Pure Sweetness

What could be sweeter than these faces....

...these faces with an ice cream mustache!

Pure Sweetness

The Blake Blog

On any given day when I start the upload process of pics from my camera to the computer I find oodles of pics like these....

Cute girl with a 10 rand note.....that is not hers!

The "I'm not faking; I'm really asleep pose"



Or one's veggie lunch....



Typically, I'll find anywhere from 10- 40 random shots from the younger Franzenfam photographers. When does the "What's Mommy's is Mine" rule ever go out of play?

I was so shocked when Blake actually ASKED to use the camera the other day that all I could stammer was "uh- I guess". To which he added, "great I'll get some great ones for you to blog." Well okay then.

So without further ado the Blake Blog....

Photos by the blue eyed, blond boy,

...including one of himself.

The Face Off....

(what can I say humor runs in the family.)

The duel of Good versus Evil....

The Victor.....


The Get Away, in the cool constructed spaceship created by my SW fan....


Oh and notice his swim goggles on the floor...the ones Mom told him to pick up! He's also our Messy Franzen.

I think with the help of my son, we just gave "random" a new name.

Dubai Part 3- Outdoor Hot Spots

So far I've displayed the inside of Dubai...the "fantastic plastic". However we did not spend all our time indoors. Despite the heat, we ventured out to explore some outdoor hot spots...

The Burj Al Arab hotel....the tallest hotel in the world, actually set in the Gulf, supposedly the only 6* hotel in the world, although I've heard that is self-proclaimed, in the shape of a sail it towers out over the Gulf and is an exquisite land mark.

The best view of the Burj came from a top the tallest, or maybe its the longest, free standing water slide outside of North America (one starts to mix up all the acclaims).....

Three of the Franzenfam made their way down it's slippery slope...care to guess which ones??

And probably my favorite was time spent at the beach. Swimming in the Persian Gulf was like swimming in a hot tub....

Dubai is actually a fairly common travel destination among South Africans largely due to Emirates cheap flights...South Africans go to "Dubai to Buy". Known for their gold, electronics, textiles, among other things it's a hot spot to shop. I can't say we found that to be true for the Franzenfam as all I came back with was American food products (sad but true) however we did take a gander at the local souks (markets).....

The best souk was the one built indoors as it was air conditioned. Dubai is an arid heat all year round.

We taxied by boat on the Dubai Creek.....

Took an arm at henna.....


Yes that is a scorpion on my son's arm.....glad the henna did not last very long.

Another favorite was experiencing the Arabian desert.....camel rides.....

And beautiful sand dunes.....



There are far more pictures I could post but I will spare you! At days end....



...it was a fabulous trip and we are ever so grateful for the many blessings making it possible.

Lordy, Lordy Michelle is 40...well almost...and was spoiled rotten!

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.