Keeping Up With The Culveys - 2017

After a quiet new year at home, Indi started the year with a chance to appear in a Viral ad mannequin challenge! I took her down to the venue and hung around to find out what the plan was… before I knew it, I was also in this mannequin challenge!! Anyway, ended up spending pretty much the whole day there, but it was fun, and the final ad was excellent! Sadly Kit Kat didn’t think so and within a few weeks it had been taken down, never to be seen again. Everybody else did what New Years day was designed for…. Nothing!!

The kids had a few days at home before going back to school, so Loggie made the most of it by having his best bud Sam around to play! Lots of bouncing on the trampoline and scoffing cookies was in order!

Now as you get older, a few things start to struggle… for me it was eyes and I took to wearing glasses some years ago. Well 2017 brought that reality to Lyra too, so it was off to Vision Express for eye tests. And yes they confirmed that she did indeed need to join the specie brigade! While all this was going on, Loggie had a great time trying on the glasses in the store!! As we were there, I got my eyes checked, and no surprise, I needed stronger glasses… getting old sucks!

And then it was time to get back to school!! Thankfully our guys look forward to it and everyone was excited to get back and tell all their friends about the wonderful time they had at Christmas!!

My 1st trip of the year was off to Qatar and Bahrain, I hadn’t been back here since returning to the Middle East so I was excited to see my old team, especially Kamoos and Hari. It was a great trip, especially to Qatar which had really developed.

You may recall from our last update that we had a surprisingly quiet Christmas. This was mainly due to our good friends the Aingers having to rush back to the UK, as Karl’s Dad was really ill. Not ever to be a family that likes to miss out on a party, those lovely Singers threw their Christmas party in the middle of January!!

Complete with full on decorations, silly hats, crackers, and of course the full monty Christmas dinner, we had a fab day with wonderful friends!! We even played this years Christmas phenomenon game Speakeasy! Where you have to put this plastic contraption in your mouth then say phrases that everyone else has to guess what you are saying! Very funny, although, a little gross!

Indi gave everyone a unique Christmas gift… henna tattoos! She was practicing her new found skill, and she’s getting pretty good at it!!

Both Indi an Kai also got straight back into their favourite hobby, theatre club! The classes continued to challenge them, but they love it so much, they are always ready to rise to each challenge that comes their way. Although, they did miss a chance to train with the cast of Cats, which was a great shame.

January brought another stray into our lives, this tiny little kitten was found and rescued by Lyra, we spent two days trying all we could to get some food and water into her so she could have the strength to go on, but sadly, she just couldn’t make it and died. Very sad, but at least she had experienced a few days of kindness in her short, and tragic life.

We didn’t even get through January before Loggie was back to attending parties!! This one was a great one… build a bear with Avya from his KG class! Loggie loved building his bear, especially when he got to put all the filling via the big machine!

As we sailed towards the end of January, we entertained a whole heard of friends! Indi had Jasmine over, Kai had the company of Liam and Christian, and Logan had Logan 1 over for a play date!! As you can imagine it wasn’t the quietest of evenings! But Domino’s pizza provided dinner, and dessert was roasting marshmallows over the fire pit!! The boys then spent the night on the trampoline, rolled up in duvets and blankets! I’m told it is very comfortable!

When you think of Kuwait, you think of sandy deserts and burning hot temperatures, but in the winter it’s actually pretty cold, especially away from the city. As we entered into February, Kuwait experienced proper cold weather with temperatures hitting 0C, and one morning, albeit briefly, we had snow!! And we have photographic proof of a few flakes on my car for those doubters out there!

February kicks off with a little flurry of birthdays. First up was Chloe, Marcelle & Mazen’s eldest. We celebrated her 11th birthday round at theirs with chocolate cake, and chillin in front of a movie! 

Following that was our Indi, and it was a major milestone this year, as Indi became a teenager!!! AAAARRGGHH!!! Yep, the stripy years were upon us! She had been doing pretty well as a twelve year old practicing the art of a teenager, but we can now report that she is now, fully fledged, having mastered the art of disliking her Brothers intensely, always having headphones in, and pretty much never leaving her bedroom!!! She’s not that bad really, and for her birthday she did treat us to a few hours of her presence in the main living area of the house!

To reward Indi for her generosity (in sharing time with her parents) we through a girly sleepover at the weekend. Indi was joined by Jasmine, Rosie, Gabrielle, Sydnii, and Crystal. Only 4 made it through the night though as Crystal sustained a trampolining injury and decided to recover back at home… Of course, as teenagers, they were too cool for any fun and games, so it was an evening locked away in Indi’s bedroom, chatting, iPad surfing, and a touch of Indi’s blossoming Henna tattooing!! During there more social moments, of trampolining, they did allow Kai and Logan to join in, just for a while, and then it was sleep time, and they chose to stick with what has become a tradition, and sleep on the trampoline!

Of course, Logan kept on partying! This month it was down to Happy Chappies in Fintas to celebrate Sofia’s birthday. Logan loved it as they had ball pits, trampolines, and of course pizza and cake, which he and Ben munched endlessly! it was funny being in Happy Chappies after all these years, as Kai had spent some time there the first time we were in Kuwait, back in 2009!

You here Kuwait being criticized a lot about not having much to do, but this has been alleviated a little this year with the opening of the stunningly beautiful cultural centre and Opera house! As Indi and kai are pretty well connected in the theatre world in Kuwait, we were lucky enough to be invited to attend the first stage production at the new opera house! It was a performance of Cats. I took Indi and Kai, and they thought it was amazing, and I have to say, I agree!!

In the cooler months, the schools take advantage and have their sports days. As India and Kai are now in the senior years of TES, they get to hold their sports day in one of the athletics clubs in Kuwait! Ironically, the day they chose managed to be one of the very few days where it rained!! Not during the actual event, but a few hours before the heavens opened, so there was a fair bit of water lying around!! Both Kai & Indi, as usual were great team players and put their all into their events, and even more into encouraging their house team mates!

We took the Boys to the Scientific Centre (no idea where Indi was?!) and they had a great new exhibit. You could pull on ropes and they lifted a car! The boys thought this was fantastic and spent quite sometime seeing how far they could lift the car using the various different ropes. 

And then it was Andoni’s party! Another nursery based party for Logan, and this time it was at his old Nursery, Learning Steps!! Great fun for the boys and lots of memories of their time there last year! The memorable moment for this party had to be the peniata! How nobody got the stick walked around their head I do not know!!

Lyra and I celebrated Valentines day, with a dinner at the British Embassy… along with about a hundred others! All arranged by this lovely ladies of the British Ladies Society of Kuwait. Very nice it was indeed, although, the one was a bit rotten, which is very disappointing when you think you are getting something decent, just for once!

Seeing as the boys had such fun lifting the car at the Scientific centre, the very next weekend, they insisted on taking Indi therefor her to prove she too can lift a car, just by pulling a few ropes!! A great lesson for everyone in the power of leverage! You’d think that would be enough about the Scientific centre wouldn’t you? Bt oh no, a few days later, Kai went again, this time with his classmates! Lyra even went along to help control the rabble! They spend a few hours trying out all of the different experiments on show and making notes on their findings! The favorite, without a doubt was the giant bubble maker!

Since the previous September, both India and Kai had been taking piano lessons with a new teacher, Helen Newton. They were both doing really well and Helen was getting them back into enjoying playing again. At TES both of them got to play as part of small concert for parents where they both performed really nice pieces to the Mum’s and Dad’s.

On a much warmer, and sunnier day, Logan got to have KG’s sports day! As they don’t have Houses in KG, they did it by class, and Logan’s KG1 were the yellow shirts. Logan wore a brilliant luminous yellow T-shirt with the apt slogan ‘BRING IT ON”. Logan really loved taking part in all the races and was a very keen competitor throughout! At the end of all the events they all got a medal and certificate for taking part. Logan was very proud of his!

India and Kai had been working on a TES Production ‘The Long Walk to Water’ which told the true story of a group of Sudanese children and their challenging walk across the desert for survival. Sadly I missed it as I was away on business, but Karim accompanied Lyra. As we have come to expect, it was a very professional and wonderfully performed production.

February in Kuwait is never complete until National Day and Liberation day have been celebrated. One of these celebrations involves kids from all over Kuwait going to school where the colors of the Kuwait flag. This also signifies that it is half term, now that’s a real reason to celebrate! And this Feb, we headed over to Dubai for a week of fun, and the chance to meet up with the Pecky honeymooners!!

As with all weeks in Dubai, they are busy and we always pack a lot into our visits! This was to be no exception. We started out with an evening at our old favourite the dancing water under the Burj Khalifa. No matter how many times you see it, it is still amazing. Later that evening we met up with the Thurley’s for a reunion dinner, that is always fun!

More get togethers followed the next day with an afternoon at the Irish village, the Deans, the Arnolds, the Reids, and the Foreman’s, a quiet afternoon it was not!

Kai, and more recently Logan, have developed an obsession with supercars! No doubt related to life in the Middle East where supercars are literally everywhere! To fuel there obsession, I borrowed a friends Ford Mustang, and we had a boys day out driving Americas favourite muscle car and visiting a few supercar showrooms. The boys (and maybe me a little) drooled over Maclarens, Lambos, Ferraris, Astons, and lots more!! We all had a great day looking at a serious amount of the rich kids play things! As tempting as it was, I managed to resist putting a deposit down on any of them….

Staying in the marina gave us a wonderful back drop, walking around we came across a high speed boat tour that took us around the Palm, then over to the Burj Al Arab. It was a thrilling ride, with some great views and photo ops. Logan in particular thought blasting along the shore was very cool!!

And then the Pecks arrived! Fresh from their Honeymoon in Thailand. Guess what, we went on the boat tour again!! And then the dancing water….again!!

Before they could depart again, we took a gondola at the Medinat to the fabulous Thai restaurant Pai Thai. We had a beautiful lunch in wonderful surroundings, but this lunch will always be remembered for the exchange between Gemma and Logan. Gemma wanted to look at…. So she picked it up. Logan said ‘Hey!’ To which Gemma told him ‘sharing is caring Logan’, to which Logan responded, ‘yes, but stealing isnt!’. It has to be one of the great put downs!!  This was followed by Logan ensuring Gemma was very clear that he loved his Uncle Chris, and really liked her!! 

We said goodbye tot Chris and Gemma, as they headed back to the UK. Then headed over to spend our last day with Saada, Ben, Jasmin, and Leo. As always we had a great time together, but of course had to say goodbye, and head back to Kuwait all too soon…

Many years ago, Lyra and I played Mr & Mrs… we did really bad, well, apparently, I did really bad! Anyway, Lyra has always wanted us to play again. So… in true Lyra style, she arranged for a championship of Mr & Mrs!!! And it all started in March.

We held the first round with our lovely neighbours Rana and Ahmed, Loretta and Steve, Jo and ?, and Graeme and Katie. I was the quizmaster, Lyra was the hostess with the mostest (as always!). It was evening of great laughs and great competitiveness!! However after four rounds of revealing, insightful questions, Graeme and Katie were victorious and won round one!! We all had a brilliant night, and it was a certainty, that there would be further rounds!

Then of course it was my birthday!! My last of my 40’s! As you would expect, I was treated by Lyra and the kiddles, Jacquie and Carl had us over for dinner, and all in all it was a great weekend.

As it was Spring, Kuwait was at it’s best so weekends at the Corniche club were our routine. The kids love hanging out around the pool, Kai nearly always has a bunch pals to hang out with, Indi hideaway under a sun shade and draws, and Logan drags me in the pool endlessly!!

Kai had a weekend with his mates Liam, Truman, and Christian, over for a sleep over. Little did we know that as part of that weekend the basement would be turned into battleground! Chairs and cushions were built in to barricades and a full on nerf war ensued!!

Another birthday to celebrate, Indi’s good friend Sydni!! The girls went ice skating, and then descended on Jacqui and Carls for a garden party of the usual madness… and cakes!!

March seems to be the month of gifts… as we became the proud owners of two new lovely, but naughty pure white kittens! Aurora and Merlin arrived from a rather dodgy side of town, but their cuteness seems to overcome that naughty tendencies! It didn’t take long before they were ruling the place, even Izzy was under their spell, Indi was besotted, of course, so was Lyra. Logan and I really liked them!! Well actually, Logan loved them too, I just really liked the little buggers!

Before the month was out we had a rare occasion, a visitor!! Yes Grandad arrived for a few weeks of fun with the Culveys, for the next few weeks Grandad was treated to the delights of the sandpit! This included Brunch at the Radisson, and another round of the  Mr & Mrs Championship! It was the wildest round by far! Grandad was partnered with Karim! Plus we were joined by Marcelle and Mazen, Suzanne and Brien, Jacqui and Carl, Jo and Jonathan, and Lee and Graham. A raucous night followed that quizmaster Dan struggled to control, but we eventually stumbled across the finish line to reveal, Jo and Jonathan as the round 2 champions!!

While Grandad was with us, he celebrated his birthday. We managed to rustle up a few cards, plus a gift or two. Then Lyra treated him to lunch at the hottest restaurant in Kuwait, Alshaya’s Babel!!

Grandad was also lucky enough to be with us for the TES international fair! Lyra had been running the team England group and they had pulled together a wonderful stall of quintessentially British goods from teacakes to trifle!! There was a tombola, with some fab gifts, many of which Kai and Logan had their eyes on! Ind ran a flag painting stall where you could have flags painted on your face, or arms1 There was a fabulous caricature of a typical old English couple at the beach that you could push your faces through for great photos. And then Grandad, Logan, and I were running the English beach photo op. Sit in your deck chair, on our beach, put up your brolly, and then have your photo taken in an true English day at the beach, complete with rain showers!! The whole event was a huge success and credit to Ly and her team for putting together such an amazing British scene. All the while raising lots of money for charity!

March was closed out with the final round of Mr and Mrs to determine who would meet Katie & Graeme, and Jo & John in the final. This was a special round as Lyra and I were competitors as well as hosts! We were joined by Louise and Chris (Clarke), Thea and David, and Anna and Will. In relative terms it was a much calmer evening, but also, more intimate… unbelievably Lyra and I failed to triumph, but Thea and David did, they were in the final!!!

April is always a bit of a crazy month, and this was no exception! 2 birthdays, Easter break, and our holiday in Phuket (always the highlight of our year). 

Before we headed out to Phuket, Logan had one of his best friends, Sam,  over for a play date. They always have a great time together. They finished school and then headed off hand in hand ready too have a few hours of fun. Sky landers on the Wii and PlayStation was a hit, then of course the trampoline has to be done, and that certainly builds up and appetite!

Before we hit Kai’s birthday, we had to get to Phuket, so we could celebrate it in style, well, certainly the style that Kai likes! It’s always a long flight, but everyone was ready for it and it soon passed. At the end of the journey, we have our favorite place in the world to look forward to! This time we changed things up a bit and spent the first week in the sister resort The Mai Khao, just next door, bit we had never stayed there before. We even managed to arrange to have our own private plunge pool, you can imagine what a hit that was!! We all felt great to be back.

The very next day was Kai’s 11th birthday! He woke to an apartment decorated ready to celebrate, and slap up birthday breakfast, complete with birthday cake! He even had a few gifts to open. The day was spent around the pool chilling and having our usual fun. In the afternoon we popped over to the JW to watch the fire dance before it was time for Kai’s favorite restaurant, Kabuki, Japanese tepenyaki! Dinner is always entertaining, and lovely there, and Kai got Birthday cake number 2!! 

As it was Songkran (Thai water festival) the following day, we paid our respects to the Buddha they had prepared for the ceremony the next day. 

After all the fun of Kai’s birthday, we felt the need for a chilled out evening, so we headed off to the local street eateries, for some real local cuisine. As always it was wonderful fresh food, lots of it, and all at an incredibly low price! Well especially compared to the Marriott!!

Being in the other resort for a few days allowed us to have a go at some of the activities on offer that we don’t usually see at the JW. We had a good giggle playing golf on the putting green. Turns out that Logan was a bit of a star, and amazed us with his putting skills. As you would expect, a large part of every day was in the pool, Indi, Kai, and Logan all love the water, and with Logan’s confidence growing all the time, we have more and more fun in the pools, generally revolves around fighting and pretending to be Marvel characters, but always great fun! One of the water areas which Kai particularly liked was one which great big buckets filled up and tipped over on to whoever is below. Kai loved to try and push us under the falling water, although most of the time, I think he was one the one that got a soaking!!

For once timing worked out well, and we were in Phuket at the same time as Martina & Matthew, and their two boys, so we got together for a an afternoon of fun around the pool then dinner. Great to see them after too many years (I think it must of been about 9 years since Turkey).

Then, with our first week done, it was time to pack up, and move back next door to our old favorite the JW Marriott vacation club. Indi describes this place as “where her soul resides”. For sure it is a special place for us all, and it was lovely to be back once again. Funnily enough though, for dinner that night we headed back over to the Mai Khao as they had a lovely seafood buffet that we had missed the previous week! It was a lovely atmosphere sitting outside by all the pools, and the food was devine!!

Over the next few days we fully immersed ourselves into life at the JW, enjoying the pools, and beach, our home from home! During this week we celebrated Easter, as you would expect, the kids had a ‘small’ choice fest, although the big Easter egg hunt was not really possible given the temperature!!

With all the time spent in the water, Indi, Ly and Logan developed ear infections. Very unpleasant, and sadly our attempt to overcome with medicine and drops was moot working, so we had to head to a Dr. We got down to Phuket Town, and visited the local hospital which was fabulous, and got everyone proper prescriptions to sort them out, then on our way back we stopped at a beautiful spot and had some lunch, the views over the sea, looking across at the islands was just lovely.

Thankfully, everyone was feeling better quickly, and we still had time to head out with the John Gray crew to canoe under the Hong’s! This trip is always so much fun, and a really wonderful way to spend a day out on the water. The John Gray team are so good at looking after us and ensuring we all have lots of fun whilst seeing some of the most spectacular sights. This year didn’t let us down, and it was Logan’s 1st time. He absolutely loved it, and was very well looked after by everyone. Kai’s favorite moment was definitely the canoe run! They tie the canoes together end to end off the back of the main boat, then everyone try’s to run over the top of them all and make it right to the end! He was a little nervous at first and didn’t want to do it, but he saw how useless hiss Dad was at it and decided to give it a go! A couple of practice runs and he was making it to the end, no problem!! As the sun started to set, we made our Kratong’s from bamboo and flowers, ready to release as part of the final canoe trip into the caves in complete darkness. A very special moment, and a wonderful way to finish the day.

Then before we knew it, we were heading off. Not home yet as we had a couple of days in Bangkok planned as I had a meeting regarding a potential job in Thailand (very exciting prospect, as we have always fancied living in Thailand!). I spent about half a day meeting my potential new boss and visiting one of their distribution centres, meanwhile Lyra and the kids hung out at the pool. Then during the evening we met up with Martina & Matthew at our old favorite Cabbages & Condoms. A great way to end our trip, and we got to celebrate Alex’s birthday too! And then, it was time to head home to Kuwait after another epic holiday in Thailand!

No sooner were we home when it was Mrs C’s birthday! After being woken up early for school, Ly met the girls for lunch at the Radisson Blu, was bestowed with flowers and gifts, and waited eagerly for us all to return home from school and work, for the official celebration to begin. Furnished with a G&T, it was gift time!! The rest of the evening was just us looking after Lyra, as the big party was planned for the weekend.

The 3 day weekend began with breakfast in bed for Mum created by our own junior master chef champ, Kai, with a cup of tea made by Indi!! Logan helped by trying to eat it!! Then it was the Grand Finale of Mr & Mrs 2017 / Lyra’s birthday Bash! The 3 finalist couples Jo and Jonathan Gwyn, Katie & Graeme Gardiner, and Thea & Dave Green, were joined by wild card entry Susan and Karl Davies. This time there was an audience and the tension grew throughout the rounds, until finally Jo & Jonathan were crowned Mr & Mrs 2017!!! Once the official ceremony was complete it was time to concentrate on the main event, celebrating Lyra’s Birthday!! A rather large cheesecake, with a subtle number of candles was presented, and the party got into full swing! Although, as with most parties, for Lyra it ended too soon!

The following day brought more fun though as we joined The Markham’s on their boat, for a cruise around the Kuwait shoreline. A beautiful sunny day, and calm waters meant we could moor up and enjoy the warm waters and partake in a couple of illicit beverages! We eventually made it down to Anna & Will’s and they canoed / paddle boarded out to meet us. A few of us even had a go at the paddle boarding, Indi took to it like a duck to water, me.... not so much!

Then to finish off this 3 day weekend we had a belated birthday party for Kai (Yes, another one!) at the TES swimming pool! 2 hours of swimming madness for Kai, his mates, plus Indi and Logan (with a few of their friends too), ending with a feast of pizza and Minecraft birthday cake!!

The Madness of May! Spring time in Kuwait, temperatures rising, thinking about the end of school coming, so there is always lots to pack in. This May was no exception.

The madness at home centered around those two little white fluff balls we had taken ownership of a few months back. The cute little kittens were growing in size and attitude. Nobody was safe! If they weren’t climbing curtains, they were pouncing on your head whist sitting at the desk or on the sofa! Even Izzy wasn’t safe, they found great amusement at attacking Izzy’s tail, bless Izzy, she was amazingly patient with them, but every now and then she would get a bit over zealous with the playing and almost eat them!!

The big event of May was Thea and Dave’s leaving do! Fancy dress was the order of the day, with the theme of Britishness! And Britishness was what they would get, Carl went as James Bond, very dapper, I went as Sid Vicious, rockin it!, Kai was St George, Logan was the Dragon, Syd was a chimney sweep, but stealing the show was Lyra and Jackie as Patsy and Edina from Ab Fab!! They had the characters off to a tee and completely looked the part too, absolutely hilarious!! And to top it off, India went as Saffy, Edina long suffering Daughter, again, Indi managed to pull off the character perfectly! Not sure whether it was all her acting experience, or simply teenage attitude, but it worked!! It was a brilliant night out, and the costumes were out of this world, a fitting send off for such a well loved family!!

Next up was Logan’s TES end of year show! Logan had loved his first year at TES in KG, and they put on a lovely show. Logan’s class did a safari number with Logan and his friends dressed as safari adventurers meeting all different kinds of animals. It was brilliantly done as always and Logan loved his stage debut, Indi and Kai watch out, we have another thespian in the making!!

Lucky boy Logan, has two birthday parties in May, first up was our neighbors eldest Tarek, they all headed off to Trampoline for an hour of crazy bouncing, then filled themselves with and endless pile of goodies, all themed with Tarek’s favorite Batman! Next it was Laila from his class. This was a typical, girls, Arabic Princesses birthday party! All pink, embarrassing games, that a poor little English boy had no idea what was going on! Thankfully his classmate Ben was also there so they could at least hang out together and try and stay out of the limelight!! Still lots of lovely grub was served and they got free entrance into the play area which they both loved!

Kai and I had a real treat one Saturday. Our beach Club, The Corniche, had recently signed up Aston Martin as their key sponsor, and they had a brand new DB11 in the reception which Kai and I loved to drool over whenever we were there. The security guard tasked with making sure nobody climbed all over it told us that we could arrange a test drive! So Kai and I took this beautiful super car for a spin up and down the Gulf road! It lived up to all the hype, beautifully finished inside (although a little tight in the back for Kai), complete luxury, and a hell of a drive too. We got to test the ‘nutter mode’, when you switched it on the car physically dropped into a more aggressive stance, and then when you hit the gas it simply exploded away from the lights!! The feeling and the sound of the incredible engine was unbelievable!! I don’t think Kai and I will forget it in a long time! At $200k I think it will be the only time we drive one though!!!

As Indi was in Year 8 at TES, it was her final year at the school before having to move on. To celebrate graduating from Year 9 TES put on all sorts of events, which kicked off with the Year 9 fashion show. This is a year long project that all year 8’s participate in, and they have to design, make, and model an outfit at the show! This is a big show, with a proper cat walk, all the lighting and animated backdrops, with audience of several hundred! As you would expect, this was something Indi was very excited about and pushed on by her art and DT teachers Indi put together an pretty wild and fantastic outfit. There was a little help from Mum to keep her on time and to get her over the line, but the final result was amazing! Her Phoenix outfit drew gasps from the crowd, not only because it was so striking, but also because this was mild mannered, super responsible, top student India! Nobody had seen this side of Indi at school, and people were stunned! She filled the stage with the great presence we know she has, and she had a killer catwalk strut, that just seemed to come naturally! Indi and all of her year put on an incredible show, we were so proud of what she had done!!

Next on the leaving schedule was the TES Year 8 Prom! Now this isn’t some kids party, oh no. This is a full on Prom, with some kids spending a fortune on dresses. Our Indi, the hippy that she is, was not at all interested in going out and getting a dress, she just wore one of her Mum’s!! She still looked stunning though. The evening began with a meet up at one of the kids houses for photos and general posing! Then it was off to the Jumeirah Hotel in Stretch Limo’s!! The dinner itself was all held behind closed doors, but was a lovely dinner, speeches, award ceremony, and a dance. India walked away with the Most Creative award, very fitting for our budding actress, musician, singer, writer, artist!!!

Still hanging on to May madness, we ended the month with a rare treat, a visitor!! Our Stephi, took the plunge and joined us for a week, during Ramadan!! She had a great week, visiting the sights, Kuwait towers, the souks, and the Martyrs museum, which is a house that has been left as a memorial of the Kuwaiti resistance movement from the Gulf war. Stirring stuff.

Next in Indi’a epic final year at TES was her overseas residential. The lucky young lady was off to France for a week of outward bounds! It was a little emotional to say goodbye to Indi for a week, knowing that she would be so far away, but she was just excited (probably because she would have a week away from her Brothers!!). To make that evening more exciting, the cats has a good go at scuppering the plan. Aurora managed to push her head through a small hole in the back of one of our wooden cabinets (no idea why or how!), ridiculously she simply could not get her head back out!! It took a hammer and chisel to break open the back of the cabinet to release her! Despite all that, we still managed to get Indi to the airport to meet up with the school and fly off as planned!!

Contact with Indi while she was away was non existent as students were not allowed phones on the trip. Our only updates were daily tweets from the teachers and a few photos. Still it always looked like they were having a ball!

While Indi was away, Logan took advantage and had his best buddies around for a play date. Sam, Ben, and Pol had a blast, lots of time bouncing on the trampoline, and they especially enjoyed Logan’s newly acquired sky landers figures for the Wii and PlayStation!!

Kai also grabbed the limelight while his Sister was out of town, he had the lead role in the Wizard of Oz and wowed the audience with a brilliant performance, and really took a lead on ensuring all of his fellow cast members were on cue and delivered. Great acting, and great leadership from Kai!

Not to be out done, Kai had his mates around too, Truman, Christian, and ??? As usual it was a mix of PlayStation, trampoline, nerf wars, eating us out of house and home, and trying to sleep as little as possible!!

Following on from Brian’s epic 50th last year, a smaller, quieter gathering was arranged to celebrate his 51st, the kids had a great time in the pool, and we enjoyed the wonderful hosting of Suzanne!!

And then, in the middle of the night, Indi returned!! It was great seeing her smiling face come through those doors at Kuwait airport, we really missed her, but she had the time of her life! Staying in wooden huts, at one with the local wildlife, hiking, cycling, kayaking, building rafts, climbing through the trees on high wires, and generally bonding with her class mates before they all depart on their separate journeys. A truly wonderful experience.

With everyone back together, all that was left was the end of school year celebrations and goodbyes!!

For Logan, he had finished his first year at TES, his lovely teacher Miss Sutton has made a wonderful impression on Logan, and he would miss her dearly. Little did we know then, but Miss Sutton would leave Kuwait that summer, so he really did have to say a big goodbye. The class has a lovely party, and the Miss Sutton, and her Assistant Miss Lisa were given lovely gifts from all the parents for a great year in KG1!

In Kai’s year it was a pretty straight forward, see you next term, have a great summer, but of course for Indi, it was goodbye to TES for ever... as you would expect, it was a bit emotional. India’s crew, The Infinity club, consisted of Jazmine (Heading to UK), Rosie (Heading to Farhaheel school), Crystal (Heading to the UK), Gabriella (returning to home schooling), and Sydnii (staying with Indi at BSK).

TES had a final assembly to say farewell to the Year 8’s, they all received a goodbye pack that included a wonderful year book, looking back at their time in TES, and then it was time for lots of hugs, tears, and photos. India’s two stints at TES were wonderfully fulfilling, and will no doubt stay with her throughout her life. It really was the end of an era!

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!! Yes, it may only be mid June, but in Kuwait it is the start of 10-12 weeks of summer hols!! Kuwait empties during the summer, as those not working fly off around the world to destinations not baking in 50C heat! This year we didn’t all head off straight away. The kids had some time at home, Kai even got to continue Rock Band for another week. Lyra and I on the other hand, headed to Portugal for our annual reboot at Juicy Oasis in the hills and forests north of Lisbon. This year however, it was not going to be the trip we expected. It had been a particularly dry and hot summer in Portugal, and there were a number of serious forest fires burning, in fact the day we arrived there was a horrific tragedy where about 30 people were killed in their cars running from the fires. It was not unusual to see the fire planes landing in the lake opposite Juicy Oasis to fill their tanks and fly off to drop their loads on the fires, but on day two of the retreat, we came out of our evening Yoga session to find the sky black with smoke. It was very frightening and everyone was very worried for their safety. The team at the retreat had spoken to the police and fire brigade who had told us to stay put, but be ready to go if things turned worse. We spent a nervous evening watching the hill tops for signs the fires were coming our way, then at about 10PM, the call came, we had to evacuate. As we stepped outside the air was filled with ash and smoke, and the top of the hill was glowing orange from the fires in the next valley. The police evacuated us all to a small town about 20kms away and we spent the night at a very hot, and uncomfortable scout hut. However, everyone was relieved to be away from the danger. Not a lot of sleep was had, but the next morning we were told the the retreat had not been caught in the fire, and the area was under control. We could go back.

Whilst we were very grateful that the resort had been spared, for us, the relaxing, reboot, and detox we had planned was over. We could not feel safe and relaxed with all that was still going on all around us, so Lyra and I decided to leave. We headed over to Lisbon, and spent a couple of nights looking around the city. It was the first time we had ever spent anytime in Lisbon, and it’s a wonderful place to spend a few days. We had looked at rearranging our flights, but in the end we decided to stay in Portugal, and heading up the coast a little to a lovely town called Cascais. We stayed at a Sheraton resort which was set in some lovely grounds and just chilled out. After all the unexpected excitement it was just what we needed.

While all this was going on, DKSH (the company I had met in Thailand earlier in the year) had finally offered me the job, and the package we needed to say yes! So with the backdrop of all this chaos, we signed up to yet another move, we would be heading to Thailand at the end of the year! A cause for celebration!

Once we were all back together in Kuwait, we had a few days to be together and enjoy some time at the Corniche club before it was time for Lyra, Indi, KaI, and Logan to head off for their summer tour of Europe! We had an emotional goodbye in the airport, then that was it, they would be gone for 2 months! Thankfully I had a couple of weeks in the middle where we would get back together for our holiday, but it was the start of my long, lonely, Kuwaiti summer. 

Lyra, the kids, and Padema flew to Istanbul first, with the kids enjoying the inflight entertainment as always! Once into Istanbul, they picked up their mini bus and driver to take them up to St Vlas in Bulgaria. All went well, apart from at the border between Turkey and Bulgaria, there was some challenges regarding Padema’s visa. Mainly due to the lack of knowledge of the Border Police, but it took them an age to understand and then let them through! Thankfully, they eventually made it to our apartments, and met up with Joyce and Jim for a couple of weeks of beach fun, with our wonderfully crazy Binfield posse!

The days were spent between the beach, the pool, the beach bar, and a rather nice collection of St Vlas’s finest eatery’s!! The pictures speak for themselves, although I must point out one particular night where they all went to some big entertainment tent, and sang Tom Jone’s numbers at the top of their voices! The pictures of Padema and India’s reaction are priceless!!!

After a couple of weeks of living it up with Joyce and Jim, they said goodbye, and all flew back to Istanbul. Padema then headed back to Kuwait, and Ly and the kids headed across to see our lovely friend Ebru in Istanbul for a couple of nights. Of course Ebru was treated to the full Culvey kid experience, so I am sure that two nights was enough to finish her off, but they had a lovely time catching up, and again enjoying lovely dinners out, and casual days by the pool!

Next, it was time to hit France, and meet up with me!! Yes, it was our official summer holiday!!

This was a complex logistical challenge, with Me flying in from Kuwait, Nanny & Grampy flying in from England, then Ly and the kids flying from Istanbul! Stage one went well, I landed on time, picked up the hire car, and then found Nanny & Grampy. From here though the wheels started to come off! Ly and the kids landed on time and I was there to meet them. We popped into M&S at the airport to grab some essentials and then headed back to the hire car place for Lyra to pick up her car. Shockingly though we discovered that the hire car place shit at 8pm!! Nobody had mentioned this to us, no even when I had picked my car up and hour earlier and had mentioned that my wife was flying in a bit.....

So we switched into problem solving mode! Renting another car at such short notice was going to be extortionately expensive, so we were left with me making two runs to the house we had rented in Moisson . It was only 100km away!! So that’s what we did, Lyra and India waited at the airport while I took Nanny, Grampy, Kai, & Logan, plus some luggage in a little Fiat Punto out to the house! We found the house, the landlady was lovely, and the house was amazing! We unloaded, and I jumped back in to the car and was off back to the airport as quick as I could! An hour and a half later, Ly and Indi were in the car and we headed back to the house once again! By about 1am, we were all safely at the house, and I collapsed!!

It was all worth it though as the house was simply wonderful, set within a huge garden, running down to the banks of the river Seine, surrounded by beautiful countryside and a nice little village. Perfect.

Nanny & Grampy were with us for almost a week and we hung out at the house, played in the inflatable pool, took walks along the river, had a crepe in the village, and even headed out to explore the local villages and castles. Close by was also Claude Monet’s house and gardens, Nanny & Grampy spent the day there and said it was lovely! We also had the pleasure of meeting up with Marcelle, Mazen, Chloe, and Chad, from Kuwait. They came and spent the day at the house and we all had a great day catching up, chilling in the garden, bouncing in the pool, and even a big game of boule!

Before we knew it the week was done, I dropped Nanny & Grampian back to the airport, and the following day our next bunch of visitors arrived, Abi, Nich, Kiera, Cam, and Harry!! Now that certainly livened things up a bit!! The garden days around the pool were a bit madder, the lunches and dinner’s were bigger, and there was definitely a lot more wine and beer!!

After a few days chilling around the house we decided to do some discovering of the area. We took the river ferry across to the other side where there was a lovely village to wander around, a particular favorite was the ice cream shop!!

Our friends Marcelle and Mazen had been coming over to France every year for a while and now they were on a hunt for a place to buy in preparation of their post Kuwait retirement. As they had also rented a house about an hour away from ours we decided to head over to theirs for the afternoon in a beautiful village, Courgent. The house they had rented was stunning, very old and full of character. We spent some time in the garden having lunch, then headed off for a walk around the area. The village and general area were lovely, some great views, and wonderful houses. Then it was back to the garden to chill for the remainder of the day...

After a recovery day in the garden, we headed to La Roche Guyon to see the castle! We started in gardens and wandered around the village, then after much debate we decided to tour the castle and climb to the top of the main tower! There was a labyrinth of rooms and corridors as we slowly made our way towards the tower, but before we knew it, we were standing at the base of a lot of steps... there was only one thing to do, start climbing. We were a bit concerned about how Logan would cope, but we needn’t have been, he was up there like a shot, no problem! It was us oldies that found it tough!! It was tough, but it was worth it, what a view from the top! Incredible.

We were coming towards the end of the trip (well, for me anyway!), before we left though we had been invited next door to the owners place for dinner. Marcelle & Mazen joined us too, and we had a great evening of great company, great food, and of course, great wine! There kids made all of ours feel very at home and they all had a fun evening of running around the huge garden.

Monet’s Gardens was also on our list, so we took a day out to head over and see what all the fuss was about. It was worth it, as they were incredible, an explosion of colour. Indi and Kai discovered their photographic flair with some lovely close ups. Seeing the famous view across the lake with the waterlily’s was wonderful. However, the peace and tranquility was shattered, when  Kai tripped and battered himself on the concrete steps. It really shook him up. We managed to cheer him up with some sprite and ice cream, but what really got him over the incident, was the comedy chickens that were roaming around. We had ‘Half a Lama’, ‘Donald Trump’, and ‘Fluff Butt’!!

Sadly my two weeks were up, and it was time for hugs before I headed off to the airport. Lyra came with me so she could drive the car back, but then it was back to the land of sand for me, and a few more weeks of fun for these guys!!

Their last few days in France were more fun in the sun, they even headed back over the river to find their favorite ice cream shop!

Once back in the UK, it was time for Indi to meet up with Jasmine. They had moved back to the UK from Kuwait, and were living near Reading, so it was great for Indi to be able to spend sometime with her best Bud! Meanwhile, Kai got to meet up with his old Jennett’s Park crew, Daniel F, and Harrison. Logan also got to meet up with Jack, as Taryn came over with her brood!!

Once all back together, it was up to Northampton to meet up with Tanya, Steve, Kyra, and Isaac. Chris and Gemma hosted a dinner with Grandad, Grandma, Auntie, and Uncle. They even managed to get over to Milton Keynes to see Anita and Alan, and catch up Jean, & Co.

While Ly and the kids were dashing around meeting up with everybody (did I mention they also saw Brendan, Judit, and Patrick!) I enjoyed a night at the 4 Seasons as part of it’s opening trial! It was lovely, although spending the time there alone was a bit of a shame.

The main reason to be in Northampton though was of course to attend Tanya and Steve’s wedding!! So they all got dressed up  and joined Tanya, Steve and Co. They even managed a beautiful day of sunshine! Indi joined Claire and Kyra as bridesmaids, Kai was the ring bearer, although at the last minute, Logan joined in and gave one of the rings too! Of course there had to be a comedy moment.... with the boys in charge of the rings, they had been tied on to the cushion, and tied very well, sadly nobody could get them off! Emergency scissors had to be deployed!!

After the ceremony, everyone headed to Wicksteed Park for fun and dancing the night away, as well as the Bride and Groom stuffing cake into each other’s faces!!

Now you would think that, that was enough for one summer, but they weren’t finished, next stop was Poland to see Anna, Harry, Chris, Noah, Finn,and Tess!! They packed a lot into a few days, chillin in the garden, trampolining, climbing high wires, and zip lines through the forest, adventuring in the fields and river,  and a mega game of laser quest!! In between all of this, they were generally all piled in the hot tub!! The pinnacle of the trip though was Finn and Tess’s birthday, and the family Olympic challenges!! The games included archery, team plank walking, and the epic beam bashing!! Not even the rain could dampen spirits, they just made waterproofs out of bin bags!!

Back in the UK, there was still time to dash around to see Brendan, and Judit, the Northampton crew, and Nanny & Grampy down in the West Country. Lyra headed off to London to celebrate Antoinette’s Hen Do, the theme was Breakfast at Tiffany’s, so it was a bunch of Audrey Hepburn’s hitting the Champers!!

Surely now the summer must be over? It must be time to head back to school?? Nope, they headed up North to see the Fitt’s!! They hit York Maze, and spent the day at Bridlington, enjoying a very traditional English day at the beach, they even rented a beach hut! The sun shone, the deck chairs were out, sandcastles were built, and children were buried!!

And then, finally, after about 10 weeks away, they were worn out, and dragged themselves back to Kuwait to join me, and head back to school!

While these guys were trundling around Europe, I headed off to Bangkok again to complete my Assessment Centre, the last stage before I could confirm that we were going to be moving again! All went well, and all was confirmed, we were moving to Bangkok in January!! Excited wasn’t the word! It was tough telling Tony that I would be leaving Alshaya again, but this was a move we simply couldn’t turn down! With that the preparation for the move began, it was a daunting prospect. It felt like we had only just got ourselves straight in Kuwait, and now we were planning to be off again!

It was September, so of course it was time for the kids to get back to school! It was a big day, as Logan was starting in Reception, and for Indi, she had graduated from TES, and was heading to a new school, The British School of Kuwait (BSK).  Kai and Logan headed off with Mum, while I took Indi down to BSK. The boys had a great day catching back up with friends, for Indi and I it was an adventure into the unknown, BSK was mobbed with so many kids, it was crazy. Eventually we managed to work out which bus she would be on to get home, and then find her class. It was a pretty tough ordeal for Indi, very overwhelming. It was tough to walk away and leave her amongst the madness, but it was a test for her resolve! I couldn’t say Indi enjoyed her first day or to be honest, any of her days at BSK, but she did a great job coping for a term.

For the first few weeks of term we had Kai’s Buddy Liam to stay while his parents enjoyed Las Vegas! Poor Indi now has 3 Brothers for a while!!

Hot it may have been, but it didn’t stop the weekends at the Corniche with friends! Spending the day round the pool or down the beach, Lyra and I usually hit the gym, and then as the sun went down it was normally time for some dinner in the restaurant! 

Back at our place, we fired up the fire pit and toasted some marshmallows! Gooey, messy fun for the boys for sure!

Indi and Kai’s piano lessons were going really well, we had started with a new teacher, Helen, she was making the lessons fun, so they were really enjoying it again. Logan had also been asking to learn for a while so Helen took on a new student!! 

Before the end of September, Jackie called the girls together to celebrate her birthday. Her birthday was actually in August, but as everyone was spread across the globe for the summer, the celebrations had to wait! The ladies descended on The Cheesecake Factory, an excellent choice, especially for the cakes!!

As we had Liam staying with us, we decided we might as well invite a few more friends over for the weekend! Both Kai and Indi had guests so the weekend was full of Nerf wars for the boys, and art and chats for the girls! Obviously there were lots snacks and sweets!

I had a trip to my favourite spot, Istanbul for a few days, and I had the chance to meet up with our old friend Ebru! I hadn’t seen her in about 5 years so it was great to catch up. Ebru was planning her wedding so it was lovely to hear all about her plans.

As Kai was enjoying his piano playing again, he joined the TES rock band. They learnt some great numbers, 7 Nation army, Wonderwall, Radioactive! Kai even got to play guitar as well as piano on occasion. Kai’s social life continued to improve, he got to have a night out go karting at a real specialised circuit! Full racing overalls, and great karts, with a fab full on track, that even had electronic scoring! Kai the whizz, even managed to bag the fastest lap!!

It’s October, and that means it’s Logan’s birthday!! 5 years old!! It was a school day, so it was still an early get up. Despite that Logan still managed a present or two! There were cakes at school, and then it was back home for more gifts!! Logan’s favourite for this year was Pokemon, it was cards, bags, pj’s, and a few fidget spinners!! Then it was time to head to, yes, you guessed it, The Cheesecake Factory!! Karim joined us for dinner, shortly after we got to the cake, Loggie’s selected ‘cucumber cake’ (actually key lime pie) poor Loggie was falling asleep at the table!!

At the weekend, of course it was party time!! We started at Trampo, he was joined by Sam, Ben, Pol, Harry, Logan 1, Jason, Adoni, & Tarek. Then it was time to hit Pizza Express. The restaurant was all decorated for Logan, complete with Pokemon cake! But first it was pizza making time, so the little chefs all lined up, with their aprons and hats on! Once created, they all enjoyed devouring them along with about a million dough balls, then ice cream!! After the party, Logan spent the next hour opening and playing with an impressive array of gifts, including power rangers blades, Kylo Ren’s Lightsaber, and many more Pokemon figures!!

Then, jut as we were recovering from Logan’s party craziness, it was time for best friend Sam’s birthday!! So off Logan went dressed as a Spiderman / Batman mash up!! Batman was a very popular choice, but Logan was the only Spider / Bat mash up around!!

While we have been living in Kuwait, we have become used to seeing supercars everywhere, everyday! Kai has really loved this, and never misses a chance to photograph them! He could name you pretty much any car over £200k as it passed you in the street! It is fair to say, Kai has high expectations on his future, a Lamborghini is high on his wish list!!

Kuwait is a very tough place to be a cat or a dog, the mistreatment of these animals is one of the most difficult thing to endure when you are in the Middle East. Thankfully though, there are always those incredible humans that are willing to dedicate their time to making a difference. We have a good bunch of friends that rescue, foster, and re-home abused and abandoned animals. This all carried out at their own expense, and wherever possible via charity donations. We are always trying to help, and sometimes this means we get to enjoy great nights out while giving to this fabulous charity. One such night was a boat trip around Kuwait’s coast line with dinner, and a few drinks. In October, the temperature, especially at night is lovely, so sitting out on the water, looking back at Kuwaits impressive skyline, is a wonderful way to send an evening, topped off by knowing you are helping many abandoned animals find a new life.

Around the middle of October, we were really getting into the swing of sorting out everything in preparation for our move to Bangkok at the end of the year! One of these ‘must do’s’ was to have one last TES pool party! The kids have loved the TES pool and especially for the many parties they have had, and been invited to over the years. So Indi, Kai, and Logan all go to invite a few friends and they had a couple of hours going nuts in the pool, scoffing pizza and a cake showing their life in Kuwait over the years!!

And then there was another party for Logan! This time it was Pol’s, another young man hitting 5!! His party was Minion themed, and everyone was given a Minion t-shirt to wear, except Logan refused as he wanted to remain as Spiderman!!  To add to the fun this weekend, we had the company of Doggy Dog! Yes, Logan was Star of the Week, and part of this accolade is to bring home the class mascot, Doggy Dog!

All in the same weekend was the TES Halloween party and Fair! This is a legendary part of the TES calendar and everyone really goes for it with dressing up, creating halloween stalls, and even a Trunk or Treat car boot spookiness competition that gave the kids another chance to get even more trick or treat sweets!! Our guys really got into the spirit of things. Indi adapted her fashion show phoenix to make it more ghoulish, Kai was a total zombie complete with a severed arm, and a lot of blood, and Logan was a skeletal, batman / Kylo Run!!! In the fair itself, Indi and Kai were part of the ghost train ride and were attacking the train as it went around  all dressed up as ghouls etc! Brilliant fun!

As we headed towards the end of October, Lyra made a quick trip over to England, for Antoinette’s wedding, and to pick up a stack of Christmas presents! During this time, she sadly missed Indi and Kai in Beatrix Potter’s 14th Birthday, the latest One World Actors play! Indi played the lead as Beatrix Potter telling her stories, while the other cast acted them out. Kai did a fab job of Jeremy Fisher! Logan, Karim, and myself were in the crowd and loved every minute of it! This was just a prelude to a much bigger version, which sadly, as we were leaving Indi and Kai would not be part of, a great shame, but a lovely last show for them with One World!!

It was now only 2 months away from the big move! The pressure was building for sure, so much to do! However, as it was half term, it was time to fly off and spend a week in our new home of Bangkok! Two main objectives, find somewhere to live, and settle on a school for the kids! The journey over went smoothly, and we were staying in a really nice apartment in Ekkamai. We settled nicely into the place on the first day, Lyra and I even managed to pop out to a nice pub just down the road to enjoy a real beer!! We stayed too long though as India started ringing us to see where we were!! She has such strong Mothering instincts! Although apparently having two Brothers has put her off kids for life!!

The next day however, it was down to business, house hunting! We were picked up by our real estate agent Mark Prado, and he had a full list of places to visit. Mark was amazing, originally from the US, he has been in Bangkok for approx. 20 years! His insights, and advice were so helpful. 1st house on the list was in a place called Moo Baan Panya. We drove through the ‘village’ it was very big, and had a nice club house, but some places looked a bit old, we weren’t keen…… Then we pulled up outside the prospective house….. we all loved it immediately!! We went in and it just got better, we went into the garden, saw the pool, and that was it, sold!!

Of course we had to look at more houses as no deal had been done. We spent two more days looking in fact, but every house we went to, the kids were no! House no. 1!! Luckily for them, we were able to the deal, we had found our house!

With the house done, it was time to look at schools, prior to arriving, we had got it down to two, Brighton College, and Pattana School. 1st up was Brighton, this was a new school, only opened two years before so was still quite small. We had spoken to the Head, David, on Skype before we came over, in fact, India had interviewed him at length about the school to be sure she was ok with it!! Everything about Brighton was amazing, the teachers, the other students we met, all wonderful. The facility itself was incredible, It has an olympic sized pool, football pitch, athletics track, full blown theatre, recording studio, and then the general social areas, and classrooms were amazing. We were clown away. We thought about cancelling our visit to Pattana as Brighton was so good. But we thought it was important to have a comparison. Pattana also proved to be an amazing facility, it was a much bigger school, about 1,500 kids, and we just didn’t get the same feel as we had got at Brighton. Brighton has really given us a sense that they would focus on developing good humans, not just educated ones, so our decision was made, the kids were going to Brighton College!.

With all that success in a few days, we deserved to chill out, so we did, around the pool at our apartment building. Logan has just got to the point where he could swim without arm bands, so he spent the next day giving his Mum a heart attack by jumping into the pool at the deep end and then swimming back to the side! It was so great to see him swimming on his own now! He was truly loving his new found freedom in the water.

Of course it has to end, there was much to do in Kuwait, so we headed home again, but we’re all excited to get back to Bangkok to start our new adventure!!

November was here, it was less than two months to go! We had to get moving with the plans. First up was to sell my car, my fabulous Cadillac CTS… 

Of course the ever active social scene in Kuwait was still a draw, 1st weekend back, we had a wine tasting competition. Considering this was Kuwait, of course, we are talking about home brew, who was producing the best, crappy home brew! It was a blind taste test, with scoring completed after each round! The variety was wide, reds, whites, kind of rosé… there was the ‘oh my god that’s horrific’ ones, there was the ‘that’s not even wine!’ ones, and there was even the ‘huh, not bad’ one. Of course the was the winner! And it was brewed by none other that Anna & Will Dodd!!

For Logan, the parties still hadn’t finished! He had another TES pool party, for Theo’s party! Of course he loved it, ate lots of cake, and of course enjoyed one last TES swim.

The rest of our time was filled with taking photo’s of our furniture and things, and placing them on facebook groups to sell, it was an all emcompassing experience, with people writing to you and calling you endlessly. So many people try to get your things for nothing, it got a little tedious! But within this, you also met some really nice people, people just trying to establish themselves, people you were very happy to let you take over your stuff to help them.

Since September, Kai had been working on his last performance at TES, he was the lead role, the Captain in The Sound of Music. It was a role that Kai wasn’t initially keen to do because it involved singing a solo. However, after conversations with us, his friends, and his music teachers, Kai finally agreed to take on the challenge. Along with this, he also decided to learn the guitar, so he could also play it on stage for his big number Edelweiss. Helen, his piano teacher, also started coaching Kai on the guitar part, and he was doing amazing. As a practice he sang and played the guitar at a charity concert, India also played piano at the concert. It is always so lovely to watch your children perform… you can never tire of it!

Another opportunity to support the animal rescue crew came in November with a great dinner, quiz night, and the debut performance of a band of old balding rockers! We had a great time, and it was kind of the 1st ‘leaving do’ and a lovely night with some great friends.

Talking of leaving do’s. We had planned a big one! Ed Sheeran was playing in Dubai, and 30 of us headed over for a weekend of great music, big parties, and a mega brunch!! Things all started out nice and civilised, we flew over in the morning and headed to the Sheraton 4 Points, where we were staying. We all met on the roof for a few drinks and to watch the sun go down, it was so nice sitting in the sun, with great friends, an the view was spectacular!!

As the evening drew in, we climbed into our bus and hit the road for the ‘Autism Rocks Arena’, which is really a stage set up in the desert! As you can imaging the traffic was a bit of a nightmare but we had beers on the bus so everyone was having a great time, so before we knew we had arrived! We found our way in, a picked a good spot to watch the gig, hit the beer tent and reach the Loo’s! Ed of course was brilliant, it was his last gig of the year so he really went for it! Everyone of course sang there hearts out and by the end of the night we were all completely hoarse!

Incredibly, we actually managed to find our bus driver on the way out! In amongst the thousands of people we stumbled straight to it, getting out was certainly a challenge but when you aren’t the driver, at least we could sit back and let it all happen! A class night out for sure and thankfully we were all a bit knackered and conscious of a big day to come, so we all crashed out without hitting the bar (well at least I think we All did!).

The next day was Friday and it was brunch day! Brunches in Dubai are legendary parties, basically a pay one price, then eat and drink yourself silly, and that is just what we did! There was more than 40 of us booked for brunch, so you can imagine, it wasn’t a quiet affair! With everyone in good spirits from the night before it was great fun chatting, eating, having the odd beer, you get the picture I’m sure!! With everyone well fed, and watered, after the brunch the party continues in the courtyard, with a great 80’s-90’s DJ, and a lot of ‘Dad dancing’!! All this took s through to the early evening where you would think that a bunch of oldies, that ad been on it since 11:00, would hold there hands up and scream enough is enough! However, it seems we had developed magic powers, because from the party, we headed back to the hotel, and back up to the rooftop bar!! This hardened splinter group managed to push on through until approx 03:00 in the morning, only pausing for a late night take away from Nando’s!! Now some of us did switch to lighter drinks (water!), but there were others that really did keep it going until the early hours of Saturday!

The Saturday was very much a day of sleeping! That is until mid afternoon when we had to be back on the road, as it was time to get on that Fly Dubai flight and head back to the sandpit in what would be our last flight back to Kuwait for the foreseeable future!! It was a leaving do of epic proportions, and a fitting celebration with an incredible bunch of friends that we had built up over our 2 stints in Kuwait, and for a select few, much, much longer!

Now it was time to get serious! With just over a month to go, the great sell off hit new heights! The Facebook groups were getting new items on a daily basis and we were fielding hundreds of messages and enquiries for the things we couldn’t bring with us. We did really well, and our things were reducing on a daily basis. What I was starting to sweat about a little though was the fact that we had 2 cars still!! I had advertised my Cadillac for over a month with no interest. Sadly it meant I had to drastically drop the price, and of course that worked. Some lucky guy that actually came round to buy one of our furniture items bought it, he got a great car, for a bargain! I hope he is enjoying driving it as much as I did!!

As the school term was coming to a close, it was time for the big production! Yes, The Sound of Music Premiere had arrived! Kai had worked so hard for this part, overcoming big fears about singing solo on stage, playing guitar in front of a big audience, and of course taking on a challenging leading role as the Captain. Kai had worked so hard over the last few months, not only on perfecting his part, but also coaching the younger members and guiding them through to ensure they all delivered. The big day arrived, and poor Kai had a horrible throat infection! Even with that, he soldiered on through it. His performance was one of those defining moments when as a parent your pride just explodes out of your heart and you sit there watching your son deliver a mature, emotional, and accomplished performance, plus, sing and play the guitar to Edelwiess, in front of 300 people with a screaming throat infection. Pride, just doesn’t cover it, I will never forget that evening, he simply rocked it!! Everyone was falling over themselves to shower him with compliments, but I think it was his piano and guitar tutor Helen that summed it up, no words, just a huge tearful hug!! I hope Kai remembers that night for a long time, he was very emotional afterwards as he was truly suffering g and could barely speak afterwards, he had given his all, conquered, and e ad nothing left at the end. Just  a simple smile as people hugged and shook his hand....

And then it was December!! And December started with an unexpected arrival... a young elf named Belfy (apparently he is the Boss Elf) accompanied by advent calendars, a promise of a fun few weeks together, and a warning that he reports to Santa every night, so Logan had better be a good boy!! Belfy’s arrival created a buzz of excitement Logan, and Indi and  Kai, for Mum and Dad, the emotion was more centered on ‘oh my god time is running out!!’ All through the next 24 days, young Belfy got himself into all sorts of mischief and strife! Every morning we found him either being very naughty or stuck in some unfortunate position! Whether it was swinging from the chandelier, taped to a box and about to be shipped of with our furniture, parting with the other teddies, or scoffing biscuits, there was always something to be discovered! Like a good boy though, Logan made sure Belfy could report back to Santa eac night that he was a good boy and deserved a visit on Christmas Eve!!

We also kicked off December with a Christmas party in the desert!! A bunch of, mostly in 4x4’s, although a few in badly equipped standard cars, hit the sand and ad a big BBQ amongst the only hills in the Country, Mutla Ridge! The kids climbed up to the top of hills, the adults got the BBQ’s going, and we had a great day together. It was a bit drafty and at times the sand blasts were a bit much. So much so that Indi chose to hide in the car for most of the day!! However, the rest of us made the most of a fun environment, and great company, we even hired quad bikes and blasted up and down the hills. For the boys, this was the best bit! Kai got to ride is own, and Logan had me as his driver and we blasted around the sand dunes for an hour or so!! After all this madness it was time to tuck into the BBQ!

As the clear out continued we filled up our unsold car with toys and books and headed down to the TES Christmas car boot sale. We did pretty well, but Logan was working hard to buy as much as we sold! Thanks must go to Marcelle too, for giving away the hot wheels car track!! I’m sure we’ll find space for it in the container!! Following this glowing success, we had advertised a basement sale, many people phoned and bought a lot of the big stuff before the day but we filled our basement with toys and all sorts of things, labelled them all up and prepared for the onslaught….. 2 people came, and they bought about 5 things… awesome!

We may have been moving in approximately 3 weeks, but nothing was going to stop us having a Christmas! So out came the Christmas treason came the lights, and the very next day, that Belfy was on the top messing with the star!!

The kids term at school was coming to an end, and at TES it was a busy time! First up, was the school concert, showcasing the skills of the Childrens musical prowess. Kai was appearing as part of the school rock band! On piano, they banged out Radioactive by Imagine Dragons!! They truly rocked it! The coolest performance of the night!

After another wonderfully successful year with One World Actors it was time to celebrate. The group were having an end of year celebration and award giving evening hosted by the key sponsor, the Al-Ghanim family. The party was at their beach front home, which of course was incredible, and huge!! The kids had done some rehearsals there, but tonight we were seeing more of their incredible home.

Indi and Kai received there LAMDA awards for their monologues they had performed a few months back, plus Indi received a 2nd special award for the work she had done supporting the production side swell as her on stage acting. It was a lovely evening, where we all got to dress up, and after the ceremony, the Al-Ghanim’s allowed us to see their wonderful Christmas decorations around the house which included a very big tree, a full size Santa that reacted when you approached him, plus a huge gingerbread house!!

As we closed in on Christmas, the packers arrived for phase 1. We had agreed to let the packers in to pack all non essential stuff prior to Christmas and then return after to complete the job.

The piano remained, and Helen their tutor even came round for a lesson at ours, dressed in her PJ’s!! (It was PJ day at school I think!).  This was followed by Helen’s Christmas Gig at her place.  All 3 of the kids performed. Kai on the guitar, and the piano, Indi on the piano, and Logan doing his singing!! A great day enjoyed by a chosen few. Following that gig, Kai has one last gig with the school rock band, they showcased all the songs that had learnt for their families at Jack Mael’s place. They were so good, if they could have continued together they would have been able to draw a paying crowd! Great experience for Kai though, this and the Sound of Music had really re-ignited his desire to play!

Then suddenly it was the end of school, and as they were heading off, these were big emotional days. Logan’s party saw him presented with this great big card where all his classmates had printed their hands all over it, Logan was very excited to get it from his classmates. For Kai and Logan, there were lots of photos with their Buddies and promises to keep in touch! But for us that wasn’t enough, so we invited them all back to ours for a party!! After dinner, the games started. Kai even recreated his dance from The Sound of Music with Lilly, watched carefully by the other girls there… ;-) For Indi, to be frank, it 

One thing Logan had wanted to do since, well, forever, was to come and see me in my office, so in my last week at Alshaya Logan came over and we did some work together. It was great fun, Logan was a very popular all around the office, it was a fun afternoon, for us both!

On the 21st, I walked out of Alshaya for the last time. It was a very strange feeling (having done it once before 6 years perviously). The whole team were absolutely wonderful and gave me a great send off. Driving out of those gates thinking I will probably never return again felt like a big moment. We were heading away from the Middle East, this time to our dream destination. A big day, but we keep looking forwards and enjoying the ride!

Finishing work can mean only one thing! It was time for the parties to begin!! On Friday night we invited everyone round to ours for one last party before we said goodbye to the house! The usual gang were there and we had a great night laughing about all the great times spent together, and dreaming of our next stop and how amazing it will be! 

Saturday night was the 23rd, and that means Lyra and my wedding anniversary! We decided that despite all the craziness of our pending move, we should get out and enjoy a little bit of ‘us time’. It was lovely, we went to the new Four Seasons hotel and checked out their new Japanese place. It was absolutely wonderful. We eat sushi pretty regularly and you become kind complacent about what it is, but having sushi in this place showed us just how good it could be. The taste was amazing, and each plate was like a work of art! It was also lovely to slow down and just be with each other for a short while. We were both pretty exhausted from the preparation to move, so to step away, take a breather, and just be together was perfect. A timely reminder of how important it is to keep making time for us, and to celebrate the joy of each other.

Sunday was Christmas Eve, and we headed over to Susan and Karl Davies place for early drinks before everyone headed home to prepare for the big day! It was especially nice for Kai as he got the chance to hang out with Ruby again. These two had become good friends and were going to miss each other, without a doubt. Once we got home again, it was time to prepare for Santa to come. Outside the house, Logan sprinkled the magic reindeer dust to help them know where to land, and left the magic key that would let Santa in, as we don’t have a chimney! Indoors, Belfy was getting ready to head off with Santa and we made sure Santa had some mince pies, a little tipple, and of course some carrots for the hungry reindeers!! Then it was time to get to bed!!

Christmas Day had arrived!!!! Despite all that was going on, we were sure that this day was still going to be super special!! The day began early (no surprise there), before 6am Lyra and I were woken by the monitor (yes, we still hadn’t packed that up!) Logan and Kai getting very excited that Santa had been and left them a stocking full of lovely things!! Was just laid there and listened for a while, but eventually headed down to see them! What was more of a surprise was that Indi was up too and was equally as excited!! It was a lovely start to the day, but we did manage to get them to chill out for a while before actually kicking the day off! Lyra and I shuffled back to bed for a while!!

Once up, we had a nice breakfast of eggs, and salmon, and then it was present time!! The excitement was at fever pitch, especially from Logan!! The gifts were handed out by Santa Kai, and then the settled down to open them up and enjoy what they had been given. Everyone was very happy with their lot, Indi and Kai got phones, they had been using very old iPhones from us, so they were both upgraded to 6S’s, two very happy big kids, and Logan was beside himself with happiness, as it was this Christmas that he was upgraded to an iPad mini!! Just like his Brother! For Lyra, I actually managed to surprise her for once! I got her a Nespresso machine, which she was completely unaware of! You have no idea how difficult that it is, but for once I managed it!! I was the lucky recipient of a new Apple Watch! Upgraded to the waterproof, GPS model! Happy smiley people all round!!

This Christmas we decided that trying to have a proper Christmas dinner and all that with our house all packed up was going to be a tough one, so we were overjoyed when Jackie and Carl invited us to theirs for a big Christmas Party!! We headed over around Midday, and about 20 of us sat down for an amazing Christmas dinner! The Aingers really know how to through a party, and this one was no different, we ate ourselves silly!! And that wasn’t all, the rest of the day was filled with games, and a few drinkies, even a bit of karaoke!! I don’t think anyone will forget the potato game!! We were so grateful to be able to have such a brilliant day, just before moving on, although it did make it even harder, as we were reminded yet again at the wonderful friends we had in Kuwait, very special indeed.

Once that was all done, it was head long into completing the packing and get the animals off to the boarding where they would stay until we left. It was a busy few days, but it all got done, everything fitted into the container, yes, (just the one!!) the house was empty!! We wandered around, and felt a little sad, but it was time to close the door, hand the keys back, say goodbye to Surra, and crash out at our temporary pad in Sharq. It was just us, Padema, and 10 suitcases!!

That just left New Years Eve… and Jackie and Carl threw open their doors once again (how can we ever thank these guys enough) and everyone partied until the year was over! Ending the year, and an epic period in our lives in the hot, dusty, sandpit of Kuwait. We were heading off to the land of smiles, but we would always look back so fondly on our crazy years is this odd corner of the world where we made some of the most amazing friends of our lives.

And then it was 2018…..