Our Grandson

I was reminded this afternoon that, with his first birthday also passed, I still have not posted a blog about the arrival, and progress of our first grandchild, a boy - Quinn Mackenzie Stalenberg.  So very remiss of me indeed. And I crave Quinn's forgiveness.

Quinn -  as you read this some time in the distant future, realise your Opa is beginning to suffer from occasional memory lapses. Many have cruelly called it early onset Alzheimer's - but don't believe them. Others claim it is the result of over-indulgence in things vinous -and sadly I'm compelled to admit they may have something there !

Quinn was born to our son Michael and his wife Rebecca (Bec) on June 4, 2011. And a much anticipated arrival it was. We were treated to multiple facebook and private entries on his pre-natal progress, and since then have haunted Mike and Bec at every opportunity for multiple photographs and You-Tube clips.

So Quinn i now 13 months old and is already showing signs of being a lively, intelligent, inquisitive, and delightful boy full of personality. He has passed all the important milestones of teething, crawling and mischief making expected of a 1-year-old and more. He has learnt to swim and has a good voice, which is exercised at all the right times.  Last week, he finally got his wish and talked his parents into buying a new car.

So welcome Quinn - We miss you and wish we could share much more time with you. - Rest assured that when we return permanently to Oz, we will assuredly make up for lost time. Temporary kidnappings may be required !!

Time is slipping by

Well, this blogpost is rather overdue indeed. Looking back there are no posts for many months so I thought I would just bring it up to date and maybe try and make a commitment to keeping it so. We have really just become very lazy! I think there are two things that make it this way - one of them is that life is life wherever you are and maybe we are slipping into thinking that it is all not so exotic anymore. What silly thinking! I think we are taking it all for granted and perhaps letting this jetsetting life become humdrum to us. The other thing is that when we are both working and busy it is not always the first thing we think of to update the blog! I also think that membership of Facebook has taken a toll on our journalistic skills and that has meant we rely on Facebook both to receive and to send out news and that is really not such a great idea.

So where are we up to now? Well Cheryl has had just over 18 months working for Cognition Education Limited and Ron is still with the Abu Dhabi Education Council. Cheryl has been the HR Consultant for the company working across the region and getting in some trips to some far flung places like Kuwait and Qatar. However that position has now been defunded, meaning that Cheryl's job will end soon and she is once again looking for work in Abu Dhabi. Ron has continued with ADEC and in addition to managing his cluster of schools has also been acting Head Cluster Manager a few times for the Abu Dhabi Island group and is currently the acting Manager of all the Cluster Managers! He is really enjoying the work.

Life in the Enirates has always been interesting and different and that remains the case. We have been able to develop a core of wonderful friends from the work we are doing and the community we live in. Moraig and Brian Minns have become close friends and we spend quite a lot of time with them. Liz and Mark Stevens have moved to Dubai and we don't see them quite so much but love to catch up when we can. The ADEC bunch that Ron works with is typically a gregarious and interesting group of people and the same applies to the Cognition staff. So it is quite pleasant to be here.

There have been troubles in this region over the last 12 months with the emergence of the Arab Spring, however apart from the significant impact it has had on some of the people we work with whose familes are in those troubled countries we have been largely unimpacted here in the UAE. Many people who have jobs here are finding that they are not able to change positions and that they have had to return to their country of origin. I imagine this is particularly difficult for people who have found safety and security here and now are faced with the prospect of returning to countries where their homes and families are effected. We feel quite safe here and our residency visas are secure as of now.

I will try to get some photos up of recent events over the next week or so - something to bring you up to date with things pictorial!

In the meantime we are safe, well, happy and contented to stay for some time yet.