Dubai Part 2- Beat the Heat

Numerous blessings that came in various ways made a trip impossible under normal circumstances, possible. One of those "little blessings" came from the missionaries we stayed with and it came in the form of coupons. And if you know me well you know I LOVE coupons...it's the Bohemian in me. Virtually every activity we engaged in was largely discounted thanks to those coupons.


So robed with our coupons we stepped out of the heat and into a Winter Wonderland to cool off for a while. Keeping with the Dubai way, in another colossal size mall is the World's largest indoor Ski and Snow Park.





We did not ski yet had plenty to partake in with the snow park. There was sledding...



And tobogganing...


Lots of tubing down snowy slopes


and of course the snowball....



One climbs in the large plastic ball and then is rolled down a ski slope while in the ball. According to Blake this was the "best"!

No picture going down the slope but here are Sky and Blake trying to push the ball back up the slope....



It was a great way to beat the heat and it turned out to be quite a scream...

Dubai Part 1

I decided that to post an album of the Franzenfam adventures to Dubai on face book just wasn't the route to go...mainly to accommodate the extended Franzenfam and Baumruk fam that may be, how do I say it, "fb challenged". Instead I will attempt to give a glimpse of our ventures in methodical fashion throughout the week. Isn't that so very OCD of me?! :)

So without further Ado...Dubai Part 1 (such a creative title eh?)

The Franzenfam adventures started at a shopping Mecca (the largest mall in the world). You'll notice throughout my posts I will use a lot of adjectives like largest, tallest, longest, biggest...reason being Dubai boasts the biggest, tallest...the best. A bit ridiculous but none the less.

Where to begin was a toss up between the three story high aquarium (IN THE MALL) that holds the Guinness World Record for the world's largest acrylic viewing panel (sorry never really captured a pic to adequately display it's magnitude)....

OR the rumored largest candy store in the world....

conveniently located right across from the aquarium entrance.

A bit shallow decision (pun intended) but hey we were on vacation and those are the type decisions we were gratefully confronted with.

As we walked through the viewing tunnel I couldn't help but feel that something was lurking around me.....

This big fellow and his buddies were right above us.

Aside from all the "records" and adjectives Dubai boasts being slightly pointless, I must admit it all was pretty impressive. Even the carnivores of the sea seemed pretty enamored with the Candylicious store across from their sea world....



After all our aquatic play...





including the disregard for the "no handling" rule....


(yes my husband reached down into the tank and picked up a turtle)

...a glass bottom boat ride a top the massive tank (did I mention this was in a mall?!!)


And of course a trip to Candylicious; we headed over to see the Burj Dubai....


Yep, it is the tallest building in the world (over 800 meters high)!

We stuck around to watch the sunset through a beautiful water display.....


and then watched it illuminate the night.....


Oh and I should probably mention that this beauty happens to be the World's longest or maybe it's the largest (something "big") water display.

Regardless, it was beautiful and it ended a fabulous Franzenfam day in Dubai!

Stay tuned for other Franzenfam Dubai Adventures....

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!

The Silver Lining

A post for the Franzenfam Grandparents...

The toughest thing about living on another continent is not the lack of Starbucks but the inability to see regularly the ones we love dearly.

Tori had her Grandparent's tea at school last week. It took her a while to process why neither of her Grandmas could jump a plane and be there to watch her sing. Convincing her that where they would love nothing more than to be present, it was not possible. So her next choice....you guessed it, her daddy!

With a touch of baby powder he was ready to go!

Each Pre-school class had their "number" to perform.

I love the little guy next to Tori; he reminds me of a cartoon character..

After song and dance, we were served tea by the Grade 5's. Skyler was the waitress for our table...

Baby powder aside, we will be goin' gray all too soon. My silver lining....look who I get to grow old with....

A Day in the Life of Tori

..well an Athletics Day anyway!

All the Kindergarten classes had an athletics day (track and field) at school. It was cute to see all the moms and dads with their cameras and video cameras.

The festivities commenced and the kids were off to a running start...

Despite Tori's goofy form those little legs go pretty fast.

Next was the Under-Over Relay.

Under

Over


And to her delight her team came in first place.

Next was long jump.

The Approach

And the Jump


Javelin was up next

Nice Form

Okay so she probably doesn't have a promising future in javelin....

And of course friends made the day all the more special.

The Three Blondie's

And Tori with her favorite friend, Amanda...

Amanda is one of the little girls from a nearby christian run orphanage. Tori was able to attend Amanda's birthday party at the orphanage and thought it was the coolest place...."to live with your friends". Sweet, eh?

That's a running glimpse at A day in the Life of my mini-athlete.

A Real Meaty One

Rich and I decided to treat our Outreach Staff to something special. I kidnapped the 2 gals and they slept over, enjoyed a hot shower, slept with a heater in their room, ate some good food, did laundry and just had a short reprieve from the teams and "mission conditions". You know "Girl stuff".

What did Rich and the guys do? Take a look...

BTW, Rich is donning his Star Wars' shirt that Blake gave him for Father's Day.

You know, "Guy stuff"

When I asked where the pics of the 3 other guys were I was told, "We were too busy eating to be snap a group picture."

A real meaty post....

...no bones about it!

Gettin' in the Groove Again

This crew is gettin' back in the Franzenfam "normal busy" groove (for pics on crazy busy groove click here)...

Saturday morning we all headed out to watch our soccer man play some ball.

Our Mr. Goalie...











Has been getting some field time too. The team has been doing amazingly well...still undefeated!

After a pep-talk from Coach. Love this picture!

He was all over the ball...


He beats his opponent

Did you notice his tongue strategy?

He shoots
He scores (and wipes out)


Woo-hoo! Team won 9-1

Stay tuned for more Franzenfam back in the groove pics!

Pictures courtesy of Ray-Ray photography.