Just Keep Swimming

So what is the first thing you have to do when you go from cold and icy England to warm and sunny Oman - go swimming of course - it's a must and that is just what Jacob and James did this morning. Jacob loved it and for the first time in a long time James actually managed to get him to kick his legs and make an attempt at real swimming, so hopefully he'll be swimming properly at some point soon.

Here they are this morning in the pool.



The weather is balmy here right now - it's quite warm, but not too sticky, there is a breeze, which is nice, although the sun is really bright and I'm really glad I got Jacob some good sunglasses before we left England.

I have now officially driven the Monstermobile and it was great - you have to drive in the middle of the road because it's so big, but it's fab - parking is, what shall I say - fun !? it takes quite a lot of moves to get it done and I nearly got stuck in a nasty position, but I did it and I didn't scratch the car - so now I feel confident enough to go off and explore.

Tomorrow we hope to look at a couple of nursery's for Jacob. We need to get him in there sooner rather than later because they aparently break up for Christmas soon and I would like him to have a little bit of nursery before the holidays, just so that he knows that that is going to be the normal - although the idea of getting him there for 7.45am doesn't thrill me I have to say ! Still maybe we'll get a special dispensation and he'll be able to start at a more civilised 9.30am ! I doubt it.

I have spotted a couple of Christmas trees already - so that's good news. We are planning on buying a small fake tree this year and a few decorations, and then next year when we have our huge tree out here - the small one can either go in the hallway, or in Jacob's room - well you can't have Christmas without a tree and they are quite cheap.

We popped to a shopping mall last night to try and get Jacob some sandals and it was really odd - there were so many shops in there that I recognised - Monsoon, Next, Mango, Clare's Accessories - which I didn't think was outside of Kent, let alone the UK! it was good - there was a fabulous toy shop there, with the most amazing selection of Spiderman bits - the most I have ever seen, so Jacob was in heaven ! Looks like Santa will be busy this year !

We finally managed to get Jacob a pair of sandals today - they are lovely and were only £5, so a bargain as well. We did a bit of minor splashing out, getting a new bed sheet for Jacob's bed, a new feather pillow for James, some Sandals for James, two lovely big fluffy swimming pool towels, some fold out mats for the beach, some hand towels and a bat and ball for Jacob and the whole lot cost £45 - I think I'm going to like shopping here - bad news ! Haven't seen any wool shops yet though - although I did see a lovely shop selling silk dress fabric.

James is off to work tomorrow, so I'm on my own and I've got to try to get to two nursery's going to be fun - I'm really looking forward t o it actually - I can't wait to explore after the little drive that we all went on today - the mountains are everywhere and spectacular and the roads are brilliant. Lots of fun to be had I think.