Dubai Adventure

I have been meaning to share some pics from our recent trip to Dubai for a while. But... I came back exhausted and then who knew Christmas could come at us quicker than one would like! Apologies for the blurry selfie above but I love how naive I am in this pic... Jasper and I just before take off, very excited about our trip, just the two of us for a 14 hour flight to see my sister and her husband. My advice for travelling solo with a 13 month old.... DONT!!! I tried every trick I knew of. We paced the aisles of the plane, I threw toys at him, attempted to get him to watch a bit of tv, let him crawl on the floor. Nothing worked and the further away from Brisbane we got the more overtired and aggravated we became. However we survived, we got there and luckily for me I had an Aunty on arrival who was desperate for some one on one time with my crazy kid.

Dubai, what an amazing city and if you have kids there is no shortage of fun things to do! Most of which are in the biggest shopping malls you have ever seen. Fancy a spot of ice skating or skiing in between shopping? Most of these activities were a bit old for our Jasper but he did enjoy the amazing Aquarium at Dubai Mall, which I believe is the largest indoor aquarium in the world. Generally anything in Dubai is the biggest and largest in the world. This aquarium absolutely fascinated Jasper and I saw a lot of older kids absolutely have a ball!

  

Despite being in desert there are so many beautiful places to wander, shop, eat and bask in. My advice though is take a long top or cardigan for when you are indoors, these people LOVE their aircon. I guess coming from Australia I am used to the heat and yes it is ridiculously hot but I absolutely froze sometimes when we were inside! Sorry for the odd travel tip!

We also joined all the other tourists and went to visit the Gold and Spice souks. Definitely worth a visit if you are travelling there for the first time. Perhaps you'd be interested in a trolley of coconuts?!

Top travel tips for families planning on a trip to Dubai:

1. You will find the shopping malls less crowded when they first open in the morning which is perfect for kids. Locals tend to come out late afternoon and shop late. And, it seems they love to hang out at the malls to escape the heat so it can get busy. Going earlier will mean you'll avoid the queues for all the attractions. Also we tended to go out for dinner earlier which again meant we avoided the rush. 

2. Dubai is actually really spread out across the coast line. Choose a hotel that is fairly central to the mall and make sure they have a transfer or shuttle service to all the sights. Not all are close by and still worth a visit. It helped that my sister had a car to ferry us around.

3. With so many expats living in Dubai you can rest assured you will find most comforts from home readily available. Supermarkets stock items from UK, USA and Australia.

4. You can generally hire or get the hotel to supply cots. I would recommend taking a car seat and a cheap stroller. My sister said that there was a promotion recently on the radio to encourage parents to put there kids in a car seat. I kid you not we saw children jumping on the back seat in a car as we were doing over 100km/h on the highway. A stroller is also a must, those malls are far too big and you will get too excited and want to shop for hours. 

5. Again with the cardigan, I'm not kidding you will freeze otherwise. 

6. The last time I came to Dubai was before Tim and I had Jasper so it was a much different experience. This time around we ate in family friendly restaurants - Jamie Olivers Italian for example was a perfect choice for Jasper. My pick of attractions for kids are the ice skating and ski slope at the malls, the aquarium at Dubai Mall and Atlantis. If you have older kids the Desert Safari tour run by Arabian Adventures is fantastic. 

Summer shorts

 

It used to be the case that great boys clothes were few and far between. You know designs of teddy bears and cutesie prints you really would hate to dress your little guy in. Its great that having been made familiar with everything boy related in Jaspers first year (you know, Tonka trucks, dinosaurs, matchbox cars and trains)  I have found some really cool boys gear and no longer its the girls that have all the fun. Plus there is so much out there that is still quite affordable. 

I have been finding some great boys shorts lately just in time for Summer that I thought I would share (mostly because I had done the ironing which is a rarity these days)...

1. Dont you just love the fabric of these Where's Boy shorts?! Where's Boy is a Sunshine Coast label and has the cutest little boys gear. They have actually just released a new range so make sure you check them out. 

2. BONDS... always the best kids gear. From memory these denim shorts were under $10 from Kmart. Plus if you have a little girl there was the cutest skirt and dress in the same fabric.

3. Channeling a bit of 80s with these Rock Your Kid shorts. I love this label for little boys... although more of an exy find. The shorts are made really well though and Jasper should get lots of wear out of them.

4. Lastly a Kmart find. These dinosaur printed shorts are a great find and fantastic value. 

Have a great week everyone!

Home Stills

 

Our renovation is slowly slowly getting there and we are now on the home stretch (although probably even longer now as we are making so many Dudley Co ride ons so I cant complain!). The new level downstairs is not quite complete but I have been setting up my treasures where I can regardless.  I have a bit of an obsession with succulents at the moment as you may tell. I have made sure young Jasper is far from reach although with each day he gets a little braver, a little more mobile and ever so adventurous. Surely a potted cactus one metre off the ground is safe from little hands right?!

Image one: I love baskets and these Ikea baskets are a steal. From memory I think they are only $9.99 each.

Image two: It's a nice feeling hanging artwork that has been tucked away for over a year back on the wall. Top frame is a birthday card my parents gave me in a Country Road frame. Bottom white plywood artwork is by Maker Studio

Image Three: One happy little cactus about to flower sitting pretty next to my Ginger and Smart candle a lovely friend bought me. The white pot is another great Ikea find. And... Pears in a bamboo steamer - you know these make the best fruit bowls and I think they look great. Plus they are only a couple of dollars from a chinese grocer.

Image four: My current favourite pot collection. I made Tim dig one of our Dragon Trees out of our garden for the big pot recently.  They are so slow growing and I want one to take with me when we decide to sell. The large pot I purchased from Ikea for about $50 a few years ago. It is a galvanised pot and I used oxidising patina to give it the weathered rust look. I noticed Ikea still have some similar galvanised pots if you want to give it a go. It's really easy and I used Langridge Oxidising Patina which you can purchase from most art supply stores. 

Image five: Succulents growing in a pot my mother made... and I stole off her.

Have a great week everyone. Court xo

Happy Birthday to our Jasper

Our little Jasper turned one last week which also meant that Tim and I survived our first year as new parents. Any new parent will know the joy this milestone brings and can completely understand the blur of the last 12 months gone by where many a time you felt like you were just treading water... just! On the flip side parents will know the absolute love that one can have for these young people and what better reason to celebrate than this. To mark the occasion we invited our family and close friends over for a little Sunday morning tea soirée (in hindsight the Sunday morning timing might not have suited those without kids - I didn't actually think of that until now, haha, oh well!).

I attempted the Woman's Weekly number one cake and decorated it with a homemade washi tape garland cake topper. A simple butter cake and icing to take us all back to our own childhood, the best! As Jasper is obsessed with Dudley our dog it was only fitting we had puppy cupcakes as well. 

I decorated the table with large 40cm balloons from Spotlight (you have to ask for them if they aren't on display) and tassels from the very clever Hannah at Divine Drops. I love the copper colour! I also spray painted African animal toys which I found at Kmart. I have seen this done a few times on Pinterest and other blogs and I think they looked so cute! Tim didn't quite understand why we needed to have grey, yellow and white african animals but helped paint them anyway - bless him! 

I also put up some pics of Jasper that I had taken over the last year and put up on Instagram. Was amazing to see him change in each pic and grow that little bit bigger. I ordered them from Printstagram. the quality is fantastic and they were delivered in a couple of days. I purchased the larger size of 24 prints for $12.

Happy Birthday to our little boy. We can't wait to enjoy many more moments, days, years with you... please don't grow too quickly.

Court xo 

Thank you also to our talented friend Radek, who took most of these pics. You can see more of Radek's work here.

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Happy Campers

Last weekend we headed to Byron Bay for some camping fun. With the start of spring here feeling more like summer it was a little disappointing to arrive to cloudy and windy weather. We set up camp despite this excited just to be by the beach! Once we were all set up we spent the weekend wandering the streets of Byron, enjoying the beach when the wind dropped slightly and more importantly enjoyed time with our little boy. We did also bring a set of grand parents along for a spot of babysitting! 

We set up camp at our favourite spot at Clarkes Beach. My camping experience is limited and its Tim that really knows how its done. We have been coming here for Easter over the past three years (you need to get on a waiting list for a spot if you dont have one). This place is so family friendly and the facilities are amazing which makes camping, well for me, even more enjoyable (I mean they have Dyson hand dryers in the bathrooms, separate family bathrooms and great coffee is right on the doorstep which is a must in my opinion). I must say though this camping trip was a little more difficult with Jasper crawling and trying very hard to walk/make a run for it. Can you imagine how hard it is to keep an 11 month old occupied and within reach at a camp site?! 

Grandparents... oh arent they grand! Jasper enjoying an afternoon kip in the breeze with his papa by his side.

One of the best places in Byron. Top Shop has a cult following for a reason and we made the walk up each morning for coffee.

I read something on instagram this week that has really stuck with me. "If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them and half as much money." Seeing these pics of Tim with Jasper I can't help but agree and take note!

Have a great week everyone.

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Home Stills

A few shots from home this week. I have been quite busy with orders for Dudley Co (we were featured on Babyology - YAY!!) so the house has been a little neglected. Tim has been too busy making ride ons instead of finishing the final touches to our renovation/ house overhaul - poor guy, we'll get there one day! In the meantime I love moving my things around to enjoy them ever so neatly (I should enjoy this while Jasper is still crawling/ not able to reach). It's amazing what having your first child does to your home - I'm finding that I use Jasper's toys more and more for my little displays - it brings a smile whenever I walk by and see a little toy in amongst my treasures that wasn't there a year ago. 

Loving so many things at Ikea lately! Cushions, the pot for my cactus above and Jasper's little red car. Jasper enjoying the view for morning tea today. I have loved those gumtrees for years and have been lost many times in one of my day dreams glancing over that way - how lucky are we?! I think however Jasper is captivated by the trampoline next door and Dudley running rampant in our yard.

Hi there young Jasper - you are the cutest!





And yes Dudley I see you! You look like you have been caught out. You are one strange looking dog sometimes!

We went with tradition

We decided to go with my family tradition and have Jasper baptised Catholic last weekend. Both Tim, who is Anglican, and I are not actually overly religious and at first our decision was based on what our families had always done. As part of the process we went along to a preparation session to choose readings and also attend a mass. Driving to the mass service Tim and I both tried to remember church etiquette... What do you say here, when do you stand... sit down... stand again?! Once there we were welcomed to the Church community and took our seats to listen to the service. We heard of the good things that were happening in the local community, the importance of being kind and honest and looking after those less fortunate. It was great to reflect on how we wanted to raise our son. We went into mass expecting to be bored hearing reading after reading, being told why god is almighty. To baptise Jasper and join this community is a choice now based on wanting to raise our son to believe in the good of people, to be kind and most importantly love and these are good enough reasons for us. 

A few shots above of the morning in Church and lunch afterwards at our home. We did however decide not to go with the tradition of putting Jasper in a gown. The white shirt is from Bebe by minihaha and my clever mum sewed the blue linen pants. 

I made the cakes and the crowd favourite was the caramel macadamia from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook.  Two different types of caramel - it really is amazing and surprisingly easy. Trusted carrot and walnut cake was from Cook with Jamie - Jamie Oliver.

I couldn't resist adding in a couple of pics of our niece Iluka and nephew Hunter riding the Dudley Co ride on. I love the determination and tongue out on Hunter - he was seriously flying on our polished concrete floors.  

A family shot. Lucky we changed Jasper - that white shirt would be no longer otherwise. Jasper is wearing a Seed Heritage top and Big W tights. Tim in Country Road and Sportscraft and Im in Big W Emerson. I love this dress and seriously at $25 who wouldn't. 

Court xo