Foto update

As you can see Elissa has grown a lot since the last time I wrote/published something. She looks so sweet on the photo but in reality she is really a hand full! Let's just say there is never a dull moment in our lifes! And of course we like every moment of it, we also love it when she finally goes to bed and falls asleep!



Some time ago Elissa got her first bike. And men, is she proud of it! There hasn't been a day passing by that she didn't ride the bike. Everyday after diner we try to go for a walk while Elissa rides her bike. That means that she sits and we have to push! Of course we only go for the walk when temperatures and humidity is not too high because we are still living a the desert!



On a few days we have taken out the swimming pool and put up the sun umbrella so that Elissa and the mama can have a relaxing dive.



But although the temperatures are really high from both water and air, Elissa still insists on playing in the pool. And you can see from her face that the water is not as cool as she wants!



And Elissa is not the only one who needs water! Elissa always helps us watering the plants in the garden. Luckily she doesn't realize the hose is not connected yet!

Back again!!

It has been a very long time since we updated our website. At first there was a problem with the internet here in the Arabian Gulf. It seems that two ships had destroyed two internet cables with their anchors. The cables on the sea floor were pulled by the anchors and internet connections were only possible via one cable that was still intact.
Internet became so slow that uploading pictures and messages to the blog took forever to load.
But now all connections seems to be restored and internet is fully operational again.
We also were a bit too busy with other things.

I will update the blog this weekend with some new pictures. I'm sure you all will be amazed how big and naughty Elissa already is.

Dutch photos (2)

Elissa didn't like it all the time to wear boots, winterjacket and a hat! But she didn't have any choice!


Luckily there was also some time to relax!!


And some time to play with cousin Nasha!!



We met the "young" generation Koehl.


And the "old" generation Koehl.

Dutch photos (1)

It was kind of cold in Holland during our stay. It was constantly raining and temperatures sometimes reached freezing point. But that didn't stop Elissa to go out shopping with grandpa and grandma.


Oma Belanda made a new warm vest for Elissa and look how smart Elissa looked in it!


Elissa did also meet her auntie Charlene. Don't they look cute together?


But there was also some time left to play with opa Ed. I bet he doesn't do this to all his visitors!

Home coming

Well, finally we went home to Holland.
For me and Karin it was the first time since I moved to Dubai and for Elissa it was the first time ever to visit Holland. And as a matter of fact it was for Elissa the first time to come in a place where the temperature was below 30 degrees Celcius.

We did meet lots of friends and family but we also missed out on a lot of other friends. Because Elissa was about to get a new cousin we couldn't make long trips and borrow my parents car. So for all of you that we missed during our stay we would like to apologize and hopefully next time we can meet. Or of course, you can come and visit us in Dubai.

Anyway, we hope to see you next time we visit Holland. And for those we did meet we would like to thank you for the nice time we had together and a big thank you especially for Elissa for all the gifts that she received! She was really spoiled!!

Elissa Update

Well, it has been a while since we uploaded some pictures of Elissa. So here are a couple of new ones.
We had bought her a baby walker and she loves it. It has some electronic gadgets that play load music. She can't get enough of it and it is driving us crazy. But as long as she has fun and gives us the smile, it makes it all worth it!

A6-EWA

I had the honour to take delivery of the first 777-200LR (Long Range)straight from the Boeing factory in Seattle. It was also the 50th 777 for Emirates Airlines so it became a bit of a party in Seattle. I took delivery of the aircraft together with my good friend Captain Abdulla.

A380 Flight Dubai - Dubai

On 17 august 2007 Emirates Airline had the honour to have the A380 test aircraft for a week and test it to the fullest. The test programm consisted of 4 testflight for which staff could sign in to fly on the A380. I was one of the lucky to be selected for the second test flight. On 17 august I enjoyed the flight from Dubai to Dubai. We were flying around the Gulf area for about 3 hours. Of course it wasn't as comfortable flying as on a Boeing! But it will do for now!

Baby dedication

Yesterday we had the baby dedication (kinderopdracht) of Elissa. She is now a little over 6 months old and since we found a church where we feel home we wanted to have her dedicated in this church.
Here are some photo's taken during the dedication.



Pastor Rual did the dedication and you can see that he is very happy with Elissa. I'm sure she has a special place in his heart!


It was kind of celebration for the church since it was the first baby dedication in this location. So, now everybody in church knows about Elissa.

Holiday in Indonesia

We spent 3 weeks in Indonesia on holiday. The first week we flew to North Sulawesi where we met tante Sjaan. Tante Sjaan was the person who introduced Karin to me when we first met. So, she is like a grandma to Elissa. Last year she moved to Manado. It was great to see her again. Even Elissa liked to hang out with her! :)


We spent the whole time travelling around with tante Sjaan and I'm sure she liked it too!


At a certain moment we could all see that Karin and Elissa needed a break. While we were working hard in the hot weather they took a quick nap!


We had the rare oppertunity to meet Elissa's great grandmother. Elissa was born exactly on her 80th birthday and it was great to have the chance to take a picture of the 4 generations together. The difference between the oldest and the youngest on the photo is exactly 80 years!!!


Getting a bath in Indonesia was a new experience for Elissa. But she loved it (cool down from the heat!) and we had a lot of fun with her!!!!

Last Emperor!!

For those of you who have seen the movie "The last Emperor" and think that it was really the last one, we have good news for you. We have the new last Emperor right here in Dubai! And actually it is not an Emperor but an Empress!
Like in the movie the head had to be shaved. With our Empress it was a bit hard and we had to come up with an intermediate step. We first cut the hair to make it a bit shorter.


Doesn't she look naughty!!!


And then we shaved the remaining hair. This is the result. Doesn't she look like a real royalty?


The reason we shaved her head is because we would like her to grow thick strong hair. The second reason is because of the heat here in Dubai (40-45 C) she had some problems with the long hair and irritation was already showing.


At the moment the hair is slowly growing back and hopefully we won't have to do this again.


By the way, in a lot of countries babies get their head shaved up to the age of 1 year.

Too long ago!!

Can't believe it has been such a long time since I posted something! Time really flies!!!

In the meantime we have been on leave to Indonesia to witness the wedding of Karin's sister Astrid with her dreamprince Randy.
It was a beautiful wedding and Elissa enjoyed attending the first wedding of her life. She stole a lot of attention from all the quests and I hope the wedding couple won't be to jealous! But I think they were too happy to get married to be bothered about that!


It also gave us the oppertunity to meet my sister in law Beiby and her very naughty daughter Nasha. It was the first time for them to meet Elissa just before they moved to Holland. Nasha was very crazy with Elissa and wanted to play with her constantly. I wonder what would have happened if Elissa could already walk!


We also dressed up and both mother and daughter looked like princesses!! Was pure coincidence that I bought the same colour dress for Elissa during my last trip to Seattle!


The next day after the wedding the newly weds wanted to have a photo of them together with Elissa. During the wedding reception Elissa already fell asleep and was not able to be present during the photo shoot! So, on the photo you can see that they were not dressed up like the day before!

Little mermaid!!!

Lately a little mermaid was spotted in Dubai on the beach and in the swimming pools. Luckily Karin and I were able to catch the little mermaid with our bare hands.
She looked friendly and even after taking it out of the water she still enjoyed everything.

It was the first time for Elissa to enter the water in the swimming pool and later on the beach. But from the looks on her face we could see she really enjoyed the water and there will probably be more occasions where she will enjoy the nice water of Dubai.

As you can see in the last picture Suk-Bing and Karin had a great time with the little mermaid!