oh and how the beautiful, warm, sunny days have put a spring in my step (pun intended). I've been packing up the winter wear and sorting through the summer attire. Between our games, books, coloring and cuddling Tori has been helping me with my Spring cleaning as she has been off school this week with a bad case of the flu.

After packing up a garbage bag full of give away clothes (we have little closet and storage space so we go with the "get rid of it" motto) the other day, Tori asked, "Mom, if I'm feeling better tomorrow will you take me to the store to buy some slops?"

Well tell me how I could possibly say no to this face....

...especially after having such a tough go of it this week. So yesterday we added a quick trip to the store for some slops......


I'm sure you've figured it out by now, the South African term for flip flops is "slops".

So with summer days fast approaching slops aren't just on the brain they are also on the feet!