Dig-a-Dino

Yay for Friday: Family fun day. We took the twins to 'Dig-a-Dino' at the Marina Mall. There were different dinosaur related activities, but they spent most of the time digging up plastic dinosaurs in the sand pit. We were unaware the children could be left until we got there. They seemed very happy and absorbed in their dinosaur hunt so we thought we would seize the opportunity to take Maple for a coffee at Nero (Literally 5 footsteps away). It was fab as we got to drink coffee, feed Maple lunch and watch the twins from our chairs. It was intriguing to see how they were without us. They have been at nursery almost a term now and they were noticeably more contentedly independent from this.

This activity was extremely unique for Dubai in that it was free. Arranged activities, (Soft play, classes etc), are typically very expensive. This contrasts a lot with our experiences in the UK where we would go to free classes at the local Surestart centre and there were a variety of options outside of this to suit all budgets. Considering we have three children, and Maple is often charged for too, I hope this will be the start of many more!

After the dinosaurs, we went to Build A Bear and let Bailee and Oscar choose an outfit for their beloved Banana, (Monkey) and Pink, (Bear). Bailee had a hard time choosing between a policeman outfit, a purple mini skirt and princess top and (Much to her daddy's delight), Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars. Stu was doubally delighted when not only did Bailee choose Obi-Wan Kenobi, but Oscar chose Darth Vader for his monkey. Unbelievably, Stuart let them freely choose. Sure, he didn't try to persuade them otherwise, but they chose on their own!

We got home that afternoon and of course the twins and Stu had to watch Star Wars with their teddy bears.

Maple is cruising around like mad. She is getting increasingly brave at moving between furniture and has had more than one fall resulting in a bleeding mouth. She's a little bruiser though, so robust. She is determined. Poor mite, so under the weather. Her eyes a watering, she has a cough and seems to have a sore throat. She is still unsettled for sleeps. Get better soon Maple.