(L) Archie and his first Xmas stocking (R) Janet and Ken on a walking tour of Dubai Creek
(L) Stu, Rich, Tory & Archie (R) Sue's Birthday Dinner at the Beach Bar & Grill, Dubai.
(L) Archie is in the world (R) Dhow Sailing Regatta by the Palm Jumeriah.
(L) Lunch at the Sue and John's The Shute in Montville (R) Nathan, Alice, John and Doug playing Boules on the Beach on Stradbroke Island
(L) Tory and Becca on Stradbroke Island (R) Tory in front of St Basil's Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow.
(L) Serena Williams on Centre Court at Wimbledon (R) Roger Federer.
(L) Pakistan win the ICC World Twenty20 2009 at Lords (R) Natalie and Justin at the Dinner Debate to Launch the Gulf Chapter of the Oxford Business Alumni.
(L) Rum Shacks by the beach in Barbados (R) D at the Cove Resort in Ras Al Khamiah
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, 2010 is here!!!
The blog is back after a long, long break which just shows how hectic life becomes when you get into the business of starting a family. The high point of 2009 was .... drumroll please.....the arrival of our first child who turned out to be a baby boy we have named Archibald.
He is a perfect little creature and has given us so much happiness it really is impossible to describe.
Over the last couple of months we have also enjoyed having family members to stay, first T's mother Sue, then D's brother Richard and his partner Stu, who were followed by D's parents Ken and Janet for Christmas. Naturally they all loved meeting Archie and were quite impressed with Dubai (although Sue has visited Dubai previously over Christmas 2007).
The family visits are not over either as T's sister Becca, her husband Nathan and our niece Alice join us for a week in late January. This blog has been dormant for the past 11 months so rather than supply an excessive quantity of written and photographic evidence of our 2009, I will list a few bullet points and pics (above) to review the year that was.
- Work: T finished her 18 month employment at the Olive Group in late October and left on very good terms after having applied her high standards and expectations to her work. She will be sorely missed but is looking forward to resuming her pilates teacher training in 2010. D enjoyed business trips to the West Indies, United Kingdom and India and enjoyed some success despite the global economic downturn but expects to achieve better results in 2010. One trip to London included a superb 24 hours which included witnessing an ICC final at Lords followed by the first day of Wimbledon.
- Travel: Pregnancy did not prevent some overseas travel being undertaken by D&T. 2009 began in Singapore staying with our good friends the Burkes, in Feb (pre-pregnancy) we snuck in a long weekend in the snow in Lebanon, in July we enjoyed a short trip to Russia for the wedding of our friends Josh & Olga outside of Moscow, in August we enjoyed two sunny weeks back in Queensland spending time in Brisbane, Montville and on beautiful Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay (aka "Straddie"). We are looking forward to taking Archie home to Australia at some point in 2010 to meet all his relatives and to exporing the Middle East region further.
- Visitors: It only took 2.5 years but the arrival of Archie was the catalyst for an influx of family members from both sides in November and December. We thoroughly loved the opportunity to host our family here in Dubai, especially during the cooler winter months when the place is at its best. We are excited at the prospect of introducing Archie to his cousin Alice when she and Becca and Nathan visit us in late January. Being only 10 months his senior we expect they will be great mates for many years to come.
- Dubai: Despite the negative international press, the Sheik seems to be carrying on with his grand vision for Dubai (with some assistance from its neighbouring emirate Abu Dhabi) although many construction projects have been cancelled or are proceeding at a snails pace. It remains a very pleasant place for us to live and work as we watch our circle of close friends transform from a group of couples into a group of first time parents. It has meant that "2009 was the year of the Dubai baby shower" and it has been very nice to be able to share the experience with people who are experiencing it at the same time.
- Milestones: 2009 marked a number of milestone Birthday's for a number of family members in decending order: Ken - 75, John - 60, Richard - 40 and my beloved wife Tory clocking up the big 30 and our niece Josephine turning sweet 16. All these events just remind us how quickly time passes and that living 14 hours by plane from Australia has its downsides.
That is it for this long overdue update. Moving forward I will try to update the blog more regularly but realistically expect to only update it once every quarter, as it takes longer than you might expect!
Once again Happy New Year and all the best for 2010!
Cheers,
D&T
