Hello again, friends! Sorry for the long blog hiatus – we had a few days of holidays for the Islamic celebration of Eid Al-Adha. Holidays would mean I am at home and when I am at home, it’s not a holiday. You know what I mean?

I had 4 days of off from work and with the husband having odd hours of work schedule for this busy season of shopping (he works at a mall), it’s just me and the kids. It’s a pity he has to work until 3 am. I could not imagine being able to do the same!

Anyway, the children are just too happy to be able to finally go out and play. Just feel the fresh grass under their little feet.

Or bask in the sun.

Those simple joys.

We also went to the beach so we woke up early on the first day of Eid. Actually, someone was really excited and slept with her swimming costume on! We left the house at 8:00 am, even then I thought we were already ‘late’. This is not a regular Friday (our off here) but the first day of Eid holidays and ALL will be headed to the beach now that the Dubai weather is entering gorgeous on the thermometer. Jumeirah Beach Park opens at 8 am but at 8:30 when we arrived, there were already 6 or 7 vehicles queuing to enter the park.

The children are just too happy to be roaming around free and they can run as much as they can.

And when we got to the beach? They don’t want to ever come out, especially Benjamin!

We had a great family time at the beach and at the park, completely avoided the crowded malls, that were open for 24 hours, by the way for the two days of Eid. Now it’s back to work, school, traffic and our daily grind. When is the next long vacation?

*****

Lastly, so sorry for waiting! The winner of the $50 towards a custom hand-drawn watercolor giveaway from Noomiedoodles is…entry #24 (drawn at random by Rafflecopter): Elizabeth H.! Congratulations, Elizabeth. Enjoy your prize! And thank you everyone for entering.